Speaking recently on The Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast, Philippe Auclair discussed the collapsed Newcastle United takeover deal.
After over three months of Newcastle’s £300 million Saudi Arabian-backed takeover bid awaiting Premier League approval, it was eventually announced last week that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, PCP Capital Partners and the Reuben brothers had pulled out of the bid, with the reason being given by the bidding party as down to the ‘unforeseeably prolonged process‘ of the deal.
The Premier League, and, in particular, the league’s chief executive Richard Masters, had indeed come under criticism for ‘keeping Newcastle fans in the dark‘ about the process of the bid while it was ongoing.
However, when discussing the takeover on The Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast, Auclair claimed that he believes the general public had been ‘fooled by the way it’s been reported on for several months’, something which he feels is because of the bidding party.
He said: “I am not exactly surprised by what happened. There were doubts from very early on – the very fact that the supposed deal was made public so early, and the media campaign which followed showed that at least one of the actors in the deal wanted the information to go out, which is very unusual for anybody who knows the way that the Saudis usually like to work, which is discreetly – and Mike Ashley is the same.”
“I think we had a case here, a very interesting one, of something which was conducted through the media which didn’t reflect at all the reality of what was happening. What is extraordinary now, is that we have a complete reversal of roles and we’re flipping the whole picture.
“Now it’s all presented as being the result – the way the takeover didn’t take place – of the ‘horrible’ Premier League following instructions from Qatar. The fact that piracy was a genuine problem, especially when the Premier League had condemned officially, in two very strong statements, the implication of Saudi Arabia in the piracy of BeIN Sports. And I’m thinking we’re seeing a very strange reversal.
“Also, the Premier League has not prevented PIF from buying the club, PIF got away. And the reason why they got away, I’m sorry, I don’t quite buy them. It’s all very complex and I think we’ve been, in a way, fooled by the way it’s been reported on for several months. And we’ve got to ask ourselves the question, why was it reported in such a way?”
TIF Thoughts…
As such, it would certainly appear as if Auclair believes that there has been considerable media spin on the part of the bidding party, who it would seem he is saying has been leaking information to the press in order to convey a portrayal of the deal in the way they would like, before blaming the Premier League as the reason why the bid did not go through when, in reality, it was the Saudi-backed consortium who actually pulled out of the takeover.
Do you believe there has been false information leaked by Saudi Arabia regarding the takeover?
Yes
No
