Newcastle United is the richest club in the world. Instead, they threw away their culture and put themselves in the hands of Saudi Arabian owners. They paid homage to them last weekend in grotesque costumes. The association asks for moderation.
Last Sunday, the fans of Newcastle United in England’s far north paid homage to the arrival of the new club management from Saudi Arabia in sometimes grotesque costumes. At the game against Tottenham Hotspur, they disguised themselves as they imagine the rich Arab next door to be. They wore white robes, tied kerchiefs around their heads and some of them waved the flag of Saudi Arabia with glee.
A tribute to the new billionaire owners of what is currently the richest club in the world. According to the New York Times, the new owners have assets of more than 400 billion euros. That is more than the sum that Sheikh Mansour has at Manchester City and more than Qatar is in Paris Saint-Germain. The arms race of the Gulf states continues. Newcastle acquired the consortium, behind which 80 percent of the sovereign wealth fund Saudi Arabia is, for around 350 million euros. A tip.
The new club chairman Yasir al-Rumayyan, an envoy from the sovereign wealth fund, and deal maker Amanda Stavely received their round of applause from Newcastle supporters on Sunday. The fans adored the new rulers and mocked their current coach. Both now have consequences: The costumes should be reconsidered. The trainer is gone. The takeover of the traditional English club Newcastle United continues to disturb with tragic-comic features.
It was just a brief message from the club to the fans. It was a brief request to “refrain from wearing traditional Arab clothing or headgear inspired by the Middle East at games unless you usually wear them.” That could really be “culturally inappropriate” and people could even feel attacked by it. Fortunately, this is not the case with the new owners. Really very lucky when you think about the background of the deal. More on that later. It seemed appropriate to the club just hours beforehand to bring the admittedly unsuccessful coach Steve Bruce, as requested by the fans a few days earlier, to the door.
Ex-trainer Bruce doesn’t want anymore
“Tomorrow morning they’ll kick you out”, the Newcastle United fans, some of whom disguised as sheiks, sang about their coach on Sunday, who started his job in the month in which the pre-Brexit power games of the conservatives Boris Johnson in the office of British Prime Minister flushed. But while Johnson at least formulated great promises, the coach of the “Magpies”, as the club from the British twin town of Gelsenkirchen is called by his supporters, could not even formulate promises when he took office. He probably knew what hell ride he was going to get into.
They have only kicked Bruce out now. Not the morning after the 3-2 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur, but two days after the morning after the defeat. The separation is said to have been carried out by mutual agreement. But it sounds more like an offer that Bruce couldn’t refuse. Against the Spurs, the 60-year-old had his 1000th appearance on the sidelines, a milestone, his severance payment should amount to around eight million euros, Bruce now wants to end his career. He is bitterly disappointed and deeply saddened by what happened to him.
“It was very, very tough,” Bruce told the Telegraph about his years at Newcastle. “To never really be wanted, to have the feeling that people want me to fail, to read all the time, that I would fail, that I was useless, a fat waste of space, a stupid, tactically incapable cabbage or whatever. It was ridiculous, it was constant even when the results were good. I think this might have been my last job. ”
Bruce was always just a steward of mediocrity. The fans left it cold. It is still uncertain who will succeed Bruce. Assistant Graeme Jones has taken over and is supposed to prepare the team for the next game against Crystal Palace. Big names are traded as Bruce’s successors. He started in 2019 to keep Newcastle United, whose supporters like Schalke 04’s so badly a championship in the Bundesliga, at least to a mediocre level.
A striker from Hoffenheim
The owner, Mike Ashley, had made the once so hopeful club the epitome of athletic infirmity. Sometimes it went to the second division, the championship, under him. They were too good for them. Too bad for the Premier League, too ambitious, too little willing to invest. And anyway Ashley wanted to sell the club rather than invest in it. Bruce, who was born near Newcastle, came in at the right time. In the eyes of many, he perfectly embodied the owner’s lack of ambition.
Bruce, who succeeded Rafael Benitez, who was revered in England, was a human shield for the displeasure of fans, which was actually directed against Ashley. The football Bruce let play was fit for that. He was negative, aimed solely at goal prevention and sometimes succeeded. At least he kept the Magpies in his two years with the club in the league, although the star buyer Joelinton, who was signed by TSG Hoffenheim for 44 million euros, turned out to be a “striker who has no increased interest in goals”, like the “Guardian” aptly wrote about the striker who was truly not on target with 10 goals in 89 games. There weren’t many more remarkable newcomers. The core of the team has remained unchanged for years and has been supplemented every now and then.
The loss of morale
That’s how it went for Bruce. He kept the club afloat, collecting only 23 Premier League wins in its 93 games as coach and owner Mike Ashley negotiated a takeover. That was delayed. But after about 18 months and a first failed attempt, the deal went through. Enter: Saudi Arabia. Enter: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, chairman of the consortium and de facto ruler in the country. Known in the western world above all for his CIA-proven connections to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi three years ago. The Premier League, which initially resisted state interference, announced that the fund is not under the control of Saudi Arabia.
Now is the time to invest: Ousmane Dembélé, Mesut Özil, Philippe Coutinho and many more are under discussion for the coming season. It’s a list of those who failed. These could be led by ex-BVB trainer Lucien Favre, who is said to be very popular with the new bosses. Paulo Fonseca, a 48-year-old Portuguese who recently trained Shakhtar Donetsk and AS Roma, is also in discussion. Frank Lampard, Roberto Martinez, Steven Gerrard and Eddie Howe are too.
Many names will be traded over the next few weeks. Many, whether players or coaches, will cancel, will only be brought into conversation by the newspapers. The fans in St. James’ Park, the venerable stadium that can still be seen from neighboring Gateshead, will be delighted. Only as sheikhs are they no longer allowed to disguise themselves. That could hurt feelings. They can dream again now. Alone: On the way there, morale was lost.