The Telegraph got Ant and Dec Newcastle United takeover tale wrong - I should know, it's my story

I get it, it’s sexy.

Geordie icons, TV darlings, loved by one and all for bursting into living rooms the land over with their bush tucker antics and Saturday night cuisine are dragged into phone message exchanges, then a social media storm, in relation to the much-maligned Newcastle United takeover.

I say it’s sexy, but I’m not sure even sex sells as well as sticking the boot into the Public Investment Fund-led takeover of Newcastle United.

I get it, it’s not a deal for everyone. I get the criticism, some of it rightful, some of it seated in a tangled web of envy, self interest and even worse, potential corruption.

I get it, Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly are 47-time National Television Awards winners. They’ve scooped 17 BAFTAs, as well as countless other awards, in a career that has stretched over four decades. Put simply, in an age where TV began to pivot away from the classic tried and tested, these two have ‘owned’ light entertainment in the UK as far back as my memory stretches.

So, when their names can be linked to Mohammed Bin Salman and open doors to to Jamal Khashoggi, and absolute monarchies, Islamic extremism and more - it makes for good headlines, right? Aye, it does. I’m not daft, I kind of do this for a living.

However, I was as surprised as anyone to wake up to the Shields Gazette, and my tweets and stories, linked to a Telegraph piece with the headline: ‘Ant and Dec were embroiled in Newcastle Utd takeover, leaked WhatsApps reveal’.

It’s a cracking tale. One attempting to drag Ant and Dec, their only crime being as black and white daft as you or I, into a world of influence, pledge breaking, deceit, backroom deals and more.

If you haven’t the time or inclination to read through the whole story above, I’ll summarise as best I can here. Ant and Dec were asked by Amanda Staveley, who pushed through the NUFC buyout by PIF from Mike Ashley, to retweet my story about Newcastle Consortium Supporters Limited’s legal challenge to the Premier League, according to said leaked messages. They did, asked or not. We also spoke about it via X (then Twitter) and in person. They’re just solid Newcastle United-supporting lads. End of story.

Salman likes Guehi?

It does get murkier in the Telegraph, though, as just a few hours earlier, they’d published another piece where the leaked messages, reportedly from Staveley, saying she’d heard Bin Salman, de facto leader of the Saudi state - and chairman of PIF - was getting concerned about how long the deal was taking to be pushed through.

It’s a clear attempt to muddy waters when it comes to legally binding assurances given by PIF to the Premier League when the deal was completed. It’s never been stated directly, but those are widely understood to involve the Saudi state, and Bin Salman, never exerting any controlling influence over NUFC dealings. Realistically, that hasn’t happened, well, unless he’s a big fan of Marc Guehi or doesn’t like spending his petro-dollars. I’m sure that’s not the case, especially when you take a look at LIV Golf, the takeover of boxing, his vast array of artworks, $300 million Versailles palace or 439-foot superyacht worth more than $500 million. I’m sure he’d have bought a Miguel Almiron upgrade if he’d really wanted to - or had any direct influence over the day-to-day running of business at St James’ Park. He doesn’t, though. And that’s the point. No matter who tries to tell you he does, he just doesn’t, even if he showed concern that a PIF deal to buy a high-profile asset was faltering, inexplicably, despite the rules being followed to the letter. This says more about the Premier League’s apparent want to stop the deal before it happened, than anything that has gone on since.

And that brings me on to the story itself, which is the latest in a long line of such like tales attempting to pick apart little old Newcastle’s chance at success. The Premier League has already been proven to have changed the rules in light of Newcastle progress, who’d bet against it again, when the 20 Premier League clubs next meet, on, erm, Tuesday. Aye, tomorrow. You joining any dots?

You also have to wonder where is all this coming from? I suspect, one red winner of the Premier League in 11 years has something to do with it - and a significant blue challenge to the elites.

Inaccurate reporting

Anyway, you probably want to know what the inaccuracy is. Well, it is a minor one, but were this my source, and they get something wrong, it calls into question EVERYTHING written in the piece, truthful or not. And it was basic, what would have been called a ‘major factual inaccuracy’ when I was a cub trainee reporter.

The report reads: “The newspaper’s website reported that a fans’ group, the Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust, which was in favour of the Saudi takeover, had written to the Premier League claiming that its decision to block the takeover was against UK anti-competition law.”

Now, credit where credit is due, this was no trust move - it was, as we all know NCSL and mostly the work of my good friend, Keith Patterson.

The Telegraph state two fans from NUST sent the ‘letter before action’, however, the action was funded, built and served by Patterson and Gordon Stein, under their company NCSL1892.

Speaking to the Shields Gazette, Patterson said: “I think it is a deflection of the legal mess they find themselves in and it is not coincidence that today we have seen three separate articles offering criticism against our Saudi owners.

“This doesn’t happen by accident and it is a response to try and switch the spotlight from damaging revelations on unlawful “rules” in which dominance has been abused.

“The response we see today is to use people in the media to take a shot at the likes of Newcastle and Man City in order to deflect it away from others.

“People are making mischief with the WhatsApp messages during our takeover process, but I was denied seeing WhatsApps from the other side. I remain convinced I would prove an unlawful process to legitimately prevent our takeover.”

So, like I say, believe whatever you like of this wild and wonderful tale that has captured the imagination of critics and supporters alike online, but do so with caution, as the most basic of errors to the naked eye, could reveal a whole lot more, should the true detail and sources be revealed.

Liam Kennedy will be doing a LIVE chat with Keith Patterson of NCSL fame on the Geordie Journos YouTube channel on Tuesday night at 8pm, which can be found by clicking this link.