Premier League unable to make Newcastle United takeover statement as afraid of legal action – Report
It is sounding increasingly as though the Premier League are in a Catch 22 situation with the Newcastle United takeover.
Having refused to come to a decision in 17 weeks and allegedly telling those bidding to buy NUFC that they would never do so, instead determined to wait until the prospective buyers got sick of the situation and called it off.
However, if the Premier League thought that was the end of the matter and it would quietly go away, they may need to think again…
A relentless campaign by Newcastle fans has seen them prompt at least 50 MPs to write to the Premier League, demanding that they need to as a minimum make a public statement explaining / justifying why the process took so long without a decision being made – as well as hopefully giving an answer to some quite shocking claims, such as that they had stated they would never make a decision.
A petition calling for an independent investigation into the Premier League takeover process has been signed by over 105,000 fans / people.
The Prime Minister has stated that the Premier League have to make a statement, whilst the Independent Football Ombudsman has said exactly the same.
Yet 13 days after the consortium said they had been left with no alternative but to pull out of the deal due to the delay, the Premier League are still refusing to make any comment, never mind in depth statement.
A new report with claimed sources close to the takeover situation, says that the Premier League are now in what appears to be an impossible situation.
The Telegraph reporting that their information is that the Premier League are terrified of making a statement because they believe it would result in legal action against them.
The Telegraph report:
It is an unprecedented situation for the Premier League, which neither passed nor failed the prospective buyers, but, with MPs and fans groups now demanding answers, Masters is under mounting pressure to explain on the record why the process was so drawn out. Those involved in the deal believe such a statement remains “hugely unlikely” to state on the record which way the process was heading due to the legal ramifications.
“It is becoming an impossible situation for the PL,” said one source close to talks, who cited the case of BeIn, the Qatari broadcaster which was vehemently opposed to the deal due to Saudi Arabia’s failure to prevent the BeOutQ piracy scandal. “The league is desperate to hang on to keeping their process secret because they have Ashley’s lawyers circling in one corner and BeIN Sports in the other.”
The report says that Mike Ashley could be set to sue the Premier League over the Newcastle United takeover collapse because he is understood to have received assurances from the Premier League in April that there were ‘no red flags’ that would stop the proposed takeover.
Mike Ashley is said to be desperate to get the Newcastle United takeover done with the consortium (as we all know, claims of Henry Mauriss and other supposed alternative live bidders are a joke) but the newspaper says that the Saudi PIF will only return for talks IF the Premier League give written assurances that the deal will be allowed to go through.
The report adds that: ‘The Premier League declined to comment’, no surprises there!
It feels like a pressure cooker situation building for the Premier League, one that is going to going on and on, rising in temperature / pressure, not going away, and eventually the whole thing will be blown open.
The cowboy outfit that is the running of the Premier League has created an impossible situation for themselves. Instead of following their own rulebook on whether or not to approve a takeover, they have brought a whole lot of other factors into the situation.
Now it is down to them to answer for their actions.
Meanwhile, Newcastle United are 17 days into the transfer window without buying a single player, are still stuck with Mike Ashley and Steve Bruce, have a squad that had relegation form over the final 20 games of last season (only four wins), the squad return to training next week and only four weeks now to go until the new season.
A massive unnecessary mess where Newcastle fans are going to be the ones who are the biggest victims.
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