A proposed £340m Saudi Arabian takeover of Newcastle has polarised opinion with Amnesty International claiming it would represent sportswashing, but the club’s fans broadly welcome the idea.
Mike Ashley, Newcastle’s owner, is in talks with a consortium fronted by the British financier Amanda Staveley but with at least 80% of the funding provided by the Saudi Arabia Sovereign Wealth Fund, controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Ashley seems likely to decide whether to accept it within the next few days.
The Gulf state has attempted to exercise soft geopolitical power by assuming an increasingly high profile in global sport, staging Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight boxing match against Andy Ruiz last month, as well as Spain’s Super Cup.
It is all part of Saudi’s Vision 2030, an attempt to rebrand its international image and promote, among other things, tourism. Amnesty believes it is using sport as a cynical means of laundering its blemished image and describes the Kingdom’s human rights record as abysmal.
However, when the Newcastle Evening Chronicle staged an online poll on Saturday evening, asking the club’s supporters whether they would object to the mooted takeover on the grounds of Saudi’s questionable human rights record, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Tellingly, 80% of the 5,766 fans polled were in favour of the takeover.
Amnesty sees things differently. “It’s not for us to say who should own Newcastle United, but players, backroom staff and fans alike ought to see this for what it is – sportswashing, plain and simple,” said their UK head of campaigns, Felix Jakens. “Saudi Arabia is well-known for its attempts at ‘sportswashing’ – trying to use the glamour and prestige of top-tier sport as a PR tool to distract from the country’s abysmal human rights record.
“Under Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, there’s been a sweeping human rights crackdown – with numerous peaceful activists jailed. There’s been a blatant whitewash over Jamal Khashoggi’s grisly murder, there are continuing concerns over Saudi hacking and the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen has a bloody record of launching indiscriminate attacks on homes and hospitals.”
Michael Martin, a writer for leading Newcastle fanzine True Faith, a publication he previously edited, suspects Amnesty’s pleas for fans to familiarise themselves with Saudi current affairs will fall on stony ground. Particularly as the new owners are understood to be keen to invest significant sums in regenerating run down parts of Tyneside in addition to strengthening Steve Bruce’s squad and challenging for a place in Europe.
“If the Saudis took over at Newcastle, I seriously doubt there would be any local outcry from a support and a city desperate for investment,” said Martin. “They would be welcomed not so much with open arms but with an unparalleled euphoria. The Saudis are said to be keen on a bit of modernising of their image and football is felt to be one way of doing that. Nice. That works for us. If this were to come off it wouldn’t just represent a massive step change for Newcastle United, it would likely have huge implications for the city of Newcastle and the region as well.”
Widespread disillusionment with Ashley’s 13-year tenure at St James’ Park would almost inevitably play into Saudi hands. Toon for Change, a pressure group lobbying for his departure, are duly receptive to the idea of new owners. “We welcome interest from potential buyers,” they said. “Our message to Mike Ashley is: prove the sceptics who believe you are unwilling to sell our football club wrong. Sell Newcastle United to a party that has the ambition to make us the top-six club we were before you took control. Let us have something to dream about once again.”
The new owners would have to gain Premier League approval by passing its owners and directors test before any buyout was rubber stamped but no party involved envisages any difficulties in the Saudis surmounting that obstacle.
While Staveley would be expected to take a 10 per cent holding and run the club on a day to day basis and a member of the property-developing Reuben family could well have a minority stake and seat on the board, Yasir Al-Rummayyan has been heavily involved in the talks. He runs both the Saudi Sovereign Wealth fund and the oil company Saudi Aramco and could potentially become Newcastle’s all-powerful chairman in charge of the 80 per cent controlling Saudi interest.
Meanwhile sources close to the would-be buyers suggest they have made detailed plans regarding major a overhaul of football operations embracing the academy and training ground but claim there will be “no knee-jerk” decisions. There are no plans to replace Bruce with Rafael Benítez or anyone else.
First though a sale has to be agreed with Ashley.
