Lee Ryder has been speaking on the latest episode of the Everything is Black and White Podcast and has revealed when he thinks how Premier League chief executive Richard Masters will shed any more light on the failed takeover of Newcastle United after Amanda Staveley’s Saudi-backed consortium withdrew its bid to buy the club last week.
The Premier League is yet to make a formal statement on the proceedings which came to a close late last week after months of waiting on a verdict.
Ryder also discussed Henry Mauriss and his interest in buying the Toon, but he spent a little bit of time on the Premier League and Masters, who he believes will only be held accountable by MPs following the lack of clarity over the deal’s collapse.
He said: “Richard Masters has been, throughout it all, probed and prodded by various parliamentary bodies, but certainly they won’t speak to the press.
“For me, I think when we do hear something more concrete [why the Staveley bid was withdrawn], it will be on one of these parliamentary commission situations where he can’t not answer questions.
“As far as the media are concerned, he’s got ways of getting out of it by saying ‘confidential’, but he needs to be in a room where he’s getting asked by MPs and he’s got to provide those answers, and that’s probably when we’ll hear next – but when that will be, nobody knows at the moment.”
So, it seems as if Ryder believes that the only time that we might hear what happened from Masters will be in a parliamentary situation.
Do you expect to hear anything from Masters?
No, he will continue to hide
Yes, he has to explain what happened
TIF Thoughts…
Staveley’s group withdrew its offer to buy Newcastle last week and she then blamed the Premier League for everything.
In response, the PL has said nothing apart from a slight indication of their feelings (via Matt Slater) that the breakdown was caused by piracy issues.
Throughout the process, Masters refused to talk about the takeover and repeatedly insisted that it was confidential, and even when grilled by MPs, he did not reveal much more.
So, it will be interesting to see if Ryder’s prediction comes true or not.
In the meantime, Newcastle fans have launched a petition demanding an investigation, which has gained some traction as the fallout from this failed takeover continues.