Spurs are set to finally secure naming rights on their new stadium with a Saudi Public Investment Fund subsidiary said to be the frontrunner.
Journalist Ben Jacobs has reported that ‘advanced talks [are] taking place, and ‘dealmakers have put forward two companies, one a PIF subsidiary, and a secondary company unaffiliated.’
He additionally reports that ‘legalities [are] being explored so as not to conflict with Newcastle’ and ‘nothing is guaranteed yet as Spurs have to speak to American companies as well.’
Telegraph football have also reported on the rumours, adding; ‘well-placed sources’ have told the paper that Spurs are working towards clinching a ‘lucrative deal for stadium name’ and it is speculated that the deal is the reason for the club’s uncharacteristic splurge in the transfer market that has seen £115m spent in 24 hours on Mohammed Kudus and Morgan Gibbs-White.
It’s fair to say that the immediate reaction on Tyneside, and especially in the Newcastle United Twittersphere, is one of barely contained fury, as the optics for the Newcastle United owners are not great.
If the rumours are true, PIF appear to be strengthening another of our rivals, alongside sponsoring the Club World Cup and strengthening some of our rivals, and buying Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City’s cast-offs and strengthening our rivals.
From the outside looking in, it stinks, and it’s certainly not something that happened when the Qataris bought PSG or Abu Dhabi bought Man City, as those sovereign wealth funds, despite stumbles along the way in PSG’s case, have been laser-focused on turning the fortunes around of their particular clubs. The Saudis, as it appears, seem to be anything but laser-focused on United.
However, on this occasion, I feel the immediate reaction is hugely overblown. Firstly, these are just rumours and we could just as easily wake up tomorrow and the American company mentioned in the reporting have secured the naming rights to Spurs’ stadium.
Secondly, and with the only comparable recent deal to go on being Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium deal, said to be worth £15m-a-season over ten years, if Spurs were to secure a deal of £20m-a-season over ten years, it’s not all paid up front, and Spurs’ ability to spend has always been well beyond our own as their revenues dwarf ours.
Perhaps, if the Saudis are involved it would pave the way for them to announce a £25m-a-season naming rights deal on our new stadium when it is announced, and they are playing a bit of 4D chess? It’s all rumour as is this story.
Third, until someone from PIF comes out and outright cancels the new stadium and says they’re withdrawing all funds from United we have to assume that the Chairman is genuine when he says he wants United to be no. 1 in world football.
Lastly, turning United into the best club in the world is the longest of marathons, up the steepest of hills, against the most deadly of opposition. The club is in the rather unique position of having no Sporting Director/DoF, and essentially no CEO which certainly gives the impression of things happening behind the scenes at a snail’s pace.
That is why the next set of appointments are so vital, and they have to be the right, long-term appointments – just as Eddie Howe was on the playing side – that appointment couldn’t have gone much better.
2025/26 will be the fifth year the Saudis have owned Newcastle United, and in the barometer that people say you are always judged on the most in football ‘on the pitch’, we’ve qualified for the Champions League twice, won a League Cup, and have assembled an enviable squad which is capable of challenging at the top of the division.
Off the pitch, we’ve seen the Adidas deal secured and other lucrative deals signed with Inpost and Noon, amongst others.
There is still miles to go in this marathon, and whilst we can probably agree that the Saudi PIF aren’t great at optics, if these sorts of rumours turn out to be true, alongside the already actionable indirect helping of our rivals via sponsorships and buying other clubs’ deadwood, we can agree that we are far from the forgotten stepchild, but we certainly don’t appear to be priority no. 1 either.