The alleged political machinations behind Newcastle United’s takeover by the Saudi Public Investment fund have come under scrutiny again.
The Telegraph have published a series of leaked WhatsApp conversations between deal-maker Amanda Staveley and an anonymous source who appears to have been conversant with then-Newcastle owner Mike Ashley during the deal.
The newspaper’s reporting claims that the messages ‘raise questions over guarantees made to the Premier League to secure the deal’.
Leaked Amanda Staveley message reference Crown Prince involvement
The deal to buy Newcastle was finally approved after the Premier League were satisfied that the club would not be controlled by the Saudi state, which is under the de facto rulership of Crown Prince bin Salman.
In the leaked messages, Staveley nonetheless namechecks bin Salman on several occasions, saying at one point in the negotiations that PIF governor and now-Newcastle non-executive director Yasir Al-Rumayyan was trying to ‘hang on to the deal and convince the Crown Prince not to pull out’. In another, Staveley messages that ‘the Crown Prince is losing patience – I need to assure him we will get there’.
There are also two messages indicating that Staveley was in communication with the UK’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, who was providing updates to bin Salman.
Staveley indicated to the Telegraph that ‘she only ever referenced the Crown Prince in his capacity as chairman of PIF’, and that ‘to suggest that her messages cast doubt on whether the assurances about independence from the Saudi state have been adhered to subsequently “is as illogical as it is misconceived”.’
The Boris Johnson government of the time denied in April 2021 that they were attempting to get Newcastle’s takeover approved, but a Guardian investigation the following year suggested they in fact had been.
Staveley was in contact with Lord Gerry Grimstone during the negotiations. Lord Grimstone told the Telegraph that his briefings on the takeover were part of a review in his then-role as investment minister due to the deal’s size and the public interest surrounding it.
Lord Grimstoned added: “I made it very clear to [Premier League chairman Gary] Hoffman 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.”
A message attributed to Staveley sent to Ashley’s people in October 2020 said: “No. 10 can’t get any further involved than what they have done to date. Gerry 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 investments.”
Staveley was also sent a link to a 2020 Shields Gazette article reporting on an anti-competition legal action being threatened against the Premier League, agreeing with Ashley’s team to push the article on social media. Staveley then indicated she had forwarded it on to TV presenters Ant and Dec to share to their own social media channels, which they did within minutes.
