Win, lose or draw, there is one question that will always remain with Newcastle United for the foreseeable future. It is a year on from the controversial takeover which led some lifelong fans to question their ongoing support.
On the pitch, Eddie Howe's side go from strength to strength and a cumulative transfer spend in excess of £200 million has ushered in an exciting new era. But off the pitch, the connection to Saudi Arabia means the Magpies are now regularly drawn into controversies at the front of the newspaper as well as the back.
The Public Investment Fund are the majority backers of the controlling consortium, with the Premier League insisting 'legally binding assurances' have been made to guarantee Newcastle will not be controlled by Saudi Arabia. This has done little in the eyes of many to assuage fears that United became one of the latest instruments of sportswashing.
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A survey collated in April 2020 by the Newcastle United Supporters' Trust found 96.7 per cent were in favour of the takeover. Jubilant fans gathered in droves on the steps of St James' Park to celebrate the long-awaited confirmation last October, and there is no denying the deal has resurrected a previously lifeless club.
John Hird and Daniel Willis did not toast the announcement in the same way as many of the Toon Army. Within days, the Newcastle fans helped found a fan group with the intention of campaigning against sportswashing and the club's new ownership.
'NUFC Against Sportswashing' consists of a Facebook group and a Twitter account, providing a forum for like-minded supporters to gather for online meetings and air their views. The first fanzine entitled 'Hailstones in the Desert' was published in August, with some followers also subscribing to regular email communications.
The number of followers may currently stand in the hundreds, but the pair are quietly confident the narrative around the highly-charged topic is changing. Reflecting on the one-year anniversary of the takeover, Willis, 32, from Manchester, told ChronicleLive: "It just left me feeling really hollow.
"This time last year, it seemed obvious the club was going to be used as a means to increase Saudi Arabia's reputation internationally. Newcastle would always be a tool for someone else's agenda, and I think that's been proven right."
Hird, 60, from Felling, added: "It started off with quite a few people, and more and more are getting involved. It was hard at first, but I can detect a bit of change among fans seeing the implications."
Events at Newcastle United on October 7 last year were a dual celebration for many. While the consortium were welcomed with open arms, some were simply overjoyed to see the departure of Mike Ashley.
The Frasers Group magnate had faced sustained criticism for his running of the club, as well as his business practices with Sports Direct. Hird and Willis both shared in the celebration of Ashley's eventual exit, but could not look past the identity of the club's new owners.
Hird said: "The way I would see it was a lot of fans were sitting on the fence. They were happy to get rid of Ashley and I was too, I was cheering when he went. But we thought we had to point out this is from the frying pan and into the fire."
Willis added: "I'm completely glad Ashley has gone, and enough has been said about his role at the club. But for all of his lack of moral and ethical qualities, the Saudi state is a different kettle of fish completely. It feels like a lot of the fans are aware of that, but are maybe happy to ignore because they maybe think it's not as bad as it is portrayed, or they see things about the regime modernising."
The first year of the new era has been defined on the pitch by an uplifting transformation, with Howe leading Newcastle to survival and overseeing a £200 million-plus squad rebuild. But this progress has often been punctuated by uncomfortable questions relating to the new owners.
Howe was quizzed on 81 executions in Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of a late defeat at Chelsea in March. The club performed a u-turn after asking fans to stop wearing mock headdresses, and decisions to travel to Jeddah for a mid-season training camp along with this season's third kit have provoked controversy.
Amanda Staveley's vision for the women's team and the club's relationship with LGBTQ+ supporters is tainted by 'obvious hypocrisy', according to Willis. He said: "In the very early stages, the first response was the club is not owned by the Saudi state, it's owned by the PIF and there is separation and they are not the same thing.
"A few months later, you have a kit in the colours of the Saudi flag. That to me felt like the club showing a lack of awareness, or the owners saying they don't really care about the criticism. I think that is worrying, and it's a very active sign of how this happens."
Social media is inevitably an impossible forum to truly judge the views of a fanbase on the question of sportswashing. Willis is adamant it is not an 'ecstatic' majority versus a discontent minority, rather 'a lot of quiet unease' which often is not vocalised.
Hird added: "We think the vast majority are not comfortable with having them as our owners, I'm convinced of that. The more information we can get out, I think we can start to convince them of the need for an alternative.
"The longer this goes on, the more it will stain the name for Newcastle. Remember when Newcastle were the second favourite team for everyone because of the football under Kevin Keegan?
"Now, it breaks my heart. I love my club, where I'm from but not the owners. Personally, I can't separate it."
Hird's love affair with the Magpies began with the Fairs Cup win in 1969. Willis' loyalty was drummed in to him from his mother's side of the family who hailed from Ashington.
It has proven almost impossible for them both to simply switch off the football fans within themselves. Both continue to enjoy the matches, but feel any potential trophies in the future will not elicit the joy they once dreamed of experiencing.
Willis said: "I think when I see stuff in the media around Newcastle playing well, generally I find it very hard to enjoy. There's an asterisk against it.
"There's still part of me which thinks like that, it makes me happy the team is doing well and the knock-on effect that has on the fans and the city. I can take some pleasure in that, but I don't think I would really be able to celebrate them winning anything beyond a match.
"I find the prospect of that really uncomfortable. It would only accelerate the potential for it to be used for sportswashing. I've wanted them to win something for years and years, and I'm almost at the point of actively wanting them not to win something."
Any questions over Saudi Arabia in the new owners' early months provoked an intense and hostile reaction, with fans and commentators split by polar stances. However, Hird and Willis have both been encouraged by the rhetoric surrounding the issue in recent times, with both adamant tensions on the subject have cooled after a strong initial 'pushback'.
Amnesty International's call for a reform of the Premier League's owners' and directors' test has so far seemingly fallen on deaf ears, despite a proposed meeting between the organisations. Plans for an independent regulator being introduced into football could reportedly be scrapped by new Prime Minister Liz Truss, much to the fury of many popular advocates such as Gary Neville.
All signs currently point to Newcastle's owners being in situ for the long-term, with current talk centering on a new state-of-the-art training facility and how to solve the rising demand for tickets at St James' Park. But this has not deterred 'NUFC Against Sportswashing' from their aim of keeping the topic in conversations, and to one day see their club under new owners.
Willis said: "We completely accept it's not just about Newcastle, it's about Manchester City, Chelsea and any other club that in future might be bought by similar owners. We are supporters of fan ownership, and I thought there was a lot of logic behind the NUST's 1892 Pledge scheme.
"We want to make the sportswashing part as ineffective as possible. When Newcastle is mentioned, Yemen should be mentioned alongside it. That kind of aim is key for us, and to do that we need to keep building up support and speak to fans as much as possible."
Hird added: "People say what's the alternative? You have the same situation at Manchester City, and we could end up with another autocracy or Gulf state taking over. The Premier League could become a battle between dodgy states, is that we want?
"There's a danger that Newcastle could be living in a bubble, but the consequences of this are massive. Not just for Newcastle, but for the whole of football."
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