Olivier Bernard has dropped a big claim on the potential takeover of Newcastle United by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium.

The Lowdown: Cases await

Mike Ashley is currently awaiting two cases against the Premier League over his stalled takeover deal with the KSA group.

One is the upcoming Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) hearing, which is set to take place on Wednesday at 10:30 am, and the other is the separate arbitration proceedings, which are set to commence next year after further delays (The Mag).

The Latest: Bernard on takeover

Speaking to The Chronicle, former Magpies player Bernard has now claimed that he still thinks that the proposed takeover will happen despite delays in proceedings, but admits that he cannot put a timeframe on its potential completion:

"There's a lot of going on at the club in terms of selling to new owners. I suspect everybody feels the same way, some will feel it's quite imminent but at the same time quite far.

"Everybody chooses to go week by week hoping for a better tomorrow. Even the owner has said himself it should be done in the next few months.

"It's coming, I think there will be a takeover, the problem is when? It's not clever for the owner to put money in when he thinks he's sold the club.

"That leaves a difficult situation on the pitch because we as fans want more quality on the pitch. But at the same time, we all want the club sold and hopefully now the Premier League can decide if this takeover takes place or not."

The Verdict: CAT case key

The upcoming CAT case is likely to be key in terms of the direction of where the potential takeover is heading.

A positive result for the St. James' Park faithful would give them supreme confidence going into the arbitration process, whereas a negative one may even cancel the proceedings.

Nonetheless, the focus now should be about the team getting results on the pitch after a tough start that sees the North East club low down in the Premier League table, as relegation could spell the end of the takeover dream.

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