Liam Kennedy has dropped some promising insight from Mike Ashley on the upcoming Newcastle United takeover case against the Premier League.
The Lowdown: Arbitration statement
Ashley has launched two separate claims against the top flight – the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) case over the decision-making process in the failing of the deal between him and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) group; and the arbitration case, which is set to take place this month.
Earlier this week, Newcastle released a statement on their official website requesting for the forthcoming arbitration process to be made public, but this is only possible if the Premier League also agree to it as otherwise it will remain entirely confidential.
They also claimed in the statement that they have ‘nothing to hide’ with regards to the process, and even suggested that the Premier League should have ‘no reason to be afraid of the public spotlight’, providing that they have acted ‘lawfully and properly’.
The Latest: Ashley insight
Writing in his latest piece for The Shields Gazette, Kennedy – who has been following developments in the takeover saga – has shared that Ashley feels as if he has the ‘winning hand’ when it comes to both cases.
The owner of the Tyneside club is understood to be confident that he can still push through a deal with the consortium, and the call to make the arbitration process is not one over fear that he will lose.
The Verdict: Promising
It is certainly promising to hear how confident Ashley is of winning the case as it comes into fruition later this month. The statement released was a powerful one, and clearly shows his intent when it comes to the arbitration hearing.
If the Premier League are equally as or more confident than Ashley that they will win the case, then they should really be calling for publicity as they should have ‘nothing to hide’, just like the Tyneside club declared.
Nonetheless, it promises to be an intriguing case and should paint a much clearer picture over the direction of where the takeover is heading.
In other news, find out what prediction has been made about the arbitration result
