Prem chairman ‘on the brink of resigning’ over Newcastle takeover

Premier League chairman Gary Hoffman is “on the brink of resigning” over his role in Newcastle United’s Saudi-led takeover, according to reports.

Newcastle United’s long-awaited takeover was completed in October. This ended Mike Ashley’s 14-year stint in charge of the Premier League club.

The decision to approve this takeover was criticised by some quarters in the aftermath.

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Sky Sports are reporting that Hoffman is “on the brink of resigning” over the backlash he has received as a result of Newcastle United’s takeover being approved by the Premier League.

The report adds: “Sky News has learnt that Gary Hoffman, who only took up the non-executive post 18 months ago, is close to finalising his exit after coming under pressure to quit in the last few weeks.

“An announcement about his departure could be made in the coming days, an executive at one top-flight club said.

“There remained a chance that Mr Hoffman could change his mind if a sufficient number of clubs sought to persuade him to do so, the insider added, although the likelihood of that appears slim.

“All 20 top-flight clubs are understood to have been briefed on the situation.

“Mr Hoffman’s impending resignation follows weeks of unrest about the decision to allow the £305m purchase of Newcastle by a consortium spearheaded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.”

Elsewhere, Amanda Staveley has promised to provide Eddie Howe with transfer funds in January:

“We are preparing for the January transfer window. It’s not a window we would ordinarily want to invest in, because you probably don’t get the right deals, but that’s something that is important at the moment.

“It would have been an easy decision for us not to buy the club, just to wait until post-Christmas and post the January window and see where the club was in the league, and then make the acquisition.

“That would have been the safe investment bet, but we didn’t do that, we decided if we didn’t do it now it wasn’t going to happen and we had to take that risk.

“We took that risk because the club was sitting in 19th position at the time and Eddie took the job knowing there was that risk.”