Mark Douglas has shared some enticing insight into the Premier League and what they may do with Newcastle United's anti-competition case.
The Lowdown: Ashley against the Premier League
Mike Ashley has launched an anti-competition lawsuit against the top flight with regards to their decision-making process in the failed takeover at St. James' Park by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium.
This is a separate case to arbitration, which is set to take place between the two parties in July.
If the North East club are successful in the arbitration hearing, then the anti-competition lawsuit would no longer need to be launched, but it does provide a safety blanket for Ashley if the results do not go his way.
The Latest: Premier League insight
Writing in his latest piece for The Chronicle, Douglas has shared that it is expected that the division will apply to have the anti-competition case either thrown out or delayed, because it duplicates a lot of aspects of the separate arbitration claim.
The journalist also adds that they now have less than a week to respond to the anti-competition claim, which is seen as an explicit pressure tactic by the chief executive of Sports Direct in order to push the PL into a compromise on the takeover bid.
The Verdict: Anti-competition a nice safety blanket
If the results of the arbitration case do not go in the favour of the Tyneside club, then the separate anti-competition lawsuit is certainly a nice card to have up Ashley's sleeve, and would still give him hope of a sale.
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However, the ideal scenario for the businessman would surely be that he wins the arbitration hearing, and so the anti-competition claim would no longer be needed.
Nonetheless, arbitration will paint a much clearer picture over the direction of where the takeover is heading, and a positive result for the Magpies would surely bring its potential revival one step closer.