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Various: N-O has lost the plot over potential end of Mike Ashley's tenure

Jinky Jim

by Jinky Jim
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Craig H

Craig H

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Posted

With regards to the issues of human rights and broadcasting issues that is being peddled as some new stumbling block that could put a block on it, isn’t it the case that when the story broke in January the Chronicle suggested that these are possible issues?

 

The buyers (or those negotiating the deal and paid significant amounts to do so) will have anticipated this. Those dealing will be experienced lawyers not some newly qualified lawyer with a low charge rate.

 

If the PL want to curtail piracy wouldn’t it be more beneficial to have the alleged pirates on board?

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TooonDoom

TooonDoom

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I'm, like I guess a lot people are, absolutely pig fucking sick of this shit.  It's been a fucking decade and now we're so close yet so far.  Attacked from all angles in the press.  Being locked in our houses doesn't help. 

 

Please give us some good news soon that the checks are passed.

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robm

robm

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Jason Burt reckons nowt to worry about from amnesty international and bein sports.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/04/23/will-newcastle-united-operate-saudi-ownership-vision-club/

 

If anyone could copy and paste the full article that would be good

 

How will Newcastle United operate under Saudi ownership and what is their vision for the club?

 

Fans should not expect levels of spending comparable to Chelsea and Manchester City after their takeovers

 

ByJason Burt, CHIEF FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT23 April 2020 • 7:00am

 

Premium

 

The sale and purchase agreements have been signed, the paperwork exchanged and the deposit paid. The next step for the proposed £300million takeover of Newcastle United is the completion of the owners and directors test.

 

Despite the interventions of Amnesty International and beIN Sports, who have both written to the Premier League to express their concern, the deal is not believed to be in jeopardy. So far there are no so-called ‘red flags’.

 

So what will Newcastle look like if there is a change of ownership and how will it be run? Inevitably the recent focus has been on Yasir Al-Rumayyan who is the governor of one of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. After all, the Saudis are the most powerful and controversial moneymen in all of this.

 

It was The Daily Telegraph, back on January 27, who revealed that Al-Rumayyan would become chairman of Newcastle once, it is hoped, the takeover of the Premier League club is completed after the price was renegotiated down from £340million in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

However the 50-year-old Saudi financier is expected to be a non-executive chairman – his day job is running PIF whose investments range from a five per cent stake in Uber to the Japanese SoftBank group. Al-Rumayyan sits on the board of both ventures and also chairs Saudi Aramco, the state oil business, which claims to be the biggest company in the world.

 

Al-Rumayyan will help lead the strategy but he is not going to be in Newcastle signing cheques. Instead the club will operate with a European corporate governance structure of a chairman and a board of directors.

 

It is what is known as a “process-driven” approach with Al-Rumayyan explaining how the PIF works in a recent interview on Bloomberg’s “The David Rubenstein Show”. “We have layers and layers of investment diligence,” he said with each decision on whether to buy into a company going to “an investment committee and then a board”.

 

Newcastle's takeover has attracted widespread condemnationCREDIT: PA

 

The responsibility for running Newcastle and implementing the long-term plan to make the club a competitive force in English and European football will fall on Amanda Staveley, whose company, PCP Capital Partners, which she operates with her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi, will take a 10 per cent stake and will be the operating partner. PCP will run the club on a day-to-day basis on behalf of the group, acting like an asset manager.

 

The fact that Staveley is, as one source puts it, “stumping up the cash”, along with the property billionaires the Reuben Brothers, who are also buying 10 per cent and will have a place on the board through Jamie Reuben, is important to the Saudis. They will be the majority owners with 80 per cent of the club in what is an all-cash bid that leaves Newcastle debt free but despite their vast financial power the Saudis like to work in partnership with others even when it comes down to sharing the legal costs as has happened throughout this bid.

 

It should also be remembered that while Newcastle will be a high-profile and strategic investment for the Saudis it is not a ‘big’ deal for the PIF which has assets of $330billion and spent $3.5billion on its stake in Uber after Al-Rumayyan used the app and liked it.

 

How Newcastle operate if the deal goes through and Mike Ashley, who remains in Miami during the lockdown, is finally bought out will be fascinating and not least because Staveley, who will be on the board, has never run a football club before. In saying that she probably has not been given enough credit for the role she played in the early days of Abu Dhabi’s buy-out of Manchester City in 2008 while PCP have a number of experienced people who have run big businesses but who are not well-known.

 

With Newcastle the approach is already more structured. This is a group of investors who have a very clear vision of what they want to do with the club and there is a detailed plan in place to recruit an experienced team to upgrade all aspects once the green-light is given. In saying that it will not be done quickly. They will want to get a feel for how the club works – which is why managing director Lee Charnley will be retained for the handover – and take the temperature. Eventually a new chief executive is expected to be headhunted.

 

Despite the legitimate concerns over ‘sportswashing’ and the Saudis human rights record there does not appear to be any material reason to block the bid. Britain trades with Saudi Arabia and the PIF, PCP and the Reubens are all highly credible investors. The Premier League’s focus will be whether the funding is there and the owners are legally allowed to do business in the UK.

 

Undoubtedly the takeover has been complicated by the coronavirus lockdown but that has also given the would-be buyers time to consider their plans which have clearly had to be revised because of the change in the economic landscape. Loss of revenue from five home league games alone has to be factored in while they cannot physically even get into St James’ Park before the restrictions are eased.

 

A priority will be to speak to manager Steve Bruce but that cannot happen until the takeover is completed. It is said Bruce is fearful of losing his job but he will be given time and will be expected to outline his plans on how he believes Newcastle can progress. Contrary to reports there is no shortlist to succeed him as manager and Rafael Benitez, for example, has not been lined up for a return or Mauricio Pochettino to take over.

 

Whether Bruce remains beyond this season, whenever it resumes, clearly remains to be seen but it would be no surprise to see a plan put in place to hire a director of football or sporting director as that would fit into the kind of governance structure favoured by the PIF.

 

There are obvious easy wins such as taking staff out of furlough, tapping into former players and bringing them back on board and laying out a vision that would see Newcastle promote itself as the ‘club of the north’. That would also take significant investment in the training ground and club’s academy and hiring more staff and, again, points to a long-term plan.

 

Money will be spent in the transfer market but fans should not expect the levels of spending that followed the Manchester City takeover or Roman Abramovich’s arrival at Chelsea. Times have changed, even if the new owners wanted to. Even so there will be an intense interest to see how they go about turning Newcastle into a force.

 

 

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TooonDoom

TooonDoom

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It is said Bruce is fearful of losing his job but he will be given time and will be expected to outline his plans on how he believes Newcastle can progress.

 

Christ!

 

Keep him motivated.  Let him finish the season.  Even if its is a tiny chance the new owners can not change the manager now as if we get relegated they look like morons.

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TooonDoom

TooonDoom

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C'mon FA please get on with it!!! The amount of productivity I'm losing through repeatedly checking for updates is embarrassing!  :anguish:

 

Wish they would.  But even if they are already happy I'd see them adding a week for appearances.

 

 

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toon25

toon25

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It is said Bruce is fearful of losing his job but he will be given time and will be expected to outline his plans on how he believes Newcastle can progress.

 

Christ!

 

Someone just needs to email Mandy the statistics which show we’re rock fucking bottom in terms of possession and attacking intent in the PL.

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Guest neesy111

Guest neesy111

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It is said Bruce is fearful of losing his job but he will be given time and will be expected to outline his plans on how he believes Newcastle can progress.

 

Christ!

 

SB: Well, we can just buy lots of better players and they'll improve the team.

PIF: What's your plans with tactics and coaching?

SB: What's coaching?

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