Newcastle United have hired lawyers in their dispute with the Premier League over the attempted Saudi-led takeover of the club.
Blackstone Chambers said on Monday that two of its barristers, Shaheed Fatima and Nick De Marco, are acting for the club in the matter.
The Magpies released a statement on Wednesday last week claiming the Premier League had rejected a takeover bid which would have seen Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) take an 80 per cent stake in the club.
The statement said: "The club and its owners do not accept that Premier League chief executive Richard Masters and the Premier League have acted appropriately in relation to this matter and will be considering all relevant options available to them."
The league responded the following day, saying it was "surprised and disappointed" by Newcastle's statement and that it had not rejected the takeover bid.
"The Premier League board has, on a number of occasions, given its opinion about which entities it believes would have control over the club should the consortium proceed with the acquisition. That opinion is based on legal advice," a league statement read.
"This means the potential takeover could proceed to the next stage should the relevant entities provide all appropriate information.
"They would then be subject to a suitability assessment by the board. As an alternative, the board has repeatedly offered independent arbitration as a way forward since June.
"It is also incorrect to suggest these decisions were taken by any individual; they were agreed unanimously by all Premier League board members."
On the football pitch, manager Steve Bruce is refusing to get carried away after seeing his Newcastle team launch its new Premier League campaign with an impressive 2-0 victory at West Ham.
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Player ratings for West Ham 0 Newcastle 2
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Striker Callum Wilson and midfielder Jeff Hendrick both scored at the London Stadium, while fellow debutant Jamal Lewis at left-back also turned in an impressive display.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday's League Cup match against Blackburn Rovers, Bruce said: "There's nothing better for anyone than to go away from home and win, especially in the Premier League because we know how difficult it is.
"But it wasn't just the victory which pleased me, it was the way we went about it too with three new faces in the squad who looked as if they'd been here for years, never mind a week, so that pleased me – and all three of them had wonderful debuts, which also helps the situation.
"All in all, we've had a decent start, but we're not going to get too carried away over one result because there's still a long, long way to go."
As for the cup tie at St James' Park, Bruce admitted there will be widespread changes to his team ahead of what will be a hectic season of fixtures.
The competition will be condensed into most of this month – a after the late finish to last season due to the coronavirus lockdown and late start of the new campaign – with the quarter-final line-up set to be thrashed out before October.
Success means the Magpies could play up to seven games before the next international break at the start of October.
Bruce said: "We will still take it seriously. The competition is condensed into seven weeks.
"I have a squad of players. When I look at the strength we've got I still expect to get through.
"The one thing we struggled with last year was playing the games over Christmas and we struggled at the back end after lockdown.
"I will be making changes and looking to get into the next round."
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
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Dust storm
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Paltan
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4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
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UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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ABU DHABI ORDER OF PLAY
Starting at 10am:
Daria Kasatkina v Qiang Wang
Veronika Kudermetova v Annet Kontaveit (10)
Maria Sakkari (9) v Anastasia Potapova
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova v Ons Jabeur (15)
Donna Vekic (16) v Bernarda Pera
Ekaterina Alexandrova v Zarina Diyas
Roll of honour 2019-2020
Dubai Rugby Sevens
Winners: Dubai Hurricanes
Runners up: Bahrain
West Asia Premiership
Winners: Bahrain
Runners up: UAE Premiership
UAE Premiership
}Winners: Dubai Exiles
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes
UAE Division One
Winners: Abu Dhabi Saracens
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes II
UAE Division Two
Winners: Barrelhouse
Runners up: RAK Rugby
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