Me and my friends (USA) decided to become fans of a premier league team after getting into football recently. We ended up choosing Newcastle for a few different reasons. Being owned by Saudi Arabia was not one of them. I only recently discovered this fact and now I’m wondering if I should change which team I support.
I asked some other friends who are more into the league what I should do and I got pretty mixed responses. The argument for switching was mostly that Newcastle is owned by the PIF, is an example of sportwashing, and supporting them means supporting Saudi. The arguments for staying were that we’ve already decided on Newcastle and every team has some tie to oil money.
I figure you guys have more of an idea than we do so I figured I’d ask.
As someone who chose a team almost at random 15 years ago, I would say do your research and then make a decision. I chose to follow Chelsea when I had no idea what an oligarch even was and I had to deal with the complexity of loving a team that was funded by someone who stood for everything I was against. If who the owners are matters to you then definitely take that into consideration.
When you have a choice and are aware enough to know you have a choice, best to make the best choice for yourself.