PIF ‘distant’ at Newcastle United but supporters given hope after £276m sale and LIV Golf uncertainty
PIF announced a new four-year vision that raised doubts about their commitment to Newcastle United.
Football financial expert Stefan Borson does not expect the Public Investment Fund’s shake-up to have a major impact on Newcastle United.
Announcing a new four-year plan last week, Yasir Al-Rumayyan - PIF governor and Toon chairman - admitted that many deals and investments were under review. The Gulf state are keen to place more emphasis on sustainable investments.
Bought for £305million in 2021, Forbes calculated the Magpies being worth £820million last May. PIF have invested substantially since arriving at St James’ Park but PSR restrictions have restricted their spending capacity.
PIF doubt
No longer can a foreign investor steamroll into English football and propel a stagnating club like Manchester City to global stardom within a few seasons. The inability to do so has frustrated supporters, leading to a sense of PIF perhaps not being interested in the project.
It is understood that the fund remain committed to Newcastle despite the uncertainty relating to the Middle East region and wider PIF announcements. This has been echoed from the top brass at St James’ Park - most notably CEO David Hopkinson.
On the sporting front, further concern arose when PIF sold a 70 per cent stake in Al-Hilal for £276million. Various outlets also report the potential collapse of LIV Golf - one of their flagship sporting enterprises.
Football financial expert on PIF situation
Monetary guru Borson shared a positive update as he does not believe recent PIF events will have any impact on Newcastle. He told talkSPORT: “In fairness, it may not have any impact because they've actually kept it relatively sensible and arm's length from the largesse that they've had in LIV Golf.
“If you look at it, they've actually been fairly reserved in the way that they've approached Newcastle. They've just done a training ground sponsor that is not connected with Saudi Arabia. They've been fairly, almost surprisingly, distant.
“Obviously, there's certain sponsorships, let's not go overboard, but they haven't really invested probably as much as people would have perceived. So I suspect it will not have a major impact (on Newcastle).”
St James’ Park rebuild potential
Borson also backed the logic of rebuilding or revamping St James’ Park compared to how PIF have “set fire to money” in the world of golf. He added: “It's (building a stadium) not setting fire to money in the way that LIV Golf has been. What is it, £4billion over two years or something? Building a stadium is a 25-year asset.
“With a leading stadium in the whole of the North East, that feels like it makes more sense and they'll put property assets around it. So I would think that they can make it work on a sensible commercial basis, even with the PIF issues.”