Liam Kennedy has been speaking on the latest edition of NUFC Matters with Steve Wraith about all things relating to Newcastle United.
One of the topics that he spent quite a bit of time on was the Toon’s proposed takeover by PCP Capital Partners, PIF and the Reuben brothers that was withdrawn in July 2020.
Since then, the club have launched a legal challenge against the Premier League over the failed takeover, with the consortium intending to bid again if the challenge is successful.
However, it was claimed by The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards on Tuesday that due to the threat of relegation, the club has halted any talks over a possible takeover.
Kennedy, though, thinks that this changes nothing and the consortium still want to buy Newcastle.
He said: “All I know is that as of very, very recently, things are very live, things are moving in terms of the arbitration – snail’s pace, not the pace that anybody wanted them to go – but it is still live, people are still there.
“The buyers still want to buy the football club, Mike Ashley still wants to sell the football club, but it is important that this relegation is taken seriously by the hierarchy.
“It was good in reading it [Edwards’ piece] that Mike Ashley and the people around him are now aware to the real and present danger that relegation presents to this football club.”
Do you think the takeover is still ongoing?
No, not a chance
Yes, just very slowly
TIF Thoughts on the takeover…
The arbitration process that Kennedy speaks about was made public last November, but considering Mike Ashley hired both Nick De Marco and Shaheed Fatima in September 2020, it is anyone’s guess as to what the current state of play is with regards to this process.
However, Kennedy seems to believe that it is progressing, albeit slowly, and that this latest claim from Edwards hasn’t impacted the proposed takeover despite claims that talks have stopped.
This is all very confusing, and we will just have to see what happens, but with the Toon sat in 17th, three points above the relegation zone, we feel they have more important matters to deal with than the takeover for now.