And so, after many months of wrangling, a Saudi Arabian-led consortium has finally taken control of Newcastle United. ‘Howay the lads,’ as they say in those parts.
The consortium, which is led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), a sovereign wealth fund chaired by the dictatorial and all-powerful Crown Prince, Mohamed bin Salman, has offered the Premier League “legally binding assurances” that Saudi Arabia won’t control the club, despite taking an 80% share in it. The consortium’s frontwoman, Amanda Staveley, whose investment firm is one of two other parties in the takeover, has repeatedly claimed that “our partner is not the Saudi state, our partner is PIF.” The reality – as can be established by anyone with an internet connection – is that Saudi Arabia is in full control of the club.
The seemingly never-ending saga had nothing to do with whether or not Mohamed bin Salman, known as MBS, is an appropriate person to control one of the UK’s biggest and most well-supported football clubs. In the end, it was always all about the money. Once Saudi Arabia agreed to crack down on the pirating of Premier League content, which it had for years failed to tackle due to a petty regional spat with Qatar, all that was required was for everybody involved to side-step the MBS-shaped elephant in the room, and to agree that black was white.
