Newcastle United are not understood to be expecting any contact from Premier League supremo Richard Masters in the aftermath of the court case involving LIV Golf and the PGA Tour.
As reported yesterday on Chronicle Live, it is "business as usual" behind the scenes at St James' Park with the Magpies preparing for their important encounter with Manchester United. The LIV Golf case was brought back into the public domain this week by Eltham's MP Clive Efford in in Westminster for a DCMS evidence session following the fan-led review of football governance.
Masters stated he could not comment on whether Newcastle's ownership would be "reviewed" but we understand those steps have not been taken at this stage and the chatter surrounding LIV Golf seems like more noise around United's 2021 appointed directors.
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This week sports lawyer Nick De Marco, who represented Newcastle in their legal battle with the Premier League after Mike Ashley's initial sale to PIF fell through, has had his say on the matter at a football governance panel at law firm Mishcon de Reya this week.
The argument arose again when lawyers in a US court for LIV Golf circuit used wording that PIF should were considered as a foreign state - something the Premier League already have legally binding assurances on that this is not the case. With Newcastle adhering to those legally-binding assurances, De Marco does not believe the top-flight are needed to come back in an reexamine United's ownership.
De Marco said: "No, I don’t think the Premier League will look into this because I don’t think they need to.
"For that reason nothing that has happened in the LIV case, it seems to me, changes any of that. There has been no suggestion that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has now changed its mind and is somehow exercising control over Newcastle, so I don’t believe this will lead to any change."
De Marco also referred observers back to the moment when PIF and Amanda Staveley went away to change the finer details of the takeover bid to ensure the Premier League were satisfied that the Saudi state were not in control of the Magpies.
De Marco said: "The dispute was whether if PIF took over Newcastle the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would fall into the definition of control under Premier League rules. That definition includes the ability to control the club.
"That’s what the dispute was, and the dispute was never determined because it was settled. The Premier League published a statement summarising the settlement on their website.
"And the statement said the Premier League had received legally binding assurances that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control Newcastle. The lawyers in the room will see the difference between the dispute – i.e. do you fall into the definition of ability to control, and the league accepting assurances that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control [Newcastle]."
MP Efford had said: "Is this going to prompt you to revisit the Newcastle United Football Club arrangement?"
Masters had responded: "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."
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