Euro plan poses a major threat to consortium’s
THE consortium attempting to broker a takeover of Newcastle United are against the prospect of a European Super League.
With the Premier League’s top six announcing their own competition – to be governed by the clubs who have founded it – there has been outrage in the wider football world.
Newcastle are one of 14 Premier League clubs left behind at a time when they are at a crossroads over their future.
Mike Ashley still wants to push through a £305million takeover negotiated more than a year ago.
The Saudi-funded consortium would not be in favour of a Super League – as made clear by one of the members when plans were announced.
Mehrdad Ghodoussi, a partner in PCP Capital Partners and husband of would-be co-owner Amanda Staveley, tweeted: “When football becomes just about money #superleague.”
The midweek European league was confirmed by its founders on Sunday night, who claimed they were setting up for the good of the football pyramid.
For Newcastle the implications could be profound. The ambitions of the consortium were based on
potentially competing in the Champions League with the profile and revenue that would entail.
While the group still wants the takeover to happen, the threat to its plans cannot be underestimated.
The detailed project was based on the current model and The Super League concept is an existential threat to that – and any future owners of Newcastle ever re-establishing the club as a force in England.
The closed-shop nature of the Super League would wreck any club’s hopes of breaking through, as well as destroy the Premier League’s ecosytem and have profound effects for clubs below the top flight.
Perhaps there is an opportunity to refresh English football in it as well and the prospect of a competitive Premier League with the top six clubs in it has been raised.
However, it would be a very different landscape, not nearly as lucrative as the current one for potential new owners.
It will be interesting to see how the huge news is received by the group – but the initial reaction illustrates their opposition.
A few have, however, pointed out the irony of the message when the big appeal of the Saudi bid is the financial resources which can be a game-changer for United.
There is a big difference between an injection of capital, however, and a naked power grab which threatens to ruin the game as we know it.
Top-flight chiefs have threatened to bar any clubs breaking away from competing in the league while simultaneously playing in domestic competition. They should follow through on the threat – even if the European giants have filed legal action in readiness for that outcome.