Former Newcastle United star Lee Clark feels a takeover of the Magpies is not imminent and doubts the club's ownership will change hands before the start of the season.
Takeover uncertainty has crippled Newcastle this summer after the Dubai-based Bin Zayed Group claimed they were close to taking over the Magpies in May.
One week into July and Mike Ashley remains the owner of Newcastle, the club are without a manager following Rafa Benitez's departure from the club and are yet to make a new signing despite Mo Diame and Ayoze Perez's summer departures.
Newcastle are searching for a new manager following Benitez's exit and Clark believes the Spaniard's departure is a telltale sign that a takeover is not forthcoming this summer.
"It wasn't a huge surprise to most people, to the fans and the people around the city of Newcastle, after news broke about Rafa Benitez leaving St. James' Park," Clark told Tribal Football.
"When you're getting that far into a contract with only eight days to go, with someone like Rafa, it's telling you that there is concerns.
"We weren't surprised, but still, everyone was devastated by the news. There's a lot of negativity and disappointment around the city. The fans have lost the one big thing they were hanging their hat on, which was the fact they had a world-class manager.
"He just needed a bit of help in terms of finance with the team, and also finance with the infrastructure of the club in terms of the training and academy facilities.
"It's only my opinion, but if there was a takeover that was imminent I would have thought that Mike Ashley would have let the new consortium decide what would happen with Benitez.
"If a new consortium is coming in, I would have also thought that Benitez and his advisors would have got assurances from them about what his position was.
"I don't know the full ins and outs, but trying to read between the lines, the takeover is not imminent. It might be in the pipeline for the future, but I seriously doubt it will happen before the start of the season.
"Especially when Newcastle have shortlisted a few names for the job and are looking to get someone in very, very quickly. So if they're going to appoint a new manager I would say that the takeover isn't imminent because that job would be done by the new owners."
