Newcastle is debasing itself to NUFC's Saudi owners. Here's how we're fighting empty promises

Imagine a Labour council going cap in hand to a bloody, human rights-abusing dictatorship, begging them to pay for free school meals for kids from poor families. 

Imagine MPs in the area saying next to nothing about upholding human rights in the country of the chairman of the local football club, who also happens to be a minister in a government which jails women for decades for tweeting about their rights. 

Imagine thousands of fans on match days, home and away, advertising a club sponsor which is accused of modern day slavery practices.

You don’t need to imagine because that’s the situation in Newcastle where the football club is owned by the Saudi state. 

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Tyneside has been engulfed by a dark fog of cognitive dissonance. It enables politicians, the local media, and most fans to pretend that having one of the world’s worst and most vicious human rights-abusing regimes on the planet as owners of Newcastle United has nothing to do with the football. 

However, Saudi state ownership of our club isn’t just about what happens on the pitch. It has much wider implications, affecting the ethics of local journalists, the collusion of politicians in facilitating the sportswashing aims of the owners and for fans of Newcastle and indeed all clubs. It’s about the future of the “beautiful game”.

Three years ago, Newcastle United were taken over by a consortium led by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia.

The takeover had taken some 20 months to complete. At one point it looked to have been blocked by the Premier League. To increase pressure to approve the takeover, Amanda Staveley promised that the Saudis were ready to make “massive investment” into the region and she encouraged fans to campaign against the Premier League’s decision. An enormous fan led campaign followed, featuring interventions from nearly all North East MPs as well as the local council.

Many media figures, local politicians and fan groups promised to “engage” with the new ownership, in the hope that this may help them to “modernise”, although it was never entirely clear how this process would take place.

Now, three years after the takeover’s completion, oppression in Saudi Arabia has worsened by several measurements, with the harshness of sentences and rate of executions markedly increasing.

So, as NUFC Supporters Against Sportswashing, we’ve been digging. We submitted some freedom of information requests to Newcastle City Council asking about their relationship with the club.

They showed that Newcastle City Council suggested that the takeover’s front-woman Amanda Staveley could meet with them once every two months so that she could have a “state of the nation overview” and “high level overview of the city and the region” which would give her “a chance to influence or be part of the work we are doing”.

Staveley was also given sight of freedom of information requests before they were responded to, invited to make “observations” before the council disclosed details of meetings and emails between the club’s new owners and the council.

It’s clear that rather than fans and local people in Newcastle changing Saudi Arabia, the new owners are now very well placed to affect change here.

In spite of all this there has been very little sign of the promised investment.

But it would be wrong to say that nothing of note has been achieved over the last the years. Our freedom of information requests also revealed that the council unsuccessfully asked for Newcastle United’s owners to pay for universal free school meals for children in Newcastle, making us the first UK city ever to beg an authoritarian state for handouts because that state happened to own the local football club.

For the third season in a row, one of the club’s change kits is currently in the colours of the Saudi national side. Presumably this is a first in world football, and the shirts have proved hugely popular with many supporters.

In September 2023, two international matches featuring the Saudi national team were played at St James’ Park. This is first time a national team has played games at a stadium because the state in question owns the club that plays there.

Rather than any achievements on the pitch, these are the things which now make Newcastle United a unique club, and these enormous embarrassments on such a public stage could not have happened without the compliance of the same fan groups, media, and local politicians who had previously pledged to “hold the owners to account” before the takeover.

The club and the city are increasingly giving the appearance of being obedient and willing sock puppets for one of the most revolting regimes on the planet.

When renowned Saudi human rights activist Lina al Hathloul came to Newcastle in September 2023, only three local politicians bothered to respond to requests to meet her. But while she was here, she told fans that they “should not underestimate the power one word can have”.

The only way for the club and the city to salvage their increasingly damaged reputation is for Lina’s words to be listened to, and for the many promises made before the takeover to be recalled and acted upon.  

Andrew Page and John Hird are the founders of Newcastle United Fans Against Sportswashing.

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