View
comments
I wasn’t surprised to read that critics of the Newcastle United takeover are being targeted by a social media account which the CIA linked to a Saudi official involved in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the dissident journalist.
Investigators have established the extreme measures that Mohammed bin Salman’s regime and its army of Twitter trolls take to intimidate opponents online and I suspect that I have been a victim of their work myself.
Ever since I called out Newcastle fans for turning a blind eye to the potential repercussions of the club’s takeover by an investment fund linked to the crown prince, I have been subject to abuse online from accounts that look suspiciously like Saudi bots.
Crystal Palace fans already protested against Newcastle's Saudi ownership last month
This is how sportswashing works and it is important to stand up to its insidious tactics. Too many of my fellow Newcastle fans are embracing a murderous dictatorship which bombs children and crushes democracy. They are reducing Saudi atrocities to ‘issues’, while that minority of supporters who choose to oppose the new ownership have been called ‘virtue-signalling snowflakes’.
This cannot go on. The longer Tyneside refuses to confront the reality of this deal, the more implicated in the Saudis’ dirty business it will become. Newcastle will turn into a pariah of the game. Every atrocity that the regime commits from now on will be associated with our club. Is their money worth it?
No amount of ‘What about the owners of Manchester City and Chelsea?’ will cut it. Newcastle fans say they are powerless but are we really? Fan power defeated the European Super League.
Newcastle fans have been waving Saudi flags following the club's takeover by the country's Public Investment Fund
A minority of Manchester United fans decided the Glazers’ takeover of the club was the final straw and formed a fan-owned club. FC United is now the largest fan-owned football team in the UK.
The Newcastle PR
