Newcastle United: Fans fume as takeover news emerges involving Manchester City

Plenty of Newcastle United fans are fuming as news emerged from The Daily Telegraph that there is a concern that their Premier League fixture away at Manchester City may be forced to a neutral venue because of the possibility of a publicity stunt or protest at the Etihad stadium surrounding the Tyneside club’s Saudi Arabia-backed takeover.

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As per the outlet, the game has jokingly been billed as the ‘Middle East derby’, given that the Man City owner Sheik Mansour is the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and his Abu Dhabi United Group has 86.21 per cent of shares in the football club.

There has perhaps not been any significant historical rivalry between the two teams as of late, but the police have deemed that the match could be of high risk due to this concern.

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However, it seems as if several members of the Toon faithful do not see this as a problem, and so have voiced their anger on Twitter with one frustrated that it seemed authorities believe fans would rather congregate outside a stadium than actually watch their team on the television:

This can’t be true

— Arron Gallagher (@_arrongallagher) June 1, 2020

Absolutely pathetic

— Daniel Thompson (@Thomo07) June 1, 2020

Embarrassing.

— Brian Parkin (@BrianNUFC) June 1, 2020

😂😂😂 comedy 😂😂😂

— 🇵🇱 Marcin RY ⚫⚪ (@MarcinNUFC) June 2, 2020

This notion that football fans would gather at grounds rather than watch their team. Is insulting to every football fan in the country. Its nonsense.

— Chris Jennings (@cjluck84) June 2, 2020