Some Newcastle United fans have been responding to a tweet that was recently posted by Toon journalist Andrew Musgrove in response to another tweet sharing an article that Musgrove co-wrote with Mark Douglas discussing how the Saudi-backed Newcastle United takeover has ‘entered a new phase’.
As per Sky Sports, the consortium including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), PCP Capital Partners and the Reuben brothers ended its interest in purchasing the Toon at the end of July, after ‘papers regarding the proposed takeover were lodged with the Premier League in April and were still being scrutinised’ up until the consortium pulled out of the deal some three months later.
However, this article from ChronicleLive explains that the consortium’s decision to pull out of the deal resulted in fan and political pressure increasing on the Premier League to provide answers as to why they never made a decision with regards to whether or not they would approve this takeover, despite scrutinising the bid for months.
In his tweet responding to this post, Musgrove said: “When we asked whether the Premier League were preparing a statement or if they could confirm that they would not be commenting at all, ChronicleLive received a response saying the Premier League would ‘not provide any comment or guidance on this.’”
After Musgrove shared this news about the Premier League via a tweet, plenty of Newcastle fans replied to his post to share their thoughts on the Premier League’s alleged response to ChronicleLive.
When we asked whether the Premier League were preparing a statement or if whether they could confirm that they would not be commenting at all, ChronicleLive received a response saying the Premier League would "not provide any comment or guidance on this." https://t.co/uCGT9gheGB
— Andrew Musgrove (@ADMusgrove) August 13, 2020
Many of the Newcastle fans who replied to this tweet opted to criticise the Premier League for its response, with one particular Toon supporter replying to this tweet to say that they believe ‘this is a disgrace’.
I never expected them to and I don’t expect them to, moving forward either. I’m all for doing what we’re doing (to an extent) but I don’t expect anything to happen as a result.
— MUNAF ALMUMIN (@munafalmumin) August 13, 2020
This is a disgrace they are bound by the petition to answer, not just that Boris Johnson agrees as does the ombudsman the premier league must be held to account this is total arrogance of the worst kind https://t.co/bupCuT2lxC
— michael shaw (@thunderchild127) August 13, 2020
So no comment to providing a comment. What an organisation. Pathetic
— MarkyMark Rowley (@markymarkkoast) August 13, 2020
Absolutely disgusting
— Steff (@EliteSteffy) August 13, 2020
One Newcastle fan replied to this tweet to tell Musgrove to ‘keep asking’, sharing that he believes the Premier League will ‘break eventually’.
Keep asking. They’ll break eventually. I’m an average joe, a nobody, I like that, but even I’ve had letters from several MPs this week and they’re committed to getting answers for us.
— Ian Armitage (@IanArmitage) August 13, 2020
Are you surprised by Musgrove's claim?
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Some Newcastle fans shared that they think the Premier League will have to be taken to court.
The only way forward now is to take this fhrough the courts nobody is gonna make a statement or answer any questions @premierleague clearly feel they answer to nobody but themselves..
— Darren B (@boybaff) August 13, 2020
Next step for mr Ashley will probably be court.
— Paul Johnson (@johnsonP1977) August 13, 2020
It may be understandable why Newcastle fans feel they have a right to hear from the Premier League and to be told why this takeover was never approved, and it’s not surprising that Musgrove’s tweet sharing the Premier League’s alleged refusal to comment has drawn a frustrated reaction from some Newcastle supporters.