Finance guru: PIF’s ‘ultimate goal’ revealed after Newcastle United latest from Saudi Arabia
The Saudi Public Investment Fund’s “ultimate goal” is to create a level of interest in Newcastle United that will lead to Saudi fans visiting St James’ Park.
That is the view of finance expert Doctor Dan Plumley, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the owners’ attempts to create a buzz about the Magpies in the Middle East.
Newcastle recently returned from a week in Riyadh, which was their second mid-season trip to their owners’ homeland in as many years.
relayed by the Daily Mail last Friday (16 December), the Tynesiders’ popularity the region is growing rapidly, with growing numbers of natives adopting them as their team.
The club is doing its utmost to capitalise on the upswing and recently launched an Arab-language social media account to connect with fans in the region.
Plumley claims that PIF’s chief aim is to get Saudi supporters to the North East.
“It’s really tricky to get supporters from overseas to visit the stadium,” the Sheffield Hallam University expert told Football Insider’s Adam Williams,
“It’s not like you’d launch an initiative like the Arab-language Twitter and the next day they are at St James’ Park.
“It’s all about trying to build it incrementally along the way. You could be talking five or ten years for that to really take hold.
“But either way, this is the route they have identified that they need to go down. I think it’s a smart play and it helps them build commercial relationships etcetera as well.
“They very much see this is as the ultimate goal. It’s one which will lead to not only increased matchday income but increased commercial as well. “
In other news, Gabby Agbonlahor backs Newcastle United to land four top signings after source’s January reveal.