Finance guru issues Newcastle United ‘conflict of interest’ claim as PIF’s Chelsea links revealed
Newcastle United need not worry about a potential conflict of interest between their owners and Chelsea despite their now-public financial links.
That is the view of finance expert Doctor Dan Plumley, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s connections to Clearlake Capital.
Clearlake, who now own 60 per cent of the club, were part of the consortium fronted by Todd Boehy that completed a £4.25billion takeover of Chelsea in May.
The buyout came seven months after the Saudi Public Investment Fund secured control of Newcastle in a £305million deal.
The Daily Mail reported last Friday (5 July) that PIF are major investors in Clearlake, although the US group insists there was no Saudi involvement in the Chelsea takeover.
Premier League and Uefa rules bar clubs governed by the same owners from competing in the same competition.
But Plumley insists that there are ample degrees of separation between Newcastle and Chelsea.
“There is nothing that we can see that says they are directly involved,” the Sheffield Hallam University expert told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“We know that Boehly is not involved in that group anyway and that there are lines of separation.
“I think the challenge here is that, when we talk about conflict of interest, there is only a certain amount investors who can and will invest in Premier League football.
“When you start to look at the networks and see who is connected to who, especially with a firm like Clearlake who own over £60bn worth of assets for 300 investors, you will often find that the circle is smaller than we think it is.
“This could come up again in the future, but the takeover wouldn’t have been sanctioned if there was any direct involvement. But it is interesting when we look at the networks and connections involved.”
In other news, pundit tells Chelsea to sanction Kepa Arrizabalaga exit after journalist’s “75 per cent” update.