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Opinion

Newcastle United takeover – Death by a thousand cuts

3 years ago
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If it wasn’t dead already, then we now know the PIF Newcastle United takeover deal is dead.

Not sleeping, not resting after a long squawk, its dead.

Firstly, the news that the U.S. officially points the finger at Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for Khashoggi killing is an upgrade on what was already a difficult issue for the Saudis.

The UK will fall in behind the US.

This will give anyone who gave their support for an enquiry into the Premier League a chance to walk away.

MPs support, Councillors meanderings, Petitions, Legal Action, Fans groups stiff letters, all pointless.

This is not going to go away.

Interesting that the Derby County sale which was agreed on 5th November to Sheikh Khaled has yet to go through. Maybe a fit and proper person test failure.

Also, ask yourself, do we really want to be owned by people who think murder is an acceptable thing ?

Secondly, came the news yesterday of the defeat for Ananda Staveley in her ridiculous case against Barclays.

If anything proved that she is just a talentless chancer, this was it.

She banked on Barclays being embarrassed by the sexist remarks they made but Barclays fronted up to her and as her claims gradually became less and less, the writing was on the wall.

As you might be aware (via The Mag comments section), I am no lover of Staveley and her ilk who have done
nothing but use Newcastle United for their own PR and self promotion purposes, even to the extent of reusing some of the words of Mike Ashley post his Newcastle United takeover.

Staveley cynically and systematically preyed on the fans despair of the ownership of Ashley to distract attention from the deal she was fronting and the onerous backers.

All fans, including myself, hope for a change of ownership and a better future for Newcastle United but to have someone
who exploits that hope for their own ends is not acceptable. She would have been a disaster and thankfully we have avoided it.

All potential new owners should be viewed with a degree of scepticism, especially if they keep mentioning “the fans”, none of them are doing it for us. The whole Donald ownership shambles down the road is a stark reminder of what happens if new owners are given a free pass.

So what of the future ?

The action against the Premier League will grind on but I would guess will gradually peter out as they come to some deal with Mike Ashley. Nothing made public, it just quietly ends.

We will hear nothing further from the NCSL (Newcastle Supporters Consortium Limited).

We must stay in the Premier League, that is paramount. No change of ownership will result from relegation.

Winning today (against Wolves) would go a long way to staying up, how we achieve a win is the big unanswerable question.

Do I think we will achieve staying up, yes, but by the finest margin.

Once secured, the Steve Bruce era must end and a new forward thinking manager to move the club forward is essential, we can dream of such an appointment. Going backwards is not an option.

2020 and 2021 so far have been ugly years for us all and Newcastle United.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, let’s hope it also shines on Newcastle United.

Keep safe everyone.

HTL

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