A lot of Newcastle United fans have replied to a post from Tariq Panja after he suggested that a wealthy nation looking to win popular appeal through sport should bail out all of the EFL’s leagues rather than buy a football club.
He then mentioned Newcastle United as the club, of course, referencing the failed takeover by PIF, PCP Capital Partners, and the Reuben brothers.
PIF or the Public Investment Fund is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, and it is clear that Panja thinks that they should save the EFL as the financial situation for these clubs gets worse.
This has angered these Toon fans who feel that what Panja is saying is hypocritical.
Has this annoyed you?
Yes, this is ridiculous
No, he is just trying to annoy us
The double standards in this tweet
— bobby martins (@BobbyGoa) September 28, 2020
So they are not allowed to invest in a single team because that would be spirts washing but if they were to bail out the entire league for nothing more than good will then thats good sports washing?
— Prince Vultan ?? (@NotANum89044496) September 28, 2020
So Saudi money is only okay when it’s bailing out the EFL but when it would have been investing in Newcastle that’s sportswashing and immoral. A little bit hypocritical, don’t you think? It’s either good money or bad money, you can choose to suit your agenda, Tariq.
— j (@MaximumAllan) September 28, 2020
So that’s not Sportswashing then…….
— Damien Coughlan (@dynamodamo) September 28, 2020
The takeover bid was withdrawn on 30th July after the Premier League failed to reach a decision on the deal, claiming that they couldn’t separate the Saudi government from PIF and were not convinced by the evidence provided.
During the whole process, there were claims that this was an attempt at sportswashing by the Saudis, but now it seems that if they were saving the EFL, it would be fine.
That doesn’t seem right, and it has clearly annoyed these Toon fans who continued to express their disapproval at this post from Panja.
I love how its sportswashing if they want to buy Newcastle but if they were to bail out an entire league it would be acceptable
— Jack (@jchaytor16) September 28, 2020
Unbelievable!
— York magpie (@ddy2121) September 28, 2020
Love the hate you have for NUFC Tariq
— Matt (@MattNufc9) September 28, 2020
Why would Saudi Arabia help the very same people who prevented the takeover from happening?
A bit rich to ask for help from them.
— Lee (@leerobson23) September 28, 2020
Due to the current pandemic and the government’s decision to stop fans attending all games of elite sport, the future of many EFL clubs looks bleak.
So, the money needs to come from somewhere, but we see why these Newcastle fans are angry at this tweet because it basically implies that it is fine for PIF and the Saudis to come in and save the EFL, but it wasn’t fine for them to come in and complete a takeover of Newcastle.