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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Andy Dunn

Amanda Staveley's 'heartbroken' claim looks hollow as Newcastle's £300m Saudi takeover collapses

Amanda Staveley said she is “heartbroken” and in a phone call to broadcaster Jim White, there was also talk of her being ‘devastated’ and ‘shattered’.

She herself said the withdrawal of the Saudi-bid for Newcastle United was “catastrophic”.

If Staveley wants to know what being heartbroken, shattered and devastated is, she might want to talk to Hatice Cengiz, fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi, killed and butchered inside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Turkey.

Or the families of those publicly executed by Saudi authorities.

For Newcastle fans who have had their enthusiasm, their passion and their morale wrung out of them by Mike Ashley over 13 tortuous years, the disappointment at the news is understandable.

Amanda Staveley was involved in the Newcastle takeover bid which has collapsed (PA)

As well as putting up the £300million buying price, there was talk of the Saudi-run consortium putting another quarter of a billion into the club.

Big money, big signings, sign here Mauricio Pochettino etc etc.

We will never know if that would have transpired.

But after Ashley, pretty much anything - even de facto ownership by a state with an awful human rights reputation - was welcome.

The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was raised during the takeover attempt (SEDAT SUNA/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Again, understandable - as is supporters’ anger with the Premier League for the interminable delay in deciding whether or not to sanction the doomed takeover.

A few days into the transfer window and on the back of a deeply uninspiring season, Newcastle United are in dreadful limbo. In footballing terms, that is.

But it remains a magnificent club for someone to invest in, for someone to take out of Ashley’s hands, for someone to tap into and to reward the devotion of its huge support base.

Mike Ashley remains in control of Newcastle (Bloomberg via Getty Images)

And, hopefully, that someone will come along soon, whether it be Henry Mauriss or whoever.

That Newcastle fans pointed to other owners and wondered if they are ‘fit and proper’ in a way the Saudis would not have been was another justifiable debate.

But the bottom line is a failed Saudi takeover for a Premier League club is no reason for anyone in football to be ‘heartbroken’.

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