Ian Mearns has questioned the Premier League after Newcastle United released a statement with regards to their upcoming arbitration case.
The Lowdown: Arbitration statement
The St. James' Park have recently released a statement on their official website asking for the arbitration process to be made public.
However, this can only occur if the top flight agree to it as well, otherwise the process will remain behind closed doors.
In what can be described as bullish terms, the North East club also claimed that they have ‘nothing to hide’ with regards to the process, and even suggested that the Premier League should have ‘no reason to be afraid of the public spotlight’, providing that they have acted ‘lawfully and properly’, and therefore should be wanting to make it public too.
The Latest: Mearns on statement
Speaking to The Chronicle, Mearns, who is the local MP for Gateshead, has claimed that public transparency would be 'very welcome' from the perspective of the top flight, unless 'they have something to hide'.
He was also critical of Mike Ashley for being 'absolutely hypocritical' in the statement, as he is asking for more transparency and as such for the case to be made public, but he is 'never particularly positive or communicative with fans'.
The Verdict: Make case public
If both parties are equally as confident of getting a positive result from the arbitration hearing, then there should be no reason at all not to make the case public.
The Tyneside club have already claimed that they have 'nothing to hide' in their statement, and so the top flight should be following suit if that is true for them as well.
Nonetheless, whether the process remains confidential or is opened to the public, the results of the forthcoming proceedings will give a much better picture of the direction of where the takeover is heading, and if it goes in the favour of the Magpies, then the process could well be accelerated, much to the joy of the Toon Army.
In other news, find out how Mehrdad Ghodoussi has reacted to the statement here!