Saudi PIF’s message to former Premier League CEO over Newcastle United investment
Former Everton and Aston Villa chief executive officer Keith Wyness has contacted PIF regarding investment in Newcastle United.
The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia owns an 85% stake in Newcastle which increased from 80% over the summer following Amanda Staveley’s sudden departure.
PIF governor and Newcastle chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan announced last month that the sovereign wealth fund is aiming to cut its international investments from 30% to around 20%. However, Wyness is confident that won’t impact Newcastle after claiming to have made contact with a PIF insider:
“I spoke to my contact in PIF about this, what it really means is 30% of their overseas investment may come down to 18% or 20% but the assets they have already invested in such as Newcastle are not really going to be part of any of those cuts,” he told Football Insider. “It will not impact Newcastle at all.”
Newcastle are assessing the prospect of a major stadium development at St James’ Park or a new state-of-the-art stadium on an alternative site. A further update on the club’s plans is expected in early 2025 and Wyness has backed PIF to fund the £1billion-plus project.
“That’d be a massive help for the North East of England so I don’t see anything but still reasonable news for Newcastle. This is the challenge, do you get a stadium elsewhere for less money or do you look at a multi-use facility that is more than just a stadium but gives a whole heartbeat to the city?
“If they can do it, I think the redevelopment of St James’ Park into a multi-use facility would give a whole new life to that city centre for the next 50 to 100 years. It would be so well received in the North East.
“The Saudi owners and PIF would be really applauded for doing something like that and we’ll have a tangible benefit from getting a nation state involved in a football club that would be very hard to argue against.
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