Simon Jordan makes brutally honest PIF prediction - this would be bad news for Newcastle United
TalkSPORT pundit Simon Jordan has once again given his brutally honest view of Newcastle United’s PIF ownership.
Simon Jordan has predicted that the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund will look to sell Newcastle United in the ‘near future’.
The former Crystal Palace chairman and talkSPORT pundit admitted he ‘wouldn’t be surprised’ to see PIF sell Newcastle five years on from the £300million takeover of the club.
Since then, Newcastle have qualified for the Champions League twice and won the Carabao Cup. But finishing 12th in the Premier League paired with the departures of players like Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and potentially Sandro Tonali has raised genuine questions over the club’s direction of travel.
Speaking on talkSPORT Jordan said: “The challenge for Newcastle is how do they get to where people's perception of them in terms of the mind's eye of the ownership.
“For want of a better expression, I think the Saudis have shot their bolt. I don't think they're going to spend lots and lots of money on sports per se now, and I think if they were going to do it, you might find the Saudis are going to sell this football club, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that happening in the immediate or near future, or relatively near future.”
Project 2030 plans realistic?
Newcastle sources have reaffirmed PIF’s commitment to the club as a long-term project despite seeking further investment involving the stadium.
Jordan added that aims from Newcastle chief executive officer David Hopkinson about the club becoming one of the best in the world by 2030 are ‘frankly ridiculous’.
“We've had this, I think, frankly, ridiculous set of observations from their chief executive,” he said. “First of all, he didn't want to commit himself to Eddie Howe, which opened up a whole raft of controversies, and then he rode back from that.
“And then he talks about the 2030 project. Well, we don't know what the 2030 project is. It's about Saudi building itself into a whole raft of other things in its own country, but they index everything they do to the 2030 project.
“Now he's talking about Newcastle winning the league by 2030. Not even if you were the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, could you believe that?
“Because there's no possible way you're going to be able to achieve it, irrespective of what Leicester did 10 years ago.”