Leaked WhatsApp messages suggest Newcastle Utd takeover ‘was controlled by Mohammed bin Salman’

Former Newcastle United director Amanda Staveley warned: “The Crown Prince is losing patience” as she battles to push through the club’s controversial takeover, leaked messages have revealed.

A tranche of WhatsApp messages seen by The Telegraph suggests that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, personally controlled the £305 million takeover by the sovereign wealth fund.

Ms Staveley was responsible for the deal that saw British tycoon Mike Ashley sell Newcastle to the Gulf Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) in October 2021.

The high-profile financier, who once rejected a marriage proposal from Prince Andrew, left the club after selling her shares earlier this year. She has since been linked with buying a stake in Tottenham Hotspur.

But new leaked messages have brought the takeover back into the spotlight as they suggest that the crown prince, who is accused of ordering the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, signed off on key decisions during negotiations.

As Ms Staveley tried to push through the deal, she warned Ashley’s team in a message that “the crown prince is losing patience”. In another case, she said the PIF governor “tried to persuade the crown prince not to withdraw.”

It raises new questions about the political involvement in the deal and the truth behind the guarantees given to the Premier League to ensure the takeover goes ahead.

The crown prince is chairman of the PIF, but the Premier League has always maintained it has received “legally binding assurances that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control Newcastle United Football Club”.

On August 6, 2020, Ms Staveley was reported to have asked the Saudi ambassador to the UK to help save the deal.

“The British Saudi ambassador spoke to the crown prince this morning,” she said.

Another message from the businesswoman, sent later that month, said: “We need to update the Saudi ambassador at 4 p.m., just as he needs to update the crown prince.”

In April 2021, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government was “at no time involved in the takeover discussions regarding the sale of Newcastle”.

However, Ms Staveley communicated with Lord Grimstone and told Ashley’s team that the then investment minister was “operating behind the scenes and making it very clear that they preferred the deal to go ahead”.

The Mail also revealed in April 2021 that Johnson said “brilliant” when told the deal was back on track.

When Newcastle initially tried to sell the club to a consortium led by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, the Premier League blocked it out of fear that the club would in fact be controlled by the Saudi state.

The Premier League later let the deal go ahead because it was given “legally binding assurances” that the PIF was separate from the Saudi state.

Ms Staveley told the Telegraph through lawyers that she had only ever mentioned the crown prince in his capacity as PIF chairman. She added that it was “as illogical as it is wrong” to claim that her messages cast doubt on whether assurances of independence from the Saudi state were being honored.

At the time, Ms Staveley said the PIF was “an autonomous, commercially operated investment fund”.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of PIF, is non-executive chairman of Newcastle, but the leaked WhatsApp messages suggest the crown prince had the final say on the purchase.

On March 3, 2020, Ms Staveley told vendors: “The Crown Prince is losing patience – I need to reassure him that we can do it.”

On July 29 of that year she said: “ER [His excellency Yasir Al-Rumayyan] tried to stick to the deal and convince the crown prince not to back out.’

But in October 2020 she sent a message to Ashley’s team saying: “No10 cannot commit any further than they have so far.” Gerry [Lord Grimstone] said that they have gone behind the scenes and made it very clear that they prefer the deal to go through. They are obviously very aware of the damage this has caused and the impact on future investments.”

In other news, Ms Staveley can be seen frustrated with the deal.

She says, “Yasir [Al-Rumayyan] absolutely fed up with it. The price was agreed with Mike [Ashley]. Mike keeps trying to act again. If he mentions a change to the agreed price of £305 plus a cash sweetener of £17.5, that deal is over.

“If you want more money, just sell it to someone else.”

‘HE [His excellency Yasir Al-Rumayyan] tried to stick to the deal and convince the crown prince not to back out. We all agree on the price – it’s up to Mike [sic] decide what he wants to do.’

Newcastle fans were delighted when Ashley finally sold the club to PIF for £305 million in October 2021. PIF now owns 80 percent of the club, with Ms Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners owning 10 percent and property developers David and Simon Reuben owning the remaining 10 percent.

A spokesperson for PIF told MailOnline: “In October 2021, following a lengthy investigation, the Premier League announced that the sale of Newcastle United Football Club had been completed after receiving assurances that the government of Saudi Arabia would not control the club .”

“The facts and circumstances underlying these representations and confirmed to the Premier League at the time remain unchanged.”

Ms Staveley told The Telegraph she was “completely confident” that the assurances had been kept.

Lord Grimstone told the newspaper he had been kept abreast of major investments in the UK in his previous role, particularly the Newcastle deal, which attracted “huge public interest”.

He added: “I made it very clear to Mr. [Gary] Hoffmann [ex PL chair] that my sole role was to facilitate the exchange of ideas between the PIF and the Premier League and that I in no way sought to compromise the Premier League’s complete autonomy in this matter.”

The Premier League declined to comment.