The post-season break is set to be strange for every club in England, but none more-so than Newcastle United.With the Premier League season coming to an end this this weekend attention now turns to next season as a prompt turnaround gets underway.Unfortunately for the Magpies things look set to be especially difficult.Amanda Staveley is fronting a Saudi-backed consortium who are pushing to complete a £300million takeover of the club, with Mike Ashley keen to sell the club.However the Sports Direct mogul faces a nervy wait as the sale of the club is out of his hands.As it stands, the Premier League are running the rule over the potential sale - a process which is taking far longer than many would have imagined.This delay in a decision has led to widespread frustration among supporters who fear for the future of their club.If the deal was to fall through it would be hugely frustrating given the lengthy process that's brought us to this point.
Other bidders are thought to be waiting in the wings, but the main concern is about preparing for the new season - something that's incredibly difficult when no one knows who will be making the key decisions.That will have a knock-on effect to transfer plans, contracts and more.An announcement was made earlier this week regarding a sponsorship deal with Fun88, which certainly got fans talking.This also led one fan to question why the Sports Direct banners had been removed and replaced with ones from the fresh deal, with some suggesting that it could mean a deal is close.But according to George Caulkin of The Athletic, it doesn't neccesarily mean that a decision from the Premier League is forthcoming.
He said: "They’ve just renewed their sponsorship, so perhaps it’s tied in with that (truthfully - I don’t know).
"But, honestly, there’s been no movement in terms of the deal being signed off by the Premier League."
GIVEMESPORT'S Phil Spencer says...
I can't even imagine how frustrating this must be for the Newcastle United fans.
After years of wanting Mike Ashley to sell the club it seems that they're on track to finally get their wish.
But unfortunately things are never that simple.
There's still plenty of hope that the deal will go through, but with the delays significant it's not a surprise that people are worried.
You'd think that the removal of the Sports Direct logos is a step in the right direction for getting a deal done, but in truth we just don't know.
The hope for Newcastle United is that a decision can be made sooner rather than later to ensure that they're in a position to be fully prepared for the new season, otherwise next term could prove to be tricky.