Newcastle owners PIF U-turn in talks over £820m deal that will cause controversy at Premier League HQ
When the Premier League’s lawyers finally approved PIF’s takeover of Newcastle United, it marked the start of a new era not just on Tyneside but in world football.
Since establishing their enclave of Saudi Arabia in the North East, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) have made Newcastle the subjects of global discourse in geopolitics.
Football has always been a vehicle for the ultra-rich and ultra-powerful to wield cultural influence, but the entry of sovereign wealth funds with cryptic and esoteric aims is a new phenomenon.
For their part, PIF insist that they run Newcastle as they would any other business. That is a dubious claim.
PIF manage assets worth in the region of £750bn and a football club with annual turnover of £250-300m in a good year is probably in the bottom five per cent of their revenue-generating properties.
It is also highly unusual – if not unprecedented altogether – for PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan to be directly involved in day-to-day operations at one of the fund’s smallest businesses.
It was even more abnormal for the crown prince of Saudi Arabia himself, Mohammed bin Salman, to have lobbied the UK government to lean on the Premier League to approve the takeover.
Why then have PIF invested in the Magpies and what, when the fog on the Tyne clears, do they want to have achieved at St James’ Park in a few years time?
It’s partly about power, influence and, yes, sportswashing.
However, the likes of Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sport and Geopolitical Economy at Skema Business School, argue that PIF’s project in Newcastle is not a solely a vanity project to launder the state’s image.
Granted, Newcastle chairman Al-Rumayyan has made an ally in Donald Trump since the takeover, with whom he has been discussing the potential merger of PIF’s LIV Gold and the PGA Tour.
The images of the pair sat together at UFC 309 alongside Dana White, UFC’s CEO who Mark Zuckerberg has just appointed to the board at Meta, tell you all you need to know about the power of sport.
But, Chadwick suggests, Newcastle aren’t just a cultural foothold in football.
“The smash-and-grab mentality at Paris Saint-Germain or Manchester City is absolutely not the case at Newcastle,” he said last year, when there were suggestions PIF’s interest in the club was waning.
“Just look at the considered development of the commercial team. The people they’ve brought in are experts with strong background in the areas they’ve been appointed in.
