Saudi's back out of Newcastle take over

[Cirrus_Minor]

See link

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53598846

[NewClaret]

Ashley banks another £17m.

He must be gutted

[JohnMac]

Ashley is a shrewd businessman.

I can't see any other option for the Saudi's the longer this dragged on. It's hardly attractive investing anywhere at the moment with the global uncertainty Covid is causing.

[Vegas Claret]

opens the way for the Americans if they are still interested

[Pstotto]

It's a bit like that phone game, Blues v. Greens, a war is being fought above everybody's heads, with absolute press silence about it, as if covert operations had been going on since Cameron declared gloves off and let's vote.

[Chester Perry]

there is a lot of background to this including the decision yesterday by Saudi to appeal the WTO decision regarding piracy of copyright - the MMT thread has been covering all the ins and outs for months - I suspect there is much more to play out in this - including ongoing links between Saudi and Roma and Olympic Marseille.

[ClaretTony]

I think that has got the Premier League off the hook

[Woodleyclaret]

I think you are spot on Tony
The Premier league are struggling with their fit and proper person concept
Hopefully, our much needed investment will be sorted much quicker

[Pstotto]

It's a bit like the game Risk. There must be a board game (pun) of it, Chester Perry? You seem to be clued up on the subject.

I know nothing of finance, but I know there's stuff going on.

Imagine Turf Moor as a plughole and then imagine everyone's spare money flowing into that plughole.

OK then... Simple Simon says imagine everyone's spare money flowing into that plughole.

[Royboyclaret]

A predictable and, in the end, inevitable conclusion to this drawn out saga.

An awful lot of people will be mightily relieved that the decision has been taken out of their hands.

However, the weeping and wailing will be heard from the North East for some time to come. Eventually they will realise they have dodged a serious bullet.

[Quickenthetempo]

Who in their right mind would invest in football at the minute with all that's going on?

I mean, it's not very profitable at the best of times.

[Ashingtonclaret46]

A predictable and, in the end, inevitable conclusion to this drawn out saga.

An awful lot of people will be mightily relieved that the decision has been taken out of their hands.

However, the weeping and wailing will be heard from the North East for some time to come. Eventually they will realise they have dodged a serious bullet.

Great sentiments roy, however, they will continue to weep and wail about someone who kept their heads above water when it was badly needed, however, then made the mistake of asking southerners to get involved in the running of the club ----they have no chance -----I married a girl from up here 53 years ago, settled down up here 32 years ago and have run local football for years and I am only halfway to being accepted so Ashley's mates had no chance and the weeping and wailing will continue! Never mind, if we are ever able to go and watch football again, lots will continue to protest and it makes it easier to get a ticket when I need one!

[chekhov]

I doubt the Saudis would be investing particularly to make a profit.

[chekhov]

Isn’t more about image and, what do they call it, sports washing?

[Royboyclaret]

Who in their right mind would invest in football at the minute with all that's going on?

I mean, it's not very profitable at the best of times.

Well, that aspect was always going to play a part in the outcome, but the massively complex issues between the Saudi State and PIF meant a positive resolution was virtually impossible. Trying to placate the Geordie fans might prove just as difficult.

[Steddyman]

I think you are spot on Tony
The Premier league are struggling with their fit and proper person concept
Hopefully, our much needed investment will be sorted much quicker

Maybe that's why they pulled out of the deal to buy Newcastle.....

[CleggHall]

then made the mistake of asking southerners to get involved in the running of the club ----they have no chance -----I married a girl from up here 53 years ago, settled down up here 32 years ago and have run local football for years and I am only halfway to being accepted

Too true Ashington, I've lived in Newcastle 43 years and am still viewed as an immigrant.
Regional accents are OK but you need the right one for the right place!

[Leisure]

Who in their right mind would invest in football at the minute with all that's going on?

I mean, it's not very profitable at the best of times.

The Venkys don't seem to mind!

[Quickenthetempo]

The Venkys don't seem to mind!

They have just bought themselves a household name in comedy.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

There go all their hopes and dreams of returning to their rightful place in the top group of the PL etc etc.

[Chester Perry]

Who in their right mind would invest in football at the minute with all that's going on?

I mean, it's not very profitable at the best of times.

There is an awful lot of private Equity looking at Football at the moment - again a lot about that on the MMT thread recently

- a lot of the funds are looking at investing at leagues/competitions rather than clubs - there is a bidding war between 7 funds to buy up to 15 % of Serie A at the moment, a fund is looking at buying into the women's top flight in England and there are other rumours as well - It was only 2 years ago that FIFA tried to push through new competitions as a result of a $25 billion pitch from the Softbank fund.
- Private Equity is behind some of the recent loans to Premier League clubs including Everton
- Private Equity in the form of Family offices is where ownership of clubs is best considered (they tend to play a long game and often have more specialist capability) - though a couple of American funds have openly declared interest in acquiring clubs to in a effort to build their own multi-club model.
- Private Equity with specialisms in live entertainment or social technology are interested in investing in clubs (especially those who operate the multi-club model as sport morphs into entertainment in the so called Disneyfication of Football. Think of stadiums and their environs as a destination in themselves - City and the Etihad campus where they are seeking permission for 20,000 seat indoor arena, or Spurs new stadium with all it's bars and restaurants that entice punters to arrive earlier stay longer and spend more.

[Cubanclaret]

Could be a summer standing still for Newcastle then. Steve Bruce will just have to get on with it.

[Barry_Chuckle]

Saudis will not walk away so easy, it's not how they are.
I see a potential double bluff, they will be back to the table, mark my words.

[ElectroClaret]

I think that has got the Premier League off the hook

Aye.

You can bet your bottom dollar this is what the PL has been praying for and the reason there's been all
this delaying and stalling, in the hope they'd do just this.

And as someone posted, Ashley pockets the £17 million non refundable deposit.

Nice work if you can get it....

[Chester Perry]

The Americans are still very keen according to the Telegraph - I will say Edwards is a Geordie and was absolutely certain that the Saudi deal would go through

Newcastle United could still have new owners before the start of next season
LUKE EDWARDS JULY 30, 2020

Newcastle United could still have new owners before the start of next season as the American businessman Henry Mauriss believes he is now in pole position to buy the club after a proposed takeover by a Saudi Arabian-led consortium collapsed.

Telegraph Sport understands that Mauriss has been confident he would eventually succeed in his attempt to own the club for several weeks. Talks have been progressing, but more work still needs to be done and there are no guarantees at this stage.

Tellingly, Mauriss’s interest is not new, which suggests the chance of success is far higher. He first expressed a desire to buy Newcastle back in November 2019 only to be briefly dissuaded from pursuing a deal by reports Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund were behind a rival bid fronted by the financier Amanda Staveley.

A price of £350m has already been agreed with Ashley and, crucially, the money is in place. Negotiations have been speeding up since the start of the month when the Saudi consortium lost its exclusivity, freeing Ashley to speak to other interested parties.

The sport shop billionaire is believed to be happy the funds are there for the transaction to be completed but no timescale is being put on the takeover being completed.

Ashley is understood to have effectively given up on the Saudi deal at the end of June and had lost confidence in Staveley continuously promising him the deal would be passed by the Premier League, despite the piracy issue, because PIF were a separate legal entity to the Saudi Arabian government. It was an argument apparently undermined by the fact Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country's de-facto ruler, is chairman of the fund.

Nevertheless, it was still a surprise when Staveley released a statement on Thursday afternoon saying her company PCP Capital and PIF had pulled out of their attempt to buy the club, as they had not informed anyone at Newcastle United before going public.

Although he was already at the table, their withdrawal gives Mauriss a clear shot and there is a growing sense he will be the new owner before the start of next season, although there will be no updates or briefings given until the takeover is finalised.

Not much is known about the American, but Telegraph Sport has been assured by those close to the deal that he has a well financed and well planned project that includes the money to not only buy the club, but to also invest in it. It is understood the loose business model will be based on the approach taken by FSF at Liverpool, with budgeted, gradual growth at the core of the mission statement.

Although questions have been raised about the American’s lack of personal wealth, he is not buying the club as an individual.

Instead, it is Clear TV who have raised the money, with Mauriss as chief executive driving the interest. He is expected to be the figurehead of the new regime but will also appoint a specialist team to run various departments, which is likely to include a Director of Football and Head of Recruitment.

Telegraph Sport has also been assured that as well as matching Ashley’s asking price, there will be additional investment in the team and club as a whole, with an emphasis on working with other local partners in the city to grow it into a far more competitive Premier League operation than it has been under Ashley.

There will also be no rush to find a new manager, as Steve Bruce will be given a chance to show what he can do with a larger transfer fund behind him.

He will, though, have to prove himself quickly if the takeover goes through, as Mauriss sees Newcastle as a club that should be established in the top 10 and challenging for European qualification.

Although attempts have been made to contact the American, who is based in California, Mauriss will not comment on the deal and both sides will reject any attempt to provide a running commentary on the progress being made.

[ClaretTony]

Aye.

You can bet your bottom dollar this is what the PL has been praying for and the reason there's been all
this delaying and stalling, in the hope they'd do just this.

And as someone posted, Ashley pockets the £17 million non refundable deposit.

Nice work if you can get it....

My thought was, and it might have been very wrong, the PL weren’t comfortable with the people taking over for a number of reasons and two in particular but there was nothing in their owners and directors test that could block them. So they continued to delay things.

[Chester Perry]

My thought was, and it might have been very wrong, the PL weren’t comfortable with the people taking over for a number of reasons and two in particular but there was nothing in their owners and directors test that could block them. So they continued to delay things.

I think that was a part of it, the other was the huge amount of diplomatic work in the background by the UK government whose own interests require ongoing Saudi Investment in UK Business and products, it looked like they had succeeded with Saudi Arabia looking at enforcing piracy law and even launching their own legitimate service to bid for future cycles. It began to collapse when they decided to ban all Bien Media in Saudi amid the false belief they could just buy the rights for Saudi mid cycle - yesterdays confirmation of appealing the WTO piracy decision led to today's inevitable news.

Even then there is a an enormous amount of regional and geo politicking going on, The WTO thing comes as Saudi are trying to get a position of influence within it at a time when MBS's (Saudi Crown Prince) good mate Trump is threatening to remove funding of the WTO like he has with the WHO and also threatening with NATO and the United Nations.

[Wellsy1882]

Relegation next season i feel

[aggi]

Who in their right mind would invest in football at the minute with all that's going on?

I mean, it's not very profitable at the best of times.

Advertising, lobbying, good publicity and influence is expensive. Whether it's TV ads, getting sympathetic stories placed, playing tennis with the PM, etc.

In that context buying a football club isn't too expensive and you may also get a bonus return when you sell it

[ClaretTony]

Ashley has said this morning that he’s still 100% committed to this deal

[bfcjg]

Tyne for the Geordies to move on and be comforted by the fact they are the biggest club in Newcastle and the biggest club in England North of Sunderland it doesn't matter that they haven't actually won anything of note.

[BenWickes]

Tyne for the Geordies to move on and be comforted by the fact they are the biggest club in Newcastle and the biggest club in England North of Sunderland it doesn't matter that they haven't actually won anything of note.

Apart from 4 league titles and 6 FA Cup wins.

[bfcjg]

Apart from 4 league titles and 6 FA Cup wins.

Anyone could win things in those days, the modern era has passed them by.

[DCWat]

Anyone could win things in those days, the modern era has passed them by.

Let’s scrub out our own history then!

[bfcjg]

Let’s scrub out our own history then!

our history is very relevant but we don't bore the backside off people desperately trying to convince the world we are a massive club.