Angry about Newcastle loaning Saudi players? You can do something about it
Among all the outrage over Sheffield United’s role in the Newcastle loan vote, fans have the power to enact change
November 23, 2023 6:00 am(Updated 6:02 am)
As a promoted club, there are unseen benefits to being in the Premier League. Alongside the heavy defeats to financial behemoths, people accusing you of spending too much or too little money, the patronising about your raucous home support, the players who flourish immediately being linked with moves away and people asking what the point of your place here even is, you also get a vote on Premier League matters.
Here at least, there is a level playing field. Sheffield Unitedâs vote is worth as much as Manchester Cityâs.
On Tuesday afternoon, the 20 clubs got to use those votes, just as they do semi-regularly during every season. This one was notorious, both because it was over the implementation of an emergency rule to an unforeseen circumstance and because it went against the pre-vote expectation. Loans between clubs owned by the same parent are still allowed. âWeâre operating an intra-club model of mutually beneficial financial deals, youâll never sing that.â
Has one piece of basic administration ever better epitomised footballâs broken discourse? Perhaps not.
âSheffield United ruined the voteâ â well, not really: the vote was 12-8 and 14-6 was required. âSheffield United got leant on by Newcastleâ â I mean, maybe, but then they are also part of a multi-club model themselves (Beerschot FC, Al Hilal (UAE), LB Chateauroux, Kerala United) so that makes more sense. âSheffield United are going down, they shouldnât get a voteâ â yes, because the European Super League project really incentivised us to give more power to elite clubs.
âNewcastle are now going to loan the best players from the Saudi Pro Leagueâ â perhaps, but, honestly, you need to broaden your imagination. Saudi Arabiaâs main concern here is whether they can manufacture a rival to Europeâs major leagues as a method of diversification away from oil and distraction from their human rights record, not whether Sean Longstaff gets injured between now and May.
At that point, obviously, the lines of tribalism are drawn. âThis is a plot against us getting betterâ. âThatâs because you are cheatingâ. âWeird that you werenât so bothered when it was [Club X]â. âYouâre just jealous of us â cry moreâ. At which point one person calls the other something unforgivable and everyone gets on with their lives, a fraction of a per cent more bitter and resentful than before.
On some level, votes like these matter. We know that the issue of intra-party transfers is a thorny one because it feels inherently dodgy. Itâs not a point of fact (eg that Newcastle are definitely going to loan Ruben Neves to circumvent FFP sanctions), but a point of perception â that Newcastle even could do so is unacceptable.
The fact that you can write the question âhave the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia leant on a Saudi Prince who owns another club to try and smooth over a January loan deal?â and it not be completely absurd is itself a damning indictment of the Premier Leagueâs present and future.
On some level, the great farce is that nobody saw this coming and that it has taken until now for this vote to be forced upon clubs at short notice. At what point did anyone in a position of governance think allowing a complex web of clubs under the same owner or ownership group might not be used for reasons of sneaky self-service rather than just because everybody likes collecting something and with these guys it happens to be sporting and social institutions?
On some level, this all just proves what we already knew. The Premier League, that rampant, relentless, ambitious capitalist wet dream that constantly strives to attract the best players, managers and broadcasting deals, has become the natural home of self-interest? More as we get it. Any notion of Corinthian spirit, of clubs voting in the vague interest of the âgood of the gameâ, is an anachronism the Premier League birthed.
So if youâre annoyed at a club, operating under a business model that the game allowed, for choosing to prioritise those interests when given free choice, your anger is being directed at the wrong target and you havenât been paying much attention over the last decade. âWe asked a group of turkeys and chickens to vote between two Christmas Day dinner table options, âturkeyâ and âunnamed other white meat Aâ â their answers may shock you!â.
Instead, if this does anger you, leave you feeling depressed at the direction of our sport or forlorn about spending so many hours over so many years to get precisely here, then there is something you can do. This is why we need an independent regulator and why that regulator must be bestowed with enough power to take the lead rather than bicker about who will form part of it and how long it should take. Supporters need to campaign on that point and that means unity not division.
Otherwise the Premier League will continue to be broken into fragments of self-interest that form alliances upon common ground and voting blocs which, more often than not, tend to boil down to the few vs the many. And if you donât want to know the result of that game, I suggest you look away now and maintain that view.
