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Saudi Arabia-backed Amanda Staveley consortium must pass Premier League owners and directors test
Last update: 04/16/20 11:34 am
PCP Capital Partners has moved one step closer to acquiring Newcastle United by filing paperwork with the Premier League and formal checks are being made.
The two sides established a legal framework for a deal, close to £ 300 million, that emerged in public on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia-backed consortium of financier Amanda Staveley will have to pass the Premier League owners and directors test before Mike Ashley’s 13-year tenure at St James’ Park ends.
Ashley and Newcastle have declined to comment.
1:15 Former Newcastle coach assistant Iain Dowie says the proposed acquisition by PCP Capital Partners may take the club to the “highest levels” of English football.
Sky Sports News reported in January that Staveley’s PCP partners and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) were in talks to buy Newcastle.
Ashley originally valued the club at around £ 340 million and the coronavirus pandemic is believed to have had a significant impact on the club’s value.
Talks have been started with the Saudi wealth fund for the past 12 months, under the name of the Zebra Project project, reflecting the famous Newcastle kit.
The Saudi fund (PIF), controlled by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will hold 80 percent of the club’s shares, while Staveley, who tried to buy the club in 2017, will hold 10 percent of the shares and is expected to play a key role. role in the running of the club.
– He was born in Ripon, Yorkshire, in April 1973.
– Married in 2011 to Mehrdad Ghodoussi, born in Iran. They have a son, Lexi, born after Staveley went into labor during a business meeting.
– The family has houses in Dubai and Park Lane in London.
– She was seen in the stands at St James’ Park in October 2017 before Mike Ashley announced her intention to sell the club.
– Staveley credited with mastermind of Sheikh Mansour’s acquisition of Man City by Thaksin Shinawatra in 2009
– Also in 2009, she was involved in a failed attempt to take a controlling stake in Liverpool, pulling away when Fenway Sports Group valued the club at £ 1 billion.
– It was close to buying Newcastle United in January 2018, through its financial vehicle PCP Capital Partners
The final 10 percent will be controlled by billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben.
If the Premier League ratifies the deal, potential buyers are understood to have earmarked a significant investment in the club.
Ashley has been in control at St James’ Park since she bought a majority stake in the club in 2007.
Newcastle has been relegated from the Premier League twice during Ashley’s reign, and his supporters protested his property numerous times.
Some Newcastle fans have voiced disapproval of Ashley’s tenure for years.
‘The new owners will want to take Newcastle back to where they should be’
Jamie Redknapp, speaking on The Football Show:
For Newcastle fans, this will be great news. I know the Rubén family, who are involved in the purchase of the club. Right now, they are just waiting because they don’t want to go out and talk about astronomical numbers. It feels a little rude to talk about it right now.
However, from what I can deduce, it is only a matter of time. They will invest, they want to buy great players and take Newcastle back to where they should be again.
It has been a difficult time for Mike Ashley. He has not always been loved by Newcastle fans and he has not always helped himself. This might be best for both sides to break up and give some new owners a chance to get back to the club on the straight and narrow, and for everyone to enjoy their football there again because it’s a great place to play.
A good challenging Newcastle for the top six is what we all want.
More than anything, you are trying to regain a wellness factor. When you go to see Newcastle, we spend half our time talking about the disconnect between the owner and the fans, and it’s not ideal.
Football is difficult enough as it is and right now there will be a little bit of positivity about the club once this happens; hopefully it is done sooner rather than later.
1:13 Former Newcastle defender Steve Howey says things look much more positive regarding PCP Capital Partners’ latest effort to buy the club from current owner Mike Ashley.
‘The challenge in the top six will not be easy’
Jamie Carragher, speaking on The Football Show:
I have been talking about Mike Ashley for a long time. I don’t think he wanted to be there, and I don’t think Newcastle fans want him to be there.
The big problem the new owners will have is the same as any other club has had when they think they can challenge the top four.
I look at teams like West Ham and Everton who threw a lot of money, thinking that they could really challenge the top six and even the top four.
However, it is very, very difficult and all of a sudden, before you know it, you have big financial problems yourself because you are really trying to attack the best clubs.
It will be very difficult to get Newcastle back where they belong in terms of challenging a league title. I don’t see it, but in terms of perhaps a challenge for European places, trying to get to the top six is not easy.
Jamie Carragher has endorsed the work done by Steve Bruce
The important thing for Newcastle is that the fans had a manager that they adored in Rafa Benítez and Mike Ashley lost him, and they brought Steve Bruce, who I think has done a brilliant job. But it is still not universally loved there, for whatever reason.
The interesting thing now is if that is one of the first decisions. You talk about buying and selling players, but the most important person in a football club is a manager and I would love for Bruce to have the opportunity to show what he can do in terms of the transfer market.
But that will be the most important decision these new owners must make. Are you staying with Steve Bruce? Or do they go and try to get Benítez or another renowned manager back? That is probably more important in the eyes of the supporter than the players they bring.
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