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Newcastle United is now valued at more than £1billion after the sale of Amanda Staveley’s minority stake in the club to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
According to Bloomberg, (paywall) Staveley’s six percent stake is worth around £60million, placing the club’s overall value north of the £1billion mark for the first time.
PIF’s investment in the club has certainly been positive on the financial front, with the investment in its asset tripling in value in just three years. Coupled with vastly improved performances on the pitch, resulting in a special 4th placed finish in 2022/23, the club is generally on an upward trajectory, despite some concerns around Saudi Arabia’s human rights record in some quarters.
Yet, cast your mind back to March 2021. Following a 3-0 defeat at Brighton, Newcastle United were just two points clear of 18th place, had won just four of their last 20 games, and Steve Bruce was busy booking another holiday after an intensive three-day week training at Benton.
Rio Ferdinand, in no way swayed by his business arrangements with former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct, told fans that they should ‘round up your money and take over the club then’ on his YouTube channel – displaying a shocking lack of empathy for football fans that have issues with cavalier, absent or negligent owners.
The former Man Utd centre-back was hardly the only football pundit lauding the business acumen of Mike Ashley – yet he was one of the most vocal – and how wrong they have all been proven. The ‘tire-kicker’ Amanda Staveley knew what a sleeping giant the club was, and today’s news has put the Magpies in the same value company as seven-times Champions League winners AC Milan.
PIF have just realised what Newcastle fans knew all along – that with sound, sensible investment Newcastle United would flourish and grow and make its owners vast sums of money and prestige in the long run.
Newcastle United is…
Source link : https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2024/08/01/saudi-pif-see-newcastle-pay-off-more-proof-of-meteoric-rise-and-mike-ashleys-neglect/
Author : Jonathan Young
Publish date : 2024-08-01 12:26:47
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