Leaked WhatsApp messages from the former Newcastle United minority co-owner Amanda Staveley suggest that Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, was heavily involved in the takeover of the club, it was reported on Sunday.
Staveley, who stepped down from Newcastle’s board in July after selling her shares, brokered the £305m deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), helping it over the line in October 2021 after the Premier League received legally binding assurances of the separation of the Saudi state and the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund.
Given that Bin Salman is the chairman of PIF that raised eyebrows and on Sunday the Telegraph published messages which suggested he was the key catalyst behind the purchase from the British retail tycoon Mike Ashley and spotlighted the extent of the UK government’s involvement.
In one reported message Staveley cautions Ashley’s camp that “the Crown Prince is losing patience” and another refers to attempts being made to “convince the Crown Prince not to pull out”. In another she writes: “The UK Saudi ambassador spoke to the Crown Prince this morning.”
The Premier League sought assurances that the PIF was separate from the Saudi state. Although foreign states are not banned from owning Premier League clubs the kingdom’s human rights record prompted serious misgivings about Saudi owners. A CIA report concluded that Bin Salman approved the murder of the Washington Post journalist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018. The crown prince has denied personal involvement.
Staveley told the Telegraph through her lawyers that she had referenced Bin Salman only in his capacity as chairman of PIF and that to suggest her messages cast doubt on whether the assurances about the PIF’s independence from the Saudi state have been adhered to “is as illogical as it is misconceived”.
In October 2021, the Premier League said it had “received legally binding assurances that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control Newcastle United Football Club” and Staveley described PIF as “an autonomous commercially driven investment fund”. The Premier League, which declined to comment to the Telegraph, has been contacted by the Guardian for comment.
In response to the Telegraph report a spokesman for PIF said: “In October 2021, following a lengthy investigation, the Premier League announced that the sale of Newcastle United had completed following the receipt of assurances that the government of Saudi Arabia would not control the club. The facts and circumstances that underpin those assurances, as confirmed at the time to the Premier League, remain unchanged.”
Staveley said in October 2021 that the PIF was “an autonomous, commercially driven investment fund”. She said in response to the leaked WhatsApp messages she was “entirely confident” its assurances had been adhered to.
Staveley initially held a 10% stake in Newcastle. PIF now controls 85% and the property developers Reuben Brothers hold the remaining 15%.
Staveley had long wanted a stake in Newcastle and needed backers to achieve that aim. A major breakthrough happened when she secured an invitation to meet Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of PIF and now Newcastle chairman, on Bin Salman’s yacht Serene in the Red Sea in 2019.
The Guardian reported in 2022 that the UK government had made extensive efforts to facilitate the Saudi Arabian takeover of Newcastle. Staveley was reported by the Telegraph to have sent a message to Ashley’s team in October 2020 saying: “No 10 can’t get further involved than what they have done to date. Gerry [Lord Grimstone, the then UK minister for investment] said that they pushed behind the scenes and made it very clear that their preference is for the deal to go ahead, they are obviously very aware of the damage this has caused and the repercussions for future investment.”
Grimstone told the Telegraph he kept abreast of large potential UK investments in his former capacity as investment minister. He said: “I made it very clear to Mr Hoffman [Gary Hoffman, the then Premier League chairman] that my only role was to facilitate the passing of ideas between the PIF and Premier League and that in no way did I seek to prejudice the Premier League’s complete autonomy in this matter.”
