Newcastle United has confirmed that the Premier League club has a case in court against the league over the failed takeover of the club by Saudi Arabian-backed consortium, Public Investment Fund, PCP Capital Partners, and Reuben Brother.
Negotiation of the deal lasted for over 5 months before it finally collapsed in June 2020. When the deal collapsed, the investors claimed that they had to bow out of the deal because it was taking too long.
Despite the investors’ assertion over the failed takeover deal, most people at Newcastle United believed that the Premier League frustrated the investors until they were forced to bow out of the negotiation. The Saudi Arabian-backed consortium reportedly planned to put £300 million into the club which would have helped the club to be more competitive in the elite league.
Besides the fact that people in the inner circle of Newcastle United were not happy that the deal did not scale through, the fans of the club have been agitating against the failed takeover deal and successfully dragged the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, to the controversy. On his part, the Prime Minister urged the league to explain why the deal failed.
The explanation of the league through the league’s chief executive officer, Richard Masters, was not enough to stop Newcastle United from carrying out legal proceedings against the league.
However, the club wanted the lawsuit over the failed deal to remain confidential between the club and the league. But the legal issue was reported without an official statement from Newcastle United. This infuriated the club and forced them to issue a statement on Thursday, November 19, to confirm that the club is in court against the league.
The club which is owned by Mike Ashley argued that they decided to keep the legal proceedings secret because of “the confidentiality clause in the EPL’s rules”. They however had to publicly comment on it to update the club’s fans since it has already gone public without the club’s consent.
“The source of some of the reporting is said to be the EPL”, Newcastle United said in a statement. “It appears, therefore, that the EPL has leaked the contents of their letter to some of those commenting in the public domain.
“The club understands that these will be matters of great concern to its fans and therefore considers that, in light of the information disclosed by the EPL, it has no choice but to respond and update its fans in response to this coverage.”
Though Newcastle failed to give further details of the legal proceedings and the stage the case has gotten to, the club confirmed that “it has issued arbitration proceedings against the EPL”.
Newcastle United will continue with their 2020-2021 Premier League campaign on Saturday against Chelsea by 13:30. So far this season, the club has recorded three wins, two draws, and three defeats in 8 games. This performance has earned the club 11 points and 13th spot on the league table.
