NEWCASTLE UNITED’s Saudi Arabian owners remain completely committed to their ambition of re-establishing the club amongst the European elite – but accept they will have to be patient as they wrestle with the challenges presented by the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability regulations.

That was the message delivered by Paul Mitchell yesterday as he conducted his first press interview since being appointed as the Magpies’ sporting director earlier this summer.

Mitchell had his first face-to-face meeting with Newcastle chairman Yasir al-Rumayyan at St James’ Park on Sunday, in the wake of the 2-1 win over Tottenham, and while questions have been raised over the level of the Saudi PIF’s continued support and interest in the club, given the failure to qualify for European competition last season, the new Magpies chief is utterly convinced the Middle Eastern owners remain as committed and passionate as ever.

A lack of investment during the summer transfer window might have been interpreted in some quarters as proof that the PIF were reining in their financial backing– instead, according to Mitchell, their desire to see Newcastle grow and improve is stronger than ever.

“He (al-Rumayyan) is as ambitious and enthused as ever,” said Mitchell. “I’ve actually got a few more grey hairs because of the level of ambition that exists.

“I can only speak from my interaction, but he is super-ambitious. He wants us to perform at number one level, and I don’t just think he wants us to perform at that level because of the money we spend, I also think he wants us to be best in class across absolutely everything we do.

“That might be youth development, the women’s team, scouting and recruitment, data and insight, coaching, innovation – he wants our position to be at the top, but he wants us to be there for the reasons that people admire. And that means being a really well-oiled, well-executed footballing operation. That was the main thing that came across for me in our meeting.”

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When the PIF first took over Newcastle almost three years ago, both al-Rumayyan and former director, Amanda Staveley, spoke bullishly about replacing Manchester City as the leading side in English football.

Since then, the ownership group have had a crash course in the challenges of trying to negotiate the obstacles presented by the Premier League’s PSR rules, which severely limit the amount of money the club can spend on transfer fees and wages.

Newcastle had to sell Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh in a fire-sale at the end of June to ensure they did not incur a points penalty, but while other clubs have voiced increasingly public criticisms of the PSR regulations, with Manchester City taking the Premier League to arbitration in an attempt to abolish the league’s Associated Party Transaction rules, the hierarchy at St James’ Park have always insisted they intend to abide by the current rules.

That remains the PIF’s position, even if it means there has to be an acceptance that the rate of Newcastle’s development might not be as rapid as was originally hoped when Mike Ashley was removed from power in 2021.

“He (al-Rumayyan) is a very smart man,” said Mitchell. “He can see that the club is growing, and I think he’s also smart enough to see that it’s grown very quickly over a very short space of time.

“He's super, super ambitious, but also he’s super strategic as well. I think we’ve all come to the same conclusion over the last few days, which is that we’re going to have to map this differently.

“We’re going to have to approach this differently to the last two-and-a-half years because that can’t work now. We have these restrictions. Is it going to affect where we get to? No. Is it going to affect the speed? 100 per cent.

“There’s a plan, but there’s also patience. Deep down, I’m sure we all want to be number one. I don’t think there’s a bigger target than that, and having that as an ambition, I don’t think is a bad thing. It drives us all to be better every day.

“We need to work towards that goal. Does he want us to be number one? Yes. Should we be scared of that ambition? No. But is it a case that we have to be number one tomorrow? No. He’s smarter than that and it’s a much longer-term investment that’s been made.”