Newcastle owners still committed to the club despite the PIF pulling funding for LIV golf

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Martin Macdonald | Writer

Content writer covering football, formula 1 and movies

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe insists that the club's owners are still committed to success at St. James' Park.

Questions have been raised about the level of investment that the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) may provide moving forward after the entity pulled funding for the controversial LIV golf organisation which took some of the biggest names in the sport away from the PGA a couple of years ago.

A reported $5 billion was spent on LIV, mostly on marketing and on golfer contracts, but the competition will no longer exist after the 2026 season.

Newcastle fans were concerned that the PIF may look to sell the club or not provide the same level of investment that saw them qualify for the Champions League in 2024/25. With the Magpies underperforming this season, that also led some to question whether the PIF will reconsider their position as owners.

Howe says their commitment remains "unchanged", however.

"The desire is unchanged," he said. "It's to try and get to the top of the Premier League, to try and consistently win as many trophies as possible.

"I don't think that will change while the PIF are our owners, part owners or majority owners. They are very ambitious for the football club.

"They clearly care so much about the football club [given] the long-term planning that's going on, on a number of levels.

"[There are] very exciting times ahead for the club, regardless of what happens short-term. The long-term vision is clearly there."

Long-term plans for Newcastle

The long-term plans that Howe was referring to include a potential redevelopment of St. James' Park and a desire to win the Premier League by 2030.

When asked if Newcastle could win the league within 10 years, CEO David Hopkinson told TalkSPORT:

“I think 10 years is too long,” Hopkinson insisted. “We have a high ambition here, we have a concrete plan, it’s a five-year plan that takes us through 2030, it has benchmarks along the way.

"A plan without a timeframe attached to it is just a fantasy; it’s a dream. We have a plan here, we have a strategy here, we’re working on it every single day, but 10 years is too long. This is not a 10-year project, the club and owners want to win the league by 2030.”

A Canadian, Hopkinson previously worked with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, where he oversaw the commercial activities of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors were "lost in the woods", as he describes, but under his tenure they went on to win the NBA Championship in 2019.

He was appointed in September by the PIF to catalyse a similar transformational impact on Newcastle.

The club need to find a way to increase revenue as that is the only way they'll be able to spend big without breaking Profit and Sustainability rules. The money from the PIF is sitting there, but it is actually earned money that will allow them to increase spending.

They have increased revenue already - from £140 million in 2021 to £400m in 2025 - but there is still a huge bridge to gap to reach the elite Premier League teams.

For example, Manchester City generated £715m for the 2023/24 campaign.

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