Are Newcastle's Saudi owners losing interest?

Ayo Akinwolere· Host0:00

[gentle music] The Athletic FC. Welcome to the Athletic FC podcast with me, Ayo Akinwolere. [upbeat music] Newcastle United's Saudi owners are set to pull their funding of LIV Golf, while uncertainty is also rife at St. James' Park. With our ownership in town for talks, could they lose interest in Newcastle? [upbeat music] All right, joining us for this one on The Athletic, we have our Newcastle United correspondent, Chris Waugh. We've also got Business of Football writer, Matt Slater, with us as well. All right, Newcastle sit 14th in the Premier League. They've lost their last five in all competitions, and are currently 16 points off Aston Villa, who are in fifth. So Chris, a, a good time for Eddie Howe's Saudi Arabian bosses to come into town then?

Chris Waugh· Guest0:54

Well, probably not from Eddie Howe's point of view. At that s- sort of stage, if you're gonna be... If, if, if you just take those statistics and look at Newcastle's travails so far in 2026, certainly in the Premier League, they just seem to be regressing and continuing to, to regress. It's nine defeats in the last 12 in the league. But this meeting should not be conflated as some idea as if it's some- something that's just pulled together all about Eddie Howe's future. That's n- that's not the case. Newcastle do do these annual off-siting, as they refer to them, uh, every year. They've done them, uh, in Matfen Hall is this one, is in Northumberland. Previously, they've done it at Alnwick Castle. That was on the Amazon Prime documentary in 2023. But Eddie