Ever since the PIF started looking to take over Newcastle United there has been intense opposition by the Premier League. Richard Masters and his crew looked for any tiny little reason to block the takeover from going through.
Eventually, Masters and the Premier League relented and the takeover happened, but the crusade against Newcastle and their new owners has never stopped.
Financial regulations were hastily brought into the game to prevent Newcastle's mega-wealthy owners from pumping money into the club to accelerate growth and now a new bill is set to be discussed in Parliament that would see the PIF forced to sell up.
The move will also affect Manchester City's ownership as the bill is said to prevent clubs from being 'state-owned', which neither club actually is, but they use funds generated by the state and that's how the new rule would be worded.
The Sun notes that politician Lord Bassam has suggested that no club should be 'state-owned' and receive an operating licence as has also been reported in The Times.
While the bill is coming from outside of the Premier League, there is absolutely no way that they aren't somehow involved.
Fortunately, it's believed that the bill won't even get off the ground due to legal and political obstacles.
It's worth noting that not too long ago there was a lot of uproar about Parliament getting involved in making sure the PIF-backed takeover of Newcastle was passed, and now they're trying to undo it?
While we can absolutely see the opposite side to the argument of having state-run football clubs, Newcastle are a prime example of how little that actually matters.
The PIF have more money than sand but aren't allowed to use any of it to fund Newcastle United anyway. So what does it matter who owns the clubs if they aren't allowed to spend their own money however they want to anyway?
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
14 | 18 | 35 |
2 |
Chelsea
|
15 | 17 | 31 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
15 | 14 | 29 |
4 |
Manchester City
|
15 | 6 | 27 |
5 |
Nottingham Forest
|
15 | 1 | 25 |
6 |
Aston Villa
|
15 | 0 | 25 |
7 |
Brighton
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
8 |
Bournemouth
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
9 |
Brentford
|
15 | 3 | 23 |
10 |
Fulham
|
15 | 2 | 23 |
11 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
15 | 12 | 20 |
12 |
Newcastle United
|
15 | -2 | 20 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
15 | 1 | 19 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
15 | -8 | 18 |
15 |
Everton
|
14 | -7 | 14 |
16 |
Leicester
|
15 | -9 | 14 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
15 | -6 | 13 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
15 | -13 | 9 |
19 |
Wolves
|
15 | -15 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
15 | -20 | 5 |