18 Premier League clubs vote to block Newcastle United sponsorship deals - Reports
All Premier League clubs, except Manchester City and Newcastle United, have decided to block any side signing a commercial or sponsorship deal. This is mainly for sponsorship deals to a company that has links to its respective owners. The decision came amid Newcastle United's recent Saudi-led takeover, according to a report from the Manchester Evening News.
Newcastle United were taken over by the Saudi-led consortium PIF. This saw them become one of the richest clubs not only in the Premier League but in world football. 80% stake in Newcastle United comes with Saudi Arabia's welfare fund while the remaining 20% is owned by Amanda Staveley and the Reuben brothers.
The Newcastle United takeover has become a cause of concern for many teams in the Premier League due to the sheer wealth and power their new owners bring.
In regards to the takeover, 18 Premier League clubs have agreed to impose a month-long freeze on any clubs signing a commercial or sponsorship deal. This is for deals with companies linking them to their owners.
According to the Premier League's FFP regulations, each club is allowed to have a maximum loss of £105 million over three years. However, if Newcastle United signed an "artificially inflated" commercial deal they could bypass these rules and spend extraordinary amounts of money on transfers and other activities.
An anonymous Premier League Chief Executive said:
"If we didn't have the ban, there would have been nothing stopping Newcastle signing a £100million naming rights deal for their stadium with a Saudi company linked to their owners. They could have then used that money to buy players in January and get around our financial fair play rules."
Newcastle United primary aim should be Premier League survival
Despite boasting one of the richest owners in world football, Newcastle United's primary objective should be to secure Premier League survival this season. The new owners will not want their club to be relegated to the Championship in their first year in charge.
Newcastle United are currently 19th in the Premier League standings following a 3-2 home defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur. The Magpies have only picked up three points from their opening eight matches in the league. They are currently one of only three sides to haven’t won a single game.
The new Newcastle United owners are widely considered to be spending heavily in the January transfer window. They will hope to build a squad capable of staying up in the Premier League.
It is expected that after this they can slowly make the Magpies a dominant force in European football.