ESPN has repeatedly contacted United With Pride, a group of LGBT+ Newcastle supporters, for their perspective on the new owners who are backed by a regime which retains the death penalty for acts of homosexuality, but did not receive a reply. But Concannon says that the politics of the takeover have been difficult for many Newcastle supporters on a variety of levels.
“I think a lot of Newcastle fans have felt attacked by the reaction to the takeover,” he said. “At the beginning, you would have television crews speaking to random people in the streets, asking what they thought of the new owners and Saudi Arabia and I don’t think the vast majority of the fans and people in general had any knowledge of the situation to base an opinion on.
“It’s a tough one for many fans and a really difficult topic to talk about. The ownership of football clubs now is a much bigger issue than merely what’s happening at Newcastle and it would need a drastic change in regulations for the situation to change in general. But this isn’t just about football in Newcastle. The new owners are also involved in helping to regenerate the city and this is a region of the country that has missed that kind of investment for far too long.”
And that, in many ways, is why there is a resentment within Newcastle to the criticism that the club and its supporters have received since the takeover — a feeling that the club and the city have become a punchbag through no fault of their own.
In the first game at St James’ Park post-Ashley, the stadium was illuminated by thousands of black-and-white flags — Wor Flags produced the displays and had boycotted the stadium during the final months of the Ashley regime — and a huge banner was unfurled at the Gallowgate End, bearing a lyric from “Big River,” a song by local artist Jimmy Nail about the decline of the shipyards on the River Tyne: “Cause this is a mighty town built upon a solid ground, and everything they’ve tried so hard to kill, we will rebuild.”
Chelsea and City were able to spend heavily without such restrictions, but as Newcastle grow on the field and commercially, the investment will grow accordingly. The Big Six know that it is only a matter of time before Newcastle either dislodge a club from that group or increase its ranks to seven.
Large sums of money have been spent on new signings; the £40m January arrival of Everton forward Anthony Gordon late in the January window took the total outlay to £275m since the takeover, while they broke their transfer record to bring in striker Alexander Isak for £62m in the summer. However, the spending spree has not mirrored what Manchester City described as their “accelerated acquisition strategy” in the early stages of Sheikh Mansour’s ownership. And with Chelsea investing more than £600m on new players in two transfer windows since the Todd Boehly-led takeover at Stamford Bridge last summer, Newcastle’s recruitment to date has been relatively unremarkable.
FFP has limited Newcastle’s ability to spend due to, with inflation, a real-terms fall in commercial revenue and turnover during Ashley’s reign as owner. When he arrived in 2007, Newcastle’s commercial income was £27.6m. It had climbed to just £29m in 2020. But it is clear that the club will become a major player in the transfer market in the near future. Champions League qualification, and the prize money that accompanies it, will only accelerate that progression. The more money Newcastle earn, the more they can spend.
“While money has been spent, the owners haven’t gone crazy with it,” Concannon said. “The signings, such as Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn, Sven Botman and Bruno Guimaraes, have been smart, but the real credit has to go to Eddie Howe.
“He has transformed players like Joelinton, Miguel Almiron and Sean Longstaff, who had dropped to rock-bottom under previous manager Steve Bruce. Eddie has revitalised the club.”
