Gary Neville shares what he’s noticed about Newcastle that he hopes will soon change

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With Newcastle United on the verge of new ownership, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville has shared what he hopes will change at St James’ Park.

The Magpies are in the final stages of a takeover bid, with the club now very close to being bought off Mike Ashley, as reported by talkSPORT last Wednesday.

PCP Capital Partners, headed by Amanda Staveley, have brokered the £300million deal which is being backed by the Saudi Arabian royal family’s Public Investment Fund.

Ashley and PCP have entered into a binding agreement, with terms agreed and a deposit paid, and documentation has been sent to the Premier League.

Newcastle’s prospective new owners are expected to have major ambitions upon arriving at St. James’ Park and Neville hopes that the magic can return on Tyneside.

“There were moves made before this crisis happened,” Neville told Sky Sports. “From what I’ve read this morning, it looks as though the price has been dropped slightly as well, and so it’s obvious Mike Ashley wanted out.

“What I’ve said a number of times when we’ve been covering games at Newcastle is that it felt as if the magic had gone. There’s certainly no connection between the boardroom and the fans. The players and the manager up there are always stuck in between.

“What we’d all like to see is a thriving Newcastle United in the sense that over the last 10 or 15 years, the sway of investment has seemed to move south into clubs with the emergence of the likes of Bournemouth and Brighton. There’s been more investment there and less on clubs in the North East.

“If we can get a really strong Newcastle where that ground is bouncing again, then all of us will be happy because it’s one of the great spectacles that I can remember from my early Premier League appearances. It was an amazing place to play football, but it’s not been like that for a good few years now.”

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Ashley’s tenure at Newcastle hasn’t been particularly popular amongst most Magpies fans, to put it mildly, and following plenty of mediocre seasons and false dawns regarding takeover, it looks as though there will finally be a change of ownership.

The Saudi group is reported to have assets of more than $320billion, so there is certainly plenty to get excited about, but it’s not necessarily about having a team challenging for titles from the off – bringing back a good atmosphere amongst the fans will be a great start.