Journalist says £300m takeover set to be sanctioned by Premier League & Steve Bruce to leave
Some more highly promising takeover claims have now emerged, with TWO local journalists claiming the Premier League are finally set to give a £300m deal the thumbs up.
The first of two positive updates comes from Ian Murtagh - the Daily Star's man in the North-East - who states that Mike Ashley's 13-year reign will officially come to an end in the next '7 days', insisting that the Premier League are "ready" to sanction a Saudi-backed buyout at St James' Park.
Here's a snippet from his latest piece, which also states that Steve Bruce is 'expected' to be replaced by Mauricio Pochettino after being left in the dark by both the buying and selling side over the past month:
Mike Ashley 's acrimonious 13-year ownership of Newcastle will be over next week.
The despised Toon owner is set to sever his links with the Magpies forever in the next seven days when he hands over the reins to Amanda Staveley's Saudi backed consortium.
The Premier League are set to give the green light to the £300m deal sparking celebrations among the Toon Army who have been protesting against Ashley's running of the club for more than a decade.
The Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which is financing 80 per cent of the deal continues to court controversy itself due to piracy issues over TV coverage and the country's appalling human rights issue.
But after weeks of waiting since signed papers were lodged at Companies House, the Premier League will clear the last remaining hurdle to a change of ownership according to Saudi sources.
It will transform Newcastle into one of the world's richest sporting institutions and end one of the most contentious ownerships of a football club in the modern era.
Toon chief Steve Bruce is expected to be replaced by Mauricio Pochettino despite not having heard from either Staveley's camp nor Ashley since the sale was agreed early last month.
While some may scoff at the 'Daily Star', Murtagh is a senior North-East reporter who's covered all things Newcastle United for some time - so this doesn't appear to be just a generic piece written to fill columns for a national paper.
Then we have Miles Starforth of the Shields Gazette, who's also stating that the Staveley-led consortium will be given the go-ahead from Premier League chiefs - suggesting they will PASS the owners' and directors' tests and end Mike Ashley's time on Tyneside officially next week.
He too also reports that a managerial change will take place before long, with Mauricio Pochettino the 'leading contender' to replace Steve Bruce.
