‘Clueless’ – Start of PIF tenure at Newcastle seen as ‘disaster’, ‘lot of money, little project’

It’s fair to say that, once the excitement of Newcastle United’s takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund died down, it’s been a downhill situation.

The Magpies’ new owners have not hit the ground running but stumbled and fell down every hole in front of them so far, with each situation they’ve handled so far done poorly.

The latest of those was the rejection by Unai Emery, particularly after Newcastle’s owners had spent the week briefing the English press that it was basically a done deal.

That did not prove to be the case and, Emery’s decision to stay in Spain with Villarreal cannot be seen as anything but a massive failure.

That is certainly how Sport see it today, labelling the Newcastle project a ‘disaster’ with ‘big money’ but ‘little project’.

They say that Emery’s rejection is the latest indicator of a project that is not moving in the direction it was expected to go in.

Newcastle are without a manager, sporting director or head of operations following the arrival of the new ownership and questions are already being asked about who is in charge.

Emery ‘dealt a reality check’ to the club by turning them down, showing that money doesn’t get you everything and that does not leave the Magpies ‘in a good place’.

The ‘endless list of coaches’ to be linked with the job is ‘almost ridiculous’ and the fact each one linked has ‘completely different approaches’ shows the chaos of what’s going on at St James’ Park.

That’s because the ownership are ‘not clear who is making the decisions’, especially given each coach linked has reportedly held talks as well.

That suggests they’re ‘clueless about the project’ and not even clear who should be ‘captain’ of the ship, ie the head of operations.

The leaks there have been endless too, with Brian Marwood, Nicola Cortese, Ralf Rangnick and several other names all linked to the position.

And that, say Sport, shows a ‘failure in connection’ with Saudi Arabia. Newcastle insist any decision must be approved by the ownership first, a fact that adds ‘even more obstacles’ to an ‘ineffective process’.

As far as they’re concerned the whole thing is a mess and the stark reality is that it needs fixing, particularly as there is a danger they could get relegated this season.