Al-Ahli and Al-Qadsiah stars foresee bright future for Saudi game ahead of SAFF Women’s Cup final

DUBAI: For the majority of football fans, Jan. 22, 2021, is unlikely to be a date that sticks in their long-term memory. But for supporters of one club in particular, it is one that is laden with significance.

With just 15 minutes left of Newcastle United’s match against Leeds United at Elland Road, the score was 0-0. A miserable Premier League season looked set to continue for Eddie Howe’s team. 

Then up stepped Jonjo Shelvey to give Newcastle a priceless 1-0 victory. It is no exaggeration to say that the win instantly changed the complexion of the team’s season and with it the club’s trajectory.

Going into their 21st match of the league season, Newcastle United had found themselves with just one previous win, leaving them stuck in the relegation zone.

After the win at Leeds, however, Newcastle would embark on a run that would see them win five of their next six matches, and nine of the next 13. The team cruised to safety and ended the season in a comfortable 11th place.

Howe had conjured a miracle that barely seemed feasible just a few months earlier when he was tasked with turning around the club’s fortunes following their sale by long-time owner Mike Ashley.

On Sunday, as Howe, his team, and chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan celebrated with delirious fans at Wembley after Newcastle defeated Liverpool 2-1 in the Carabao Cup final, those memories from just three years earlier must have seemed like a distant bad dream.

Newcastle had won their first major trophy in 55 years, justifying the faith that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) had shown in the club and the city when it finally completed a takeover on Oct. 7, 2021.

PIF, alongside Amanda Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners and Reuben Brothers, had been pursuing the club for more than a year. Once the deal with Ashley had been completed, they set about reawakening a sleeping giant — one of England’s and Europe’s biggest clubs.

Newcastle United supporters had had few reasons to celebrate since the mid-1990s when manager Kevin Keegan’s “Entertainers” team had come close to winning the Premier League, only to lose out to Alex Ferguson’s unstoppable Manchester United.

Now, backed by PIF and its chairman Al-Rumayyan in the boardroom, and with Staveley and husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi initially their public face, this was a club reborn.

The mission was to not only build a successful football team, but to also rejuvenate the local area surrounding St James’ Park in this one-club city.

First up was to hire Howe, a promising young English coach who had performed footballing miracles with Bournemouth FC by taking them from League One to the Premier League.

While at the time some supporters had expected a more established European coach, PIF’s decision to give Howe the reins on Nov. 8, 2021, has proved to be inspired.

Next was to assemble and oversee a squad capable of Premier League survival. If and when that was achieved, they would need to go on to challenge the country’s elite clubs at the other end of the table.

Without splurging on superstar names, Howe’s signings were astute. January of 2022 saw the arrival of Kieran Trippier for Atletico Madrid, Chris Wood from Burnley, Matt Targett from Aston Villa, and former Newcastle youth player Dan Burn from Brighton.

But, without a doubt, the jewel in the crown was Bruno Guimaraes from Olympique Lyon. Fans instantly fell in love with their gifted Brazilian midfielder.

Another masterful trick managed by Howe was to rejuvenate players like Joelinton Cassio Apolinario de Lira, Sean Longstaff, and Miguel Almiron, who had stagnated under the reign of previous coach Steve Bruce and owner Ashley.

After relegation was easily avoided with a stunning second half to the 2021-22 Premier League season, the squad was strengthened in the summer transfer window with the signings of goalkeeper Nick Pope from Burney, highly rated Dutch defender Sven Botman from Lille, and the superlative Swedish international Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad.

Newcastle now had a formidable squad that was ready to challenge for trophies and European places. And that is exactly what they did in the 2022-23 season.

At the start of 2023, Howe led the club to its first major cup final since 1998. But, on Feb. 28, the still-developing team found the task of defeating Manchester United a step too far, losing 2-0 at Wembley Stadium.

Despite the cup final defeat, Howe’s first full season as manager ended on a major high as the club finished in fourth place in the Premier League to secure a spot in the following season’s UEFA Champions League.

The following season would prove to be one of consolidation. Despite the signings of Anthony Gordon from Everton, Sandro Tonali from AC Milan, and Harvey Barnes from Leicester City, the team found it hard to balance the challenges of the Premier League and European competition.

A stunning 4-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain at St James’ Park in October, could not stop Newcastle from exiting the Champions League in the group stages. Their final position of seventh in the Premier League would have disappointed fans hoping for another invite to Europe’s top table.

But that was only a prelude to what will now go down as one of the greatest seasons in Newcastle’s history. There were moments of uncertainty for fans as the team’s Premier League form fluctuated throughout the current campaign. But glory was just around the corner. 

A superb two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final win, which saw a 2-0 victory at the Emirates followed by another at St James Park, gave Newcastle another chance to claim its first trophy in generations. This time it would be against Premier League leaders and England’s most successful club, Liverpool.

Sunday, March 16 would prove a golden day for Newcastle. Their fans, who had taken over central London in the two days leading up to the final, were as remarkable in the stands as their heroes were on the pitch.

Goals by the local hero Burn and talisman Guimaraes either side of half time left supporters in dreamland. Despite a late Liverpool goal, Newcastle were not denied a well deserved 2-1 win.

Cue Bruno’s tears, Al-Rumayyan’s joyous celebrations and pure delirium on the Wembley terraces.

It was a victory 55 years in the making, but one achieved almost in a blink of an eye since the dark days of 2021.