Luke Edwards has issued a worrying claim after Newcastle United released a statement with regards to their takeover arbitration case.

The Lowdown: Arbitration call

According to a statement released on the official website of the North East club, they believe that the arbitration case between them and and the Premier League should be made public.

However, this would only happen if the top flight agree to this too, otherwise the process will remain entirely confidential.

In what can only be described as rather bullish words, the St. James' Park faithful claimed that they have ‘nothing to hide’ with regards to the hearing, and suggested that the division should have ‘no reason to be afraid of the public spotlight’, providing that they have acted ‘lawfully and properly’, and therefore should side with them in making the process public.

The Latest: Edwards claim

In reaction to the statement, Edwards, journalist for The Daily Telegraph who has been following developments in the takeover saga, has claimed that it 'sounds desperate', and added that Mike Ashley 'wouldn't need' to make the statement and call for the arbitration to be public if he was confident of winning, as he 'always does business under a cloak of secrecy'.

Edwards also claimed that Ashley's camp 'anticipates losing', after analysing the statement in full.

The Verdict: Worrying

While the statement certainly has a confident tone to it, Edwards does make a point that Ashley should not feel the need to make so much noise if he is so confident of winning, as he is notoriously secretive with most dealings around the club - the Toon are the only top flight side who have not publicised last year's accounts.

Therefore, it could come across as a sign of desperation from the Tyneside club owner, who is desperate himself to sell up.

Nonetheless, the results of the arbitration proceedings should give a much clearer picture over the direction of where the takeover is going, and Ashley and the Magpies will be hoping that it goes in their favour.

In other news, find out what arbitration update Keith Downie has dropped here!