Former Newcastle United winger Keith Gillespie has told Football FanCast that he is growing tired of constant talk surrounding the proposed takeover of the club.

The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia have been involved in protracted talks to buy the club.

That deal is currently going through arbitration in court but it has taken a fair few twists in recent days.

The Daily Mail have reported that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia personally lobbied Prime Minister Boris Johnson to intervene in the potential takeover.

Elsewhere, owner Mike Ashley has shut the club shop and is said to have sent a letter to staff claiming that the decision stems from the new ownership, again per The Daily Mail.

Gillespie, though, insists that the Magpies’ fans deserve better than to constantly be hanging on news reports, and seeing their excitement both grow and diminish as a result. Indeed, he is aware of how many proposed takeovers in previous years have fallen apart at the last hurdle.

Speaking exclusively to FFC, he said: “In terms of will there be a takeover? It's not something I listen to too much now, because I've heard it too often.

“You get asked to comment on this quite a bit when there's talk again. Until something is confirmed, Newcastle fans don't deserve to be put through the mill every single time, because they're so passionate about their club and they want this takeover to happen.

“They start to get a little bit of belief that they could be getting closer, and then bang, it falls apart again. I feel sorry for them in that way.

“For me, until there is something concrete and we are very, very close, it's not something that Newcastle fans deserve people to be talking about, because we've seen in the past how often it's just fallen apart.”