Campaigners say Newcastle has “failed as a city” to stand up for victims of human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, five years after the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) led a consortium that purchased Newcastle United from former owner Mike Ashley in 2021.
The takeover sparked condemnation from activists who accuse the Gulf state and its sovereign wealth fund of using the club to “sportswash” its reputation and detract from criticism over executions, lengthy prison sentences, travel bans, and incidents like the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Leaders in the North East have faced pressure since the takeover to come good on promises to speak out about human rights violations.
Pressure on city leaders
Newcastle City Council and the North East mayor have also been questioned over a drive to capitalise on the region’s links to Saudi Arabia by attracting major investment from the oil-rich kingdom, though Tyneside has not yet experienced the kind of regeneration boom that has been driven in Manchester by heavy investment from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The recent verdict that found Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owners guilty of breaking the Premier League’s spending rules through “sham” sponsorship deals to inflate the club’s income, plus the scrutiny on prime minister Andy Burnham over his relationship with the UAE from his time as Greater Manchester mayor, have also reignited questions over nation state-linked ownership of Premier League clubs.
The NUFC Fans Against Sportswashing (NUFCFAS) group has called on the Independent Football Regulator to “immediately instruct the Premier League to ban any country from owning a football club” and says that the five-year anniversary of the Magpies’ takeover is a chance to “right some wrongs and break the silence on Saudi human rights abuses”. The supporters’ group is planning a lobby of city councillors outside Newcastle Civic Centre ahead of a council meeting on Wednesday evening, followed by a public meeting at the Bridge Hotel pub at 7pm to discuss human rights issues.
Campaigners speak out
Co-founder John Hird has called on the council, MPs, and fans to speak up in support of victims of human rights violations in Saudi Arabia. The group has highlighted cases such as those of Abdullah al-Derazi and Jalal Labbad, both executed for alleged crimes committed when they were children, and Manahel al-Otaibi, a fitness trainer jailed for calling for women’s rights reforms on social media.
Mr Hird said: “As lifelong Newcastle United supporters we know the vast majority of our fellow fans support human rights in Saudi Arabia and are appalled, as we are, at the horrendous human rights abuses carried out by the Saudi royal dictatorship. However, we have to face facts. In five years of Saudi ownership of our football club we have failed as a city to stand up for the victims of the regime, despite pre-takeover commitments by many to keep talking about human rights.”
Saudi human rights advocate Maryam Aldossari will be among the speakers at the Bridge Hotel meeting on Wednesday. Dr Aldossari, a lecturer at Royal Holloway university, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that investment into football and other sports has “helped put Saudi Arabia back on the map after years of being marginalised because of the violations of human rights”.
Investment concerns
She cautioned leaders in Newcastle against “overdepending on a regime that is not stable” for potential investment, highlighting the PIF’s recent withdrawal from its flagship LIV Golf tour. There have also been wider questions about Saudi investment, particularly in the context of the disruption to oil exports resulting from the war in Iran, and the scaling back of major building projects such as futuristic city The Line.
Dr Aldossari, acting director of human rights organisation ALQST, said: “For fans, do not underestimate what you can do. I am not saying boycott, but put pressure on – write to your MP. I am not in favour of boycotting, I am just saying bring human rights into the conversation. I cannot ask people not to go [to matches], the players not to sign deals, I am just saying bring human rights into the conversation. Write to your MP highlighting cases like Manahel al-Otaibi and Abdulrahman al-Sadhan. We ask people to bring those cases forward and to question where the money is coming from, not just taking it at face value.”
Football club sources have indicated that the PIF remains fully committed to Newcastle United, following the LIV Golf funding withdrawal that also saw NUFC chairman and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan step down from the breakaway tour’s board. While uncertainty remains over the future of St James’ Park or a potential new stadium, the club has recently confirmed long-awaited plans for a £190 million new training ground at the Woolsington Hall estate. There has also been millions of pounds worth of recent upgrades into the club’s existing training facilities and at St James’ itself, including a new pitch and floodlights, and the NUFC hierarchy has set the target of credibly challenging for both the Premier League and Women’s Super League titles by 2030.
But Colin Taylor, secretary of Amnesty International’s Newcastle group, said Newcastle and the wider region “remain irrevocably associated with a country that remains one of the world’s worst exponents of human rights abuse”. He added that it “cannot really be claimed” that the takeover has resulted in the kind of trade and investment boon that many expected for the wider city, aside from a Saudi-British clean energy research project announced by Sir Keir Starmer in 2024 with a “leading role” for Newcastle University.
Council leader responds
Newcastle’s newly-installed Lib Dem council leader, Colin Ferguson, has vowed that he will “not be shy” in calling out human rights concerns. He has also spoken of a need for the city to develop a bigger pipeline of new investments to help it compete economically with the likes of Manchester.
Asked if he would welcome more Saudi investment or the opportunity to visit the Gulf to meet investors, Coun Ferguson told the LDRS: “I have no plans to go to Riyadh right now, I have no hint that anyone will be asking me to go to Riyadh anytime soon. The question for me [to investors] is always going to be ‘are you going to get behind our vision for the city, are you going to get behind the idea that we need to be delivered not not just for your shareholders but the kind of economic development and regeneration that is ultimately going to benefit the residents of this city?’ If we can have a genuine conversation about that, then I will talk to people.”
Newcastle United, the PIF, and the Saudi government were all contacted for a response.
