I suppose the test was never decided and the issue for our chaps was the piracy/ethics. These are removed. There is logical reason for it not to happen. Unless PIF are waiting for points on the board. I don’t care how much money they have there is no reason to throw money at it unless we survive!
Personally wouldn't be surprised if someone on our end have tipped the jurno's off on this to get it in the public domain and then use as an additional stick to beat the EPL with. I mean the Glazers did the same at Man U (and sunlun??) so they have a precedent set of not really caring who comes in and how they are paying. What I still don't understand is that they were supposedly asking to differentiate PIF from SA and regardless of whether the takeover goes through or not surely the EPL is going to get themselves a law suit for not recognising legal documentation that they are indeed separate entities and then trying to blackmail the takeover parties into naming Shiekh Salman as an owner?
The PL were effectively asking the consortium to name the Saudi state as a director, in contravention of company law principles. This would then give them grounds to reject as a state cannot be a director. The PL has ignored legal documentation and involved interested third parties in their decision making process. Based on what is in the public domain, they do not have a leg to stand on. I suspect that they weren't counting on NUFC to take the matter to arbitration. Now that they have they attempting to resolve. Why? Because of what will come out. De Marco will smell blood.
I just think that they needed something (anything) to delay things and that was the one thing that was difficult to prove. And the PL knew that. They say they where acting in the interest of the club and the PL members but again that’s a smokescreen. It was always about protection for the parties who objected..... That being Bein sports and the top six. The hurdles have been removed. So the arbitration delays things further. The fact that we slipped into relegation problems was a blessing for the PL because I think that’s slowed things from PIF. If we had 35 points on the board now you can bet your bottom dollar things would have moved. It suits both parties right now the delay.
See my post (next after yours) for my personal view. Your last line is probably right. But we don’t want blood. We just want the takeover. When the tables turned (they have) it’s a rhetorical negotiation. Now we can effectively blackmail the PL. Something along the lines of you give us the approval and your dirty little secrets stay secret!
That's probably why Graeme Jones has been brought in. To get us up the table as quickly as possible so this can be completed quickly.
Close but no cigar, Graeme Jones has been hired because the Newcastle local press want Bruce sacked and Ashley absolutely hates bending the knee to media. So we've instead of firing the cackling buffoon have simply hired a man who is more suited to working behind the scenes to introduce an actual coaching regime at the club, saving Ashley from doing what the local press want. If the press supported Bruce through this difficult time, he'd be sacked. It's how we have proven over 10+ years how we operate.
Most people believe the takeover failed because of the political storm between Qatar and Saudi. I think it failed because the Prem Test is a flimsy shoddily put together thing barely fit for purpose, arbitration relies more on how many holes we can poke through it imo.
Me too, but I think if that's truly the case then arbitration is a formality because the lawyers will see it for what it is. If the arbitration fails then there's no point dying on our hill, genuine problems with the takeover must exist. I hope we have a viable plan B, mine being sack Bruce at the end of the season and offer Dyche or Howe the job. See if we can survive the Premier League for as long as possible until a viable alternative comes along.
