Newcastle United

Newcastle United: Finance expert discusses investment the city will miss out on due to takeover breakdown

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Image for Newcastle United: Finance expert discusses investment the city will miss out on due to takeover breakdown

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has been discussing the investment the city of Newcastle will miss out on after the collapse of Newcastle United’s proposed takeover.

Last week, it was announced that the consortium which included Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, PCP Capital Partners and Reuben Brothers had ended its £300m bid to buy the Toon (per BBC).

The Saudi Arabian-backed consortium ended its bid to buy the club after it ‘ran out of patience’ with the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test.

In the latest episode of The Price of Football podcast, Maguire touched on the non-football elements of the potential deal as he discussed the investment that the city of Newcastle would be missing out on.

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To get things started a rather easy one. Who scored Newcastle's first league goal of the season?

He said: “If we take a look at what’s happened in Manchester – I’ve lived in Manchester for 40 years – when Sheikh Mansour and the Abu Dhabi group came in, they did invest in the city in east Manchester.

“That is a particularly disadvantaged area. If you’ve ever been to the likes of Clayton or Gorton, those areas needed investment and money has been spent. So, it has provided jobs in that part of the city.

“I think the opportunity to do something similar in Newcastle was one of the potential benefits of PIF coming in. They were looking to spend around about £250m in projects.

“Part of that would be infrastructure, as far as the ground was concerned, but also to build up the profile of Newcastle and to provide local employment. So, that has been lost and that is one of the issues which NUST are taking to task with regards to the Premier League.”

TIF Thoughts…

As can be seen in what the finance expert had to say, it is clear that the city will now be missing out on a large amount of investment due to the collapse of the takeover.

Would the Saudi Arabian-backed takeover of Newcastle United been good for the city?

Yes, I definitely think so

Yes, I definitely think so

No, I don't think so

No, I don't think so

Maguire also references that the Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust is pressing the Premier League for answers on why the process was dragged out (via Chronicle Live).

Hopefully, should the Premier League respond to the NUST, they can provide some transparency as to why they deliberated over the ultimately unsuccessful takeover for so long.

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