The Saudi Arabian-backed takeover of
Newcastle United has collapsed, with
Amanda Staveley, the businesswoman
at the centre of the bid, blaming rival
clubs for opposing the buyout and the
Premier League for delaying approval.
Staveley was in tears as she spoke
about the consortium’s decision to
withdraw the £300 million offer to
Newcastle’s owner Mike Ashley. She
also criticised the Premier League for
not approving the takeover — it has
been more than four months since the
process began but the league had still
not given any indication of when it
would make a decision.
The Times has been told that the
Premier League and the consortium
had reached an impasse over the issue
of Saudi Arabia facilitating the broad-
casting piracy of English football
matches, and that yesterday’s an-
nouncement was made in anticipation
of having the bid for Newcastle blocked.
Insiders close to the takeover
suggested that Liverpool and Totten-
ham Hotspur were among those clubs
that opposed it, and that the Manches-
ter clubs had not done so, but the piracy
issue was the critical obstacle.
Staveley told The Times: “We are
heartbroken, obviously.” Asked if she
blamed the Premier League, she said:
“Of course we do. They had a chance,
they say we have not answered all the
questions and we have done so.
“But the other clubs in the Premier
League didn’t want it to happen.
“We are so heartbroken for the New-
castle fans as the investment that was
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Scott Parker’s side sneak into
Championship play-off final
Match report, page 63
Fulham survive scare
to
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Racing Point driver’s positive
virus test – but race still on
British Grand Prix, page 62
Silverstone shock
Staveley fury
as Newcastle
deal collapses
Martyn Ziegler, Matt Lawton going to go into the club, especially with
everything happening with Brexit and
Covid, would have been so important.
This is catastrophic for them.
“It has been going on for so long and
the opportunity was there.”
The Premier League had been wres-
tling with approval for the takeover
since April. In June, the World Trade
Organisation found that Saudi Arabia
had facilitated the piracy of top-flight
matches being broadcast by Qatar’s
beIN Sports, the Premier League’s big-
gest international broadcast partner,
which had written to all clubs asking for
the sale to be blocked.
The Saudi public investment fund
(PIF) — the country’s sovereign wealth
fund, overseen by the Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman — would have
gained an 80 per cent stake in Newcas-
tle. Under Premier League rules, the
PIF would have been viewed as a “shad-
ow” director when it came to passing
the owners’ and directors’ test.
The Premier League also had to
judge whether the PIF was independ-
ent of the Saudi state, and is believed to
have concluded that it was not. Saudi
media minister Majid Al Qasabi also
sits on the board of the PIF.
Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners
would have taken 10 per cent of the
club, which is controlled by Ashley, the
owner of the Sports Direct chain, with
the other 10 per cent going to property
developers Simon and David Reuben.
Staveley insisted: “The piracy issue
was not an issue but we tried to resolve
it anyway. They [the Premier League]
tried to make the state of Saudi a
Continued on page 65
2GM Friday July 31 2020 | the times
ADAM DAVY/POOL/PAWilley fires England to victory
Seamer takes five wickets to set up one-day win over Ireland, pages 60-61
Covid passport
plan for fans
Matt Lawton
City close in
on £41m Aké
Tom Roddy, Paul Hirst
Clinical passports for fans is among a
number of “innovative” measures being
considered by the Premier League in a
bid to get supporters back in grounds
for next season.
Writing exclusively for The Times,
Richard Masters, the Premier League
chief executive, has detailed the efforts
being made to guarantee the safe return
of supporters inside stadia.
The government has said it would
like to see fans back at sporting events
by October and Masters said: “Football
is not football without the fans. And I
would like to reassure everyone that we
are doing everything we can to find a
safe way to do that.” Masters said a
working group was examining a range
of initiatives in conjunction with the
government, the Sports Grounds
Safety Authority and medical experts.
Richard Masters column, page 65Manchester City are close to complet-
ing the signing of defender Nathan Aké
after their £41 million bid was accepted
by Bournemouth.
The Dutch centre half has all but
agreed personal terms with City and is
set to become Pep Guardiola’s second
signing of the summer after a deal for
Valencia’s Ferran Torres was agreed in
principle on Wednesday.
Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of
football, is aiming to complete business
early as the club plans a summer over-
haul in order to challenge Liverpool for
the Premier League title next season.
Despite the likely arrival of Aké, they
are still looking for a right-sided centre
back, with Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly
the top target. Guardiola sees Aké as
competition for Aymeric Laporte on
Continued on page 67