ALBAWABA – British sports fans are over the moon with the recent takeover of Newcastle United by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIS). Geordie sports fans can’t believe their luck and are soon expecting the “golden age” of the club which is trailing at 19th place in the British Premier League.
Cheers for the new chairman, jeers for Steve Bruce, a dream start and then a reality check ⚫️⚪️
— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) October 18, 2021
Inside Newcastle's strange first game under Saudi ownership as fans make feelings clear | @SimonBird_https://t.co/8BRlbueAaM pic.twitter.com/5XmfSxmmXz
Regardless of the politics or the implication in the Jamal Khoshaggi’s murder in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, the British fans in the north of England city of Newcastle are very happy about what they expect to be bountiful, winning football from now on.
They are going, striding to football matches, full of vigor and excitement about the new era. Saudi Arabia now owns 80 percent of the club which it had finally bought at $409 million.
Newcastle United fans wear keffiyeh headdresses, sing songs, and discuss human rights concerns before their first match since the Saudi takeover of their club pic.twitter.com/y4fY97AFPI
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) October 20, 2021
It is now looking to make big investments in the club by way of infrastructure and new players which would be costly to say the least but who cares about the money now.
When a #JamalKhashoggi poster is driven by and is mentioned to me by the Newcastle fan I’m interviewing. The video exchange and written story here on the start of a new era for #nufchttps://t.co/vkARLGQOhj pic.twitter.com/6t7sPk9oqW
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) October 17, 2021
Fans have been so excited that they turned up to matches wearing the traditional white Saudi thob and the headgear. They wore head scarves as an appreciation to their new owners. For them it was fun-time, just about football and nothing else.
Saudi fund's Newcastle United purchase puts Khashoggi assassination in rearview - Kristian Coates Ulrichsen writes https://t.co/j4YjoodpfH
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) October 17, 2021
The social media has literally gone crazy not only about the takeover, not only with commentary, that included a take on the Saudi human right angle, but also of images that included the wrapping of the Saudi flags on their backs. It was a far-cry from the stereotyping in the West. Maybe it wasn’t, but this time around its fans from the grass-roots who are doing it.
OPINION: Newcastle fans can cheer but Saudi takeover is a bitter defeat for Jamal Khashoggi’s family https://t.co/dFUpxmOo5U
— Dr. Sherifa Zuhur (@SherifaZuhur) October 8, 2021
If the Saudi takeover of the club was considered sport-washing, then the fans preferred to gloss over it. One even suggested that the fans would eventually force the Saudis to alter their behavior on many issues considered off-putting by the West. Later, sports officials in the Newcastle Club also tried to paper over the issuing by saying the Public Investment Fund was not the Saudi state. Maybe not but surely its ultimate boss is the Saudi government.
Just in: British Fans of #Newcastle in The U.K while attending the first match after its acquisition by the #Saudi Public Investment Fund ????#نيوكاسل pic.twitter.com/85ARaZifc3
— The Saudi Post - English (@TheSaudiPost_En) October 17, 2021
Anyway, for the time being its excitement all the way for the British fans of Newcastle.
