Newcastle United journalist Mark Douglas has been discussing the possibility of the Saudi-backed consortium going to arbitration in order to get a final decision on their collapsed takeover bid of the Tyneside club.
This comes after Douglas recently made an appearance on The Chronicle’s Everything Is Black and White Podcast to discuss the latest news topics concerning the Toon at the moment.
After Douglas was asked if he thinks the Saudi-backed consortium will go to arbitration to get a decision on the takeover, he shared his thoughts on the possibility.
He said: “The information that we got back in July was no, they wouldn’t, because they believed that the arbitration was just on one narrow point and they didn’t think that that was proper.
“I asked them again, well why wouldn’t you if you’re confident that it would pass, why wouldn’t you? And it was just, ‘we don’t believe it’s a proper way of doing things,’ they said, ‘we won’t go to arbitration on one narrow point.’ I think it’s left to us to understand why they don’t feel that.
“I would say if you were confident that you were going to pass it on arbitration, you were really confident of your case, perhaps you would go to arbitration, would be my thinking – but they are adamant that they don’t believe that that is the way things should be done. That is their feeling.”
In his letter to MP Chi Onwurah to share some clarity on the collapse of the deal, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters claimed he offered the group of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), PCP Capital Partners and Reuben Brothers the opportunity to have the matter determined by an ‘independent arbitral tribunal’ if they wanted to challenge the Premier League’s conclusion over which entities would be in control of the club in the event of a takeover (via BBC Sport).
Do you think the consortium should go to arbitration?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
It seems strange to us that the Saudi-backed consortium turned down the opportunity of arbitration to get the issue sorted out if they were confident of their case, as Douglas mentioned in the podcast.
This shows that this saga may still have a way to go before it can finally be put to bed and everyone can move on.