On the latest episode of the Tifo Football Podcast for The Athletic, Matt Slater has been discussing the latest news surrounding the ongoing takeover of Newcastle United.
One topic of conversation on the recent episode, which was titled: ‘Saudi Arabia, BeIN sports and Newcastle United‘, was some of the key issues in the Newcastle United takeover, namely the relationship between Qatar and Saudi Arabia and the piracy issues in Saudi Arabia.
Here’s what Slater had to say about the issues on the podcast:
“So the fact that the Public Investment Fund – basically an investment arm of the Saudi government – is trying to buy a club, there is then a close link then between Saudi-Qatari relations, between a possible piracy operation run by the Saudi state to diminish Qatar. There is a link there.
“The Premier League of course, as I say, even long, long way before anyone was talking about Newcastle, had issues with Saudi Arabia and was frustrated with the Saudi Arabian government. So there is a link.
“Amanda Staveley, a British businesswoman, who has been based in the Middle East for a while and has built a reputation of being a networker and a deal-maker for Middle Eastern states, and the Reuben brothers, who are massive, very successful property developers in the UK, so Staveley’s going to take a 10% stake, basically, for them putting the deal together and being the public face of it, certainly in this country, and the Reuben brothers are presumably going to get 10% because of their expertise in property in Newcastle.
“So, hopefully, a really big regeneration project in Newcastle similar to the one we’ve seen in Manchester.
“So, when I hear from the takeover camp that ‘oh, it’s completely different,’ well, I’m sorry. They’re wrong. They’ve been wrong on this from the beginning. I understand that they completely underestimated the importance of the piracy issue, the importance of the BeoutQ, they basically didn’t get it, and they’ve learned the hard way.”
TIF Thoughts…
Slater clearly feels that those in the takeover camp underestimated the issue of piracy in their country, as well as the impact that the relationship between Qatar and Saudi Arabia could have on the takeover of Newcastle United.
From what the Athletic journalist says, it sounds as if he isn’t confident about the Premier League approving the deal that would see the Saudi-based consortium, alongside Staveley and the Reuben brothers, take over from Mike Ashley. So this might alarm many Toon fans.