The Chronicle writer Ciaran Kelly has recently discussed the progression of Newcastle United’s Saudi Arabia-backed takeover deal, and why the Premier League have taken so long to make a decision on the bid.
The £300m bid for Newcastle, which is currently awaiting Premier League approval, has been ongoing for quite a substantial amount of time, with reports in The Guardian as far back as 28 April suggesting that the takeover had ‘inched closer’ and that no ’11th-hour hitches’ were expected with the deal.
However, almost two months later, the deal is seemingly in exactly the same position as it was when that report was published by the Guardian back in April.
This is primarily down to the fact that Qatar-based television broadcaster BeIN raised an objection to the takeover, as they claimed that Saudi Arabia had been illegally pirating their broadcasts of Premier League football using a platform named beoutQ, something which BeIN chief executive officer Yousef Al-Obaidly claimed has “caused huge damage” to Premier League clubs financially, as well as “the Premier League’s commercial revenues.”
As a result of BeIN’s protestations, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) investigated who was behind the beoutQ streaming service, which eventually found that Saudi Arabia had indeed broken ‘intellectual-property rules when it failed to crack down on pirated Qatari television broadcasts‘.
As such, doubt has been cast over the takeover deal, as the ruling could result in Newcastle’s potential new owners to fail the Premier League’s owner’s and director’s test.
Do you see the Premier League blocking the takeover now?
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However, there has still been no comment made by the Premier League regarding whether or not Newcastle’s takeover deal can proceed, despite it being reported that the WTO report was the information that the Premier League required before finally announcing their decision on the Newcastle deal.
On this subject, in the most recent episode of the Everything is Black and White podcast, Chronicle reporter Ciaran Kelly stated that he can understand why the Premier League have taken so long to make a final decision on the deal.
He said: “I don’t think it helps anyone really, to try and second guess the Premier League, because those who thought the Premier League would only take three or four weeks to do this, quickly realised that that wasn’t going to be the case.
“I just think it’s just tedious at the moment. But I can actually understand why the Premier League are taking so long because this is one hell of a case. And, as we’ve said before, I think the owners’ and directors’ test could look very different going forward after this.
“I wonder what it’s like being a neutral, you know, if you support Man United or Liverpool or something, I’m sure even they are sick of this being a story for so long and wondering why it hasn’t gone through.”
TIF Thoughts…
While it must have been an excruciating wait thus far for Newcastle fans to discover whether or not their club has been successfully taken over, it would appear that, with there still being no word from the Premier League, that wait will have to carry on for a little while longer yet.