SINGAPORE - When news broke of Bellagraph Nova (BN) Group's bid to take over Newcastle United, David Alexander was excited at the prospect of fellow Singaporeans owning the English Premier League club he supports.
The 44-year-old co-founded the Newcastle United Supporters Club Singapore (NUFCSG) in 2000 and it now has about 1,300 members.
During the season, about 50 to 60 members typically gather at The Penny Black in Boat Quay to watch live Premier League matches. On occasion, they also play football together.
However, like many members of the Toon Army, which Newcastle fans are known as, he was already "expecting the worst" from the news as there have been multiple failed takeover bids for the Magpies.
The BN Group is the sixth group linked with a takeover since the club was officially put on sale by British owner Mike Ashley in October 2017.
"It's nice to have our fellow Singaporeans raising a bid and showing an interest to invest in our beloved football club," said Alexander.
"But honestly, I had zero expectations because we have so many takeover bids and enquiries.
"The latest one was the very big one from Saudi (Arabia's Public Investment Fund) but everything dragged on and nothing materialised. I was very disappointed in the outcome."
He is not alone in his scepticism.
Event producer Jonathan Drape-Comyn is a life-long Magpies fan but is no longer as invested in football after 13 years of leadership under Ashley and numerous takeover rumours.
The Newcastle native used to attend every game the Magpies played before he moved to Singapore last March.
The 25-year-old also used to sell independent Newcastle fan magazine The Mag outside St James' Park and other football stadiums. He also occasionally writes for the magazine.
But he told The Straits Times: "I've become ambivalent towards the actual football and I won't stay up till 3am to watch matches. It's effort that I don't see is worth making anymore.
"We want the club to be the best they possible can be and that's something we don't have at the moment.
"The last thing we want from owners is for them to use our football club for something else. We want our club to be for the people and the city, not for a rich person's play toy."
So when the BN Group announced a bid for the club last week, Drape-Comyn was "immediately sceptical" after "13 years of rumours and potential takeovers".
And he was even more so after Reuters reported on Saturday (Aug 22) that BN Group had doctored photographs of former United States president Barack Obama in its publicity materials, while raising other questions about the group's credentials, such as not being registered in France even though it said its headquarters are in Paris.
The group was founded by Singaporean cousins Terence and Nelson Loh and Chinese jewellery merchant Evangeline Shen.
Drape-Comyn said: "I don't think any Newcastle fan has very positive opinions when news of possible takeovers come out, because they've been coming out for 13 years."
When the BN Group announced its bid, he went to check out its registered Singapore address at the top floor of a four-storey building in Novena on Saturday and later tweeted: "Turns out it's actually above one of my favourite restaurants. They do a great Hor Fun (takeaway equiv to beef in black bean sauce)."
When asked if the BN Group had reached out to the Toon Army here, a committee member of the supporters' club, Terence Ong, said: "To the best of my knowledge, as well as that of the NUFCSG main committee, we have not had contact with anyone about a possible takeover of Newcastle United Football Club."
Alexander said: "Whoever our new owners are, I hope they will invest in our club and bring us to the next level where we can hopefully play against best European clubs again."
Drape-Comyn agreed, adding: "We just want honesty, communication and ambition. It's not about having super rich billionaire owners who will make you the best football team in the world. It's more about those three words and having an owner that wants to be the best football team regardless of how much money they've got."
