The defining image of the season that will never be forgotten at Newcastle may be Dan Burn powering his header into the Liverpool goal. Or Eddie Howe drenched in detritus of lager discards as the team celebrated the club’s first domestic trophy since 1955. Equally, it could be the 300,000 fans who greeted the squad on the Town Moor, an extraordinary display of civic passion.
None of these are likely to have made an impression on the fitness instructor Manahel al-Otaibi in Malaz prison, Riyadh, serving 11 years, some of it in solitary confinement, for opposing male guardianship and posting photos of herself on social media without wearing traditional abaya dress. For her friends, the abiding memory of the season will be Yasir al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and chairman of the club, gleefully holding the Carabao Cup aloft at Wembley.
That will doubtless also be the case for Loujain al-Hathloul, who campaigned for women to have the right to drive in Saudi Arabia and against male guardianship. In March 2018, while in the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, campaigners say she was stopped on the motorway, detained, blindfolded and taken to Saudi Arabia where it is alleged she was electrocuted, waterboarded, flogged, beaten, force-fed, sleep deprived and eventually jailed for more than two years. She is still subject to a travel ban.
Her sister, Lina, has met Newcastle fans and had mixed feelings when Rumayyan lifted the cup. “What’s frustrating is that you don’t have any position where you can say: ‘OK, I’m going to the stadium to enjoy my club winning but I will raise a picture of a political prisoner in Saudi.’ This is where I’m mad. No one can have a thoughtful and nuanced position where they can say: ‘I’m very happy my club is winning but I can also be free and say why is Manahel al-Otaibi in prison?’”
For John Hird, raising concerns about the club ownership has become something of his life’s work. His first Newcastle match was in 1974, standing in the Leazes End, but he didn’t watch the Carabao Cup final. “I listened to it on the radio,” said Hird, who has set up NUFC Against Sportswashing to oppose the ownership of the club. “We called it a tainted victory and we’d be hypocrites if we went to matches. We’re not going to give them anything.”
“Them” is the Saudi Arabian regime, headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, chairman of PIF, which owns 85% of the club and is either “a sovereign instrumentality of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”, as argued by its lawyers in the USA, or entirely independent of the Saudi state, according to “legally binding assurances” given to the Premier League. The latter construct was required to prevent Bin Salman, accused by US intelligence of having “approved” the operation to murder and dismember the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, being assessed as to whether he was a suitable owner and director.
It is, though, hard to resist the lure of a first domestic cup win for 70 years. A younger generation are not only enjoying the moment but enthusiastically embracing the ownership. The YouTuber Adam Pearson, who has 56,000 subscribers to his channel, suggested “those wanting to continue on the after party, get yourselves over to Saudi Arabia. There are plenty of direct flights.” His TikTok channel has a link to a travel agent with deals to the kingdom. “They’re trying to get young people around them by using podcasters and YouTubers,” said Hird. Pearson was contacted for comment.
For campaigners, it is a sign the Saudi influence can permeate all areas, including the region’s leaders. Julia Legner is executive director at ALQST, one of the most prominent human rights groups campaigning for Saudi citizens. She said: “We see politicians in Newcastle going awfully quiet on core values they claim to carry. The happiness, success and joy of fans should not be on the back of the repression of innocent human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia.”
ALQST met Newcastle city council in February to cite its concerns at the growing influence of the Saudi state in the region. Newcastle airport, which is owned by seven local councils, including the city council, is reportedly in talks with PIF to sell it a 49% stake, though the airport owners say that is pure speculation. “All these councils could be bounced into a relationship with the Saudi state,” said Hird.
The city council leader, Karen Kilgour, said: “I listened carefully to everything they [ALQST] had to say … and I recognise the concerns held by some residents in our city, and further afield. During that meeting, I was clear Newcastle … absolutely condemn human rights abuses around the world, including any in Saudi Arabia. Such abuses are completely at odds with the values we hold dear here in Newcastle and as a council we have always made clear that we expect all organisations based in this city to share those important values. However … it is for central government to raise concerns around human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia at a national level.”
Lina al-Hathloul, who was part of the ALQST delegation, is unimpressed. “I wouldn’t say it’s good they met us,” she said. “It’s important I am not being used to check [tick] the boxes. It’s even worse for me for them to be able to say they met me. It’s whitewashing their reputation and saying they care and not have anything concrete. I would rather they refuse to meet with us so it’s easier to tell they don’t care.”
Most galling for some is that many portray Bin Salman, who has driven the successful 2034 Saudi World Cup bid, as a reformer. Legner said: “Yes, there were some reforms introduced for women but all the women’s rights reformists were rounded up and arrested, arbitrarily detained, tortured and blamed as traitors. Reform is not very credible or sustainable if the people in the country with reformist views are all arrested and detained.”
That tension for some fans is not going to pass any time soon, as Kilgour acknowledges. “I have spoken to many supporters and I know they do not condone human rights abuses,” she said. “They love their football club, as do I, and their relationship is with Newcastle United and the team who represent our city on the pitch.
“The vast majority of residents I speak to on this issue find it deeply unfair that the fanbase, and indeed our city, are being held in some way accountable for domestic policy in Saudi Arabia.”
That is a common theme among Newcastle fans: while PIF owns stakes in Uber, Meta, Alphabet, Disney and Starbucks among other high-profile brands, no one organises campaigns against those corporations. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer describes Saudi Arabia as a “key partner” for delivering his “No 1 mission” for economic growth.
Despite the seeming inevitability of an ever-closer partnership, Legner insists change is possible if politicians and fans make even small gestures. “The new Saudi Arabia that is opening up to the world cares much more about their reputation,” she said. “A regular fan raising a poster of a Saudi political prisoner can have an impact, because someone will take a picture and it might land in a newspaper and it might be talked about by someone like Al-Rumayyan, who is in the stadium.”
Hird cautions that the UK government has been down this route before. “Roman Abramovich was a fit and proper person – until he wasn’t,” he said. For Hird, there won’t be any compromise. “We’ll keep publicising this issue until we get a different type of ownership,” he said. “My attitude is, I was a fan before they took over and I’ll be a fan when they leave.”
Newcastle and PIF have been contacted for comment.
