Yesterday a move to block associated party loans was defeated at the Premier League shareholders meeting.
The rule required 14 votes to pass but only managed to acquire 12 votes meaning that the rule, which seemed designed to stifle Newcastle in January, did not go through.
Newcastle, of course, aren't the only Premier League side whose owners have a stake in other football clubs, but the timing of this vote, coming after Newcastle declared an interest in loaning Ruben Neves from PIF-owned Al-Hilal to cover for the suspended Sandro Tonali, was just a bit too suspicious.
The results of the vote have now been made public so Newcastle fans now know which clubs took the same side as Newcastle on the matter.
Obviously, Newcastle voted no on the proposal as did Manchester City who have a network of clubs set up to make trading easier. Other clubs with associated parties who voted down the rule were Nottingham Forest, Chelsea, Sheffield United and Wolves.
Everton, who are in the middle of a takeover by the 777 Group who own several clubs around the world also voted no, as did Burnley who have no associated parties, so thank you for voting with your head, Burnley.
Another vote took place which was to tighten up the rules around commercial deals, once again more than likely aimed at us to stop Saudi-based investors pumping money into the club, but that one also failed 13-7.
All in all it was a bad day for Liverpool and Tottenham the Premier League shareholders as their plot to derail Newcastle's progress was stopped in its tracks.
So now we will head off to Saudi Arabia, and come back with some top-quality loans and a £1billion stadium naming rights deal with Aramco. Nice.
Probably not, but imagine it. Go on, imagine. Imagine all that fume. Breathe it in.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
13 | 18 | 34 |
2 |
Arsenal
|
13 | 12 | 25 |
3 |
Chelsea
|
13 | 12 | 25 |
4 |
Brighton
|
13 | 5 | 23 |
5 |
Manchester City
|
13 | 3 | 23 |
6 |
Nottingham Forest
|
13 | 3 | 22 |
7 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
13 | 14 | 20 |
8 |
Brentford
|
13 | 3 | 20 |
9 |
Manchester United
|
13 | 4 | 19 |
10 |
Fulham
|
13 | 0 | 19 |
11 |
Newcastle United
|
13 | 0 | 19 |
12 |
Aston Villa
|
13 | -3 | 19 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
13 | 1 | 18 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
13 | -7 | 15 |
15 |
Everton
|
13 | -11 | 11 |
16 |
Leicester
|
13 | -11 | 10 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
13 | -7 | 9 |
18 |
Wolves
|
13 | -10 | 9 |
19 |
Ipswich
|
13 | -11 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
13 | -15 | 5 |