In the latest ‘Pod on the Tyne’ podcast, The Athletic journalists George Caulkin and Chris Waugh have taken a lot of questions from the Newcastle fans, and most of them are related to the takeover.
Caulkin, who is undoubtedly one of the best journalists around covering Northern football, has been providing regular updates on the takeover saga, either in the form of articles or on social networking site Twitter.
He has been constantly in touch with both parties, the selling and the buying sides, but has admitted that it is frustrating. Caulkin admits that he is still very positive that the deal will go through but at the same time has refused to put a time scale on it.
I think that’s unlikely. They’ll have wasted a lot of time and money. From what I’m told there’s a determination to see it through. In terms of timing, there isn’t an answer.
— George Caulkin (@GeorgeCaulkin) June 10, 2020
Caulkin said in the podcast – “I have always been confident. That confidence has from the people I speak to. Both sides want this to get done.”
He claimed that there was a situation created a few weeks ago where loads of stories came out and it once felt like the Premier League would finally give their green signal.
However, Caulkin says that the “main bulk of the work has been done on the test. But they are still working through questions and there are still questions being answered last week. I think that’s the final stage of the process.”
That is really an interesting update. While there is a tension that the Premier League might reject the move, Newcastle fans can expect to hear the final update soon – one way or the other.
Caulkin’s reply to potential time scale: “I just don’t want to do that again. We’ve all thought at various moments that it’s very very close. That’s what we have been told. They were a sense that the announcement would come, but that hasn’t happened. It doesn’t help anybody. It just gets people excited… let’s just wait and see.”
The potential new owners – the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Reuben Brothers and PCP Capital Partners – have already agreed a £300m deal to buy Newcastle United from Mike Ashley, and a part-payment in the region of £17m has been made already.
