The conclusion of the protracted £300 million takeover of English Premier League side Newcastle United by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund has seen the club skyrocket to the top of the list of the richest football club owners in the world.
After one and a half years of trying to take over the Premier League side from previous owner Mike Ashley, the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund finally completed the purchase of the club following the resolution of the issues surrounding the takeover.
The Saudi-based consortium is worth a staggering £320 billion, dwarfing the value of PSG’s owners by around £100 billion. Manchester City’s owners were previously the richest football club owners in the English Premier League with a net worth of £21 billion.
The takeover of Newcastle United went through after a longstanding diplomatic issue between Saudi Arabia and Qatar regarding illegal streaming of matches in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from Qatar-owned BeIN Sports was resolved.
An agreement was also reached with the English Premier League to ensure that the club would not be under the control of the Saudi Arabian government before the takeover was permitted.
The Saudi-backed consortium now holds 80 per cent of the stakes of Newcastle United, with the remaining 20 per cent owned equally by British businesswoman Amanda Staveley and real estate tycoons, the Reuben brothers, David and Simon.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman is said to be the new chairman of the club, and Yasir Al-Rumayyan the governor of the consortium that now stands as the richest football club owners.
One of the league’s biggest sides in the early 90’s up till the early 2000s, Newcastle United have endured a terrible run in the latter days under the ownership of Mike Ashley. The club find themselves winless in the English Premier League this season, having finished in 10th, 13th, 13th and 12th since they regained promotion to the Premier League in the 2017/18 season. Their highest points tally in this period was 45 points.
Many changes are expected to follow at St James’s Park, with former Chelsea managers Antonio Conte and Frank Lampard among the names linked to replace Steve Bruce as the club’s manager.
There is also expected to be a great number of new players brought in in the coming seasons after Ashley was said to have not been particularly keen on spending big in the transfer window, giving great joy to the club’s teeming supporters as they can dream of returning to their glory days once more.
