League chief won’t be drawn on a date for buyout decision
how we like to work and I am really excited to work with Chris and to work with Ben Dawson again.
“Ben (the club’s head of academy coaching) has been a big mentor of mine throughout the last three to five years and always been a source of advice for me.
“To be able to learn off these guys is going to be great.”
Matty Longstaff, Tom Allan and Kell Watts have all stepped up from the under-23s set-up this season to make their firstteam debut, while Jack Young has been named in a number of matchday squads recently.
It was a step Ramage took himself when he was making his way at United and he is hoping he can draw on his personal experience of rising through the ranks at Benton to help him in his new role.
He went on: “It has been great to see.
“These are some of the kids I watched when I was at the academy and it has been great to see them develop. “The challenge for them now is to stay in the first-team pool. “It is great motivation for the other guys to come through and these guys are pushing to get into that pool. “It is great testament to the academy they are pushing to be a part of the under23 setup.
“I know what they are going to go through and I know what they are going through.
“I have been there, done that and lived the dream.
“So when guys need a little extra push or something like that I know what they need.
“I know how to help them off the field as well and I have been through the process of getting your body ready for the demands of the first team.
“Having that experience of coming through the first team can only help and benefit me.”
PREMIER League chief executive Richard Masters has told a North East MP he still ‘cannot commit to a specific timeline’ for a decision on the Newcastle United takeover.
Gateshead MP Ian Mearns wrote a letter expressing the frustration and concerns of Newcastle fans in his constituency at how long this process had been dragged on.
It has now been months since PCP Capital Partners’ bid for the club reached the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test stage.
The bid, spearheaded by financier Amanda Staveley and also involving the Reuben brothers, Simon and David, is backed by the mega-rich Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund and is awaiting the green light from Premier League chiefs.
It has left fans and manager Steve Bruce frustrated as calls for clarity on the situation continue to intensify as Newcastle remain in limbo.
The transfer window is now open and the new Premier League season begins in less than six weeks with the Magpies unsure as to who will own the club heading into the 2020/21 season.
Now, Premier League supremo Masters has now sent a response to Mearns – who is a Newcastle season ticket holder and leads the Football Supporters’ Federation’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for Football Supporters in Parliament – again outlining the reasons for the Premier League’s silence on the matter.
He offered little clarity in terms of a timeline for a decision.
MASTERS’ LETTER IN FULL: Dear Mr Mearns,
Thank you for your letter of the 21 July. I appreciate everything you outline in your letter and the concerns of Newcastle United fans.
However, I hope you appreciate that while these matters are often subject to significant public discussion, at their heart are due processes required by UK Law and by the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test, which cannot be conducted in public and on which we cannot comment while these processes are still ongoing.
We are confident these processes go above and beyond that required by UK Company Law and they are applied with equal rigour to every purchase of a Premier League club regardless of the owner or director.
I do hope we will have a resolution to this matter soon but cannot commit to a specific timeline at this stage.
I can assure you my public affairs team will look to keep you and your fellow MPs with an interest in Newcastle United across any financial decision as soon as that is made.
Thank you again for your letter, and for your longstanding support of Newcastle United.
Yours sincerely, Richard Masters.
■■ ANOTHER North East MP has also sent a letter to Masters asking for a resolution to the buyout saga.
Jarrow MP Kate Osborne has sent a letter to Masters after contact from concerned fans who want an answer on whether Amanda Staveley, the Reuben brothers and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund have been successful in their bid to buy the club.
Osborne wrote: “As an MP for the constituency for Jarrow I represent thousands of United fans who after 16 weeks of waiting continue to be on tenterhooks to hear the decision which will determine their club’s future.”
Osborne added: “The length of time this decision is taking is putting immense stress on many Newcastle United fans across the constituency of Jarrow.
“I am not pressurising you to make a decision one way or another.
“However, I would urge you to publish a timescale and help put supporters’ minds at rest.”