Revealed! The Reuben Brothers role in Newcastle United's Saudi-financed, PCP Capital Partners-led takeover

Plans for the wider development of the city of Newcastle are 'in progress' and will be announced when a Saudi takeover is complete – the Gazette has learned.
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, ENGLAND - APRIL 19: General view of St. James Park before the Barclays Premier League fixture between Newcastle United and Swansea City at St. James Park on April 19, 2014 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. (Photo by Dave Thompson/Getty Images)NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, ENGLAND - APRIL 19: General view of St. James Park before the Barclays Premier League fixture between Newcastle United and Swansea City at St. James Park on April 19, 2014 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. (Photo by Dave Thompson/Getty Images)
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, ENGLAND - APRIL 19: General view of St. James Park before the Barclays Premier League fixture between Newcastle United and Swansea City at St. James Park on April 19, 2014 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. (Photo by Dave Thompson/Getty Images)

The club exchanging hands, though – with the Amanda Staveley, PIF and Reuben Brothers bid on the Premier League's table – may well be 'some weeks away', according to one source familiar with the deal.

Behind-the-scenes work continues on much more than just the development of the football club, in what could see potential new owners attempt to model, and likely better, the trail blazed by Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan following his takeover of Manchester City.

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Sheikh Mansour, who is thought to have held talks with Mike Ashley about a possible purchase of Newcastle before opting for revolution at the Etihad, has funded, through his various companies, the redevelopment of parts of the east of Manchester.

The regeneration of Ancoats, formerly a run-down part of the city, has seen 6,000 new homes built while the New Islington area, has benefited with around 800 built. The owners of Manchester City pledged £1billion towards the regeneration schemes, which have aimed to use existing, historical features of the areas, including canals and architecture and further develop, bringing fresh jobs and prosperity.

This is on top of the regeneration of the land around the Etihad by the club's owners.

Opened in 2014, the land of a former chemical works around the stadium was turned into a state of the art training facility.

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It includes 16 pitches, with a full-size synthetic indoor one, a 56-seater video auditorium, four-star accommodation used by players pre-match, a 7,000-capacity academy and women's team arena.

Following anything close to this model at Newcastle would be music to United fans' ears, with St James's Park neglected under Mike Ashley's ownership and the training ground undeveloped in his 13-years at the helm.

And Reuben Brothers, set to take a 10% stake in the football club should a deal go through, are central to any city regeneration plans.

And it is understood work on those plans is advanced, with an announcement expected should the Premier League give the consortium the green light, via their owners and directors test, and when all financial transactions are completed.

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The Reuben Brothers already have interests in the city of Newcastle.

As well as owning Gosforth Park's Newcastle racecourse, the organisation have bought up a large section of the city centre's Pilgrim Street, down to the Swan House roundabout.

They possess a 6.7 acre site where the old Odeon cinema, the former police and fire station and magistrates court stood as well as the former Bank of England building.

Their organisation's website claims that working 'closely' with Newcastle City Council they plan to turn the area into 'Pilgrim's Quarter' with retail and leisure outlets, parking and office space. A 60-70 bed hotel with a further 25,000 sq ft of 'food and beverage outlets' in the former police and fire stations is earmarked.

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Offices, underground parking and a public plaza could adorn the old bank building, which has been demolished.

It is not known yet if any deal could be struck to save the Strawberry Place development, with this going through as a private sale, not as one of the club’s assets.

Plans for a £120million development in the land across from St James’s Park were approved by the council in November – and for many this was seen as another spiteful move from unpopular owner Ashley, with fans seeing it as hampering any future development of Newcastle’s home stadium.

Should the takeover go through, PIF would take an 80% stake in the football club, with Staveley's PCP Capital Partners, who aided in the brokering of Sheikh Mansour's City buyout, taking up a further 10%.

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The deal reportedly agreed for the purchase of the club is said to be considerably less than the £340million asking price.

Some suggestions put the deal closer, or even below, the £300million mark.

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