At 3.24pm on Wednesday 6 October 2021, an article entitled ‘Saudi Arabia makes peace with Qatari TV – leading to Newcastle United Takeover Speculation’ was published on the mag.
After more than 14 years of Mike Ashley and so many false dawns, the article did not provoke the most enthusiastic reactions.
So many times had Ashley tried to sell Newcastle United and it turned out to be anything but the case, just trying to fool the fans into believing this.
Although by October 6, 2021, I don’t think there were many supporters left who would still swallow the deception of the then owner.
It was just our luck that when Mike Ashley had finally accepted that he had to sell Newcastle United, after his last desperate act of giving away 10,000+ free season tickets to fill the countless empty seats he had brought (with the help of Steve Bruce), we found the willing buyers (Saudi Arabia PIF) who had been blocked by the Premier League.
A saga (Saudi Arabia PIF led the consortium and tried to buy NUFC) that had gone on for about 21 months, seemingly still with no chance of reaching a successful conclusion.
So, moving forward exactly four years and one day, this below is that article entitled ‘Saudi Arabia making peace with Qatari TV – leading to Newcastle United Takeover Speculation’ which was published on the MAG, followed by some of the responses to that article at the time…
‘Wednesday afternoon has seen renewed Newcastle United Takeover speculation.
News from Saudi Arabia raises the question of whether this has brought the NUFC takeover saga a small or even significant step closer.
Saudi Arabia has confirmed that the four and a half year ban against Bein Sports will be lifted.
The Qatari broadcaster will also receive damages, as part of a $1 billion arbitration case launched by Bein.
While perhaps most interesting to fans in Newcastle, the news is that the Saudi government has also pledged to work directly with Bein to shut down any TV piracy in Saudi Arabia.
Among the positives on the Qatar/Bein side of things, this means they now have access to the largest market in the region they pay to have Premier League rights, with people in Saudi Arabia now having access to the Bein Sports coverage.
Martyn Ziegler is chief sports reporter for The time And he believes a big motivation for these moves happening now is that the rights for December’s FIFA Arab Cup have just gone out for tender.
How much, if at all, the above can impact the Newcastle United takeover remains to be seen.
Pushing ahead with any progress / where Newcastle United’s takeover process is often feels like trying to do a puzzle in pitch black.
When the NUFC takeover was before the Premier League for ‘approval’ last year, the issue of the Saudi PIF’s separation from the Saudi state, along with alleged TV piracy, was seen by many as a double whammy in terms of making Mike Ashley’s sale impossible to go ahead.
As things stood in 2020, unless Saudi PIF’s separation from the Saudi state could be proven, it meant with piracy still ongoing as a problem in Saudi Arabia for Bein, the Saudi PIF would be seen as part of the Saudi state allowing the TV piracy to happen.
The divorce issue that never reached a conclusion with the Premier League because the Saudi consortium withdrew, without ever having the arguments officially heard by the Premier League as to who would become the owners/directors to be tested for suitability.
It’s hard to see today’s news as anything but a positive for the chances of a Newcastle United takeover, with piracy and other BEIN issues no longer set to be potential impassable obstacles.
The question of what the Premier League will accept and what the Saudi-LED consortium might offer, in terms of what would be sufficient/acceptable to meet the owners/directors’ demand, is still impossible to answer.
Returning to my comparison of the Newcastle United takeover being as transparent as trying to do a puzzle in the dark, we’re not even sure the Saudis are still interested in buying the club. Most of us believe they are because of what we hear secondhand, although it could be possible that the Saudis aren’t even interested in trying to complete this Newcastle United Takeover Jigsaw anymore, whether that’s with the lights on.
Perhaps the most pertinent question is whether the Premier League saw the piracy problem as the legitimate biggest obstacle to a takeover, or the only real big one? As with the best legal team that money can buy, can some form of words or other structure be proposed that would satisfy the Saudi PIF/State separation issue for the Premier League?
With the total shambles on the playing side under Steve Bruce, plus the NUFC arbitration hearing with Premier League not being heard until January 2022, Newcastle fans are hoping against hope that today’s moves by Saudi Arabia could perhaps be something that could pave the way for a takeover to happen. ‘
Interesting to remember how desperately, at the time, we hoped so much for that arbitration hearing. However, instead of that hearing taking place in January 2022, we saw the new Newcastle United owners backing Eddie Howe to save the club from the impending relegation that Ashley and Bruce had caused, with five major signings made in that January 2022 transfer window.
Anyway, these were some of the reactions from Newcastle fans to that article reproduced above from exactly four years and a day ago (the day before we got official confirmation that the Newcastle United takeover had happened):
Mike:
“That ship sailed a long time ago, no chance of it coming back.”
The Yahhadway:
‘Realism says the deal is dead, Hope tells me to hang there. you never know. ‘
Newki source:
‘If the piracy issue was the deciding factor for a go/no go for the approval of the takeover… the PL will simply shift the rationale to kill it elsewhere. Corrupt to the core. ‘
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