The Saudi-backed PIF becoming the new owners of Newcastle United has to easily be one of the most significant news of the Premier League era. And by the looks of it, there’s no sight of the buzz dying down.
The takeover has been complete and the new owners are preparing for a major overhaul within the club. But the other Premier League clubs are making sure that the oil-rich kingdom is not able to pump in absurd amounts of money into the club, during the middle of the season.
The easiest way to make a mockery of the fair play rules is via crazy sponsorship deals which is why 18 EPL clubs have chosen to vote against top-flight sides from agreeing to new sponsorship deals, as per the Guardian’s David Hytner.
Here’s an excerpt from the Guardian article: “The hostility among Premier League clubs to the Newcastle United takeover was underlined on Monday when they voted through legislation designed to prevent the Saudi owners from striking lucrative sponsorship deals.
“Newcastle made it clear at the emergency meeting of all 20 clubs that they considered the rule change, which will temporarily ban commercial arrangements that involve pre-existing business relationships, to be anti-competitive. They were represented by Lee Charnley, the incumbent managing director, rather than Amanda Staveley, the director and minority stakeholder, who is now responsible for running the club on a day-to-day basis. Charnley is understood to have made it clear that his club had legal advice to say that the amendment was unlawful.”
What do all the other Premier League clubs have to fear?
Manchester City also have middle-eastern owners and the Eithad outfit are currently part of a long-standing investigation where they have been accused of breaching the financial fair play regulations.
Newcastle's new chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and owner Amanda Staveley receive a massive reception from the fans ⚪️ ⚫️ pic.twitter.com/6WKFUumi1j
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) October 17, 2021
City have obviously denied all these allegations but the rest of the Premier League clubs are fearing that a repeat of the same is going to happen with Newcastle United.
The NUFC owners are way richer than their City counterparts and if they do decide to pump in money via sponsorship deals then there would be no stopping them.
The Magpies have obviously cried foul over this new decision but the Premier League clubs pressed on with the vote and it was passed. This new rule will come into effect from next month and as per the reports, it will apply to all the 20 clubs.
While this is a temporary measure but the rumours suggest that many clubs want this to be permanent so that the more affluent club owners cannot gain an unnecessary advantage.
