Mark Douglas has dropped some insight from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) Public Investment Fund (PIF) on the potential Newcastle United takeover.
The Lowdown: Ashley launches legal bid
The Guardian recently reported that Ashley released a powerful statement after HMRC quietly stopped a long-running investigation into the tax affairs of the Tyneside club.
According to the Shields Gazette, Newcastle and the chief executive of Sports Direct have accused the Premier League of what they think was anti-competitive behaviour in their decision-making process on the proposed deal from the KSA consortium.
They are looking to take the league to court over the matter and have also accepted an anti-competition case given to them by Newcastle Consortium Supporters Limited (NCSL), with the Premier League given fresh legal papers as Ashley looks to push them to put through the bid.
The Latest: PIF insight on takeover
Writing in his latest piece for The Chronicle, Douglas has shared that Ashley’s legal bid is further evidence to PIF that he is still fully committed to the deal, with all parties wanting to illustrate that it is not dead in the water.
Other clubs and advisors have constantly approached them with proposals, but it seems as if both parties still want their original deal to go through.
The Verdict: Arbitration key to potential takeover revival
The pending arbitration case between Newcastle and the Premier League will likely be crucial in seeing where the potential takeover is heading.
A positive outcome for the Magpies could clear a pathway, but a negative one could leave any potential revival of the original bid officially dead and buried.
In other news, find out what big claim has been dropped on the potential Newcastle takeover!