Exclusive: Newcastle United takeover bombshell as Premier League served with legal letter demanding anti-competition disclosure
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In the explosive letter and legal papers, seen by the Gazette, supporters Gordon Stein and Keith Patterson, of Newcastle Consortium Supporters Limited, have issued a ‘Letter Before Action’ to the Premier League.
The documents claim the halting of the £300million deal to buy United – brokered between owner Mike Ashley and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, PCP Capital Partners and Reuben Brothers – was against UK anti-competition law.
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Hide AdThe statement reads: “To this end, we have worked with one of the UK’s very top QC’s in Sport and Competition Law in Robert O’Donoghue QC and we believe that only a fans group will see this resolved within an acceptable short period of time.
“Our plan is to seek maximum expedition of our case before a specialist competition law court, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT). The CAT is a specialist judicial body with cross-disciplinary expertise in law, which hears and decides cases involving competition regulatory issues. We have asked the EPL and its members to cooperate in expediting this case due to the urgency involved.
“The CAT is willing to deal with urgent cases very quickly, with results in a handful of months. We also very much hope that the UK courts will appreciate the urgency of hearing a case very much in the public’s interest where ordinary members of the UK public are taking on the wealth and might of the EPL and its members and others. This impacts football fans across our country and the globe, not just Newcastle fans.
“We therefore await the EPL’s response as to how they will either face up to this action if they have nothing to hide, or whether they will seek to delay and obfuscate.”