Fact – regardless of how all the Premier League’s other 19 teams like it or not, the Newcastle United takeover has already passed the relevant Owners’ and Directors’ Test.
Fact – the baton has already also been passed from former owner Mike Ashley to Amanda Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.
Although both the aforementioned relevant facts didn’t stop all of the other English top-flight clubs from demanding an emergency meeting with the Premier League, per The Guardian, to discuss their concerns – despite there perhaps being some legitimacy to their argument on the issue of ‘branding’ being damaged, the final fact remains that the ball was in the Premier League’s court and the decision they finally arrived at was crystal clear.
That of course does not in any way mean that there would be no further reverberations from various quarters on the issue as its nature is such that it has wide-ranging implications because of its sensitivity on various levels. Hence it is hardly surprising that the take-over has elicited an immediate outburst from the usually composed and unflappable Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp. However, this time around, his comments seem to reek of jealousy and insecurity now that there’s a new maverick gunslinger in town to worry about.
“This is the third club in world football that I know of that belongs to a country and that obviously belongs to the wealthiest family on the planet,” Klopp said to Sky Germany, cited by The Telegraph.
“The possibilities that open up are of course immense. With the Super League, the whole world was justifiably upset about it.
“It’s basically like the Super League now – just for one club. Then Newcastle are guaranteed to play a dominant role in world football for the next 20 or 30 years.
“[…] It wasn’t my choice and we are just living with the facts now. I don’t want to make it my business because it’s not my business.
“There are no two opinions about the obvious human rights concerns in Saudi Arabia.
“That’s not a question. But how it could then happen that this was nevertheless allowed despite many concerns, I cannot assess.”
If we take the view that commercial club football across the world has long since ceased to be a level playing field, with this being at the heart of Klopp’s, (and many others) ire, the cogent argument bearing down on this issue is that things have never been the same since Roman Abramovich rode into town on his fearsome steed, began firing from both hips and transformed Chelsea almost overnight – and took the provincial game of club football to an altogether different level. The door, since then, had been left wide open to all others, at all levels.
The Russian oligarch, like the owners of Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle’s new Saudi owners, are in it for the long haul. Football, after all, has long since transformed from being a communal, neigborhood club activity into a multi-million-dollar business transcending even corporate involvement and enticing even foreign governments with different layers of vested interests.
Klopp needs to stop behaving like a spoilt brat worrying about getting less attention and his share of the spotlight and instead get ready to devise ways and means of halting the assault by the Magpies once they start splashing the cash and upgrading their current squad – which they now have every right, privilege and the affluence to do so without fear or favor.