Newcastle United chairman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, appears to have been left furious by a recent decision that won’t benefit the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) which he also oversees.
Though PIF’s foray into football has taken in the top four teams in the Saudi Pro League as well as the Magpies, there are a number of other business interests that the fund takes care of.
One of those is LIV Golf which was, according to Newcastle World, looking to acquire a groundbreaking agreement with the PGA Tour which will have revolutionised golf even further.
However, as the outlet notes, Strategic Sports Group appear to have muscled their way in to discussions with a £2.3m bid, and that’s said to have left Al-Rumayyan furious.
Liverpool’s owners, FSG, are believed to be part of SSG, which will surely only antagonise the Newcastle chairman even further.
Though it’s believed that talks are still ongoing with PIF, it’s clearly a highly unsatisfactory situation.
Quite what Newcastle supporters will be thinking about PIF’s focus on other matters during a crucial stage of their own season is anyone’s guess.
The bottom line is that if PIF continue to back the club as they have been doing since taking over from Mike Ashley, then it shouldn’t matter a jot what other interests they have elsewhere.