Newcastle United journalist Chris Waugh has been discussing the Tyneside’s club arbitration process against the Premier League in regards to the stalled PIF, PCP and Reuben Brothers takeover.
This comes after Waugh recently made an appearance on The Athletic’s Ornstein & Chapman Podcast where he spoke about a number of topics concerning the Toon.
After it was recently announced by the club that they were “pursuing” arbitration against the Premier League over “its conduct relating to the proposed takeover,” Waugh had this to say on the issue.
He said: “We don’t know exactly what the arbitration is trying to achieve – whether it is [an] ownership change, or whether it is compensation, exactly what it is – but all the parties remain interested.
“Mike Ashley still wants to sell up for about £305 million, and so the whole club remains in this sort of limbo stasis where nobody knows exactly what’s going to happen in the short to medium-term, never mind the long-term, and so Mike Ashley still hangs over the club.”
Are you cornered by this arbitration process from the club?
Yes
No
Back in July, it was revealed that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, PCP Capital Partners and the Reuben Brothers had withdrawn their interest in buying Newcastle after originally making a bid of £300 million for the club back in April.
According to their statement, they 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’.
TIF Thoughts on Chris Waugh’s comments on the arbitration and the current ownership at Newcastle…
In their statement on the arbitration situation earlier this month, Newcastle said that they will make “no comment on the substance” of the arbitration, which is probably why Waugh has no clear information on what it is about specifically.
However, in our view, it seems likely that the club will reveal the outcome of it when the proceedings have finalised in due time, so it may be the best port of call for the Newcastle fans to sit tight and wait until the club release a new statement on the matter.