From Riyadh to The Den? Saudi Royalty Consider Millwall for Football Empire Expansion!
Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has revealed Saudi Arabian supremo Turki Al-Sheikh wants to buy Championship club Millwall.
Governor of the GEM, the Saudi government department that regulates their entertainment industry, Al-Sheikh has become a household name in UK sport. This is largely due to him becoming the face of boxing – with the Gulf state stumping up huge cash to stage high-profile bouts.
Simon Jordan reveals Millwall and Southampton interest
Speaking on talkSPORT, ex-Palace chief Jordan disclosed what the Saudi kingpin told him recently. He said: “It’s not talk. I mean, they are interested because they’ve told me. I’ve told them and tried to talk them out of Millwall because I don’t think it’s a proper football club, but that’s a different discussion. But it is Millwall, and he likes Southampton
“I suggested Sheffield Wednesday to him. He doesn’t want Sheffield Wednesday. He doesn’t want a club in the north. He wants a club in the south. And Millwall and Southampton are the two clubs that he thinks are interesting to him. It’s not me breaching confidence. I’m the only person that does something for the South without getting paid for it!
“I’m not acting as a shill. I literally said to them, ‘Didn’t I turn down that best of the gig with you guys?’ They like Millwall. And I even got a phone call from Theo(Paphitis, former Millwall owner) over the weekend. He said ‘Is that right?’ I said ‘Apparently’. He likes English sport.
“I don’t think they’ve approached Millwall but they’re categorically interested, and they’re quite happy for it to be known they’re interested. He can get his own way in boxing. He can’t necessarily do the same in football.
“Going into football, which is the world’s sport, the biggest sport with all the governance and controls in place, it’s not as easy to do as you want. But he can certainly buy clubs like Millwall out of short pocket money, can’t he?”
How does this affect Newcastle United?
This is where the waters get murky. The Public Investment Fund is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia but deemed to be separate from the state itself.
Critics of Newcastle’s takeover labelled this a contradiction before the Premier League green-lit the takeover in October 2021. Meanwhile, the GEM, which Al-Sheikh chairs, is a direct government department.
Clubs are prohibited from being owned by the same entity in English football. Interestingly, like Toon chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of PIF, Al-Sheikh is also addressed by the “His Excellency” title. T
On the face of it, Newcastle are fine. But this one is perhaps best left to the fit and proper person test…
