The NUFC Loan XI - We made up a team of Saudi Pro League loan players after PL vote failed

Today was the day Newcastle United fans were waiting to find out just how bitter the rest of the Premier League has become since our takeover.

At a shareholders meeting today the 20 Premier League owners got together and voted on whether to fast-track a new rule which would block associated party clubs from doing loan business in January.

The rule needed 14 clubs to agree to the move to pass and had it gone through it would have meant that Newcastle would not be able to loan any players from any of the four PIF-owned Saudi Pro League clubs in January.

The Premier League has now confirmed that the rule did not pass as only 13 clubs voted in favour of the change. So now that we're able to loan players from our associated clubs, we've drawn up a Starting XI of Saudi loan players.

Going with our usual formation we've managed to cobble together a starting lineup although our defence is made up entirely of centre-backs. Ironic really given that we need centre-backs desperately and we fielded six fullbacks not too long ago.

Goalkeeper

Edouard Mendy - The former Chelsea keeper who was prone to the odd heed-the-ball moment is now at Al-Ahli.

Defence

Merih Demiral - Former Juventus and Atalanta defender, once linked with a move to Newcastle, is now at Al-Ahli.

Aymeric Laporte - The Frenchman left Manchester City in the summer and headed to Al-Nassr with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Roger Ibanez - Three times capped Brazil international Ibanez moved from Roma to Al-Ahli.

Kalidou Koulibaly - Senegalese Koulibaly didn't have the best of times at Chelsea and is now at Al-Hilal. Defenders weren't the Saudi's priority this summer.

Midfield

Gabri Veiga - Wanted by Newcastle and half of Europe, the promising Spaniard shocked everyone when he opted for Al-Ahli.

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic - Newcastle have been linked with SMS for a while and still continue to be, but the Serbian moved to Al-Hilal in the summer.

N'Golo Kante - The former Leicester and Chelsea beast now plies his trade with Al-Ittihad.

Forwards

Neymar Jr - Okay, so he's crocked again but so is most of our team so it fits. He's at Al-Hilal where the man who started this whole vote off, Ruben Neves is filling in for him.

Riyad Mahrez - No doubt Mahrez can still ping balls across the park like nobody's business and could well be doing so for Al-Ahli but nobody watches the Saudi Pro League so we'll never know.

Karim Benzema - Now at Al-Ittihad and at the grand old age of 35, we'd still have him for the rest of this season.

That's our Loan XI and we didn't even include the man whose mooted move triggered this whole thing, Ruben Neves. We also opted against Allan Saint-Maximin who is at Al-Ahli, because, well, Neymar. We know he's injured, but this is fantasy football, so it doesn't matter.

We also avoided Cristiano Ronaldo because it's my team, my rules and I can't stand him.

Anyway, this was just a bit of fun, we'll see now in January if any of these players make the trip from the Middle East to Tyneside to help us get through this torrid season.