Did Saudi Arabia Buy Sport? Soft Power, Newcastle and Jimmy Hill!
It Was What It Was : The Football History Podcast
The Overlap
4.9 • 667 Ratings
🗓️ 28 March 2025
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome back to It Was What It Was, the football history podcast.
Today Jonathan Wilson and Rob Draper are joined by author James Montague to discuss his new book 'Engulfed' - exploring Saudi Arabia's massive investments in sport.
James gives unique insights on the history of Saudi football, the Vision 2030 project, and how Newcastle United's takeover fits into the larger picture. You'll find out how strategic use of 'soft power' has transformed Saudi Arabia's global image through sport.
The trio examine the rich football culture in Saudi Arabia, the country's evolving social landscape, and the geopolitics influencing these changes.
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00:00 Introduction
00:17 James Montague's Early Works and Reviews
01:28 Re-release and Sequel: Engulfed
01:59 Saudi Arabia's Emergence in Sports
03:26 Sports Washing and Soft Power
06:47 Historical Context and Saudi Investments
11:10 Mohammad bin Salman's Rise to Power
23:57 The Khashoggi Incident and Its Aftermath
30:13 Saudi Arabia's Football Culture
31:24 Challenges of Covering Saudi Arabia
33:52 Women in Saudi Football
35:15 Jimmy Hill's Influence on Saudi Football
40:33 David Icke's Saudi Adventure
46:10 Vision 2030 and Saudi Football Investments
52:26 Neom's Football Ambitions
57:34 Conclusion and Book Promotion
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to It Was What It Was, What It Was, I'm Jonathan Wilson and with Rob Draper, and today we're joined by the great James Montague, whose new book engulfed about the Saudi investments in sport has just been published. |
| 0:17.3 | James, I first came across you when I reviewed your book. And I don't resent you for this. |
| 0:21.7 | No, I do, clearly. |
| 0:23.1 | Otherwise, I wouldn't be mentioning it. |
| 0:24.3 | I reviewed your book when Friday comes, your first book, which came out the same month |
| 0:28.8 | that InVirn the Pyramid came out. |
| 0:30.8 | And I gave you a five-star review. |
| 0:32.8 | And some other moron gave my book a four-star review. |
| 0:35.5 | So you got Book of the Months in 4-4-2. I've never entirely forgiven you. But anyway, welcome. You haven't forgiven me. But what's interesting is that like, inverted the pyramid has gone on to become like a seminal work that is still like a best-selling book around the world. When Friday comes kind of died, not died, but I mean, it got, it was a cult kind of classic, |
| 0:55.0 | which means it didn't, like lots of people read it who reviewed it, but nobody actually bought it. |
| 0:59.1 | So it's literally the only victory was that one review. |
| 1:03.3 | I've saw reviews are very important. You're a critical success. |
| 1:07.5 | It was, but also it was, you know, I was, it was a wonderful moment because, you know, I didn't have any contacts in journalism. I, I, I had no contact in publishing. I was, you know, I kind of almost in a way, kind of lucked myself into this situation. I had a book. And then to have, that was kind of like the first review I got. And really, from that, it kind of all kind of spiraled out control. |
| 1:28.7 | We should say that that book was re-released. |
| 1:31.4 | Was it just before the Qatar World Cup? |
| 1:33.1 | Yeah, so it's been, it's still had a good life. |
| 1:36.7 | I mean, it's been, it's had two revisions, and it came out with Penguin just before the |
| 1:41.1 | Qatar World Cup where I kind of updated it. |
| 1:43.4 | I mean, to be honest, it probably |
| 1:44.8 | needed another book, which is segueing into Engulfed. Engulfed is kind of a bit of a sequel to |
| 1:51.0 | when Friday comes, which is a book about football in the Middle East. And also a book I wrote |
| 1:55.4 | called The Billionaires Club, which was about the takeover of football by the super rich. And |
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