It’s emerged that Amanda Staveley held talks with chair of the NUFC Trust, Alex Hurst, over the weekend in a bid to get answers from the Premier League and work out what fans can do next.
After the Saudi-backed consortium were forced to formally ‘withdraw’ their bid last Thursday, Staveley urged supporters to take matters into our own hands if we wished for there to be any hope on the failed takeover.
This has prompted an online petition and opened the door for the NUFC Trust to step in, a supporters group which is recognised by the Premier League itself.
The Athletic’s George Caulkin, who conducted an emotional interview with Staveley on Thursday night, is believed to have set up a link between the two parties, and you can see their latest plea to Newcastle fans below following
Here’s the full message sent to Trust members last night, revealing details of their discussions with Staveley and urging fans to sign up, so they can speak for the majority of our fanbase when they approach the Premier League for answers, not the minority:
Dear member,
We are once again writing to you about the failed takeover of Newcastle United by a consortium consisting of PIF, Amanda Staveley, and the Rueben brothers.
Since our last email on Friday and a subsequent request for ideas from members about how the Trust can react to represent our members, we have experienced a large increase in membership and received hundreds of emails with feedback on what the Trust does next.
On Saturday Alex Hurst Trust chair spoke to Amanda Staveley by telephone after being introduced by George Caulkin of The Athletic. Amanda had been clear in her interview with George (read here) that she felt Newcastle United fans could play a role.
‘If they want this back on they’re going to have to go back to the Premier League and say this isn’t fair’.
With that in mind, it seemed sensible as the largest Newcastle United member organisation (and the only one recognised by the Premier League) that we try and speak to Amanda Staveley to see what the Trust could do in this regard.
Thanks to that introduction from George our Chair Alex spoke to Amanda by phone, who reiterated how upset both she and the other buyers were about the Premier League’s lack of decision and that Mike Ashley was still very keen to sell her consortium the club.
In terms of what we could do as a Trust and the wider fan base – answers from the Premier League are crucial at this point both for the fans of Newcastle United and the consortium buying the club.
The Trust already had plans to reach out to the Premier League both directly and through the Football Supporters Association.
This is still very much the plan, but in order to harness member feedback beyond the hundreds of excellent emails that have been sent to us, we will aim to have an open forum online in the coming days to understand how best to proceed. We are a member organisation and need to take member feedback on this.
That Amanda Staveley has spoken to the Trust is a testament to our strength in numbers. United we stand a far greater chance of getting a resolution we desire. We have got to come together as a fan base. For too long there has been abuse and derision aimed toward anyone trying to bring fans together. When we’re stood on the Gallowgate or in an away end together then it’s our collective voices that have made us famous the world over. That show of strength and unity has made Newcastle United famous.
For the sake of the future and the football club, if there is a small chance, we can get answers from the Premier League which could aid this process and get information and an explanation we must come together and we must do it now.
The Trust exists for the supporters of Newcastle United. We have a common purpose that unites us.
The board of the Trust does not have all the answers on what to do next. We know that abuse, intimidation, and spam will not get us the answers we seek.
We need to come together as support, behind this Trust, and work to do what we can to get the answers we need.
That both Newcastle United is committed to the sale and the buyers are committed to the sale suggests that anything is still possible. It is not our position to give supporters false hope or suggest that this takeover could still go through and the PIF statement suggests otherwise.
However, Amanda Staveley has outlined that supporters have a role to play in making ourselves heard with the Premier League and also that we seek answers from them.
We can do that. We can do that easily, but we have to be United and there has to be an effort by all fans either individually or in groups to unite over this.
Now is the time for supporters to make the difference that we know we are capable of making.
More information will follow this week about our plans. In the meantime we urge you to help us grow our membership so that when we speak to the Premier League it isn’t for just ten thousand we speak, but the whole fanbase.
NUST Board
A strong message and one that offers a ray of hope to supporters, but only if we ALL unite for the good of our club.
As they say, ‘anything may be possible’ if we pull together, with the buying and selling side appearing to remain ‘very keen’ to complete this takeover if there’s any chance it can be resurrected.
If you haven’t already, we urge you to sign up to be a member of the NUFC Trust, which costs just a measly £2 to register.
The more numbers behind the movement, the more of an impact we can make to finally get the answers that we seek!
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This takeover was not just about buying new players for our team,it would, could benefit the whole of the North East of England.
We need this investment at a time the whole World is unsure of it’s future!
Peter Vendittelli(Quote)
I’m 76 years old I recently taken sky sports on now TV which cost me considerable amount of money out of my pension so I could watch so I can watch Newcastle I am very disappointed at the weird the Premier league has not seen this through I’ve never looked at my phone So much 😥
Michael(Quote)
Baztoonnufc. Here I’ve read the latest report . From Amanda and the NUST and if there was any hope left it was laid bare in that statement. Iam 66 years old a life long fan ,like most fans iam gutted about the way things have gone BUT not surprised . The PL have treated us with disrespect and the buyers ,I feel their logic was to wait long enough for people to give up and to be honest I dont blame them . This would normally have gone through alot sooner.But it is my thought that other things were in play here?? . It is easy to go of on a rant ,our club the fans our city deserve this deal it is my hope WE all stick together in a constructive way use our passion strength pride to help Amanda and the people who believe in us . Thank You. Baztoonnufc.
Barry Venus(Quote)
How do me and my family sign up without a supporters member number
Ken Cain(Quote)
Thank you for providing this interesting and very interesting topic. I will update your next post often.
paper io 2(Quote)