How Newcastle United are plotting a course to the WSLMedia caption, Jordan Nobbs has 71 caps for England and joined Newcastle at the start of the 2025-26 seasonByKatie GornallBBC Sport correspondentPublished1 hour ago”A few weeks ago, we didn’t have this room – it didn’t exist,” says Newcastle United midfielder Jordan Nobbs, laughing as she gestures around the club’s smart new players’ lounge.In a corner, next to a new coffee machine, is a smoothie maker that is ready to be unpacked.This is a small but telling detail that captures the rapid pace of change for the women’s team at Newcastle United. Only a few years ago they were languishing in the fourth tier of English football, operating independently and without the support of the men’s club.Now established in WSL 2, and in the hunt for promotion to the Women’s Super League, the squad fly to games, have their own chef and have a new training ground to call their own.”It’s crazy how you blink and football changes,” says 71-cap England international Nobbs, a three-time WSL winner with Arsenal who moved to Newcastle in the summer from Aston Villa.”Travelling with a chef is huge for a WSL 2 side – the ambition is here. Newcastle have given me that fire in my belly again.”How has progression been achieved?Image source, Serena Taylor, Newcastle United FCImage caption, Newcastle became the first third-tier team in the women’s game to turn professional at the end of the 2022-23 seasonNobbs is one of a number of internationals who have been persuaded to join Newcastle’s push for promotion.Others include two-time World Cup winner Morgan Gautrat of the United States, England’s Demi Stokes and Australia’s Kaitlyn Torpey.But it is not just this recruitment that has caught the eye. Arguably, a bigger shift has happened off the pitch.The speedy development of the women’s team can be traced back to Newcastle’s takeover by Saudi-led investors in 2021. Not long after, the women officially became part of the wider club, and in 2023 they turned fully professional.In October last year, they moved training base to a site that underwent a £5.2m transformation in 2019 and is just a few minutes’ drive from where the men’s team train.They have also played a number of fixtures at St James’ Park, and the 38,502 that watched them beat Sunderland in May set a record attendance for a WSL 2 fixture.While the progression is clear, the Newcastle ownership, a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), remains a controversial backdrop because of the Gulf state’s human rights record.Saudi Arabia has been accused of ‘sportswashing’ in recent years after investing in sport and using it to improve its international reputation.
Last September, Newcastle Central MP Chi Onwurah told the BBC she was the first to admit she “wouldn’t choose Saudi Arabia as the owners of the club”.
However, she stressed supporters were the “last people who get to choose”.
It is an issue that will remain prevalent as long as PIF stays at the helm of Newcastle United.
