It looks like "business as usual" behind the scenes for Newcastle United at St James' Park - despite more noise from Eltham MP Clive Efford over the running of the club in Westminster.
United assured the Premier League in 2021 that it would stick to the legally-binding agreement concerning separation from the Saudi state and the Public Investment Fund and nothing has changed. Senior figures at the club remain confident that there will be no cause from the Premier League to "re-examine" the way Newcastle operate.
The only focus this week has been setting up to host the clash with Manchester United with a global audience poised to take in the potentially season-defining Premier League encounter that could take Newcastle to third place in the table. The reality the black and whites could take a major step towards the Champions League this weekend.
The Magpies nor the Premier League have commented publicly on court documents that appeared in a legal case between Saudi-backed organisation LIV Golf and the PGA Tour in recent weeks. And despite fresh comments from Richard Masters, who was speaking in Westminster for a DCMS evidence session on Tuesday following the fan-led review of football governance, United are getting on with the next phase of their project.
Efford asked yesterday: "Is this going to prompt you to revisit the Newcastle United Football Club arrangement?" With Masters responding: "I'm afraid I can't really comment on it. Even to the point of saying 'is the Premier League investigating it?', we can't really comment.
"Obviously we are completely aware and you're correct about the general nature of the undertakings we received at the point of takeover. "But I can't really go into it at all.
"The only time the Premier League comments publicly on regulatory issues is when it is charged. "At the end of the process when an independent panel has decided whether rule breaching has taken place. "The investigatory process we don't talk about at all."
The crux of the matter for Newcastle is that when the takeover was initially rejected in 2020 they were asked to go away and return with assurances that there would indeed be separation from the Saudi state, and this was provided when the takeover went through in 2021. Since then United have stuck to that pledge with the LIV Golf case merely throwing Newcastle's name into public discussion.
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Co-owner Amanda Staveley said recently when speaking at the Financial Times‘ Business of Football Summit: "The undertaking was that Saudi Arabia would not control the club. "That undertaking has been and is being honoured."
With football matters clearly obvious for Eddie Howe and his backroom team on the field, the aim is to achieve a place in Europe in the final 12 matches. United can still qualify for any three of UEFA's competitions.
Howe's recruitment staff, with sporting director Dan Ashworth leading the way alongside chief scout Steve Nickson, are drawing up a shortlist of stars for the new season. A big summer lies ahead at St James' with half a dozen players set to see their future resolved one way or another at senior level.
The big area of focus for Newcastle is quite simply adhering to the Financial Fair Play rule book. Howe has said in the build-up to the summer window: “I've always said that Financial Fair Play is real for us. I'm not there doing the figures and the numbers and I don't quite understand how it fully works.
"I'm obviously led by the people above me at the club to say what we can and can't do."
What do you think about safe standing at St James' Park? Join the conversation in the comments below.
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