Moving along Barrack Road in the historic city of Newcastle, one would struggle to miss the looming structure ahead. St. James’ Park stands like a cathedral, somewhere that over 52,000 Geordies can gather to worship every other weekend. Though in this cathedral, the celebration isn’t that of a formal church gathering, but that of football.
Walking through the gate, draped in their finest black-and-white-striped tops, the eager congregation makes their way to the pews. They earnestly wait to see what the sermon brings this time around. Singing their songs of praise and worship throughout the service, they long to celebrate a job well done by the eleven preachers at the pulpit, perhaps better known as footballers.
Though, in the eyes of most of this congregation, this holy site has been in the grasps of sinners for more than a decade. Many in the church-going community feel as though that sin is mortal.
Mike Ashley
“He’s a hate figure in Newcastle.”
-James Montague
Mike Ashley took control of Newcastle United in 2007. This was a move that many hoped would bring back the days of European football, title challenges, and exciting play. Most have been left unsatisfied, with the Magpies having only qualified for the Europa League once since the 2006-07 season. Coming with that has been two relegations. The lack of success on the pitch has led many to point the finger at Ashley. He has been accused of not investing in the club or showing the type of ambition that Newcastle should have.
“I feel Mike Ashley has massively underachieved in his position as owner of Newcastle United,” NUFC fan Jake McFarlane said. “The reason I feel like this is because since buying Newcastle United in 2007, we have gone from a stable Top 10 side and turned into a side that fights to stay in the league each season, not to mention the fact that we hadn’t reached a domestic quarterfinal until this year since he took charge.”
“Yes, I would blame Ashley [for Newcastle’s shortcomings],” he continues. “He simply came to the club and turned it into a business. I have family members that gave up their season tickets of 28 plus years because of the man.”
This has led many fans to call for Ashley to sell the club. Though not only has it been due to the lack of success on the pitch, but his management off it that many long to see the back of. Some examples of why this is the case are the renaming of St. James’ Park to ‘The Sports Direct Arena’ and the Jonas Gutierrez situation. Gutierrez scored the second goal that helped keep Newcastle in the Premier League after he had undergone chemotherapy for cancer. He was later released by the club via phone call. These are some of the reasons why most in the Toon faithful are longing to see the back of Ashley.
“Mike Ashley will be remembered in Newcastle, but not in a good way,” McFarlane said. “He’s turned a club that was a football club and a family club into a business and that’s why we haven’t achieved anything since he’s been in charge.”
“He’s a hate figure in Newcastle,” sports writer James Montague said.
“He turns up to St. James’ Park and there’s a few good years. But then almost straight away he’s managed to pretty much alienate everybody at the club,” Montague continues. “The resources aren’t being put in. They thought that this was a time where their club was finally gonna be in the big time, alongside the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal. It didn’t work out like that, and very soon he tried to offload the club. Really since 2008-2009 he’s been desperate to sell it, and he’s fallen further and further out of favor.”
“The team has been relegated twice. They’re back in the Premier League now. Their finances are in pretty good shape. They’re not gonna go out of business. They’re probably not going to get relegated. But it’s the lack of ambition, the lack of respect for the club and it’s institutions. One of the things was that he changed the name ‘St. James’ Park’ to the ‘Sports Direct Arena,’ which is quite common in the US to sell the stadium naming rights, but it’s still a very controversial thing in England, and especially in Newcastle. So it was seen that he was a bad caretaker for the club and they’ve been desperate for him to be out for almost a decade.”
The Takeover
It now seems as though Ashley’s reign at the helm of Newcastle United is coming to a close. According to reports, the club is being bought in a £300 million takeover by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF). The PIF is operated by the Saudi government and chaired by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. This would make Newcastle the third European club to be owned by a sovereign nation. The others are namely Manchester City (UAE) and PSG (Qatar). On top of that, there are numerous other clubs having lucrative sponsorship deals with such entities. These include Arsenal, Real Madrid, AS Roma, Bayern Munich and many more.
“I’m very happy at the fact that he is leaving and it feels good we could get our club back,” McFarlane said. “Like I’ve said before, he turned us from a football club into a business for himself and that’s why we haven’t achieved anything since he’s taken over.”
“My reaction to the club being bought by Mohammad bin Salman was of course excitement,” he continued. “At the fact that we could become the richest club in the world. However, it’s not about the fact that he is rich, it’s the fact that he will supply money and invest into the football club and hopefully get our club moving in the right direction again.”
Mohammad bin Salman
“They do not compare. If you took it on a moral scale, it’s just not even.”
– James Montague
A point of contention for some is the involvement of bin Salman. Serving as the chairman of the PIF means that he would be the man in charge of Newcastle United. Numerous human rights groups have come out against the takeover, saying that it shouldn’t be allowed due to alleged abuses of the Saudi state. This has led to debates on whether or not the takeover is good for the club and football in general.
“[That’s] one of the things that I find quite difficult in this debate, because while I can understand and sympathize with how bad an owner, or certainly how alienating an owner [Ashley’s] been, if you look at some metrics, he’s been quite good at rationalizing the finances of the club, but rationalizing doesn’t mean spending money to win titles or cups,” Montague said. “Almost like in American sports with [Stan] Kroenke, if you’ve got a cartel, you don’t need to win the Super Bowl every year, it’s enough to just poocher along because the system has been designed for you to make profit, and a lot of that rationalization has come into English soccer in recent years as well, and he’s a proponent of it.”
“There’s other issues as well,” he continues. “[Ashley’s] been dragged in front of the British Parliament to answer questions about the mistreatment of workers in some of his factories and warehouses. So he’s not a well-liked guy, even outside of football, he’s not a well-liked guy.”
“But, the people who are prospective owners Newcastle United, the PIF, the Public Investment Fund, chairman of which is Mohammad bin Salman, a guy who has been accused and there are legitimate concerns of involvement in everything from war crimes, the dismemberment of a well-known Saudi journalist in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. They do not compare. If you took it on a moral scale, it’s just not even. But that’s the discussion that’s taking place right now in England about this, many Newcastle fans are very, very happy to see the back of [Ashley], but it brings a lot of questions about who the type of owner is that’s coming in.”
Saudi Arabia’s Involvement in Yemen
“…he must shoulder the blame for very personally at how badly that war’s been persecuted.”
– James Montague
One of the areas that critics have leveled against the Saudi leadership is their involvement in the Yemeni Civil War. The war has claimed the lives of an estimated 12,000 civilians, largely due to the Saudi-lead airstrikes. That number does not include the people that have died due to the Saudi blockade of the country. It is reported that many do not know where their next meal will come from.
“This is something that MBS is directly involved in,” Montague said. “It was almost one of the first things he became Deputy Crown Prince in 2015 was launch this campaign.”
“There’s effectively a kind of civil war, and a coup, and the Houthi, who are kind of nominally religiously, ethnically Shia group from the north of the country take over and get rid of the democratically elected, pro-Saudi allies which are there at the moment. So the existential threat to Saudi Arabia and to the UAE, who is their other major partner in that war, is Iran.”
“They fear that a Shia group controlling Yemen on their border would be acting as a proxy for Iran. So they end up attacking it in the most brutal possible way. Not targeted strikes, they said they were, but it was destroying civilian infrastructure. More atrocities than you can imagine and have left it on the verge of starvation and an almost incalculable human cost, and that is something that he must shoulder the blame for very personally at how badly that war’s been persecuted.”
“If you have somebody and that’s their day job, and they’re gonna turn around and buy Newcastle United, that’s directly relevant.”
“[MBS is] a politician, if a state is going to buy a football club, then what the state does is directly relevant to the type of government, the type of people that are buying your football club.”
Human Rights in Saudi Arabia
The actions in Yemen are not the only area of criticism levied against the Kingdom. Many people are also concerned about alleged human rights abuses on the homefront.
Per Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia is accused of abuses on Muslim minorities, namely those of the Ismailis and Shia. Many critics also point to LGBTQ rights as a problem area. Punishments for homosexuality are reported to include fines, whippings, chemical emasculations, life imprisonment, and death. It’s also reported that criminal punishments can include stoning, beheading, firing squads, and crucifixions.
Though, there have been numerous attempts to bring the Kingdom more into the customs of the Western world. Women are no longer required to get the approval of their a guardian to receive education or medical care. Women have also been allowed to receive driver’s licenses for the first time. However, there has reportedly been a crackdown on feminist activities by the government. Many women who fought for more rights have now been jailed.
This comes as part of ‘Vision 2030’, which aims to reduce the dependence on oil, develop the economy and services. These services include infrastructure, health, tourism, and education.
“[Vision 2030] is an attempt to stop a national suicide,’’ Montague said. “The fact is that oil will run out, and Saudi Arabia is not capable of maintaining it’s 15,000 strong Royal Family, which is very expensive, nor the very paternalistic welfare state that they have. I think about 50% of the population are employed in the public sector, so 2030 is a necessary project. Saudi Arabia needs to be diversified.”
“The problem is it’s about trying to build a business environment, and when you’re going around liquidating and arresting and torturing your opponents, that’s not something people want to be involved in. After the Jamal Khashoggi incident, they had this Davos in the Desert that was supposed to take place. Everybody pulled out. A lot of projects were mothballed and all of the good work he’d done, coming to the US, making all of these state visits, it was ruined. And yet, of all the 2030 projects that have stalled and been mothballed, this Newcastle United purchase has gone ahead. Now, why has it gone ahead?”
“It’s one of the reasons why Hatice Cengiz, the prospective widow of Jamal Khasshogi, has been very vocal in her criticism of this. Buying this football club is an attempt to massage Saudi Arabia’s reputation, in the hope of inviting people back and getting people to forget about what happened to her fiance, and so it’s little more than a brand-building exercise. They’re not in it for the football and they’re not in it for profit because there are far easier ways for a profit than buying Newcastle United.”
Sportswashing Allegations
All of this has been brought to the forefront of attention as bin Salman closes in on acquiring the club. Many critics point to the takeover as being an example of ‘sportswashing’. As defined by MacMillan, sportswashing is “when a corrupt or tyrannical regime uses sport to enhance its reputation”. Many point to Manchester City and PSG as examples. They fear that Newcastle could be used as a means to distract from the alleged abuses occurring in Saudi Arabia.
“It’s hard for me to think of a more morally compromised owner than someone who, with a very high degree of probability, the CIA have said that was involved, and probably ordered, the murder and dismemberment the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was probably the most high-profile critic of him,” Montague said.“This is a guy who arrests his rivals, other members of the Royal Family and then will not let them go until they hand over billions of their pounds of their money to him.”
“This is a guy who jails or puts travel bans on the children of potential rivals who are living in exile, including Jamal Khashoggi’s children, who have since been a bit more positive towards him, but have also experienced what it’s like to be essentially controlled by this guy,” he continues. “He’s a very, very troubling figure who, in the five years he’s become Deputy Crown Prince and then Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, probably has as bad a track record in human rights, it’s like Kim Jong-un buying a football club, or back in the day [Muammar] Gaddafi apparently had an attempt to buy Manchester United. It’s as bad as it gets.”
“I fear that if people just think that this is just Sunderland fans making trouble or Liverpool fans who are jealous because ‘we’ll get more money than them,’ then I think we’ve lost something very important because these are pretty bad people. And they’re not buying your football club because they’re life-long Toon fans. They’re not even buying because they want to make a profit. They’re buying it because they need to change the way the world looks at them, because, at the moment, they’ve got probably one of the worst reputations in the world.”
The Fans in the Middle
“The fans will all come together again.”
– Jake McFarlane
But in the middle of the geopolitical battle stands the loyal fans of the Tyneside club. Some fans line themselves unquestionably to the new owners, some are more skeptical, others sit idly. What seems as though it is not up for debate is the loyalty of the congregation of fans, with their religious devotion to the football club and the church they call St. James’ Park.
“The fans will all come together again,” McFarlane said. “However, saying that, they mostly stuck together and have fought Ashley off. I know of many people that gave up season tickets, suites, because Ashley remains in charge. All of this, people will come back when he has sold up for sure.”
