"What makes the ownership conversation difficult is that, ironically for Newcastle, none of it is black and white"

The Magpies' Saudi Arabia investment has divided English football down the middle. Lifelong supporter Adam Clery explains why it's left the fanbase in a tricky position

- By Adam Clery

"We don't demand a team that wins, we demand a club that tries," read the banner. Such was the rot that had set in at Newcastle United in Mike Ashley's 14 years, that any concerns the club's fans had over a takeover merely extended as far as 'when', never 'whom'.

The two entirely avoidable relegations, the rebranding of the stadium as the Sports Direct Arena, the hiring of Joe Kinnear, the employment tribunal with Kevin Keegan, the failure to retain Rafael Benitez. The decision to release Jonas Gutierrez - a man who mere months prior had made his footballing return after battling cancer - by asking the also-released Ryan Taylor if he could "pass the phone to Jonas". Only the word count prevents me from going on.

Newcastle fans would, understandably, have greeted any new owners with the most open of arms by 2020. So much so, that when reports first emerged of the acquisition led by Amanda Staveley, the fact it involved an investment group that would make them the "richest club in the world" was almost a footnote on Tyneside.

The Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (below), was about as far removed from the club's previous administration as it was possible to be. One was linked to a nation state with geopolitical influence on a global scale, the other was a guy from Walsall who flogged trainers on the cheap and once held crunch talks with a manager while eating a £7.95 spaghetti bolognese.