A global finance and business website has unintentionally got Newcastle United fans excited that the Bin Zayed Group had completed the takeover of the club.
Several fans have picked up on the fact that New York-based finance website Bloomberg.com, has listed Newcastle United as a 'recent transaction' of the Bin Zayed Group - with May 27 marked as the date of acquisition.
After a number of fans asked Chronicle Live about the update, we spoke to S & P Global, the company in which the page was updated by, and were told that updates to pages come from information in the public domain - for example news stories. It was added that on their system the deal is showing as 'pending' not complete.
The Bin Zayed Group claim that the Premier League is now in possession of signed documents regarding the takeover, and that United were shown proof of funds back April.
Furthermore their statement claimed that the fit-and-proper test for owners and directors is now under way.
Newcastle have yet to comment on the statement.
Read the full statement below.
"In consideration of the numerous speculations in regards to the timelines of the acquisition of Newcastle United Football Club by Bin Zayed Group, we feel the need to issue this statement.
"Terms have been agreed between us and Mike Ashley; these terms have been reflected in a document, signed by both parties, which has been forwarded to the Premier League.
"The proof of funds statement was forwarded to Mike Ashley’s lawyers on 17 April 2019.
The so called fit-and-proper Premier League process is a standard procedure which will take time, and we are doing all we can to assist the Premier League during this process.
"We feel the need to clarify this point in order for the fans and the general public to understand the timelines."
