Karren Brady, West Ham United’s vice-chair, has taken what seems to be a pointed swipe at Newcastle United’s owners, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF). Despite PIF’s backing leading Newcastle to the 2022/23 EFL Cup final and the Champions League group stage, Brady appears skeptical about the broader Saudi football project.
PIF, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, has not only invested in Newcastle but also in the Saudi Pro League, attracting football stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, and Karim Benzema. Despite this, the league struggles with low attendance both on TV and in stadiums, raising questions about the long-term impact of PIF’s investments.
Brady, who recently visited the Middle East to explore potential investors for West Ham, voiced her scepticism about Saudi football’s potential to rival the Premier League. In The Sun, she remarked, “An average Pro League crowd is about 8,000,” before highlighting that Saudi Arabia’s vast wealth alone won’t be enough to compete with the established traditions and infrastructure of English football.
She stressed that the Premier League’s success is rooted not only in top talent and high wages but also in its robust support system. The league contributes about 20% of its income to the EFL, Women’s Super League (WSL), Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), Football Association (FA), and grassroots football. According to Brady, no amount of money can match the competitive edge and deep-rooted football culture that England enjoys.
Stupid cow
A cow she may be, but she’s dead right about this.
Stupid man.
Very rich coming from Brady. She is at the forefront of dismantling the infrastructure of the game with her ticketing policy, particularly withdrawing/diluting concessions for young and old fans along with inflation busting ticket price rises. All generating less than her salary
A walking soundbite and a cancer in our club.
Before criticing others, and the Saudi pro league has little to commend it, she should be addressing her own failures or, better still, just go away.
Nothing she does has much value to either the game as a whole or the club she represents.
Simply put, she is a hypocrite.
Shut up your horrendous millionaire gob on legs, Brady. YOU are what’s wrong with football by pricing out the real fans in favor of tourists.
She wants the ‘loudmouth’ fans gone who point her out for what she is, and people who just spend money on the rubbish they serve up in a terrible stadium, over-priced food and drink, and tacky stuff in the club shop at rip-off prices.
‘in favor of’ I should’ve put. The hypocrite winds me up so much.
I may be wrong, but I thought the club had nothing to do with the stadium food and drink prices. I’ve never been to that stadium so I have no in house info. However I am sure I have read that the stadium owners are responsible for food and drink. Maybe somebody else could confirm?
How disrespectful to call this lady names perhaps you are more what’s wrong with football our board are very successfull business people who have all just backed our finest transfer window ever and given us something to dream of this season
You clearly have not idea about the damaged she is causing, go and do some research about the damage she is doing to our concession tickets.
On this topic she is correct.
All of those calling her names and blaming her for the ticket price rises think about this; we’re a business, first and foremost. Yes, every business should respect it’s customers but if you can’t afford the rise in ticket prices, maybe get better paying jobs? Or prioritise where you spend your money, perhaps? I can’t afford a season ticket but i don’t moan at the board for it, i think ‘i must do better to earn more money for the things i want to do’. I don’t blame everyone else in the world for my lack of funds. Seems pretty simple to me really.