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Why Newcastle United’s take over collapse was the best result

By Keith Lisenbee

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - AUGUST 11: A statue of Bobby Robson is seen outside of St James Park prior to the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Arsenal FC at St. James Park on August 11, 2019 in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - AUGUST 11: A statue of Bobby Robson is seen outside of St James Park prior to the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Arsenal FC at St. James Park on August 11, 2019 in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) /
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Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Saudi Arabia’s Prince and Defence Minister Mohammad bin Salman al Saud (L) (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images) /

The Newcastle take over was a disaster waiting to happen.

Per The Athletic, the Premier League had sought clarity from the consortium attempting to buy Newcastle United regarding who was going to be running the club and what links PIF had with the Saudi Arabian state.

It was believed that PCP Partners, led by Amanda Staveley, and Reuben Brothers were going to operate the club’s day to day business operations backed by the PIF. Staveley and the Reuben Brothers fronted 10% each of the cash in the deal, and the PIF was fronting the remaining 80%.

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However, the chairman of the PIF is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who is the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia.

So, in essence, Newcastle would have been run by the state of Saudi Arabia with British figureheads running the club on the ground.

This whole deal should have been a non-starter from the beginning.

First, Saudi Arabia’s record of individual human rights is awful. The nation directed an assassination of a journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, in a foreign country.

The oil-rich country is also directly involved in the civil war in Yemen, which has turned into one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent memory.

Secondly, the Saudi Arabian government had been linked to the piracy of telecasts of Premier League matches by beoutQ. BeIN Sports, based in Qatar, has the broadcasting rights to televise league matches in the Middle East.

Though the country has denied claims that it supported beoutQ, the World Trade Organization (WTO) issued a report in June outlining the Saudi state’s role in the breach.

Since it is clear that the head of the Saudi government also is the head of the PIF, any deal giving them ownership of Newcastle United would further destroy the integrity, transparency, and honesty in the sport.

In turn, any deterioration of the sanctity of football would hurt its fans in the long run.

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