The Mike Ashley endgame: Are Saudi takeover-weary Newcastle United actually in it?

The last 109 days (183 if you go back to FA Cup fourth round day), nearly 16 weeks has felt like being in a black and white washing machine, the cycle stuck on rinse and spin and drain.

The only softener being the escapism the return of actual football brought. Even that was a washed-out version of its former self.

Newcastle United as a club, a fanbase, a movement are stuck in a state of limbo. The bar has not been set high, but getting under it has proven remarkably challenging for the powers that be.

What price are Newcastle United to be taken over before 2021?

1/4.

What price are Newcastle United to remain under the ownership of Mike Ashley into 2021?

5/2.

The bookmakers (thanks Paddy Power) are convinced the end is nigh, but why are we so doubtful?

- 'Nothing happens in Saudi without MBS knowing' -

Reports of indefinite delays and an impasse carry weight. Talk of unanswered questions from the Premier League have been refuted, with buyers claiming they've provided the owners and directors test quizzers with everything they require.

But what if all that has been provided is not enough? What if the answers received do not satisfy those tests? And what if the Premier League, in light of not getting satisfactory answers, decided enough is enough for the bid? These questions are a genuine concern as the deal hits the latest, of many, blocks.

Let's not bury our heads in the sand.

Positivity is a valuable thing, but there has to be basis to it. And there has been when it comes to the buyers.

It always comes back to the notion, how confident are you in the buyers' confidence? I'll let you make your own mind up.

It was said to me recently, by someone with an extensive knowledge of the inner workings of KSA and the Middle East that 'nothing happens in Saudi without MBS [Mohammed bin Salman] knowing about it'. And that has to be the biggest issue here.

Is PIF independent of the Saudi top brass? And if so, why is MBS, whose tendrils supposedly snake right through every inch of the halls of power in the kingdom, the chairman? How can the Saudi people watch PL football now after the BeIN block? And what are they going to do about it?

It's OK saying 'well we want to buy the rights' but if that option is not even on the table until 2021 (for 2022), which sounds to be the case with the division's lawyers, then confidence, some would say arrogance, only gets you so far. It does not, however, get a deal passed.

It's a legal minefield. A minefield by which the Premier League must carefully tread, with lawsuits ready to explode at every misstep.

- This is the 'goldfish bowl' -

Will the bid pass? That's the question on everyone's lips, quickly followed by – when?

Outside of a very small bubble (should I call it a bubble? By their nature they don't have holes or leaks) no one knows. We have ideas, assumptions, nods, winks and more – but bar a very small band of people, part of the inner workings, delving into the legalities, few know what the outcome will or might be.

The Premier League will decide this – and the answers the buyers give will matter greatly to said outcome. Any amount of pressure from the media, MPs even fans will not have much, if any, impact. This is a decision which must be worked out, made watertight and announced, sadly, only when the PL are legally ready to do so.

In a world full of uncertainty the takeover of Newcastle United, pales in comparison. But on Tyneside, it's people's lives, their everything, the world and all that matters in it. Some may call that sad, but that's what this club does. And that's why people outside of the Newcastle United universe find it so difficult to understand.

This is the 'goldfish bowl'.

We all feel the love, the pain, THAT feeling (you know it), and more of the pain.

We've all felt the loss. The Saturday thing. The one you do with your dad, your mam, your friends, workmates, relatives, neighbours – cruelly snatched away, through no fault of our own.

But could this period of separation erode the foundations of the very marriage that's held United 'United' through this past 13 years?

- The end of a club as we know it? -

'Newcastle? Massive fanbase but don't win anything'. Speak to fans of other clubs around the pool on holiday (one day), in bars, listen to TalkSPORT – are you even a fan if you’ve not been presented with this argument at least 100 times?

The ninth most successful club in England when it comes to winning trophies despite not having lifted anything meaningful in anger since Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the Moon. That fact can't be denied.

So too is the strength of the fanbase. But will all that change? Football lockdown to many may have looked like a small step (a temporary one) but could prove to be a giant leap for the masses.

Ten thousand or so have walked away willingly, with heavy hearts. Many more may follow suit. Some will not have missed the last year, the last three or four, the last 13. Some will miss it like hell.

But we all know this football club is held up by the thousands of straining biceps of the disenchanted, the underappreciated.

How many more of those arms will have to fail before the club as we know it ceases to exist?

Ten thousand giveaways is not sustainable, it could turn out to be more as absence fails to make the heart grow stronger.

Put a takeover in the mix and the parishioners will be teaming back to their own cathedral on the hill. Without one, the future is largely unthinkable.

Would going back to 'him' with a few new signings be enough for fans to dip into their back pockets for more 'off the bargain rail' shirts or tickets in an unloved hope vacuum? Social media, although not always a fair reflection of the fanbase narrative, tells you otherwise.

- The Mike Ashley endgame -

Like never before there is so much certain, but so little known about Newcastle United and their future in the summer of 2020.

On the pitch they are failing to flatter, pulling teeth at times would be more exciting. They finished last season one point worse off than they did the year previous, splashing out transfer fees every United manager in recent years can only dream of, bar, of course, Steve McClaren. He never learns.

Forty million pound strikers seemed like an impossibility at United not that long ago. On evidence so far, it would have been better staying that way.

Those fees, under Ashley at least, will likely never be seen again. Under the Saudi Arabian consortium, a distinct possibility. For all their faults, it is not in their nature to come second. They want the best, and will shell out to achieve it.

Ashley has never even been close to accepting second, although his lack of backing for Rafa Benitez in the January of 2017 was a sign he'd have been happy to take No2 back then. Mr Sports Direct does not want third, fourth, eighth, 12th – we know his magic number.

And that's where all of this anger and frustration emanates. Newcastle fans want a team to love, a club to be proud of. One that strives to be better, not one accepting of mediocrity. Is that not what football is about? Do fans not always want better?

Under Ashley better is not even a pipedream. One flash of luck under Alan Pardew – the fifth-placed finish – was backed up with nothing other than a swift switch into reverse and a relegation battle while fighting to within an inch of the Europa League semi finals.

Newcastle deserves better. And Ashley knows he cannot deliver that.

Where before United were a minor annoyance, a scratch that itches itself almost, they've now become a raging boil on the side of his Frasers Group empire.

Sports Direct is his baby, the business that made Ashley the man he is today. If he has to pile his own worth into that, he's willing to do so. Have to do it to prop up United with revenues falling and rebates to TV providers on the horizon, not this time.

The interest-free loan facility has dried up, he wants out. He did not expect to still hold the keys now, he thought the handover would be complete in April.

Whether talking about the Saudi bid agreement or Henry Mauriss – the biggest thing to take from all of this is that finally, he wants to go.

It feels like we are in the Mike Ashley endgame, but a final few twists and turns cannot be ruled out, as it needs to be remembered this is no longer Ashley's game to play. He's at the mercy of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and most importantly the Premier League. Our hopes, aspirations and more lie in their hands, while Ashley, it seems, is ready to wash his of us, at last.