What The Newcastle United Take Over Means Everyone Else.
Written by Conrad Comrade on October 15, 2021
The conclusion of last week also saw the total completion of a deal that saw Newcastle United change owners from English retail tycoon, Mike Ashley, to a consortium led by Saudi Arabian royalty and business moguls believed to be backed by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia himself, Muhammed Bin Salman Al Saud or as he is colloquially known around the world MBS.
The deal saw to the change of ownership of the club in exchange for about 306 million pounds(about 415 million USD). All assets belonging to Newcastle United Football Club including St. James’Park, The Newcastle training facility and all copyrights and patents under the club including image rights.
Reports indicate that both sides are content and happy with the deal however when the dust has settled, what really raises eyebrows now is the sheer wealth of the leader of the consortium prince Salman. The Premier League Owner’s Review Board put his wealth at 260 Billion pounds(about 354 Billion dollars) making one of the richest men in the world and by far the wealthiest amongst premier league owners who only front Manchester City Football Club owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan as the second richest at an estimated net worth of 23 billion pounds (about 31 billion dollars) which is a mere fraction of the new Newcastle owner’s wealth.
To illustrate the extent of this wealth gap, we have compiled a list the top 10 clubs with the richest owners in the English Premier League.
- Newcastle United. £260B
- Manchester City. £23B
- Chelsea. £10B
- Arsenal. £7B
- Wolves. £5B
- Aston Villa. £5B
- Leicester. £5B
- Tottenham. £4B
- Manchester United. £4B
- Southampton. £3B
(Source: Sky Sports)
With the gap between the first and the second on that list being a staggering £237 Billion, the Arabian Prince’s wealth is nearly five times the amount of the combined net worths of the other premier league owners that make the top ten list. Newcastle might at the moment be just a bottom half club struggling with relegation but in terms of wealth, no other club in Europe is even in the same Hemisphere.
Unsurprisingly, Newcastle fans are going a buzz with the prospect of signing Mbappe, Harland and anything in-between and if the Manchester City takeover just about a decade ago, is anything to go by, they have good reason to. Many forget that just about 12 years ago, Manchester City was a club fighting for survival in the premier league until a certain Qatari Billionaire decided to purchase and invest heavily in the club, making it the challenging European juggernaut we see today.
Newcastle seem to be on the same trajectory and this has both positive and negative repercussions for the premier league. The top clubs must be shaking in their boots at this prospect as it entails that winning trophies in England and Europe as a whole has become that little bit harder there’s a brand new serious contender for these trophies in the form of Newcastle United.
Considering that Newcastle’s traditional rivals are Sunderland AFC, due to their historic derby games over the years, one has to imagine that a league one club in the form of Sunderland is no longer in the same Hemisphere as Newcastle with their recent fortunes. From now on, Newcastle’s rivals list has undergone a massive face lift to accommodate the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
Lastly is the question about the future of current Geordie Boss, Steve Bruce. Many fans and pundits are prospective about the arrival of a big money manager to fill the St.James’ Park dugout. This while the job In question isn’t even available yet with it’s current occupant, Steve Bruce, still having a year remaining on his contract. However, it seems imminent that Bruce will be replaced in coordination with the club’s new ambitions and five star names such as Antonio Conte, Zinedin Zidane, Roberto Mancini and Luis Enrique are all in the fold as potential replacements for the seemingly departing Bruce who looks more and more likely to part ways with the club as the recipient of a juicy buy out of his contract.
Naturally, the club earlier this week released a statement expressing their new ambitions and goals going forward. Wining the league and the Champions League were specifically highlighted as being part of the club’s five to ten year plan.
