OFFICIAL: Newcastle United Sold to Saudi Backed Consortium

It is official. The Mike Ashley era has ended. Today the club has announced the sale of Newcastle United to a consortium comprised of Amanda Staveley’s PCP Partners, the Reuben Brothers and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund for £305million.

The Premier League has confirmed the news in a statement released today.

It was followed with an announcement from the Saudi PIF

The Club then released a statement confirming the news and casted vision for how they see the future of the club. Important details were revealed including the structure of the new board with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of PIF, will serve as Non-Executive Chairman of Newcastle United. Amanda Staveley, chief executive of PCP Capital Partners, will have one seat on the board. Jamie Reuben will also be a director of the Club, representing RB Sports & Media.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan had this to say following the sale of the club being announced.

“We are extremely proud to become the new owners of Newcastle United, one of the most famous clubs in English football.

We thank the Newcastle fans for their tremendously loyal support over the years and we are excited to work together with them.”

Amanda Staveley stated the following:

“This is a long-term investment. We are excited about the future prospects for Newcastle United.

We intend to instill a united philosophy across the Club, establish a clear purpose, and help provide leadership that will allow Newcastle United to go on to big achievements over the long term.

Our ambition is aligned with the fans – to create a consistently successful team that’s regularly competing for major trophies and generates pride across the globe.”

Finally, Jamie Reuben chipped in with a statement of his own as well as a tweet thanking the fans for their support.

“We look forward to a great future for Newcastle United. Newcastle is a fantastic city, which is why our family has been investing heavily in the area for many years. To become part of this great Club and its amazing fans is a privilege.

We will build a true community Club, based upon our family’s knowledge of the city and in line with our plans that have been worked on closely with Newcastle City Council to deliver long-term sustainable growth for the area.”

The news comes after yesterday’s bombshell news that Saudi Arabia had reversed their ban on Qatari backed channel beIn Sport from their airwaves. Thus ending a multi year conflict between the two countries over piracy. It was led to believe that Saudi Arabia’s potential involvement in the piracy of beIN Sport in Saudi Arabia was something that was a major barrier in pushing this deal through due to beIN’s relationship with the Premier League.

Other barriers were discussed including rumors of other powerful clubs opposing the move out of fear and the lack of separation between the Saudi Arabian PIF and the government himself. The latter point has been the most talked about because that was the public reasoning the Premier League gave for why the bid ultimately failed. It has been the subject of the various legal proceedings that have gone on, and the arbitration that was slated to happen in January. It appears now that even though the Premier League publicly stated that as the reason for the holdup in the sale, the real reason was appeasing beIN sports, a long time broadcast partner of the Premier League.

All eyes are now on this ownership group who has promised change to fans who desperately have cried out for it the past decade. They have promised investment in the academy, infrastructure, the community, and the team itself. Fans are not expecting Newcastle to buy Haaland or even players like Aubameyang, all they are expecting is an ownership group who cares about the club.

Newcastle’s next match will be after the international break- on October 17, 2022 when they host Tottenham at St. James’ for what is sure to be a sold out crowd.

Editors note: Updated 10.7.22 at 12:40PM EST to include statements from NUFC, Amanada Staveley, Jamie Reuben, and Yasir Al-Rumayyan