Jackie Broon

And it's positive that they have confirmed it is arbitration rather than litigation. What's that mean? That it's probably about resolving differences to allow the takeover to go through rather than seeking damages over a failed takeover.

Not on the basis of the club statement, which makes it very clear that it's arbitration, which is a dispute resolution process, rather than a process of seeking damages. That suggests that the deal is still very much alive.

And it's positive that they have confirmed it is arbitration rather than litigation.

Yeah, someone rightly pointed out that unless NCSL have entered into a confidentially agreement (which they offered to the PL and was presumably turned down) they are under no obligation to keep the information private... then he deleted the original tweet.

NCSL probably aren't bound by any confidentiality agreement so it isn't odd at all. If the PL have given that confidential information to NCSL without anything in place to ensure that it remains confidential, it's the PL that have breached confidentiality not NCSL.

I doubt the issue of standing is as cut and dried as some are suggesting. People are making the assumption that they can’t have standing because they’re just two fans, however, one or both of them are also likely to be customers of the club. There could be an advantage in and reason for a case being brought by fans, according to the government guidance the CAT fast-track process is generally only open to individuals and small business. If the case were being brought by the club or consortium it might be less likely to be handled under the fast-track process. CAT cases can be brought by customers, the guidance gives an example of a purchaser of a product who has had to pay more for it because the manufacturer or retailer has infringed competition law. Just speculating but there are possibly ways that standing could be demonstrated in relation to any season ticket holder. We’re in a situation where the PL would rather keep an owner who has withheld refunds from season ticket holders in place than allow owners to take control who could potentially threaten the established big 6. Even if the loss demonstrated is pennies, a big compensation pay-out clearly isn’t the goal here, it’s a judgement that the PL have breached competition law in their actions.

To be fair, so did everyone else with connections to the consortium. They were obviously convinced on a few occasions that it was going through only for the PL to turn around and ask for something else.

I agree I just want some positive news. Positive - it's nearly 2 weeks since Mimms said cans in a few weeks. Mimms clearly has a source. If the source was telling the truth good news should be just around the corner. This guy, who has posted stuff on the takeover that has turned out to be correct in the past and seems to be the only ITK still speaking indicates that it won't be concluded before December. https://twitter.com/RyanMaine_/status/1324999535408640000

I assumed the 'top QC' being referred to was Nick De Marco, and it was his reported involvement that was being discussed, not NCSL's counsel. Sorry if I got the wrong end of the stick, but I still think it's notable that De Marco tacitly gave his personal support to NCSL's pre-action letter.

So the PL have called their bluff in that case? Not sure if one of Europes top QC's would get involved in a bluff (potential). He would have little choice under the cab rank rule. He retweeted it from his personal twitter account, he absolutely did have choice in that.

Is Liam Kennedy lying? As he reckons it is. I personally have no idea. It's entirely plausible that Liam Kennedy has no idea too. Well it is and it isn't, it's simply the deadline that the letter has given for a response before they start instigating court proceedings, which isn't something that is likely to happen quickly or might not at all. So it's only a deadline in that the letter says 'respond by this date', there probably isn't any consequence for the PL if they don't respond. Also, I can't be arsed to look it up but I think the procedral guidance recommends at least a month is given to respond.

We've just had probably the busiest week on the takeover front for months, our resident ITK has gone from cautious 'it's moving in the right direction but is a long way off' updates to basically saying it'll be done in a few weeks time. MMA has said he's been told to stay quiet at this stage and Mimms seems to have gone quiet, suggesting the same for them or their source. All of that indicates that there is currently a lot going on behind the scenes and the takeover is at a critical stage. Give it a few weeks at least before concluding that it's fading into nothingness.

Scoff if you like but it's as good a guess as any. Connections to both Newcastle and Blackburn, dislike of Ashley, regular twitter poster with a similar style and turn of phrase in his more acerbic tweets.

If it is someone known my guess would be Shearer, particularly as the account started life as a Venky's parody.

Although Gordon Stein’s first letter to the PL certainly was terribly written, and I said as much here at the time, I don’t feel that the pre-action letter is badly written. There seems to be an over-reliance on reference to media reports, rather than actual evidence, and the deadline for response doesn’t seem to be realistic or in accordance with procedural guidance, but I wouldn't say that it’s badly written. In terms of the legal merits, I’d imagine that this is a highly specialist area of law that no one on this forum is likely to be in a position to take a view on. However, the fact that Nick De Marco retweeted it is telling, I very much doubt he would be willing to associate himself in any way with something that is spurious badly written noise. Whilst it might not be in our experience for such matters to be conducted so publicly, the fact that a highly regarded Silk is involved in doing so at least suggests that this is potentially serious.

There are only two people that appear to be ITK on here and neither have said it is close. Mimms has said that it may be a few weeks today but before that has always said that it would be months.

The Saudi intelligence agency hacked Jeff Bezos's phone through WhatsApp. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Masters and Hoffman's WhatsApp messages have made their way into PIF's hands.

No, the papers served on the PL are from the 'fans group', however, that action appears to be backed by the buyers. It could be that the club and buyers are actually behind it but it's legally expedient to have the action brought by a third party for some reason.

You literally couldn’t be more wrong about every statement you’ve just made. That wasn’t the first time DeMarco saw that letter, let’s say he may have had an input in a lot of it. Ignore the fan led action bit as it really isn’t. Kennedy probably knows the most out of any journo regarding this (that includes Caulkin) Convinced you’re Liam Kennedy now, but I digress So another new fan group has surfaced to push this action, can you explain why then it is associated with the same individuals, (Gordon Stein is named on the letter) who were involved with the ridiculous fundraising appeal ‘WorFund’? A complete scam, ludicrously asking for £500k for legal fees Why would they ask for this money, if they were then going to take this action anyway? At least you can take part in Wraith’s show tonight, I see he’s already hawking it as an ‘exclusive’. It could be that it is convenient for the consortium to have an unconnected person to take the action and got in touch with him due to the WorFund stuff. Possibly so they can continue to negotiate with the PL. In my work we often have cases brought against us by a serial litigator who gets penniless stooges to take legal action on his behalf so he is not liable for costs. Not saying that's the case here, but just an example that it does happen.

He did: https://www.themag.co.uk/2020/08/this-formal-letter-has-been-sent-to-the-premier-league-threatening-legal-action-on-newcastle-united-takeover/

He’s been called a hypocrite on live tv. Roundly slaughtered for coming out with this statement while taking season ticket money If we were really at the ‘make room in the fridge’ stage, why would he even bother? Unpredictable or not why bring heat on yourself to the point your PR man needs to go on sky when it won’t even be your concern in a few weeks time. It all points to him being here for a while yet If we really were at the #fridge stage there would be a period of at least about 3 days between the OK being given by the PL and the ownership formally changing. Whether or not we're actually in that period the consortium would almost certainly want input on decisions that affect the future of the club / PL at this stage, such as today's meeting. I know Ashley is unpredictable, but that statement is so out of character that it can't actually be from him. I can see Ashley seeing the financial benefit in charging less to sell more, but suggesting giving away 50% of the profits?! That's not our Mike.

It's the only thing that seems to make sense. His name may be on that statement but there is no way on earth that they are his words.

Which is essentially what I was saying, there's nothing related to the takeover in today's story, people need to just to stop reacting to every story about it as if it's a personal attack on us.

It's got fuck all to do with the takeover, it's only people in this thread that are connecting the two and it's, quite frankly, a bit embarrassing. It's not driven by some grand conspiracy against NUFC, we are peripheral in all this and not even being mentioned in this particular instance.

The latest news is regarding civil legal action being brought against MbS in the US, absolutely nothing to do with the takeover.