A lot of Newcastle United fans have replied to a post from NUFC 360, which has relayed news from the Daily Mirror concerning the Toon’s proposed takeover.
They claim that the Premier League has not passed the takeover yet because of Saudi Arabia’s state-sponsored piracy of football that has cost their broadcast partners billions.
They believe that Amanda Staveley’s Saudi-backed takeover is struggling to pass the required checks because the Premier League has pursued the Saudis for two years over illegal streaming.
It also states that there are still ‘serious issues’ to be sorted regarding this takeover bid.
They have a quote from a source that states that “the country who are now trying to buy a Premier League club and trying to pass the owners and directors have stolen from the very organisation they now need the approval from.”
Are you worried by this?
No
Yes
This has worried these Toon fans.
Wa doomed
— Iain Fulton (@Fults12) June 9, 2020
They are killing us slowly
— Ronsta (@ronsta61613227) June 9, 2020
I keep on saying it. The takeover will be blocked
— Michael Parry (@MickP1964) June 9, 2020
The deal for Staveley’s Saudi-backed consortium to buy Newcastle has been with the Premier League since April after a deposit was paid to Mike Ashley.
However, since then, nothing has happened, and it seems that the concerns over piracy are a serious threat to this takeover, with a report from the World Trade Organisation revealing that the piracy station BeoutQ has direct links to the Saudi government.
Despite this, though, many Toon fans do not trust this report from the Mirror and feel that it is just the same story repeated.
Same day, same story.
— Shane Kearley (@srkearley) June 9, 2020
The Daily Mirror have changed their story about 8 times! On…off….on…off its boring now
— Adam Kennair (@discopants1982) June 9, 2020
The mirror = the new sun ??
Let’s keep our IQ people. I don’t need to tell you, you all know what to do ?— Mup Murphy (@MupMurphy1) June 9, 2020
So if this is true why don’t they just come out and say its not happening and put us out our missery
— joe erskine (@wesleymartin09) June 9, 2020
They’d have already rejected it then, I would think. That Mirror story is poor
— Eamus Catuli (@MikeAshleyHater) June 9, 2020
A report in The Athletic claimed that for this takeover to pass, Saudi Arabia must make some concessions that include shutting down BeoutQ and unblocking BeIN Sports.
Talks are set to open up between Saudi Arabia and Qatar to resolve the TV rights issue that should allow this takeover to go ahead.
However, this could still drag on for a while yet with Richard Masters confirming that there was no timescale for this process.