Newcastle United fans on Twitter have been responding to the latest update surrounding the club’s failed Saudi-backed takeover.
This comes after Newcastle news Twitter account @NUFC360 shared a post on their page relaying news originally published in an article from Chronicle Live.
The article reveals that the Department for International Trade is withholding correspondence regarding the failed takeover bid of the Tyneside club.
The article also added that Chronicle Live has submitted four freedom of information requests about the takeover to Government departments and none have agreed to release any documents.
This post then gathered a lot of replies from Toon fans who were not shy in sharing their responses to this news.
So, what did these Newcastle fans make of this latest update on the latest takeover news?
This really is Newcastle United vs the world isn’t it?
Something seriously fishy at work.
— ?N?I?C?K?Y? (@fORgEtMeAlWays_) November 15, 2020
Earlier this year in July, it was revealed that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, PCP Capital Partners and the Reuben Brothers had withdrawn their interest in taking over Newcastle from current owner Mike Ashley after originally offering a bid of £300 million in April.
It’ll be different when the courts are asking them to hand over docs ?
— mark martin (@markmar80507509) November 15, 2020
According to their statement, the group claimed that they withdrew their interest because ‘the prolonged process under the current circumstances coupled with global uncertainty has rendered the potential investment no longer commercially viable’ for them.
Takeover still on then?
— Thor Inge Jonsdal (@JonsdalInge) November 15, 2020
This recent article also included the grounds upon which the correspondence was not being released.
Failed takeover, or ongoing?
— Mark Doyle (@Doyler88kek) November 15, 2020
Some Newcastle fans responded to the tweet with their explanation of the current situation.
Think withhold is a strong term, it depends on what info was actually asked for. if info is deemed sensitive then they don’t have to release it. On the other hand the info could be a draft agreement and would be disadvantageous to parties involved if released to the public domain
— Richard Patterson (@spaniels1980) November 15, 2020
It means that governmental departments have been in contact with the PL over the takeover, however those departments don’t want to release information of that contact, FOI request puts pressure on them to release, which they have asked for an extension to respond to
— David J G (@DavidJG00615083) November 15, 2020
Are you disappointed by this news?
Yes
No
Looking at some of the replies to this post, it appears that these Newcastle fans are still none the wiser in getting a solid explanation as to why the Premier League didn’t reach an answer to give the takeover the green light.
In our view, if the Department for International Trade has solid grounds for withholding this correspondence, then there may not be much more that can be done about accessing them.
Moving forward, it still appears that there is some work to do before this situation is put to bed once and for all.