The departure of Mike Ashley has often been branded as what will herald the rebirth of Newcastle United. And the divisive owner is finally on his way out after 13 years but the new owners pose a different, greater problem to English football than Ashley ever did.
Firstly, let's analyse Mike Ashley.
He is a businessman at heart and that never really works well with football clubs. Ashley made Newcastle into a profit-orientated business and ripped a club with a great history and community ethos apart. There was very little investment on his front (remember the summer window when he brought House of Fraser for £90 million but Newcastle spent £22.5 million) and he oversaw two relegations in 2009 and 2016 - Newcastle hadn't been relegated since 1989 before Ashley's tenure. He came in 2007, just three seasons after Newcastle had qualified for the Champions League. Newcastle were, and are, a club with a huge fanbase and stadium (which Ashley renamed the Sports Direct Arena before reverting back to St. James' Park due to opposition from fans) that any right-minded person would utilise to create a football club worthy of those things.
Instead, protests happened and fans boycotted matches in attempts to undermine Ashley financially, which would hurt him the most. And it could be argued it was a financial decision that made Ashley sell. The proposed deals with Amanda Staveley that happened practically every season may never have happened but with the financial crash in football looming as a result of Covid-19, Ashley simply won't get a better price for Newcastle for some time. He has to sell and, although nothing seems simple, the £300 million is coming from Saudi Arabia.
Newcastle fans will be rejoicing that the tyrannical Mike Ashley is gone but when they look at who's coming in - an actual tyrant and dictator - the singing and cheering should be a little quieter.
Newcastle is set to be ownerd 80% by Saudi Arabia's Private Investment Fund (PIF), led by crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Saudi influence in English football is not something new as Sheffield United are now owned by Abdullah bin Musa'ad bin Abdul Aziz, a cousin of Bin Salman. Newcastle United and Sheffield United are now sportswashing vehicles.
The Human Rights Watch World Report of 2020 outlined the human rights violations by Saudi Arabia, which Bin Salman is implicit in.
Sportswashing is not a new phenomenon in English football or abroad. Manchester City's Emirati owners or the Qataris at PSG or when Chinese clubs threw millions of pounds at European players to come and play. All these countries have disgraceful human rights records but are using football as a method to brush that under the carpet. Newcastle will be yet another example of this.
Firstly, let's analyse Mike Ashley.
He is a businessman at heart and that never really works well with football clubs. Ashley made Newcastle into a profit-orientated business and ripped a club with a great history and community ethos apart. There was very little investment on his front (remember the summer window when he brought House of Fraser for £90 million but Newcastle spent £22.5 million) and he oversaw two relegations in 2009 and 2016 - Newcastle hadn't been relegated since 1989 before Ashley's tenure. He came in 2007, just three seasons after Newcastle had qualified for the Champions League. Newcastle were, and are, a club with a huge fanbase and stadium (which Ashley renamed the Sports Direct Arena before reverting back to St. James' Park due to opposition from fans) that any right-minded person would utilise to create a football club worthy of those things.
Instead, protests happened and fans boycotted matches in attempts to undermine Ashley financially, which would hurt him the most. And it could be argued it was a financial decision that made Ashley sell. The proposed deals with Amanda Staveley that happened practically every season may never have happened but with the financial crash in football looming as a result of Covid-19, Ashley simply won't get a better price for Newcastle for some time. He has to sell and, although nothing seems simple, the £300 million is coming from Saudi Arabia.
Newcastle fans will be rejoicing that the tyrannical Mike Ashley is gone but when they look at who's coming in - an actual tyrant and dictator - the singing and cheering should be a little quieter.
Newcastle is set to be ownerd 80% by Saudi Arabia's Private Investment Fund (PIF), led by crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Saudi influence in English football is not something new as Sheffield United are now owned by Abdullah bin Musa'ad bin Abdul Aziz, a cousin of Bin Salman. Newcastle United and Sheffield United are now sportswashing vehicles.
The Human Rights Watch World Report of 2020 outlined the human rights violations by Saudi Arabia, which Bin Salman is implicit in.
- In Yemen, at least 7292 people have been killed and 11,630 injured by air strikes
- In Yemen, over 100 people have been detained whom may have been tortured
- Saudi prosecutors have tried to get human rights activists the death penalty
- Activist Waleed Abu al-Khair has continued to serve a 15 year sentence for peaceful criticism of human rights
- On April 23rd, 37 people were executed
- Children can be tried for capital crimes
- Between January to mid-November, 179 people were executed with 81 of those for non-violent drug crimes
- Women must still have a man's permission to get married, leave prison or obtain certain healthcare
- The Kafala system that exploits migrant workers is enforced
Furthermore, there is the case of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He worked for the Washington Post where he criticised Saudi Arabia and while in Turkey, he walked into the Saudi consulate and was murdered. The UN reported Khashoggi was "the victim of a deliberate, preminated execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible" with "credible evidence" that Mohammed bin Salman, the supposed new owner of Newcastle, was involved in the murder.
Saudi Arabia is a dictatorship that does not allow the basic human rights of freedom of speech and expression that should exist in the modern world. Mike Ashley does have a questionable human rights record himself but it is nothing when compared to someone that murders an individual that criticises his country. The evils of capitalism do not equate to an unjustifiable murder.
Sportswashing is not a new phenomenon in English football or abroad. Manchester City's Emirati owners or the Qataris at PSG or when Chinese clubs threw millions of pounds at European players to come and play. All these countries have disgraceful human rights records but are using football as a method to brush that under the carpet. Newcastle will be yet another example of this.
MBS will use his soft power to acquire Newcastle and set about spending huge sums of money to distract fans from the oppressive regime Saudi Arabia is, creating a new image of the country. It works; look at how Manchester City fans defend relentlessly their Emirati owners. The sheer number of Newcastle fans on Twitter that have put Saudi flags in their bios or Saudi princes as their profile picture shows the sportswashing is already in place.
I cannot stress that this is not the fans' fault, but they can do something about it. Don't support Saudi Arabia or bin Salman. If a journalist writes an article that (rightfully) criticises Saudi Arabia's human rights record, don't jump to his defence because you know Newcastle wouldn't be spending hundreds of millions without him. This is a greater issue than football itself that fans must realise.
It is expected that there will be no hiccups with the deal, despite Amnesty International writing to the Premier League in protest against the sale. Newcastle will become a Saudi puppet, MBS's play thing after Ashley finally leaves. The Saudis will rip the football soul out of Newcastle, with the club acting as a mechanism for an oppressive, dictatorial, authoritarian state to improve its international relations due to its damning treatment on human rights.
Newcastle are a 'sleeping giant' that will be awoken by Saudi Arabia. All the fans can do is not be oblivious to what their owners truly are. Newcastle United will be destroyed.
Comments
Post a Comment