A takeover at Newcastle United is unlikely to take place until the end of the season - but there are “definitely” still consortia who remain interested in buying the club, a football-takeover expert has revealed.

The Magpies remain on the market, with Mike Ashley having first placed the club up for sale back in October, despite PCP Capital Partners Ltd and Amanda Staveley’s bid for Newcastle seemingly collapsing last month.

But Dr Tom Markham, who is a specialist on football finance and helped facilitate Chinese investment in both Southampton and West Bromwich Albion, insists there is still “live” interest in acquiring the Magpies.

He claims that six parties initially signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with the club, and that at least one of those consortia remain in the “data room” at St James’ Park.

That would mean that at least one interested party is currently conducting due diligence at United.

Interestingly, Dr Markham also labelled Staveley and PCP’s public interest in Newcastle as “suspect”, stressing that the majority of takeovers take place behind the scenes, rather than by playing out in the media.

“There’s still a live opportunity there [at Newcastle], a fantastic club to buy,” Dr Markham replied when asked what the current takeover situation was at United on Monday’s edition of The Totally Football Show podcast.

“I think a lot of the potential buyers are a little worried by their precarious position in the league, but there definitely is still interest in the club.

“Yes, I think [something might still happen]. Having worked on quite a few of these deals, the last thing that you actually want is for something to hit the papers.

“So it was a little bit suspect that the six parties that I believe have signed NDAs at Newcastle, yet one of them in particular seemed to be in the papers at all times and at all stages of the process.

“I’m not exactly sure how many of those six parties are live still, but there are definitely still interested parties that are in the data room at the club.”

During the week beginning February 12, the Premier League is expected to announce the size of the TV deal which will cover 2019 through until 2022.

That is likely to set the parameters for Ashley’s ultimate asking price for the club, and a takeover appears unlikely to take place until after that stage.

But Dr Markham does not expect any real progress to be made in terms of a new offer for the Magpies until Newcastle’s Premier League fate is decided.

If, and when, United secure survival, Dr Markham believes “everything is ready to go in the background” and that a takeover will happen.

“From my experience, the best time to buy a club is at the end of the season because let’s look at the way the league is broken down. You have a situation where there are six or seven clubs who at the moment are very unlikely to get relegated, but after that anyone else could go down,” Dr Markham added.

“So you want to get in there as early as possible, you want to be able to put your own management stamp on the club and get it organised for the season ahead.

“So I think buyers will wait for then until they buy Newcastle. At this stage now, no one would want to buy a football club when we’re just a couple of days away from the window closing.

“They’ll have everything ready to go in the background, but they’ll be ready to push the button when the club is safe. And that’s the best time to buy a football club.”