Questions raised after claims of ‘mid-table Newcastle United transformed’ by Saudi Arabia PIF | OneFootball

There is no doubt that this a very different Newcastle United under the majority led ownership of the Saudi Arabia PIF (alongside minority owners the Reuben family), as compare to under Mike Ashley.

The club is unrecognisable really…

…on and off the pitch.

Eddie Howe has even taken so many inherited players from the Mike Ashley (and Steve Bruce) days and made them look, unrecognisable…

I have just been catching up on some Newcastle United reading as I had been too busy with work, when this caught my eye.

From last week’s report on The Athletic regarding Newcastle United – 24 April 2025:

‘Attributing their [Newcastle United’s] newfound success to money alone would be short-sighted — opponents [in the League Cup Final] Liverpool, after all, boasted a more expensive squad and one paid far more than Newcastle’s — but to say it has helped is an understatement.

In just over three years, Newcastle United have been transformed from a mid-table Premier League side into one regularly pushing for Champions League football. And now into cup winners.’

Now this is just one small part of a big article on The Athletic, which concentrated on the finances at Newcastle United.

For the purposes of what I wanted to talk about here though, it was one particular line that caught my attention.

‘Newcastle United have been transformed from a mid-table Premier League side into one regularly pushing for Champions League football.’

I just wanted to talk about a few thoughts that this triggered…

Under the ownership of Mike Ashley, these were the final league placings in each of the 15 seasons Newcastle United kicked off under his control:

12, 18, 21, 12, 5, 16, 10, 15, 18, 21, 10, 13, 13, 12, 19th (on 7 October 2021 when the takeover happened)

I think actually describing Newcastle United as a ‘mid-table Premier League side’ under Mike Ashley is very generous! In nine of the fifteen seasons, United ended up 13th or lower in the Premier League under him, including of course two seasons in the Championship plus two relegation seasons, which for sure was going to end up as three if the Saudi Arabia PIF led takeover hadn’t happened.

My main point though is this.

It isn’t that I think The Athletic were on purpose being in any way derogatory about Newcastle United BUT I do think that there is a general laziness in the media, as well as many journalists who on purpose want to try and portray our club as such, to put forward a view that this is what Newcastle United are/were. A mediocre nothing club, a mid-table club at best.

These are the 14 Newcastle United seasons before Mike Ashley came along, where United finished in the Premier League each time:

3, 6, 2, 2, 13, 13, 11, 11, 4, 3, 5, 14, 7, 13

As you can see, eight of the fourteen seasons saw Newcastle United finish top seven in the Premier League.

Only catastrophic decision making from Hall and Shepherd in giving Dalglish and especially Souness the manager’s job, to replace Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby respectively, ruined what would otherwise, in my opinion, have seen Newcastle United constantly towards the top end.

Indeed, in the first eleven seasons for Newcastle United in the Premier League (after the rebranding from Division One), there were seven top six finishes and if as this season top five had made the Champions League back then, United would have been in that top European competition in the majority of those eleven seasons (six of the eleven).

Newcastle United were regulars in Europe before Mike Ashley came along, as cup final appearances in both 1998 and 1999 also qualified United for European football.

You can take a lot out of these last 30 years of Newcastle United, as indeed you can from the first 100 years of the club’s history, when NUFC were one of the most successful of all English clubs.

However, what really sticks out for me in these last 30 or so years, is that Mike Ashley transformed Newcastle United from regulars towards the top end of the Premier League who also were so used to playing in Europe, into a club/team that became relegation fighters in the vast majority of seasons and where qualifying for Europe only happened once in the 15 seasons that kicked off under Mike Ashley.

Broadly speaking, the current Newcastle United owners have returned NUFC to the kind of club they were under KK and SBR. United once again showing ambition and backing a quality manager.

The decade and a half of Mike Ashley could well have killed off totally a club with a smaller fanbase than Newcastle United, a fanbase that would react so overwhelmingly to any vague piece of positivity. As proved in that 2016/17 season, when despite relegation, Newcastle United fans filled St James’ Park every match despite Mike Ashley’s ongoing presence and the fact NUFC were in the second tier, just because Rafa Benitez gave us some hope by staying on after Ashlet had relegated our club once again. Remarkable stats, as that 2016/17 season, Newcastle United in the second tier (23 home matches in the Championship compared to 19 in Premier League) had more fans through the turnstiles at home across the season than all clubs in the Premier League, apart from Manchester United.