Newcastle-Upon-Tyne is a city steeped in history.
From its time as a frontier of the Roman Empire to its leading role in the United Kingdom's industrial revolution.
But nothing represents the city more so than St James' Park.
Perched on a hill north of the river Tyne, St James' Park watches over Newcastle.
It's one of the only Premier League grounds which can be found bang in the heart of the city.
"We call it the Cathedral on the Hill. Because it literally stands above the whole of the city center."
Here, in England's north-east, Newcastle fans cram into this cathedral to worship
their one true love. The club is inseparable from the city.
"There's nowhere else in the UK where it changes the mood.
When Newcastle are winning, when Newcastle are playing well, then the city is jumping."
"Here's Alan Shearer... what a goal!"
"This club exemplifies the warrior heart of Northumbria. This is what we defend.
Newcastle United is about unity and adversity."
After a decade of mismanagement on the pitch, and the region reeling from severe budget cuts,
the tide turned in Newcastle.
Saudi Arabia bought the club, bringing investment and ambition which promised to revitalise the whole city.
"People have really seized on the positive change in the fortunes
of the club. One of the few causes for hope. And a kind of cultural escapism."
With a renewed purpose and direction,
Newcastle look on track to eventually join the top of the football pyramid.
But alongside the imminent glory, there will always be criticism from detractors about
sportswashing. About how an autocratic state - renowned for its human rights
abuses - could so brazenly break into one of English football’s heartlands.
"Going into Newcastle for Saudi Arabia or going into Manchester for the UAE,
it's brilliant for PR, it's brilliant for developing political centres of
influence and it's brilliant for developing business interests."
So how has the Saudi Arabian ownership won over the hearts
and minds of Newcastle United fans?
Well, it’s far from black and white.
Behind the sportswashing narrative, there's a tale about local pride and community spirit
battling against poverty and unemployment.
And a government's failure to care for its own people.
The coastline of Northumberland, where Newcastle lies, has featured heavily in the United Kingdom’s storied past.
"Newcastle United is about unity and adversity.
Whether we're being invaded by the Romans, the Scots, the Vikings or whoever,
this club is the modern-day manifestation of that."
The Industrial Revolution elevated the city.
As a port town, Newcastle became the world's biggest coal hub,
with mines, shipyards and steelworks dominating the region.
That era helped define Newcastle, Northumberland, and the world.
"Lots of major historic firsts took place in Newcastle.
It had the first electrically lit street in the world. The first modern steam locomotive.
So there's a sense in which the railways kind of originated in Newcastle."
But de-industrialisation slowly descended across the United Kingdom.
Brutal economic policies from Margaret Thatcher particularly decimated the north in the 1980s.
Previously booming industries were gradually wiped out, leaving the remaining communities abandoned.
"That moment was a moment that the region's never really recovered from. So you have a kind of sense of absence,
a sense of neglect, a sense of marginalization."
"It also had austerity politics, which began around about 2010,
which have completely taken millions and millions of pounds out of the local economy,
again severely impacting the city."
The north-east is now one of the most disadvantaged regions in the UK.
They lead the nation in child poverty, unemployment, alcohol-related fatalities and suicide rates.
"Most of these key sociological measures, the northeast is on the wrong side of them."
So dire is the situation, that Food Banks now prop up the city's most vulnerable.
It's a common sight in much of the United Kingdom, but especially in the nation's north.
Bill Corcoran founded the Newcastle United Fans Foodbank in 2010, which feeds 1200 people a week.
"Whatever reason, people who are working don't have enough money to feed their children.
Nobody stood for power on a policy of starving children, so we need to get this sorted out and if they won't sort it out, we have to."
It’s no wonder that Newcastle United – the city's only football club – has become
a haven to escape the harsh realities of northern life.
With St James' Park the fabled ground where the fans descend.
"When you come into the city center, you see black and white everywhere.
You'll go around a corner, you'll see a flag.
The next corner - you’ll see six, seven or eight people start singing.
And as you get closer and closer, the noise starts to develop.
It’s like 'Right, come on then! Who we got? Are we gonna win? Howay boys, get in there'."
St James' Park has had its moments in the sun.
From winning titles in the early 1900s and 1950s to the modern eras of Kevin Keegan and Bobby Robson.
They may not have won a major domestic trophy since 1957,
but these teams brought joy to the Geordie nation through relentless attacking football.
Newcastle were never the best. But they competed, they entertained,
and that's all that mattered. When the club was doing well, the city was thriving.
"When Kevin Keegan was in charge, and Newcastle surged up the league - you
would speak to business owners who would say productivity increases when
Newcastle United does well because everyone bounces into work happy."
"That is your release, where you forget about work problems. Maybe it's financial problems,
family problems, whatever it is, that was your release."
Until, that is, a big man with big plans decided he wanted a piece of the pie.
When retail magnate Mike Ashley bought the club in 2007, everything appeared rosy.
He invested in the team, made big promises, and even drank pints with the fans.
But a series of off-field blunders resulted in Newcastle being relegated
twice from the Premier League in seven years. The fans turned against Ashley,
seeing him as yet another member of a powerful elite, who neglected the north-east.
"Some Newcastle fans, maybe subconsciously, made that connection between Mike Ashley and
that elite as well. They don't care about us. This is all about money for Mike Ashley,
just as we are forgotten about financially in other terms."
Ashley tightened the purse strings as he put the club up for sale.
Attempts to kick-start a fan-funded takeover fell flat. And many of the Geordie
faithful finally turned their backs on their beloved club.
"People go to watch football because it's a passion. They enjoy it. It's an escape.
And it wasn't any of those things in the Mike Ashley era. He was sucking the enjoyment out of that."
"Under Ashley, there was just no direction whatsoever.
The club was stable financially but it was more a business model and an advertising platform for Ashley.
There's nothing worse than turning up every game knowing it's going nowhere."
“It got to a stage whereby fans weren't angry anymore, or they were angry, but just they
didn't have the feeling to be able to keep going to matches and keep protesting against the club."
The discontent and despair created a toxic atmosphere. And presented a ripe opportunity
for one of the world’s richest, and most autocratic, states to sweep in and take over.
In October 2021, Saudi Arabia, under the guise of its Public Investment Fund, bought
Newcastle United for 300m pounds. Following a complicated legal battle with the Premier League.
The football world was shaken.
Autocratic states had already crept into the game. But never before
was there so much blowback against foreign investment within football.
Sportswashing frontlined the criticism. Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman was in the limelight due to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
"Saudi Arabia does provide probably the most obvious example of why you
might get involved in sport. He had a huge reputational problem at the same time as he
was trying to divert his economy and bring a lot of investment into the country. Now,
he needed somehow to get out of the problem he was in, and sport was a great way to do that."
So it's not about getting rid of the bad news. But smothering
that bad news with vast amounts of good news."
Newcastle fans took to the streets. The hashtag #cans spread through the fanbase on social media
as supporters cracked open beers to celebrate the long-awaited departure of Mike Ashley.
"There's a lot of people who criticise the Newcastle fans' response to the Saudi takeover,
but I don't think anyone would have criticised them for wanting
to get rid of Ashley and to have celebrated that at the time."
"We celebrated like we won a trophy. When the takeover was announced outside St
James' Park that was one of my highlights supporting the club in over 25 years."
Newcastle fans didn’t choose Saudi Arabia. That decision lay firmly at
the feet of the Premier League. And even the UK Government under Boris Johnson,
which was found to have played a crucial role in lobbying for the Saudi deal to be rubber stamped.
It was determined that the Public Investment Fund was a separate legal entity to the Saudi state.
Even though it is Saudi-owned and funded. And chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
"I think when you look at the evidence that's been amassed on that,
there's no question the British government was actively trying to push that deal through.
Johnson was very public and critical of the Premier League, ostensibly about transparency.
But really what he was trying to do was pressure the Premier League to approve the sale."
Almost the whole city was desperate for Newcastle United to be under new ownership. And the promise
of Saudi money flowing into other parts of the economy was too good to turn down.
"There was no other buyer who was going to come in at that price and was going to promise the
investment that they did, and therefore that's why they would support it, given the potential
investment for the city, the potential benefit for the city, and hopefully its residents as well."
"The city is hugely deprived. It needs external investment because
it's not coming from the government. You can entirely understand why the
simple thing for an MP to do is to really get behind that bid,
and to close your eyes a little bit away from the more unsavoury dimensions of the Saudi regime."
It was an open goal for the new Saudi owners,
who were also extremely astute when picking the right allies as minority shareholders.
The Reuben brothers, billionaires who already held big investments in the city,
and Amanda Staveley, who had built her career brokering deals for Middle East investors, provided the perfect front.
"I don't think the role that Amanda Staveley played in the takeover,
and since, can really be understated. Having a white English woman as the face of the takeover,
someone who knew all the things to say to supporters was critical.
Not only that, but I think she was very adept in her engagements with the media. She has
been a nice diversion away from the real power behind the club, which is Mohammed bin Salman."
The fans didn't take much to be convinced either.
The Saudis invested in the squad, renovated the training facilities,
proposed a stadium expansion, and announced plans to develop the land around St James' Park,
which Ashley had either sold off or allowed to wallow in dilapidation.
They've also poured cash into the women's team, which was languishing in the fourth
tier during Mike Ashley's reign. They now aim to be competing in Europe by 2027.
"That's another controversial element because you get some people who say Saudi ownership, given
women's rights in Saudi Arabia, should they be invested in the women's team. The counterargument
to that is, well, is it such a negative to invest in the women's team here? It was a
forgotten about entity in Newcastle United. It was not even part of the club before they came in."
Perhaps most importantly, however,
the club re-established a relationship with the fans. And they started winning under
Eddie Howe. Champions League qualification followed for the first time in 20 years.
"To get Champions League after two years? So it's incredible how we're fighting against the elite.
And you know for Newcastle to be competing, you know, we absolutely battered Paris 4-1. Who would
have thought that? Mbappe would be walking around all miserable in St James' Park. What a sight."
To understand the Geordie fanaticism when it comes to Newcastle United,
you have to join them on an away day.
15,000 of them descended on Dortmund for a Champions League match,
intent on soaking up every minute of being back in Europe.
"It's a crazy to think two years ago we were fighting a relegation battle.
It's a lot of money to follow Newcastle United. We are literally right in the
North East. We've got the furthest to travel and you're spending hundreds and
hundreds every game. But it's worth it for that little bit of a kick."
Here in Germany, however, there's not a lot of love for Newcastle's
owners. The fans are warmly welcomed in Dortmund. But the club's ownership,
possibly the purest example of the plight of modern football, doesn' t sit right.
In Germany, fans have an active say in how their club is run, thanks to the 50+1 ownership model.
"I think the reality is that Germany is light years ahead of England,
and has a far more sustainable and far better model that represents genuinely
the interest of fans and communities and clubs."
Dortmund may not have as much money, and therefore the ability to keep up
with Premier League finances, but their fans wouldn't have it any other way.
The German model is all but impossible in England. Any dream of fan ownership is long gone,
unless there's a massive overhaul of the footballing system from the top down.
Qatar is the latest autocratic state to be linked to a Premier League buyout.
But what happens when these ownership models decide to jump ship? Or are even forced out?
"A lot of fans around Europe will look at Newcastle or look at Manchester City and see,
that's great, I want that money for my club. But what about when geopolitical
dimensions or geopolitical events change? What about
when they suddenly decide they don't want those clubs anymore? What happens then?"
For now, Newcastle United fans are just basking in the reality of once again being
competitive. Of feeling like they have won back a connection to their beloved football club.
But the issue of being owned by an autocratic state renowned for
human rights abuses can't be ignored.
"As someone who lives in the area, grew up in the region, the now intrinsic association
between Newcastle United and Saudi Arabia is something I find to be deeply uncomfortable,
but at the same time, it isn't Newcastle United fans who decided who the owner was.
Lots of Newcastle United fans have lots of different
opinions about the Saudi ownership and their relationship with it."
A minority have walked away entirely. Some have fully embraced the Saudis. While many are torn.
"I think we can learn a lot, but it's a difficult one because there
is some atrocious crimes that do happen. But as a fan base,
we're aware of it. But our focus is football and to going to support our club."
Also at the heart of the issue is a governing body,
and a national government, that doesn’t have football fans' best interests at heart.
"Football clubs are incredibly important to the communities that they serve, and they should
be community institutions representing fans, representing communities. And they can be vehicles
for social justice. But when they are used in this way, they serve some completely other purpose
A dictator thousands of miles away doesn't care about Newcastle, doesn't care about
the people in Newcastle, doesn't care about football in Newcastle."
The fans believe they are back in control,
claiming that they've finally "got their club back". But is that truly the reality?
"I think the new owners have been very smart in the way that they have engaged
with the supporters. And certainly have tried to give them the sense that they
do have ownership over the club now. I think that's very superficial. I think
the reality is that the club has probably never been further detached from them."
It shows just how difficult it is to completely abandon a
club that you've followed for an entire lifetime.
"What they want is a football team that they can connect to. A football team they can believe in,
go and watch and enjoy. And they haven't had that for so long."
"It's about solidarity, hard work, friendship, humor, dignity. I don't think we're that
bothered about winning things. We've been so long without it that we really don’t know what it’s like."
"You never know, one day we might lift a trophy and that's, I mean,
there'll be scenes. There'll be scenes if we lift the trophy."
Those scenes will always be associated with the Saudi State,
whether Newcastle fans like it or not.
That's now the stark reality of modern football in a globalised world.