It was Yasir Al-Rumayyan. The final whistle went at the 2026 World Cup final and one thing captured my full attention.
No, it wasn’t the crass behaviour of the Argentina players after their defeat, behaviour which simply matched their behaviour during the actual game.
Instead it was the Newcastle United Chairman skipping joyfully across the pitch and grabbing Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino as they made their own way across the turf.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan absolutely beaming as he shook hands with the despotic leader….and Donald Trump.
The Newcastle United boss is also the Governor of the Saudi Arabia PIF.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan was also part of the awards ceremony after the conclusion of this 2026 World Cup final, as you can see above with Pau Cubarsi named best young player of this tournament.
Seeing the Newcastle United Chairman standing out so much in such a prominent position at the biggest occasion of all, it is difficult, indeed impossible, not to then reflect on NUFC.
What priority, if any, is Newcastle United to Yasir Al-Rumayyan, to the Saudi Arabia PIF?
Rather bizarrely, at least to me, there are still Newcastle United fans out there who truly believe that NUFC are the biggest priority of all for the Saudi Arabia PIF and indeed the entire Saudi regime. No doubt heavily influenced by the ridiculously over the top coverage of the Newcastle United takeover back in October 2021, that NUFC were a huge sportswashing priority project with money no object to make the club a success in order to divert attention away from the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.
Even if any of you believed that back in October 2021, if you still believe that now then you are the equivalent of the tales of Japanese soldiers emerging from the jungle some decades after 1945, who believe the Second World War is still ongoing.
What the reality does appear to be, as a minimum, is that countless Newcastle United fans still believe that the only thing holding NUFC back from becoming the ‘Number One’ in world football is the restrictions on what clubs are allowed to spend on transfer fees and wages. Restrictions imposed by both the Premier League and by UEFA.
To be honest, I think the Saudi Arabia PIF, the Newcastle United owners as a whole, are more than happy for NUFC fans to believe this to be the case.
Many Newcastle United fans sill see the financial power of the PIF and indeed Saudi Arabia as a whole, as something that can be called upon in totality to make our football club all powerful.
I have never thought this. I have never thought it to be the case remotely.
The Saudi Arabia PIF (Public Investment Fund) is a vehicle to use the vast riches generated by primarily fossil fuels and pump a lot of that money into projects at home and abroad, to diversify their economy and ensure prosperity in the future. The Saudi Arabia PIF is estimated to have under its control around £800billion or so of assets, of investments. Around 80% of which are domestic projects and businesses, the other 20% are overseas investments such as the hundreds of millions that they have invested in their Newcastle United asset. One of their many similar level investments.
The Saudi Arabia PIF isn’t even close to being the world’s biggest, the Norway PIF controls more than twice as much in assets. China also with a far bigger PIF.
When it came to that FIFA 2026 World Cup final on Sunday and Yasir Al-Rumayyan centre stage with Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino, it simply reinforced how deep Saudi Arabia is in with the likes of Donald Trump and FIFA.
The deep and complex links see Saudi Arabia as key to the funding of the likes of the 2026 World Cup and especially the ridiculous Club World Cup of 2025 as FIFA and Infantino look to empire build. The Saudis supplying fortunes through the likes of Aramco sponsorship. Then as part of this deep involvement, by sheer coincidence Saudi Arabia awarded the 2034 World Cup finals, with no other country opposing, simply a vote by FIFA on whether or not the Saudis would get the tournament, which was a foregone conclusion after FIFA had orchestrated the whole charade anyway. Just the same as when Russia and especially Qatar were awarded their World Cup hostings.
So what about Newcastle United?
I can’t get my head around the fact that for many Newcastle United fans and indeed those in the media, who believe that NUFC is in the same conversation of importance as the hosting of the 2034 World Cup is. As even Donald Trump has been forced to admit, the prominent American sports are an irrelevance in global terms compared to proper football and the World Cup finals.
It is the glittering jewel, getting the rights to host a World Cup finals, that is the ultimate prize and Saudi Arabia have paid whatever it takes to get the 2034 World Cup.
Contrast this with Newcastle United.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan and the Saudi Arabia PIF have, along with the Reuben family (the richest in the UK) as minority shareholder, put in chunks of extra cash to support and grow their investment at St James’ Park. Over and above the £350m it initially cost, a £305m purchase price and other costs they agreed to take on when agreeing to buy. They now have a business, an asset, a football club, that is now worth in excess of £1billion and which they could sell now and walk away with a huge profit of hundreds of millions. Something which wouldn’t come as a huge surprise if it did happen….
I think on balance that the current Newcastle United owners will remain so, at least for a few more years, but what then can we expect to happen in terms of progress?
Well expecting the vast funds of the Saudi Arabia PIF to bankroll Newcastle United looks a ‘little’ unlikely.
We all understand the massive challenges that come with a potential huge brand new stadium, planning permissions and the logistics etc. However, to be still no further forward after five years of this ownership is depressing to say the least.
The much talked about state of the art new training ground is another matter absolutely nothing to have stopped them having that all built and up and running by now.
A supposed cost of £200m has often been mentioned by journalists but in reality I doubt it would be that much. Lets say £150m for arguments sake.
If the Newcastle United majority owners had really wanted to get this training complex done, then clearly no reason why they couldn’t have footed the £150m bill themselves and then nominated another Saudi Arabia PIF owned business as the sponsor paying £15m per season over ten years. A non-Saudi business, KNOX Hydrate, is now paying £6m a year to sponsor the patched up current training facility, so no reason why the Newcastle United owners couldn’t have shown as fair market value £15m sponsorship a year of a state of the art new training ground.
Reality is that the Newcastle United owners have simply chosen not to do this these past five years and still we don’t even have an official announcement on plans for this supposed new training ground.
I think one thing has gone vastly under reported, far more should have been made of it by both journalists and the Newcastle United fans.
Newcastle United ending up without any front of shirt sponsor whatsoever, when the 2026/27 home shirt was launched in June 2026.
This is how important Newcastle United are to the Saudi Arabia PIF majority owners.
Some fans still wanting to think that the only thing stopping Newcastle United becoming the all powerful club in world football is UEFA and Premier League restrictions on the owners spending the vast PIF billions, yet at the same time refusing to supply a £25m front of shirt sponsor via another Saudi Arabia PIF owned business. In the end it was KNOX who they belatedly got to agree a cut price front of shirt sponsor deal that is significantly less than the £75m Sela (a PIF company) paid over the last three years.
When the Newcastle United owners never communicate with the fans, it leaves a huge void.
What are we supposed to believe about the future of our football club?
Of course the current situation is still far better than the decade and a half that was wasted under Mike Ashley’s cynical exploitation. However, there isn’t a single major football club that has been deliberately held back for so long as we experienced under Mike Ashley. So every single major football club is currently in a better position than we were across 15 seasons that kicked off under Ashley. His NUFC ownership was the lowest of all bars, for the longest of times.
The communication that we have had on behalf of the current Newcastle United owners is arguably more disturbing than saying nothing at all.
The Newcastle United CEO David Hopkinson declaring that NUFC will be competing for all major trophies by 2030 is simply embarrassing. It is embarrassing because you can only come out with such a huge claim if you then explain how Newcastle United will get from A (where the club are currently at) to B (realistic chances of winning the Premier League and Champions League).
When David Hopkinson came out with that nonsense, undoubtedly with the agreement of the Newcastle United owners, it would be a totally different ball game if he’d then detailed this is when the brand new huge stadium is planned to be ready, this when the state of the art new training complex is set to open, these are the huge new commercial/sponsorship deals that will help finance all of this…
The KNOX three year front of shirt sponsorship deal was for a widely reported £60m, compared to the £75m the Sela three year deal had delivered, yet David Hopkinson declared (about the new KNOX deal): “This is a transformative deal for Newcastle United.”
Whilst the club’s press announcement stated: ‘This deeply integrated, multi-year partnership represents a massive commercial milestone for Newcastle United as the club continues its relentless march toward the pinnacle of domestic and European football.’
How is it going to be “transformative” when Newcastle United are actually getting reduced revenues from their prime sponsorship source?
How are we supposed to believe that it is a ‘…relentless march toward the pinnacle of domestic and European football’ when the gap grows ever bigger between the revenues of Newcastle United and the usual suspects?
How can we accept that the Newcastle United owners and club hierarchy even believe themselves that these claims, these ambitions, have even minimal chance, when the majority owners of the club appear to have very publicly made clear they are withdrawing from allowing even the most basic sponsorship deals, refusing to help financially support the club via deals from other PIF businesses. Let alone the serious investment needed to deliver the huge essential infrastructure projects.
As always, I still hope that there is a cunning plan that we are so far unaware of. A plan that these Newcastle United owners will one day unveil and their claims of future world domination backed up by something that makes it in any way believable.
The most depressing thing as a Newcastle United fan is not that this summer we struggle to compete on transfer fees and player wages. The really depressing thing is the reality that as things currently look, in ten years time why should we believe things will have changed?