It is the day Newcastle United fans thought would never come. Mike Ashley has gone and after 14 difficult, contentious years on Tyneside, new owners are in place, backed by the financial might of the Saudi Arabian state.
Those owners have the potential to be transformative for a club which has struggled for meaning during the Ashley era, whose squad and infrastructure have been neglected and whose remit, in the recent words of Steve Bruce, the head coach, is to keep “ticking along” in the Premier League.
Supporters wanted hope. Now they have it.
Yet if it has been a bumpy road under Ashley, it is likely to remain so. The involvement of Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) raises uncomfortable questions about sports-washing, morals and geopolitics but it is also what brings such excitement. The Amanda Staveley-fronted consortium has a vision to invest in the football club and also the wider region.
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As usual with Newcastle, nothing is straightforward and the same applies to the dramatic conclusion to a saga that has dragged on for 18 months and appeared to be bogged down in legal conflict.
Finally — and from the blue, after all this time — it is over.
What has happened?
Put simply, Ashley has finally sold Newcastle United. And for largely the same price, around £300 million, he had agreed in April 2020. And to the same would-be purchasers.
Essentially, this 18-month epic has gone full circle and, having appeared doomed to fail on several occasions, the takeover that Ashley, the buyers and, most importantly, the vast majority of Newcastle fans wanted has at last been concluded.
For almost all of Ashley’s 14 years and five months as owner, the retailer has been receptive to offloading the club, with Newcastle either officially or unofficially placed on the market during that time. However, the billionaire has only ever been keen to sell on his terms (and, he has previously insisted, to someone who could “take the club forward”).
The transaction price not only covers the initial £134 million Ashley paid for the club in the summer of 2007, but it is also set to wipe out the interest-free loans which are owed to the businessman. According to Newcastle’s most recent accounts, from the 2019-20 campaign, Ashley was still owed £106.9 million, which is set to be repaid.
That should, in theory, leave the club completely debt-free, while it also sees Ashley depart with almost £60 million in profit (although some fans may argue he has extracted far more value from the club during his tenure).
Who are the new owners?
The consortium comprises three separate groups.
It is fronted by Staveley, who, along with her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi, and their firm, PCP Capital Partners, are assuming a 10 per cent stake. Staveley, a financier, has been attempting to buy the club for more than four years, and she had three separate offers rejected by Ashley in November 2017.
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The Reuben brothers — David and Simon, billionaire siblings who own a private equity and real estate company — are also taking a combined 10 per cent stake. They already boast a significant property portfolio in the city, which includes Newcastle Racecourse and the Monument Mall shopping centre, and are expected to be represented by Jamie Reuben, David’s son and a former director at Championship club Queens Park Rangers.
Finally, and most controversially, the majority, 80 per cent shareholder is PIF, otherwise known as the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia.
It is the involvement of the super-rich Saudis which has made the prospect of this takeover so tantalising for many Newcastle supporters, but their presence has also held up what has become an increasingly complex process.
What will the new owners’ priorities be?
Where do you start? Newcastle are second-bottom of the Premier League with three points seven games into the new season, while there are huge, historical issues at the club: from a squad in need of freshening up, to a head coach disliked by many supporters, to the lack of a purpose-built training ground, an academy in need of investment, and ageing infrastructure. All of those things will be looked at.
Yet the speed of developments have taken everybody by surprise, including members of Staveley’s football staff, and, for now at least, the message from the consortium is “nothing knee-jerk”. At various points over the last couple of years, potential managers and players have been targeted, all to no avail. PIF is known for its thorough processes, and Staveley and company are set to conduct a full review of Newcastle’s operations.
“Process” will be one of the mantras of the new regime.
Where they can make an immediate impact is in an area that Ashley has neglected for the last decade and more: communication and engagement with supporters.
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Staveley views Newcastle fans as the club’s greatest asset – something she stressed during her interview with The Athletic last July, when the deal initially collapsed – and although words are easy, she intends to put them front and centre of her regime, talking to them directly.
It is understood that members of the consortium or its representatives have already reached out to a number of legendary figures at Newcastle, including Alan Shearer and Kevin Keegan.
What happens to Steve Bruce now?
Bruce took training on Thursday morning, but his future is now very much in doubt – and the expectation is that he will go, sooner rather than later.
Supporters have repeatedly been chanting for him to be sacked during matches, while 94.3 per cent of more than 5,000 fans polled by the Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST) this week declared they believe Bruce should walk away “in the best interests” of the club. Not for the first time, it feels untenable.
As with all other aspects of the club, the manager’s position will be reviewed, but the club’s league position brings some urgency. It is understood that no permanent successor has yet been lined up, but Graeme Jones is considered a natural caretaker, a position he has been predicted to fill ever since he arrived as an assistant in January.
When Staveley initially tried to buy the club nearly four years ago, her offers were dependent on Rafa Benitez, the then-manager, remaining in his post. Over the past 18 months, the consortium had hoped that timelines may converge to allow Benitez to return to Newcastle after a spell working in China but, with the Spaniard having been named manager of fellow Premier League side Everton this summer, he is no longer an option. Benitez is not in the habit of breaking contracts.
Mikel Arteta, now the Arsenal manager, was also admired, although that was before he left his role as a Manchester City assistant for the top job at the Emirates. Mauricio Pochettino was also heavily linked 18 months ago after leaving Tottenham Hotspur, but he is now head coach of Paris Saint-Germain.
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Given the uncertainty surrounding when, or indeed if, this takeover was ever going to be concluded, potential head coaches who were previously available have since committed to other clubs, and so it may take time for the new owners to identify who they believe should be Newcastle’s next manager.
Who will be in the home dugout at St James’ for the visit of Tottenham on Sunday week is difficult to predict.
The immediate concern for the owners has to be for a team yet to win a league game this season to lift themselves clear of the relegation zone. Appointing the right manager will be their first big test.
What about Lee Charnley?
For now, the consortium do not have a CEO ready to step in and The Athletic understands that Charnley, Newcastle’s current managing director, has been asked to remain in his post on an interim basis, bridging the gap between regimes. As the man charged by Ashley to run the club, he has been ultimately responsible for all day-to-day matters.
In the short to medium term, though, Staveley will be taking a hands-on role, as will Ghodoussi.
Is the squad going to be overhauled?
With the transfer window shut and not reopening until January, no changes can be made to the playing squad for almost three months apart from signing currently clubless free agents. But, over the course of the next few windows, significant signings are expected to be made.
The strengthening of the squad over a succession of transfer windows is viewed as a priority and the club’s transfer budget will be supplemented, although fantasy-football signings such as PSG’s Kylian Mbappe appear unlikely. Staveley told The Athletic in 2020 that the consortium planned to invest £250 million into the club “over the first few years”, but that figure includes expenditure on other areas, such as infrastructure.
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To give an indication of the type of player Newcastle may look to recruit in the short term, random examples of previously identified targets are Nathan Ake and Ferran Torres, who were both admired before they joined current club Manchester City. Neither of those may be attainable now, but signing quality additions similar to that duo are expected to be on the agenda.
Of course, Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, both at Premier League, and – in the longer term, if the club is successful – UEFA levels, must be considered. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen FFP rules altered, but at Everton, for example, spending during the summer had to be curbed following years of lavish fees. Newcastle have significant room to increase their wage budget and to pay for transfers, given the low base from which they have operated under Ashley, yet any spending made in the coming months could affect future windows, something which the owners must surely be aware of.
Between now and January, however, the owners do believe that more can be extracted from the club’s existing players.
Not only will the returns from injury of Callum Wilson, last season’s top scorer, and Martin Dubravka, the No 1 goalkeeper, boost the starting XI, but, should a new head coach be appointed, then, regardless, there is a feeling this squad is capable of better things.
Why is PIF’s involvement so controversial?
First of all, there are moral concerns.
Not only has Amnesty International repeatedly raised concerns about Saudi Arabia’s appalling human-rights record, but Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist murdered in the Saudi consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul in October 2018, also sent a series of letters to the Premier League urging them to block the takeover.
However, ethical issues were not the primary reason why this takeover stalled. Rather, that was because of the well-publicised issue of piracy.
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Qatar-based broadcaster beIN Sports, which holds the Premier League TV rights for the Middle East region, has been a vocal opponent of the prospective takeover. Their objection, which was allegedly supported by some of Newcastle’s fellow top-flight clubs, was related to the theft of their material by a pirate broadcaster called beoutQ. They alleged that Saudi network Arabsat had been involved in the theft of beIN’s broadcast feed, something the Saudi government denies.
The Premier League is fiercely protective of its intellectual property and has spent years attempting to get the Saudi government to clamp down on piracy.
Once the Saudi sovereign wealth fund attempted to buy an English club, this was a problem that was always going to arise, and so it proved.
Didn’t the consortium walk away last year?
They did, yes — or, more precisely, they “officially withdrew” on July 30 last year, after the Premier League failed to give regulatory approval to the deal.
The consortium’s decision to publicly pull out came following 16 weeks of inertia, as the Premier League sifted through its Owners’ and Directors’ Test, only for it to become stuck on the issue of separation, or lack thereof, between the Saudi state and PIF.
In the Premier League’s view, the Saudi state, or at least representatives of it, would be de facto shadow directors of Newcastle United, and therefore needed to undertake the test. The prospective buyers disagreed, providing assurances from the top level of the Saudi state that this would not be the case, but the Premier League refused to change its stance.
Arbitration on this issue was offered by the Premier League, but the consortium instead opted to pull out.
Communication remained, however, between Justin Barnes, Ashley’s lieutenant and the man tasked with selling the club for the billionaire, and the prospective buyers. Behind the scenes, political pressure was cranked up, with a well-connected Whitehall figure conducting shuttle diplomacy between the Saudis, the UK government and the Premier League.
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Ashley, meanwhile, continued to belligerently attempt to resurrect the deal, not only maintaining contact through Barnes, but also by launching his own arbitration case, via the club, to attempt to resolve the issue of separation.
What’s more, to apply further pressure, and to exhaust all avenues in an effort to get the takeover passed, Ashley also launched a separate anti-competition claim against the Premier League at the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT).
So, what about these legal cases?
As far as completion of the takeover is concerned, they are now irrelevant.
Arbitration was delayed twice; firstly following a legal challenge by Newcastle to force the hearing to be conducted in public at the turn of the year, and then secondly following “issues with the disclosure of evidence” from both sides.
That second postponement came on July 19, on the first day that the arbitration proceedings were meant to be heard, and it was stated that the case would be heard in “early 2022”.
Then last week, the Premier League revealed arbitration was to commence on January 3 and “run for a little over a week”, indicating that a resolution should be reached before the end of the winter transfer window.
That information was offered by Adam Lewis QC, the Premier League’s lawyer, during a CAT jurisdiction hearing, which was streamed live and watched by more than 33,000 people, the vast majority of them Newcastle supporters, via a live stream.
Mr Lewis QC also claimed the Saudis’ reluctance to undergo the test was the “single impediment” to the completion of the takeover, and insisted that, “If the arbitration decides that Saudi Arabia is not a director, then the transaction can and will go ahead.”
Daniel Jowell QC, meanwhile, representing Ashley’s St James Holdings Ltd, aired accusations about the Premier League’s conduct during the test, alleging that both beIN Sports and “a number of major Premier League clubs joined in the lobbying against the takeover deal”. Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has previously rejected talk any rival clubs had influenced the process.
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Regardless, the outcome of the arbitration and the CAT case will no longer affect Newcastle’s fate, given that the takeover has been concluded. The arbitration will almost certainly be stopped, now that the test has been completed, but the future of the CAT hearing remains uncertain. According to CAT’s website, the judgment on whether the full case should even be heard is still “pending”.
Although Ashley is likely to end both legal proceedings against the Premier League, Mr Jowell QC did claim he had made “a substantial loss that exceeds £10 million”, and so, in theory, the CAT case may continue if the retailer decides to pursue further compensation. But, with the deal being concluded on largely the same terms as those initially agreed in April last year, perhaps Ashley will be content to drop the CAT claim as well.
How has the situation been resolved?
This is not yet clear, although there are a couple of areas where a compromise is known to have been reached.
They have come following more than a year of back-channelling between the prospective buyers, Ashley, political officials, the Premier League and others with vested interests. Even though the bid was publicly withdrawn, private attempts to revive the deal have continued.
Firstly, the Saudis have provided the Premier League with further assurances about the separation between state and PIF. That has allowed the Owners’ and Directors’ Test to be concluded, without the Saudi state nor representatives of their government undertaking it. What precise form those commitments have taken, given previous guarantees were deemed insufficient by the Premier League, is unclear.
Secondly, an apparent rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and beIN Sports has also been reached.
The Athletic understands beIN is no longer barred from operating in Saudi, ending a four-and-a-half-year ban. That reversal means Premier League, UEFA and FIFA matches can once again be beamed legally by the Qatari broadcaster across the border into the neighbouring country. The Saudi government has also committed to turning off beoutQ and removing all other pirate websites when informed of them by beIN.
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Given beIN’s previous representations against the takeover, the lifting of the ban may have led to a softening in the broadcaster’s opposition.
Whether further settlements have been reached between the Premier League and the new owners is uncertain at this stage.
Even if Newcastle fans may be celebrating this dramatic development, many will question why this process, which has lacked transparency from the very start and has been resolved through agreements reached behind the scenes, has dragged on for this long.
It has been unsatisfactory throughout, with supporters deprived of information about the future of their own club, and has led many fans to call for an independent regulator following the UK government’s fan-led review of football governance.
Those fundamental concerns still remain, even following this resolution.
How will fans feel?
A bizarre mixture of emotions. Sheer delight that Ashley has finally departed; relief that this exhausting saga has eventually come to a conclusion; genuine excitement at the potential transformation of their club.
For the thousands of fans who have walked away from St James’ Park over the course of Ashley’s 14-year tenure, and who wanted no association whatsoever with the club under his ownership, there will also be joy that they can return to watch Newcastle in action once more.
Of course, there are some fans who will feel uncomfortable, if not appalled, that the Saudis have now taken a significant stake in their club. Those moral issues will leave many supporters conflicted.
However, according to a poll conducted by the NUST before this season started, 93.8 per cent of their members were in favour of the takeover being concluded. That figure was only slightly down on the 96.7 per cent of members who approved of the proposed takeover in April 2020.
They had gathered outside St James’ Park from late morning. Gradually the numbers grew at the Gallowgate End corner, groups of fans milling around asking if anyone had an update. Passing cars honked horns on Strawberry Place, but it was slow.
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At 3.30pm the banner supporters unveiled years ago inside the ground, which summed up the feeling of the Ashley years, was spread over a wall. “We don’t demand a team that wins, we demand a club that tries.” It received a round of applause. Then eyes went back to mobile phones.
Just before 5pm, Sky News reported that money had been transferred successfully from the buyers to the sellers and the Mike Ashley era was close to an end. There were more there now including Logan and Louie standing on the Gallowgate steps.
They are both 14, which is as many years as Ashley has been at the club. They have known nothing else and think this is “massive”, “great for the club”, “it’ll be great to be the biggest club in the world.” They are both season ticket holders, want Eddie Howe to be the next manager and for the overall process to be gradual. “Anything’s better than Mike Ashley.”
When it was done officially, there was a roar and chants of: “We want our club back, we’ve got our club back.”
The overwhelming majority of Newcastle supporters have been desperate for Ashley to move on for well over a decade and the fact that he finally has, and has been replaced by owners with an ambitious vision for the club, will only reinvigorate a fanbase that has become worn down.
(Top photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images)