Going in reverse order, SNP MP John Nicolson raised the issue with culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, during a meeting of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee, where he raised the issue of Saudi Arabia’s frankly abysmal human rights record, though Dowden swiftly passed the buck on to The Premier League, saying that it was a matter for them and not Downing Street. (more…)
A Saudi Arabian-funded consortium is set to complete a £300 million takeover and will pump in significant resources to try and establish the Magpies as a force in the Premier League.
We take a closer look at four key areas Newcastle’s new owners must address if they are to deliver success to the North East’s biggest club.
Steve Bruce has done a reasonable job as manager in difficult circumstances, but he is not the man to take the club forward. (more…)
With the 2019/20 Premier League season just over a month away Newcastle United remain an organisation in turmoil.
Rafa Benitez’s departure as manager hasn’t gone down well with the club’s fans and has only served to increase their animosity towards owner Mike Ashley.
Read on as we assess the latest state of play at St James’ Park.
For various reasons I’ve spent the last 5 days largely out of touch with any football news at all, neither having time to read a paper nor to browse the internet.
Upon checking the news this morning I had hoped to find that the long-speculated Moat takeover was complete and that Ashley and Llambias had been tarred and feathered and hounded all the way back to Cockneyland, which would have been doubly inconvenient for them as neither are actually cockneys. I even have a large cigar – rolled on the thigh of dusky maiden no less – in preparation for such news. And I don’t even smoke.
What I find however is that nothing much at all has happened and what has happened has been covered by my blogging colleagues anyway, which leaves me with something of a dilemma when it comes to writing an article. (more…)
Last week Newcastle issued a statement saying that Ashley’s £100m asking price has been met and all deals were now at the ‘sale and purchase stage‘ and apparently senior staff at the club have been told to brace themselves for ‘a big week‘ this week.
It was speculated that the sticking point was the loan facility with Barclays, so presumably – if a sale is imminent – that has now been sorted out and Barry Moat is in a position to take over the club.
If Moat takes over it is of course widely thought that Alan Shearer will be appointed as manager, although whether or not that’s a good idea still divides fans. At a function last week Shearer was indicating that he would not wait for Newcastle forever and was prepared to consider managing another club, but if the takeover is as close as the newspapers are suggesting it looks like Shearer won’t have to do that. (more…)