This whole saga has simple been embarrassing, certain Premier League clubs insisting on having an emergency vote to ban incoming loans to PL clubs from other clubs where a club’s owner also has a stake / interest.
The panic to have the vote so quickly, only because of claims that Newcastle United could / would bring in one or more loan players from one of four Saudi Pro League clubs where the Saudi Arabia PIF also has a stake in.
Even before this 2023/24 season started, the media ran stories claiming Ruben Neves, who had just joined Al Hilal for £47m, could / would join Newcastle United on loan in January 2024, to help NUFC get around FFP restrictions. As though the entire massive investment in the Saudi Arabia Pro League was just an elaborate cover to help NUFC.
Earlier today, respected journalist David Ornstein revealed that despite the shameless reporting claiming it to be the case, there has actually been no Newcastle United negotiations with Ruben Neves and /or Al Hilal, Ornstein saying his information (which is normally exemplary) is that there hasn’t even been any contact whatsoever from NUFC. That Ruben Neves is actually very happy there and Newcastle United have no plans whatsoever to sign him on loan in January.
Anyway, the embarrassing take rolled on and certain desperate Premier League clubs demanded a vote to stop even the possibility of these NUFC loan deals happening.
That vote happened today and… it wasn’t passed.
It needed 14 Premier League clubs to back it but only 13 did, with seven voting against it.
This is typical this afternoon of the comical reporting on that vote…
The Mail headline and story – 21 November 2023:
Headline:
‘Premier League WILL allow Newcastle to loan Saudi stars as plot to block ‘related-party loans’ fails by ONE VOTE…’
Story:
‘Premier League clubs have not voted in favour of a temporary block on related-party loans, meaning teams with the same owners are free to trade in January…major topic of conversation surrounded temporarily banning loaning players from clubs who have the same owners.
However, Newcastle and Al-Hilal are both owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) – as are fellow SPL clubs Al-Nassr, Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad – and some teams were concerned about the possibility of temporary transfers being done between ‘associated clubs’.
Shareholders subsequently voted on whether to ban loaning players from clubs with the same owners.
A two-thirds majority was needed for the temporary rule to go through, and this total was not reached, meaning Newcastle will be free to loan Saudi stars in the winter transfer window.
However, Mail Sport understands the attempt to block related-party loans failed to pass by just one vote.
Nevertheless, this will be a welcome boost to Eddie Howe’s squad…’
So, how does ‘Premier League WILL allow Newcastle to loan Saudi stars as plot to block ‘related-party loans’ fails by ONE VOTE…’ make any sense at all, IF the Premier League clubs were ONLY voting on stopping Newcastle United doing this?
Well, a couple of reasons.
There are numerous Premier League clubs who ALSO have owners with interests in other clubs and have been doing as they pleased for years. Amongst these clubs are the likes of Brighton, Crystal Palace, Man City, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Bournemouth.
I have no idea whether these were the clubs voting against the proposal today, I don’t even know if Newcastle United voted against it.
However, what I would hope, is that at least some Premier League clubs have voted against the proposal, at least in part, due to the fact that it was ridiculous to say that it would be ok for these PL clubs to loan players out to other clubs they have an interest in, but no longer to allow loans into the Premier League clubs from these clubs in other leagues.
How does that make any sense or contain any fairness? If the whole idea is to take away any element of suspicion on deals between clubs under the same ownership then surely any ban would have to apply to ALL loan deals, in and out.
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