Majed Al Sorour has attended a golf event in Thailand, the Champions League final in Paris and the Monaco Grand Prix in the last couple of weeks alone. However, you suspect, nothing quite compared to the atmosphere the Newcastle United director experienced at St James' Park for the final home game of the campaign against Arsenal last month.
If it was ever in doubt, that night was another timely reminder that something is stirring on Tyneside following the club's takeover last year, and Al Sorour was there to witness it. A trusted ally of Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Newcastle's non-executive chairman, the PIF advisor will be part of the board tasked with growing the club on and off the field in the coming years.
This backing from Saudi comes at a time when the spotlight is very much on the country's appalling human rights record and Al Sorour, himself, previously spoke about 'softening the image' a few years ago. Al Sorour is in contact with Cho Minn Thant, the CEO of the Asian Tour, on a near daily basis and it is clear that Newcastle has become an important part of the Golf Saudi chief's brief.
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"A lot of the time, we will finish a golf tournament either on a Saturday or very close to when the Newcastle game is and he will be on a flight that same night to catch the next match, especially if it's a home game," Thant told ChronicleLive ahead of the International Series England at Slaley Hall.
"When they took over the club, everyone was writing off the club saying they were going to get relegated and saying they picked the club up at a strange time, but he was actually very confident. He said, 'There was no way they were going to get relegated. Just watch.'"
Although Al Sorour's role at Newcastle only officially came to light following a Companies House update last month, the director has effectively been on assignment since December. ChronicleLive understands Al Sorour was even a particularly vocal supporter of Eddie Howe behind the scenes before the Magpies' turnaround in the second half of the campaign.
Al Sorour watched most of those subsequent games remotely, but the new addition has been the most regular visitor from Saudi to St James' since the takeover, whether it was the first game of the new era against Spurs, the humiliating FA Cup defeat at the hands of Cambridge United or the wins against Wolves, Crystal Palace and Arsenal towards the end of the campaign.
Al Sorour is actually one of the few figures at executive level at Newcastle who has prior experience of working in the game, having been a member of the board at Al-Nassr a few years ago, and was even a professional footballer, himself, in his homeland as Thant quickly discovered.
"What surprises me is the in-depth knowledge he has about multiple sports and multiple things in general," Thant said. "When we're watching F1, he seems to know everything about the teams, the drivers and the history.
"Then we switch to basketball. He spent a lot of time in America, and went to college in America as well, and he talks about the Seattle Supersonics from the '90s and Michael Jordan. He will flip and talk about Newcastle United when Alan Shearer was playing, when Gary Speed was playing, when Shay Given was the goalie.
"Then we will switch to tennis and talk about [Rafael] Nadal and [Roger] Federer. You're thinking either this guy has a photographic memory or he just watches TV all day but, no, he doesn't because he's on multiple phone calls every single day. I just don't know how he does it because he has got so many things happening. He must be a master at managing his time."
When it comes to other sports, Al Sorour, like Al-Rumayyan, is a keen golfer and even competed as an amateur at the Volvo World Golf Challenge and the Golf World Cup. Although Al Sorour has various business interests, having worked in insurance and software, golf has gone from being a hobby to becoming a major part of his portfolio.
After previously serving as the chairman of the tech committee at the Saudi Golf Federation, Al Sorour became the CEO of Golf Saudi, where he has been tasked with building courses, bringing the best players to the country to play in tournaments and encouraging people to take up the sport. It is through that work with Golf Saudi that you get a glimpse from Thant of the standards Al Sorour will no doubt expect at Newcastle.
"He's got a team around him that handle a lot of the golf operations but when it comes to the finer details, he's very hands on," Thant added. "We will be walking around the golf course on a Monday or a Tuesday before a tournament begins and he will want to check the menu in the marquee.
"If he sees something he doesn't like, he will want it changed to his specs. When you don't think a guy at that level is paying attention, he is."
The $2 million International Series England will take place at Slaley Hall from June 2-5. Entry to the first ever Asian Tour sanctioned event outside of the continent is free as Sihwan Kim, Joohyung Kim, Graeme McDowell and Ratchanon “TK” Chantananuwat all compete. To attend, visit intlserieseng.seetickets.com.
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