Premier League clubs vote to block potential sponsorships for Newcastle

Premier League clubs voted on Monday to impose a temporary freeze on any of them signing commercial and sponsorship deals with businesses that have links to their club’s owners, Sky Sports reported.

The temporary freeze will be in place for a month while talks are held about a permanent rule change.

The decision was made at an emergency meeting, after concerns were raised that Newcastle United’s new Saudi Arabian owners could sign lucrative deals with Saudi state-owned companies.

About 80 per cent of Newcastle is now owned by Saudi Arabia’s state sovereign wealth fund.

Eighteen clubs voted in favour of the freeze, while Newcastle voted against and Manchester City abstained after their lawyers advised them the vote was unlawful.

Premier League financial fair play rules allow clubs to make maximum losses of £105m over a rolling three-year period.

Any artificially inflated commercial deals would increase revenues coming into a club and allow them to get around the rules and spend more than they are allowed.