London (AFP)

End of the dream for Newcastle supporters. Worn out by the various oppositions and tired of waiting for an uncertain green light from the English football authorities, the Saudi sovereign investment fund on Thursday gave up its plan to buy the club.

"With deep respect for the Newcastle community and the importance of its football club, we have come to the decision to withdraw our bid for the acquisition of Newcastle United Football Club," said a statement from the consortium revealed in initially by Sky Sports.

At the end of March, the fans of the Magpies had however believed that it was Christmas in the spring with this takeover offer of 300 million pounds (333 million EUR).

In a period when the economic crisis linked to Covid-19 was just beginning to be felt, the arrival of wealthy investors was almost unexpected.

It augured for the emergence, in the north of England, of a new rival for Liverpool, the two Manchester or the London clubs, in an ever more competitive Premier League.

Mauricio Pochettino on the bench, Kalidou Koulibaly in defense, Philippe Coutinho and Adrien Rabiot in the middle, Edinson Cavani and Gonzalo Higuain in attack, the potential targets of a 5-star recruitment had flourished in the press. Improbable for this club which has known the first half of the table only twice since the 2006/07 season, even suffering two relegations to the Championship, the second division.

- A very bulky Crown Prince -

Very quickly, however, the obstacles multiplied due to the major role played by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which was to hold 80% of the club's shares at the end of the operation, and especially the personality of its main leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Human Rights associations, such as Amnesty International, quickly joined by Hatice Cengiz, fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi - a Saudi journalist assassinated at the end of 2018 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a commando from the Kingdom - , had pleaded the Premier League not to offer a showcase to Saudi Arabia to whitewash its reputation.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, named by Turkish and American officials as the sponsor of the murder, later said he took responsibility as a leader for the crime, while denying knowing it before it was committed.

A second front had opened when the Qatari channel beIN Sports accused Saudi Arabia of being behind BeoutQ, a system for pirating sports images broadcast by satellite.

An angle of attack which touched the Premier League at its most sensitive point: the portfolio, since beIN is a major distributor of images of the English championship in the world.

- "More sustainable investment hypotheses" -

The World Trade Organization (WTO) had partially agreed with him in June, saying in a report that the Saudi authorities had not acted firmly enough against this piracy.

Focused on resuming the championship, the Premier League let things drag on to the point of boring PIF and its associates, British investment fund PCP Capital Partners and Reuben Brothers, another British investment firm belonging to the second fortune from the United Kingdom, brothers David and Simon Reuben.

"We do it with regret, because we (...) thought we could bring the club back to a position worthy of its history, its traditions and what its supporters deserve," the consortium continued in the statement.

The still difficult to measure long-term effects of Covid-19 also weighed heavily.

"Our investment assumptions were no longer sustainable, especially in the absence of clarity on the circumstances in which the coming season will start," the consortium said to explain its about-face.

It remains to be seen what Mike Ashley, the very unpopular owner since 2007 of the club he seems to be losing interest in, will do now.

At the end of June, when the procedure got bogged down, the media had mentioned the possible emergence of a "white knight": Henry Mauriss, American tycoon of televisions in airports.

For the disappointed supporters of the Magpies, all hope may not be lost.

© 2020 AFP