Newcastle's takeover is a baffling saga that is now close to reaching the four-month mark.Delays have occurred everywhere you've looked while the whole process has been flooded with controversies.As another week arrived, that was once again the case for the Magpies who are being engulfed by various issues in Saudi Arabia.The would-be owner Mohammed Bin Salman, has been implicated in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi while KSA's human rights record continuously gets put under the spotlight.Amazingly, that hasn't been the biggest issue, though.Instead, it's the piracy revelations that have come out of the Middle-East that have wreaked havoc with PIF's plans.Richard Keys recently claimed that the takeover would be done and dusted by Friday with the British government keen to see it waved through. That is a rather different notion to the MP who thought it would be humiliating two weeks ago.
However, despite Keys and even Craig Hope suggesting things were close, another spanner has been put in the works.In a shock turn of events on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia banned beIN Sports and fined them £2m.That means that either legally or illegally, at the moment, the Saudi people have no chance of watching Premier League football. Following that surprising reveal, the BBC's sports editor Dan Roan took to Twitter to provide his thoughts on the matter, hinting that it was bad news for those wanting the top-flight to pass the takeover.He said:
It has to be added, it's hardly surprising that beIN Sport have been left shocked by the news.
GIVEMESPORT'S Matt Dawson says...
Life is never simple on Tyneside and this was again further evidence of that.
Just as it looked as though the Premier League would finally pass the takeover and PIF could begin life in Newcastle, everything is again up in the air.
It's rather coincidental that this news breaks just a day after Keys' claims that things could be wrapped up by the end of the week.
A beIN Sports presenter, his job will now surely be under threat. He is one of the lead personalities involved in the production of their Premier League coverage, but without it, nor Saudi or even Keys have a way to watch the English top-flight.
As Roan says, this is unlikely to impress the likes of Richard Masters who may now find it even harder to pass the takeover.
After all, this was a battle of money and the Premier League were trying to do a TV deal with beIN. They'll now have to scrap that.