Labour spokesperson denies claims that Newcastle United owners will be forced to sell up

Last week, a report came out suggesting that one Labour MP had put forward a proposal that would ban state ownership of football clubs, which would force the majority owners of Manchester City and Newcastle United to sell their stake in their respective clubs.

The idea of a football club being owned by a country/state is a hot-button issue, and the PIF had to prove separation between Newcastle United and the Saudi state before the takeover was approved.

However, despite this separation, the way the new bill proposal was worded, Newcastle would still be classed as state-owned, as would Manchester City and would therefore be forced into new ownership.

It seemed like the two clubs were heading towards another big fight as everyone seemed determined to oppose wealthy owners using their own money to do something fun and exciting.

A Labour spokesperson has denied claims that NUFC owners will be forced to sell

Thankfully, as predicted, it seems as though the bill wouldn't get off the ground.

A Labour spokesperson has today clarified the party's position on the matter and it all looks good for Newcastle and Man City.

"The Independent Football Regulator won’t prevent any one kind of ownership of football clubs. Any prospective owner will be assessed against the same set of criteria as any other prospective owner."

The Independent Regulator is essentially PSR 2.0

The Independent Football regulator is being brought in to try and clear up rules regarding financial restrictions as Profit and Sustainability Rules clearly aren't working the way they were intended, which was meant to prevent clubs spending their way into oblivion but have just served to stifle competition.

As for whether the regulator will make things better or worse, only time will tell, but the denial that they would force Newcastle's owners to sell up has got them off to a good start with us at least.

Let's see how long that lasts.