Politics is at heart of this - Maguire

PREMIER League ‘politics’ likely played a part in the failure of the Newcastle United takeover bid.

That is the view of football finance expert Kieran Maguire, who believes a fear of increased competition within the top-flight could have played a part in the breakdown of the bid.

Businesswoman Amanda Staveley - who would have held a 10% stake if a deal was approved - blamed the Premier League’s indecision for the failure of the takeover.

Reports alleged rival Premier League clubs, as well as other outside influences, also played a part in preventing the deal being approved.

Maguire - a football finance expert and author who lectures at the University of Liverpool believes there is a connection between Premier League ‘politics’ and the failure of the takeover bid.

He said: “The press release and again you have to take these things with a large dose of salt said they were disappointed with the delays and also the continuing uncertainty of Covid-19 has made their decision.

“Amanda Staveley is said to be heartbroken as a result of this.

“I think the issues are to do with the owners’ and directors’ test.

“The Premier League has spent 17 weeks trying to decide whether or not they want the PIF to be appropriate owners.

“People will be making links toward human rights issues but we already have a Saudi owner at Sheffield United.

“We have Russian, Chinese, Thai, UAE owners, so to separate out one country does seem harsh.

“I was reading some reports that pressure was put on the Premier League by some of the clubs themselves who do not like the idea of the big six becoming the big seven.

“I suspect if we drew a Venn diagram there could be a big overlap between those muttering things to the Premier League about a Saudi takeover not being in the best interests of football and those clubs who are known as the ‘nasty nine’ who wrote to UEFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport saying Manchester City’s recent appeal against a ban for breaking financial fairplay rules should not go ahead.

“There is a lot of politics in Premier League football and this appears to be connected to that as well sadly.”