The Daily Mail’s Craig Hope has argued that 2026 must become a decisive year for Newcastle United’s ownership, insisting that the Public Investment Fund can no longer rely on ambition and messaging alone without delivering visible, structural change.
Hope framed his argument by comparing Newcastle’s trajectory to Manchester City following their Abu Dhabi takeover.
“When Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owners completed their takeover in 2008, they set about building a new football club,” Hope wrote. “When spades went into the ground and cranes rose into the sky, the club’s ascent was accelerated and its future underpinned.”
Hope contrasted that with Newcastle’s position more than four years into PIF ownership.
“More than four years into the Saudi-led ownership of Newcastle, such foundations remain largely aspirational,” Hope wrote. “That is why 2026 must be the year in which the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia signal their ambition, not by promises, but by some very public investment.”
Hope stressed that PSR cannot be used as a defence when it comes to infrastructure.
“There are no spending restrictions when it comes to training grounds, stadiums and regeneration projects,” Hope wrote.
The insider argued that Newcastle’s recent success has been driven primarily by Eddie Howe and his players rather than financial muscle.
“Since 2021, Eddie Howe, his staff and his players have been the overriding reason why, from a starting point of 19th, Newcastle have disrupted the established order,” Hope wrote. “They have overachieved under Howe and continue to do so.”
Hope warned that this progress risks stalling without tangible backing from ownership.
“That, however, will only take a club so far and, of late, it feels like Newcastle have been banging their head against the Premier League’s ceiling.”
Central to his argument is the training ground, which he believes matters more to players than a new stadium.
“This, more than a new stadium, matters to players — they use it every day, not fortnightly,” Hope wrote. “There have been and are improvements but, as one source put it last year, ‘it is like putting lipstick on a pig’.”
Hope concluded that intent now needs to be demonstrated, not described.
“That is why 2026 must be PIF’s year of proof, not promises.”
