Newcastle takeover news: Magpies instruct lawyers in dispute with Premier League over failed Saudi Arabia
Newcastle have instructed lawyers in their dispute with the Premier League over the attempted Saudi-led takeover of the club.
Blackstone Chambers said on Monday that two of its barristers, Shaheed Fatima and Nick De Marco, are acting for the club in the matter.
The Magpies released a statement on Wednesday last week claiming the Premier League had rejected a takeover bid which would have seen Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund (PIF) take an 80 per cent stake in the club.
The statement said: “The club and its owners do not accept that Premier League chief executive Richard Masters and the Premier League have acted appropriately in relation to this matter and will be considering all relevant options available to them.”
The league responded the following day, saying it was “surprised and disappointed” by Newcastle’s statement and that it had not rejected the takeover bid.
“The Premier League board has, on a number of occasions, given its opinion about which entities it believes would have control over the club should the consortium proceed with the acquisition. That opinion is based on legal advice,” a league statement read.
“This means the potential takeover could proceed to the next stage should the relevant entities provide all appropriate information.
“They would then be subject to a suitability assessment by the board. As an alternative, the board has repeatedly offered independent arbitration as a way forward since June.
“It is also incorrect to suggest these decisions were taken by any individual; they were agreed unanimously by all Premier League board members.”
Bruce not carried away with West Ham win
In footballing matters, Steve Bruce is refusing to get carried away after seeing his Newcastle team launch its new Premier League campaign with an impressive victory at West Ham.
Callum Wilson and Jeff Hendrick both scored at the London Stadium, while fellow debutant Jamal Lewis also turned in an impressive display.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Monday morning, Bruce said: “There’s nothing better for anyone than to go away from home and win, especially in the Premier League because we know how difficult it is.
“But it wasn’t just the victory which pleased me, it was the way we went about it too with three new faces in the squad who looked as if they’d been here for years, never mind a week, so that pleased me – and all three of them had wonderful debuts, which also helps the situation.
“All in all, we’ve had a decent start, but we’re not going to get too carried away over one result because there’s still a long, long way to go.
Eyebrows were raised when Bruce paired £20million summer signing Wilson with Andy Carroll in attack against the Hammers, but made no apologies for doing so.
He said: “Andy has not missed a day in training, or a minute, since we came back from lockdown.
“As soon as he walked through the door again, we thought, ‘He looks lean and fit’, and keeping him fit, that is the key to it. He scored a couple of times in pre-season, did everything we asked of him, so he deserved his chance.
“We only had him, to be fair, up front and he took his chance, and I think he deserved to play. Then obviously with the arrival of Callum, I just know being an ex-centre-half that to play against those two is going to be difficult.”