Kieran Maguire: Newcastle United to go beyond £26m as ‘unpopular’ photos emerge
The Saudi-inspired Newcastle United away kit for 2022-23 may be “unpopular” but it will go down a storm in their owners’ homeland.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about leaked images of the controversial design.
As reported by the Daily Mail (13 May), Eddie Howe’s side will turn out in a white and green kit that bears a striking resemblance to the Saudi national team’s colours.
The photos have caused controversy given the accusations that the Newcastle project is a sports washing play by the despotic regime.
Newcastle are officially the world’s richest club following the £305million takeover in October last year, but they cannot spend freely without first boosting revenue under the terms of FFP.
Their commercial income stood at £25.9m for 2020-21.
And Maguire claims that appealing to the Saudi market is a commercially viable strategy.
“The club will be aware that there is a lot of interest in Saudi,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“This is a way of appealing to the commercial market there. Whether it’s an unpopular decision or not, you can see exactly why they have done it.
“I can understand why people are sensitive about it. But from a commercial point of view, it actually makes sense.“
Newcastle face Arsenal in their penultimate match of the season on Monday (16 May).
Howe’s side are 14th in the league table.
In other news, major update on Newcastle United bid to sign Dominic Calvert-Lewin.