Takeover will see club under attack
FINGER-POINTERS ARE SELECTIVE ABOUT TARGETS
AS THE Swinging Sixties climaxed with glorious European success for Newcastle United I ghosted the autobiography of their skipper and hat-trick hero Bob Moncur.
His story was called United We Stand.
Well, half a century on I reckon we all need to stand United again because once the formal announcement of a Magpie takeover is made, as it unquestionably will be, the verbal bombardment will begin full blast.
The rest of the country – nay, the rest of the world – will round on Geordies.
Just as we were told from afar we had all got it wrong about Mike Ashley and we ought to be grateful for healthy accounts instead of griping about a lack of ambition, the Toon followers will be accused of being wrong again in welcoming new owners from Saudi Arabia.
The moral issue of human rights will be launched on the football club, its supporters, and the city with more power than Niagara Falls.
Outrage will be heaped upon broad shoulders, bolstered by the fact that argument can readily be supported by uncomfortable facts.
Yet it is never quite as simple as that. Let us dwell on the words not of any of us hacks with possible agendas but an articulate Newcastle fan, Michael Martin – a regular contributor to the True Faith fanzine.
“This is the takeover few outside of our Black and White tribe wanted to happen,” says Martin. “For some, and I include Amnesty International, they have a genuine misgiving about the Saudi-backed takeover of our club. We should respect and understand that.
“Others have weaponised human rights and the grief of a journalist’s widow to attack the takeover but they are blind to the billions in weaponry UK PLC exports to Saudi Arabia and the thousands of British jobs in the Defence industry that depend upon it.
“They turn a blind eye to the investments in prime London real estate, in The Independent newspaper, and appear ignorant of the copper-bottomed fact that Saudi is one of this country’s biggest and most important allies.”
If we take the ownership of top football clubs in this country further can we morally accept many of those from abroad who bought in as “fit and proper persons”, such as the Premier League did? Are Russians acceptable for example? Don’t they literally stand accused of shooting down the plane over Ukraine that was carrying two Newcastle United fans innocently making their way to support their team on a pre-season tour? And isn’t the current owner of
Chelsea, for all the good work he has done at that club over years, currently without a visa allowing him to enter this country after changes to the visa process, which came into force in 2015, meant applicants could be required to prove the origins of their wealth?
Didn’t the former Prime Minister of Thailand buy Manchester City only to then be convicted back home of corruption which saw him flee into exile to escape a two-year jail sentence?
Wasn’t the owner of Birmingham City jailed back home in Hong Kong for six years convicted of money laundering?
No one is saying that three wrongs make a right. Of course not. It is just a matter of fact that many welcomed with open arms turned out to carry their own considerable baggage.
Just as Geordies didn’t select Ashley to own Newcastle they will tell you they couldn’t pick who he sold to either.
Having endured 13 awful years of a suppression of hope all the faithful see is a shining possibility of what might be and the jealousy of other club supporters fearing there may well be a new kid on the block.
Where Newcastle are about to stand in global recognition as a genuine power was underlined in the last few days by the words of a World Cup winning superstar.
It’s not what Rivaldo was advocating but what his words meant in relation to the possibilities now beckoning those who have fed off scraps.
Rivaldo, remember, won the World Cup with Brazil and scored 130 goals in 235 appearances for super club Barcelona despite not being an out-and-out striker.
Yet he urged Gareth Bale to quit Real Madrid for SJP.
Rivaldo argued: “Newcastle should receive a big money injection this summer with a new owner coming to town and this could be a great destination for Gareth Bale as he could reassume his superstar status at the club and keep earning a big amount of money.
“It would be a great chance for him to prove he is still a top-class player and be considered again one of the best in the world, so if this offer really comes, I think he should accept it.
“At Newcastle, he would be the biggest star of the team and could lead a rejuvenated squad to a good Premier League campaign.”
Now I don’t think for one moment that it will happen and, having been in the Budapest stadium last year watching Bale play for Wales against Hungary during United’s 50-year Fairs Cup winning anniversary celebrations, I’m not sure I want him.
Bale, once such a magnificent sight, looked disinterested and disillusioned, with golf usurping football as his favourite sport.
However, the whole point is that a world figure like Rivaldo sees a newly born Newcastle as a worthy destination for one of the game’s biggest names.
Hadn’t we all watched as Manchester City were transformed from being an also-ran with genuine potential like us into habitual PL winners through Middle East wealth and wished it was us?
Now it might be the turn of Geordies and that is why the vast majority of fans block out everything but that wonderful hope.
The moral issue of human rights will be launched on the football club, its supporters, and the city with more power than Niagara Falls