Newcastle revolution faces backlash
Premier League rivals call for emergency meeting over Saudis New owners plotting £190m spending spree in January
Premier League clubs have demanded an emergency meeting next week to vent their fury over the Saudi-led consortium’s takeover at Newcastle United.
Rivals owners are demanding a full explanation from Richard Masters, the Premier League chief executive, over how he and lawyers were convinced there will be no Saudi state interference. Complaints were lodged yesterday as Newcastle’s new owners began plotting a spending spree of up to £190million in January. Other clubs accept it is too late to derail the deal, but a host of leading executives wish to air grievances around deliberations being kept secret prior to an announcement on Thursday.
A meeting has yet to be confirmed and it is unclear how much impact the complaints would have. The league maintains it has legally-binding guarantees that Saudi leaders will not play an active role at the club, despite the nation’s Public Investment Fund retaining an 80 per cent stake in the £300million deal.
The league will tell clubs its hands were tied by lawyers to keep recent talks confidential. The current version of the owners’ and directors’ test was also previously voted through by shareholders.
A backlash gathered pace yesterday as Amanda Staveley, the key broker in a four-year takeover saga, swept into St James’ Park to meet staff.
In a town hall meeting with staff, the new non-executive director promised the good times would return after 14 years of starved resources under Mike Ashley.
Saudi fund boss Yasir Alrumayyan, the club’s new chairman, also told fans in an open letter to “expect ambition” as it emerged a £190 million transfer spend is within financial fair play limits.
As plans started to take shape following the most tumultuous and divisive takeover in Premier League history, it also emerged that:
Alan Shearer is ready to take an ambassadorial role, having heartily welcomed the Saudi deal.
Former Liverpool chief scout Frank Mcparland is in line for a key consultancy role, advising the board on recruitment and other football operations.
Steve Bruce’s future as manager is increasingly in doubt, with a final decision likely early next week.
The Government is braced for criticism after refusing to reveal what it told England’s top tier about the takeover last summer.
If Bruce does go, The Daily Telegraph understands Graeme Jones, who was part of Gareth Southgate’s set-up at Euro 2020, is a front-runner to take over as caretaker manager for the match against Tottenham next Sunday. No firm decisions have been made on long-term potential candidates. Although the newly installed members of the board have
In the early years of Roman Abramovich’s ownership of Chelsea an agent arrived at the boardroom before kick-off for an away match and presented one of the Russian oligarch’s associates with an invoice for £1million.
When asked what it was for the agent replied it covered his part in one of Chelsea’s transfer deals. When it was pointed out it was news to the club he was involved in the move, the agent insisted he was, although he suddenly relented when he was told that, in that case, he should give the invoice direct to Abramovich himself when he arrived and see what he made of it.
The story is illustrative of the dangers that cash-rich Newcastle United now face. Amanda Staveley, the financier heading the consortium that has taken charge, will be inundated by messages from agents, middle-men and fixers all telling her they are the one who can deliver x, y or z player and such-and-such manager. They will want to position themselves in what they hope will be a spending spree. They will scent the money.
Those agents, in particular, will know that a lot can be made very quickly if they gain favour with the new owners and become one of their “go-to” figures – especially as Newcastle’s buyers are not greatly experienced in running a football club. Staveley and her husband, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, have the management contract and will be in day-to-day control. At least in the short term, until a chief executive and a sporting director are appointed. This is all new to them.
They will have their own football advisers who are understood to include Frank Mcparland, the former chief scout and academy director at Liverpool who has also held sporting director-type roles at Brentford, Burnley and Rangers. Owen Brown, who has worked closely with Rafael Benitez, has also worked with Staveley.
But there will be a lot of people
jostling for position and trying to get their ear at present and not least because Newcastle are in a precarious position in the Premier League, the manager Steve Bruce is expected to be replaced and the temptation is there to try to spend heavily in the January transfer window.
The strategy is not to do so. On the day the takeover went through and all day yesterday the mantra was the same: this is going to take time. One senior figure close to the takeover reiterated Staveley’s public message in saying that there will “not be any knee-jerk reactions”, although he also stressed that did not mean decisions would not be taken quickly.
The transfer strategy is likely to be a pragmatic one to begin with, the new owners considering triedand-tested Premier League players who may be coming towards the end of their contracts. But it is possible this will be supplemented by a marquee signing.
Obviously Newcastle will be able to offer more competitive fees and wages – and might have to pay a premium – but there will be a budget. It appears, though, that already that figure has risen from the net spend of £100million over the next four windows that was discussed when the takeover was first mooted.
Whatever happens, Newcastle will have to go through the “processdriven” approach demanded by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, headed by Yasir Al-rumayyan, who is the club’s new chairman, which means it likes to run a thorough check before decisions are made.
Saudi Arabia is not involving itself in the Premier League to scrabble around in the relegation places. The infrastructure at the club needs a complete upgrade, but it will take time. There might also be an impulse to spend on players quickly to bring success.
In the short term, Newcastle need to be mindful of precedents of clubs coming into money and spending in haste. Queens Park Rangers and Everton spring to mind. Newcastle’s owners are far wealthier, but they need to be mindful of the financial constraints that do exist. They have cash to spend and agents will urge them to part with it quickly. Will they hold their nerve?