There are growing calls on the Premier League to reassess the relationship of Newcastle United’s owners to Saudi Arabia’s government after chairman Yasir al-Rumayyan was named as “a sitting minister” of the Middle East state's government in a US court brief.
Amnesty International have said that the league will “surely need to re-examine the assurances made about the non-involvement of the Saudi authorities in the Newcastle deal” after the Public Investment Fund, which bought 80% of the St James’ Park club, said it was a “sovereign instrumentality of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” in the case between their LIV Golf organisation and the PGA Tour.
The Premier League are refusing to comment on the court submissions but several clubs, who opposed the takeover from the outset, are understood to have raised concerns.
When the Newcastle takeover was completed in October 2021 the league's chief executive Richard Masters said that they had received “legally binding assurances that essentially the state will not be in charge of the club” and that if there was “evidence to the contrary, we can remove the consortium as owners of the club.”
Human rights groups have called the purchase of the club an act of "sportswashing" since the beginning and the latest developments will bring a fresh wave of scrutiny on a club that is ...
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“It was always stretching credulity to breaking point to imagine that the Saudi state wasn’t directing the buyout of Newcastle with the ultimate aim of using the club as a component in its wider sportswashing efforts,” Peter Frankental, Amnesty UK’s economic affairs director, said.
“There’s an unmistakable irony in the sovereign wealth fund declaration emerging in a dispute about another arm of Saudi Arabia’s growing sports empire, but the simple fact is that Saudi sportswashing is affecting numerous sports and governing bodies need to respond to it far more effectively.
“The Premier League will surely need to re-examine the assurances made about the non-involvement of the Saudi authorities in the Newcastle deal, not least as there’s still a Qatari bid for Manchester United currently on the table.”
Both Masters and Newcastle director Amanda Staveley, of the PCP capital group who own a minority stake alongside PIF, were speaking separately at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit in London today and neither addressed the topic.
Staveley did, however, say that Newcastle’s consortium of owners are looking to expand their portfolio of football clubs and said that the club has needed to act prudently not to breach financial fair play rules.
Premier League chief Richard Masters has previously said legally-binding assurances were provided around the Newcastle ownership and separation with the Saudi state. (PA)“We’re looking at everything in terms of how we grow Newcastle and our brand,” she told the event. “The opportunity to buy players early in the cycle is critical to our growth. We’re very focused on young players so obviously we have looked at multi-club.
“But whenever you look at multi-club you have to make sure that you have the right fit – you also make sure that you choose your territory carefully and have the right chemistry. You’re working with another fanbase in another area so it’s critical that you set out what your goals will be. It’s complicated.”
Staveley added: “We’re also looking at another structure which would allow us to do maybe both [buy controlling and minority stakes], maybe something that would give us more opportunity to work with a lot more clubs. But that’s quite an early stage. I think that any buyer who is now looking to buy any club is going to be looking at the multi-club model.”
In terms of avoiding FFP issues, she added that their off-field earnings have proven a hurdle.
“We are doing everything we can to grow our commercial revenue with regards to financial fair play,” Staveley said. “We inherited very difficult contracts with the likes of FUN88 [main shirt sponsor] which were very much one way. We were limited as to how we could drive commercial revenues.”
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