In other circumstances, if they had different owners, the prospect of Alexander Isak moving away from Newcastle United to increase the power of a Liverpool team that won the Premier League at a canter last season might be something to regret.
In other circumstances, it might be tempting to bemoan Isak’s fecklessness after Newcastle gave him the platform to shine and their fans took him to their hearts and built their hopes for the future around him.
In other circumstances, the idea of weakening a team that has swelled the number of sides with a chance of challenging for the title, and concentrating talent in the elite clubs, might be something to mourn.
But the truth is that when swathes of Newcastle supporters celebrated the club’s purchase by Saudi Arabia in 2021 and became apologists for a regime that has an appalling human rights record, treats women as second-class citizens and executes journalists for posting on X, things changed.
Let’s be honest about this: Newcastle turned a blind eye to the actions of the Saudi regime because of money.
Their fans taunted Manchester City fans with chants of ‘we’re richer than you’ when the two teams met at the Etihad three years ago, not long after the Saudi takeover. They gloried in becoming the ‘richest club in the world’.
Newcastle fans were only too happy to make it all about money when they were taken over by the Saudis in 2021
The fans turned a blind eye to the actions of the Saudi regime that is now propping up their club
When you make it all about money, though, when you say it’s OK to ignore the actions of your owners because they are fabulously wealthy and what can you do about it anyway, that’s fine – but don’t expect any sympathy when your best player sprints for the emergency exit.
Because when you make it all about the money, then it is impossible to criticise Isak if he chooses to double his wages – and increase his chances of winning something more than the Carabao Cup – by moving to Merseyside.
Some in the North East may start bleating again about the evils of the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules and how they have led them to a position where they are vulnerable to losing players of Isak’s quality.
Well, PSR has many drawbacks but if it stops, or delays, the Saudi state from using its vast riches to destroy what remains of the competitive balance in the Premier League then that, at least, is something to recommend it.
The idea that PSR entrenches establishment clubs at the top of the game is flawed anyway. PSR is supposed to guarantee the hegemony of teams like Manchester United. Last time I looked, they finished 15th last season.
While we’re at it, PSR is supposed to be a dastardly ruse of the ‘Red Cartel’ to stop the advance of upwardly mobile teams. Again, I could swear that Manchester City won the Premier League four times in a row not so long ago.
The reality is that when we talk about establishment clubs, there is no one more establishment than them. This idea that City are outsiders with their noses pressed up against the glass is one of the great public relations triumphs of modern times.
It’s fine to make it all about the money – but then don’t bleat if your star striker Alexander Isak ups sticks and doubles his wages on Merseyside
Liverpool barely spent anything last summer and won the league because of the playing talent they already had at their disposal and the brilliant coaching of Arne Slot, so moaning about transfer restrictions only deserves limited air time.
Instead of having a tantrum and indulging in those unhinged conspiracy theories about the ‘Red Cartel’, maybe Newcastle should do something radical with the £150m they’ll get if Isak goes to Anfield.
Take the money and use it well. Buy good new players with it and trust the coaching of Eddie Howe, who has proved many times over that he is a first-class manager.
And don’t bother complaining about losing your star man because, apart from in Newcastle and Riyadh, no one’s listening.
