FIVE YEARS OF SAUDI OWNERSHIP DID NOT BRING NEWCASTLE UNITED THE PROMISED SUCCESS. 'IT'S NOBODY'S FAVOURITE SECOND TEAM ANYMORE'

Written by Matthijs van Dam - English translation of this article by Trouw

In The Plaything, Trouw editor Matthijs van Dam examines the tensions between sport and politics every week.

Five years ago, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund bought English football club Newcastle United. This time, the promises of success made by Arab owners have not been fulfilled. “A lot of supporters still need to realise that we could end up just like Manchester City.”

Wednesday, October 7th marked not only five years since Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) bought English football club Newcastle United. It also marked a five-year anniversary for supporter John Hird: five years since he began his self-imposed boycott of the club. Rather than taking his seat in the stands, he founded the activist group NUFC Fans Against Sportswashing.

Through the group, Hird hopes to make fellow supporters more aware of what he believes the historic club has become: a PR vehicle for an authoritarian regime. “Other supporters’ groups preferred to ‘keep the dialogue going’, which is also something you often hear in response to human rights abuses,” Hird says via video call. “I would consider myself a hypocrite if I attended matches, so I won’t return until the Saudis are gone.”

At the time, some supporters came to St James’ Park celebrating, draped in Saudi flags bearing the Islamic declaration of faith. Others celebrated the takeover by wearing masks depicting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who chairs the sovereign wealth fund, or by dressing in a thobe, the long, loose-fitting garment traditionally worn by Arab men.

Part of the euphoria stemmed from finally being rid of the hated owner Mike Ashley, a penny-pinching businessman who had neglected the club. But Newcastle fans had also seen the success enjoyed by Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, thanks to huge investments by their owners from Abu Dhabi and Qatar. The Saudi government came to Newcastle with similar promises: we will take the club to the top and invest in the city.

Neither has happened.

Yes, Newcastle won the League Cup, their first major trophy in seventy years, and qualified for the Champions League twice, even beating the reigning champions from Paris in the competition. But the club has so far come nowhere near winning the Champions League or the Premier League title, despite spending almost €1 billion on players.

Last season, the Magpies finished only twelfth, while this season they currently sit ninth. According to Hird, the fact that club chairman and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan himself lifted the League Cup trophy did not go down well with every supporter.

And what about those investments in the city? A bar opened near the stadium, Hird says, but that also prompted complaints from other hospitality businesses. Plans for a new training complex and stadium continue to face delays. “Supporters complain about that,” Hird says. Ticket prices have also risen, meaning that some fans in the poorer north of England have been priced out of St James' Park.

Unforeseen developments and loss-making investments in sport played a role in the ambitions that failed to materialise. Because of the unstable political and economic situation in the Middle East, following the war between the United States and Iran, Saudi Arabia’s priorities have shifted. PIF has also withdrawn from the LIV golf tour, in which it invested as much as $5 billion. Financially, all eyes now appear to be on the 2034 World Cup, which Saudi Arabia will host. However the construction of at least one stadium, part of the cancelled Neom project, is now reportedly no longer feasible.

After five years of Saudi ownership, the conclusion appears to be that an Arab owner does not automatically bring success, but can bring reputational damage. Hird points to Newcastle’s celebrated team of the late 1990s, managed by Kevin Keegan and led by striker Alan Shearer. “Back then, Newcastle was everyone’s favourite second team in England. Now it’s nobody’s favourite second team, because there’s a bad smell around the club.”

On Wednesday, NUFC Fans Against Sportswashing marked the five-year anniversary with a special event, at which, among others, a Saudi dissident spoke. There was also a meeting with members of Newcastle City Council, who, according to Hird, will soon ask the council for the first time to publicly express its support for human rights in Saudi Arabia.

At the same time, Hird sees that Saudi ownership “has been accepted by almost everyone in Newcastle”. Not only has the city council remained silent, hoping to benefit from Saudi money one day, but the club’s LGBTQ+ supporters’ group has never spoken out either. That, Hird says, is to the dismay of Saudi Arabia’s LGBTQ+ community. He points to the club’s many fan magazines and supporters’ groups, as well as local politicians. “If the gatekeepers of fan opinion don’t speak out, other people think: why should I?”

Hird draws hope from the threatened downfall of FIFA president Gianni Infantino and the major fraud case involving Manchester City. To him, it shows that autocratic rulers do not remain in power forever. Hird cannot see how City’s owners will be able to stay on after this humiliation, which they probably will not accept.

At the same time, it remains to be seen what will be left of Manchester City after the case, a question Hird believes is also relevant to his own club. Three years ago, questions were raised about the high transfer fees paid for Newcastle players such as winger Allan Saint-Maximin by Saudi clubs that were also controlled by PIF. The transactions appeared to amount to disguised capital injections into the English club.

Other clubs called for an investigation. The Premier League did not respond to those demands, but it did assess Newcastle under its rules and found no violations. But who knows what the future holds after the earthquake caused by the City case?

Hird: “For a lot of fans, the penny still has to drop that we could end up just like City.” That is; the human rights abusing nation state owners being forced to sell up and leave.

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