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Chronicle Live
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Lee Ryder

Newcastle United backlash from Premier League unlikely after calls to "re-examine" takeover

It is not expected the Premier League will re-examine Newcastle United's ownership - despite morning headlines suggesting initial assurances from the club to top-flight chiefs have been contradicted.

Chronicle Live believes that for all the noise about the club today, Newcastle will be confident that no fresh action will be taken against them because the Premier League already have "legally-binding assurances" surrounding the separation from the Saudi state and the Public Investment Fund.

The Premier League may well point people back to their initial statement when the takeover went through. The initial statement from Prem chiefs read: "The legal disputes concerned which entities would own and/or have the ability to control the club following the takeover.

READ MORE: Meet the two new directors at Newcastle United as Majed Al-Sorour leaves St James' Park

"All parties have agreed the settlement is necessary to end the long uncertainty for fans over the club’s ownership. The Premier League has now received legally binding assurances that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control Newcastle United Football Club."

United's ownership has been triggered into the public domain on the back of an ongoing legal dispute between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf organisation and it is has been suggested that it could have big ramifications for Newcastle.

When the Middle East consortium tried to buy the club from Mike Ashley for £305million in spring 2020, they never originally accepted there was separation from the Saudi state and PIF. As Ashley and PIF battled to get the deal pushed through in the subsequent 15 months, the Premier League insisted on a legally binding contract to create that exact separation they were looking for.

The dispute between all parties and the Premier League was resolved because in the end top-flight chiefs were satisfied that the club would be run on a day-to-day basis by PIF, Amanda Staveley and the Reuben brothers - and not dictated to by the Saudi government.

Therefore, despite suggestions that a Premier League executive had called for questions to be asked over Newcastle's ownership, nothing has changed from when the deal was agreed by the top-flight.

Masters said in late 2021 on Newcastle after the directors and owners test had been passed: "The takeover has gone through and we have to be comfortable that all the things we do at the Premier League will be preserved under the new ownership and the equality and diversity scheme will be preserved.

"You can’t have one rule for one and one for another and so Newcastle will be run on the right basis. PIF are an investor in many other companies in this country and maybe football is being targeted and talked about in a different way. I can’t choose who is chairing a football club. The owners test doesn’t let us take a view on that.

When contacted by Chronicle Live, the Premier League told us: "We aren’t commenting I am afraid." Newcastle are also not making any public comment.

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