Ever since Newcastle United’s takeover by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment fund earlier this month, there’s been endless coverage of the club.
The Magpies, now officially the world’s richest football club by some distance, as far as owners are concerned, are a hot topic, to say the least.
From transfer rumours to comments about sports washing, there’s been non-stop coverage of Newcastle and what may happen in future.
Every man and his dog has shared their opinion on the situation, with many criticising the Premier League for allowing the Saudi Arabian billionaires to invest in Newcastle given the numerous and various human rights violations they are accused of.
Part of the coverage has been people in football going out of their way to detail how they would never want such a situation, or takeover, to happen at their club.
Just last week, for example, we had former Barcelona president Joan Gaspart commenting on the situation, criticising Newcastle fans for their reaction and insisting they would never welcome such a takeover at the Camp Nou.
That’s something of a common opinion in Spain, with Athletic Club Bilbao president Aitor Elizegi saying the same at a recent meeting of the club’s Asamblea de Socios Compromisarios.
“With the collaboration of everyone, together we can say no to that way of understanding this sport,” Mundo Deportivo report him saying.
“We do not want to go out to the market every summer to balance budgets; we do not want to depend on agents, we do not want the Newcastle model, nor the model of the Super Leagues, nor the model of matches at nine o’clock at night.
“We want our stadium in the way we understand it, with players trained in Lezama and a stand trained in Euskal Herria.
“I don’t think it is profitable to create content that is not up to the standards of this club if the equation depends on leaving Athletic fans out of the stadium.”
