Newcastle United fans have long dreamed of ridding the club from owner Mike Ashley, but a potential £300 million ($377 million) takeover backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund presents fans on Tyneside with a different dilemma.
Retail tycoon
Ashley has been deeply unpopular in his 13 years in charge of Newcastle, during
which time the club have twice been relegated from the Premier League before
bouncing back into English football’s lucrative top flight.
British financier
Amanda Staveley has held a long-running interest in brokering a deal for one of
England’s most passionately supported clubs with attendances often above 50,000
despite years of limited success.
Ashley
labelled Staveley a “waste of time” when a previous bid to take control
collapsed in 2017.
However, documents
filed last week to Companies House provide a framework for talks between
Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners and Ashley.
According to
reports, 80 percent of the deal would be funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public
Investment Fund with Staveley providing 10 percent and the other 10 percent
coming from British billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben.
The Toon Army have
long voiced their dissent as Ashley has tried to cash in on the riches of
Premier League television rights deals, whilst investing little on improving
the team on the pitch.
“There was a famous banner a couple of years ago that read: ‘We don’t demand a team that wins, we demand a club that tries.’ For the last 13 years we haven’t had a club that has tried,” a spokesman for the Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST) told AFP.
“Under this
ownership there has been no ambition, effectively no investment and no hope for
a sporting entity that hasn’t been a sporting entity. It’s been there to
survive and nothing more.”
The prospect of
deep-pocketed owners, particularly at a time when most other clubs will be
cutting back due to the economic crisis caused by coronavirus, is an alluring
one for the Magpie faithful.
Indeed, a £40
million drop in Ashley’s asking price since talks began in January is believed
to be linked to the falling value of football assets due to a shutdown caused
by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Manchester City’s
run of 11 major trophies since an Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008 transformed their
fortunes is an example of the difference wealthy Middle Eastern owners can
make.
Prior to 2011, City
had not won a major honour since 1976. Newcastle’s barren run stretches back to
1969.
“They are looking
for someone to come in with fresh investment and to get them back where they
should be, which is the top end of the Premier League and maybe the Champions
League,” former Newcastle manager Graeme Souness told Sky Sports.
However, selling
out to Saudi investment will see Newcastle become the latest target of
criticism over the state’s use of sport to distract from its human rights
record.
“In recent months,
Saudi Arabia has worked hard at ‘sportswashing’ its reputation – trying to use
the glamour of sport as a public relations tool to improve its international
image,” said an Amnesty International report in February.
A world heavyweight
title fight between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz in December and the Spanish
Super Cup a month later received strong criticism for taking the millions
offered to participate in Saudi Arabia.
“It is something we
need to be aware of,” added the NUST spokesman.
“We need to see the
specific details of who is involved once it is confirmed. It is only natural
there are concerns.”
