West Ham’s Karren Brady says Newcastle United owners PIF have got one thing badly wrong

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West Ham vice-chair Karren Brady has taken a sideswipe at Newcastle United’s owners the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

On face vale, there are many similarities between West Ham and Newcastle.

Both are historic clubs, both have working-class roots, and both have huge fanbases desperate to challenge the supremacy of the so-called ‘Big Six’.

But their ownerships are about as different as is possible to be in the Premier League, both in terms of the scale of their wealth and their ambitions within football.

Earlier this year, Brady travelled to the Middle East to look for minority investment in West Ham and she is understood to have good connections in the region.

However, it appears that she is not afraid to make enemies in the region and specifically in Saudi Arabia, the homeland of Newcastle’s owners, PIF.

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PIF will never out-do the the Premier League, claims Karren Brady

PIF, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, took control of Newcastle in October 2021 and have since accelerated their growth into football expeditiously.

As well as winning the rights to host the 2034 World Cup, PIF have spent billions on their own domestic league, the Saudi Pro League.

While spending has slowed somewhat this summer compared to the historic levels seen in 2023, the Pro League now has some of the game’s biggest superstars.

However, Brady is confident that the Pro League will not be challenging the Premier League’s status as the undisputed top dog in world football any time soon.

“An average Pro League crowd is about 8,000,” she wrote in her column for The Sun.

“Yet the Saudi Public Investment Fund has spent prodigiously on many sports in continuing efforts to improve its worldwide reputation.

“Yes, the state has zillions to throw at sport and football in particular.

“In contrast, England has huge crowds, competitive leagues, a decent infrastructure, top teams and players, high wages and tradition.

“The Prem also looks after the whole pyramid — giving away about 20 per cent of its income to the EFL, WSL, PFA, FA and grassroots football. You can’t beat that with just mountains of money.”

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West Ham, Newcastle United, and the future of Premier League ownership

In West Ham and Newcastle, there are two very different examples of the motivations that drive millionaires and billionaires towards owning a Premier League club.

For West Ham, the aims of Brady, David Sullivan, the Gold estate and Daniel Kretinsky is to create value in the hope that their stakes are one day worth far more than they are now.

That’s a capital appreciation strategy and, besides owners who one day hope to take a dividend or those who consider their clubs trophy assets, it is by far the most common model in the Premier League.

For Newcastle, the aims of the Saudi Public Investment Fund are perhaps more opaque but ultimately amount to soft power and establishing both a greater economic and cultural foothold in the West.

These geopolitical motivations are increasingly prominent in football, with Gulf states in particular targeting the market as they look to diversify away from fossil fuels.

Ultimately, Newcastle are just one part of this strategy – although obviously a prominent one.

With the World Cup set to be hosted in Saudi Arabia in 2034 and with PSR proving continuously frustrating, some commentators have suggested that Newcastle are no longer PIF’s priority in the sport.

Perhaps that doesn’t matter much anyway.

PIF control nearly a trillion dollars worth of assets and a few hundred million here and there for Newcastle’s transfer budget or plans to expand St James’ Park is pocket change to them.