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To absolutely no surprise, the day of the Carabao Cup Final has been pointed to as an opportunity to highlight human rights issues in Saudi Arabia.

The Spectator publishing an article that was posted online at 6am, arriving early.

I have little doubt that other articles will follow from anywhere, before Newcastle United and Manchester United kick off at 4:30pm this afternoon.

This 6am feature on Saudi Arabia from The Spectator is written by Maya Foa, who is director of Reprieve, which ‘champs up for marginalized people who face human rights abuses, often at the hands of powerful governments… find out evidence and reveals the truth about human rights. abuses… challenging human rights abuses in the courts of law, in the UK and around the world… The Reprieve community fights to highlight cases of injustice. We amplify those cases in the media and by working with governments to improve legislation.’

I have no problem with anyone highlighting human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, or indeed anywhere else.

However, if you’re going to write something about such an important topic, then it’s important to do it right, to tell the whole story, to give the whole picture.

Here are some short snippets of the Saudi outrage from this morning in The Spectator.

Newcastle United play their first cup final in over 20 years this afternoon. Facing Manchester United in the Carabao Cup is a great moment for the club and the city and is a mark of Newcastle’s recent success. But these achievements are tainted because it is built with money from a bloodthirsty regime in Saudi Arabia, which has executed more than 1,000 people in the last eight years.’

When asked about his club ownership, Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said he wants to keep talking about football and “doesn’t feel qualified” to talk about human rights. “I’ve definitely read up on the issues I’m asked about,” he added.

The latest Reprieve report on capital punishment in Saudi Arabia, which was published last month, was widely reported in the UK media – print, radio, TV and online. Perhaps Howe has read it? He shows that the bloodiest six years of executions in modern Saudi Arabian history have been under the leadership of Mohammed bin Salman and his father, King Salman, and that the execution rate has nearly doubled since they came to power. can.

“A bloodthirsty regime like Saudi Arabia should not buy football clubs in Britain. His ownership of Newcastle United is an attempt to ‘wash sports’ their reputation as a state.’

‘Saudi Arabia is strongly tipped to be nominated to host the 2030 World Cup. This will mark the culmination of MBS’s decade-long grand modernization project – Vision 2030. The candidacy. Seeks to legitimize them in the eyes of the world of football. There are Newcastle fans who are speaking out, but the silence of the manager and the players is absolute… how many more people must die before Newcastle United and other ‘sportswashing’ stars say ‘enough’ and demand an end to the bloodshed and lies?’

Whenever something negative related to Saudi Arabia and the sport is reported, Newcastle United must also be a part of the story.

Ok then… however, as a Newcastle United fan, what I cannot understand, or accept, is that this is where it ends.

How come Manchester United NEVER get their name verified? I find it absolutely totally weird.

On the one hand, we keep being told over and over again that Manchester United is supposedly the biggest football club on the planet…Yet they’ve had 15 Premier League seasons and counting, of taking money from the Saudi Arabian regime and they are NEVER mentioned when it comes down to it. to the controversy.

Why doesn’t the media see this as newsworthy in any way?

Why don’t Reprieve and his Director, writing this morning’s article, even think it’s worth mentioning?

Where have the media and Manchester United been with their campaign, outrage and principles in the last decade and a half, with the Saudi Arabian regime as Man Utd’s longest-standing sponsors?

The Saudi regime through the state company Saudi Telecom has invested fortunes in Old Trafford since 2008 and continues to do so, millions every season.

Then, in 2017, Man Utd agreed to another very lucrative revenue stream from the Saudi Arabian regime, ‘the Saudi Arabian General Sports Authority’ in partnership with Manchester United.

While advertising and sponsorship deals are of course less of a matter than the actual acquisition of a club, the ‘principle’ remains pretty much the same. With sponsorship/advertising, you actually take money directly in exchange for some business (and/or scheme…) and then you can attach your name to your brand/good name…

Why have we never heard the media in the last decade and a half demanding to know why Manchester United fans don’t mind seeing their club sell their good name to the Saudi Arabian regime in exchange for vast riches that have helped to your club/team? win lots of trophies?

Why isn’t the author of this Spectator article demanding that Erik ten Hag talk about what’s happening in Saudi Arabia?

The article states that ‘The regime’s ownership of Newcastle United lays the groundwork for a 2030 World Cup bid… well, surely then, it is fair AND fair AND very newsworthy, to say that a decade and a half of investing money in manchester united, you are doing the exact same thing, saudi arabia gives millions every season to man utd year after year to help legitimize them regarding football and supposedly the biggest club in the world facilitates that.

It’s gotten even more laughable of late when you have Man Utd supporters criticizing Newcastle United fans because of the Saudi PIF takeover, when these Man Utd fans clearly have no idea that their own club for a decade and a half it has been taking cash from Saudi Arabia. That absolutely sums up how little many Manchester United fans know about their own club, as well as how shocking it is, that all the media/journalists choose to never mention that Saudi Arabia has poured so much money into Manchester United.

Did this director of Pardon deliberately not mention Manchester United’s 15 years (and counting) receiving money from Saudi Arabia?

Or is it simply a case of not doing proper research before writing something like this?

It is surely common sense that any article today about what is happening in Saudi Arabia should highlight the relations with both Newcastle United and Manchester United.

Failing to do so is simply giving a very distorted view of the overall situation, without showing the full picture.

Plus, of course, missing out on making the story as big as possible.