Club ownership set to dominate Wembley Carabao Cup final narrative

Positivity tends to be the prevailing feeling around clubs before a cup final. There is plenty of it at Newcastle and Manchester United before Sunday’s Carabao Cup showdown. Eddie Howe’s “intensity is our identity” motto has won him admirers on Tyneside and beyond, and Erik ten Hag has overseen the reawakening of Old Trafford’s sleeping giant. But their trip to Wembley will be made against a backdrop of protest and discontent, too.

Ownership is the cause of that. Since October 2021 Newcastle have been majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, making the club’s revival harder to swallow for some fans and many more outsiders. Unhappiness at the Glazer family’s stewardship of Manchester United is longstanding and now comes the possibility the club will end up in hands of a Qatari sheikh.

The protest group NUFC Fans Against Sportswashing delivered a letter to Howe’s office last weekend on behalf of the brother of a man at risk of torture and execution in Saudi Arabia. “If Eddie Howe, the fans and local politicians don’t say anything about human rights before the final, I think it’s a terrible look,” says the group member John Hird.

He points out that Newcastle fans have been singing “sack the board” on and off at St James’ Park since the 1970s, less than 10 years after the most recent trophy win of 1969, and believes this regime should get the same treatment. Hird condemns the hypocrisy of Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct Stadium and Wonga sponsorships being unpopular with supporters but there being less outrage over deals made by the current ownership, including with a Saudi e-commerce platform, “because of the implications” of what their wealth could bring.

Plenty of Newcastle fans hold a different view. The founder of the True Faith fanzine and podcast, Michael Martin, believes the club “has never been more united”. Martin points to investment in the club’s infrastructure and support for worthy causes such as food banks in the area as a catalyst.

Newcastle United fans protest at the Saudi ownership outside St James’ Park. Photograph: Richard Lee/Shutterstock

Although he has sympathy for the view that ownership must be fan-centred, Martin, a former board member of the Newcastle United Supporters Trust, doubts it is a realistic option. He does not believe the club is being used by the Saudis to launder the country’s reputation. “Britain has historic links with Saudi Arabia,” he says. “I’m uneasy with the idea that Newcastle United, the least expensive thing on their portfolio, is a big sportswashing vehicle.”

Martin says investment from the Gulf is something that we all need to get used to. “If you want your football club to compete at the top then you do have no choice but to have an owner with a public investment fund.”

At Manchester United questions over potential new ownership have sprung up since the Glazer family put the club up for sale last November. Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, the chairman of QIB, a Qatari bank, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the chairman of the petrochemicals company Ineos, have entered the bidding for the club.

Manchester United fans protest against the Glazer family ownership. Photograph: Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images

The prospect of a Qatari buyer has sparked particular concern among some supporters. The LGBTQ+ fanclub the Rainbow Devils raised “deep concern” regarding interest from a nation where same-sex relationships are criminalised, and the Manchester United Supporters Trust (Must) said in an open letter backed by 150 fan groups worldwide that any owner must respect “the rights of all people, particularly women and the LGBTQ+ community”.

Must also argued there were questions of “sporting integrity” to be addressed given that Ratcliffe owns the Ligue 1 club Nice and Qatar Sports Investments owns Paris Saint-Germain. Thani is bidding as a private individual via his Nine Two Foundation.

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Must’s CEO, Duncan Drasdo, believes that at the heart of any bid must be collaboration with fans. “Must’s vision has always been that supporters have a significant ownership stake in the club we love. So our ask to any new owner is simple: have a clear plan to get United back to the top; invest in the team, the club and the stadium; and work with fans as real partners and co-owners.” If only it were that simple.

Ratcliffe is the person of choice for Scott Saunders, a lifelong Manchester United fan and managing editor of the football news platform 90min.com. Saunders does not want the club to be in the conversation when questions over human rights are being asked and says: “I don’t think United need a wealthy benefactor. They need someone that will come in and not bleed the club dry like the current owners have. The Glazers have only been good for themselves. United in an ideal situation get an owner that clears the debt and uses revenue to operate.”

A van drives outside St James’ Park with an image of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in protest at the Saudi takeover of Newcastle United. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/Reuters

And what about the action that will take place at Wembley? “We’ve got a great chance of winning but we are slight underdogs,” Martin says. “I take umbrage with the fact that six years [the length of Manchester United’s trophy drought] is a long time. Blink of an eye for me, that!” Saunders says the quiet confidence of Ten Hag could be enough to get United over the line.

Only one set of fans will end up celebrating but both will know that, at their club, what happens on the pitch is only part of the narrative.