Journalist Paul Smith has claimed that the Saudi Arabian consortium behind Amanda Staveley’s takeover bid of Newcastle United has ‘not given a second thought to failing‘ the Premier League’s required checks.
Smith claims they still have confidence that despite all of these delays, their takeover bid will be accepted by the Premier League.
A deal for Mike Ashley to sell the Toon was agreed in April with a deposit paid to the club’s current owner, but since then, nothing has been announced, and the deal is still with the Premier League going through its owners’ and directors’ test.
Since the deal was passed onto the Premier League, concerns have been raised from the likes of Amnesty International and BeIN Sports.
Concerns have also emerged from the World Trade Organisation and, in particular, a report linking the Saudi government with piracy station BeoutQ.
Has this reassured you?
Yes, if they are still confident then so am I
No, this is going on too long now
All of these, as well as the Premier League’s ‘Project Restart’, have caused delays.
Still, if Smith’s tweet is correct, then the Saudi consortium remains confident that they will become the new majority stakeholders in Newcastle United.
TIF Thoughts…
The Saudi consortium still seems to have confidence that their takeover will go through, their view on this is also backed up by journalist Alan Nixon – who seems to believe the Premier League is taking their time as a way of ‘keeping up appearances’.
This whole situation has gone on for a long time, but it is good to see that the Saudi consortium appear to be confident of gaining the Premier League’s approval, as per Smith’s claim.
However, exactly when the confirmation could occur remains unclear, with Premier League chief executive Richard Masters previously confirming that there was no timescale for this process.
Hopefully, though, we are coming to the end of this saga.