The Daily Telegraph’s Newcastle United correspondent Luke Edwards believes that the club’s prospective takeover by a Saudi-backed consortium has run into a major problem.
The Daily Mirror reported on Tuesday that the Premier League has yet to ratify the prospective new owners due to state piracy of games in the top-flight.
The deal is set to come to £300 million but the Mirror claim that there are huge legal issues that need to be solved.
The league’s legal team, according to the report, have been doing battle with the Saudi-backed piracy for some time now – they have been pursued by the likes of FIFA, UEFA as well as a number of top-flight divisions, including La Liga.
And Edwards believes that the deal is now in significant doubt.
Quoting a tweet that mentioned the Mirror’s report, he wrote on Twitter: “We knew this was the problem didn’t we? It’s like when the buyers kept saying no red flags.
“There was a massive one of those as soon as this began and we discovered this below. More than that, the PL have supported every single attempt to take legal action by others too.”
Edwards, naturally, was inundated with replies from worried Newcastle fans, and in one reply he claimed that the takeover is now at a “50-50” chance.
GIVEMESPORT’S Harry Sherlock says…
Oh dear.
It appears as though the dream takeover may be crashing down around the ears of supporters.
A source at the Mirror claims that they have “stolen” from the division, and Edwards’ tweet casts fresh doubt on the likelihood of the league ratifying the deal.
One can argue all day long about the fact that the Premier League are only taking issue with the potential piracy and not the human rights abuses in the country, but this is a very real issue.
It remains to be seen if they can find a loophole and a way through this but, right now, the deal may well be hanging by a thread.
To go from the prospective new buyers claiming that there were “no red flags” to Edwards now stating it is only a 50-50 chance is a sign that developments are not moving positively.
Newcastle fans are unlikely to have any nails left when this is all done, regardless of the outcome.