Vote a sign of how worried PL rivals are about Magpies
IF Newcastle United’s new owners thought buying the club was difficult, these first 12 days at the helm have served as a reminder of the mammoth task they face both on and off the field.
Barely 24 hours after witnessing Newcastle’s 3-2 defeat to Spurs, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Jamie Reuben, Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi learned 18 of the Premier League’s 20 clubs had voted in favour of temporarily blocking the Magpies from securing lucrative commercial deals involving pre-existing business transactions.
Only Manchester City, who are, of course, sponsored by Etihad Airways, the Abu Dhabi-owned flag carrier, abstained in the vote.
The rule will be in place for the next month – for all clubs it must be said – but many top-flight executives want this temporary measure to be made permanent to prevent Newcastle potentially having an advantage when it comes to getting around Financial Fair Play rules.
A number of clubs have stressed they have been pushing for this amendment for years but, tellingly, no such objections were raised when Mike Ashley plastered Sports Direct logos all over St James’ Park.
Leicester City’s stadium, meanwhile, has been called the King Power since 2011.
Who owns the travel retail group? The club’s current owners, of course.
King Power’s logo was even on Leicester’s shirts until a deal was struck with global online trading company FBS last summer.
However, given the opposition to the takeover – it says it all that rival clubs are not quite so worried about legitimate human rights concerns – this latest development should not come as a surprise. Just just a week ago, a number of member clubs made their feelings clear about the takeover to the Premier League’s chief executive Richard Masters and chairman Gary Hoffman during an extraordinary meeting to which Newcastle, unsurprisingly, were not invited. Winless Newcastle may be in 19th place at the
Given the opposition to the takeover – it says it all that rival clubs are not quite so worried about legitimate human rights concerns – this latest development should not come as a surprise Ciaran Kelly
moment but, given the finances at the club’s disposal, those sides above them in the table know the Magpies won’t be there for long if they manage to stay up this season.
It is important to stress, of course, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Spurs and Arsenal make up just five of the 18 clubs who voted this temporary rule change through.
They are not the only ones concerned by Newcastle’s new owners’ vow to win the title in the next five to 10 years.
It is teams like Leicester who are most wary in the immediate term.
Little more than two years ago, Newcastle’s top scorer Ayoze Perez left the club to join Leicester after the Foxes activated his £30m minimum release clause.
Following the departure of Rafa Benitez, in 2019, Perez did not feel Newcastle would move to the next level and the Spaniard’s decision to leave paid off as he won the first real honours of his career under Brendan Rodgers.
Perez lifted the FA Cup with Leicester last season after they shocked Chelsea at Wembley before the Foxes went on to beat Manchester City in the Community Shield just a few months later. Of all the sides Newcastle’s new owners can take inspiration from it is Leicester who have upset the status quo thanks to savvy recruitment, teamwork and smart decision-making.
As well as winning the Premier League in 2016, they have qualified for Europe in each of the last two seasons and Rodgers’ side has come close to breaking into the top four.
This is where Newcastle’s new owners want to get to.
Although the club’s status as the richest in the world does not guarantee anything – Everton have spent more than £563m under Farhad Moshiri with little return – it clearly worries their rivals.