Kick It Out is planning urgent talks with Newcastle to ask the club to discourage fans from wearing mock headdresses following the Saudi-backed consortium’s takeover.

A large number of supporters wore tea towels and other head coverings to Sunday’s game against Tottenham at St James’ Park – the club’s first since the new owners took charge.

The fans’ actions are seen as a misguided show of support towards the new owners.

Kick It Out is keen to offer education workshops to fans in the north east to explain why this could be considered stereotypical and culturally offensive.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is the largest party in the consortium that purchased Newcastle from Mike Ashley and now owns around 80 per cent of the club.

PIF governor Yassir Al-Rumayyan – who has been appointed Newcastle vice-chairman – and part-owners Amanda Staveley and her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi were present for Sunday’s game, which their new side lost 3-2.

PL clubs vote to block potential Newcastle sponsorships

Premier League clubs voted on Monday to impose a temporary freeze on any of them signing commercial and sponsorship deals with businesses that have links to their club’s owners.

The decision was made at an emergency meeting, after concerns were raised that Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian owners could sign lucrative deals with Saudi state-owned companies.

Eighteen clubs voted in favour of the freeze, while Newcastle voted against and Manchester City abstained after their lawyers advised them the vote was unlawful.

The Premier League has declined to comment.

Premier League financial fair play rules allow clubs to make maximum losses of £105m over a rolling three-year period.

Any artificially inflated commercial deals would increase revenues coming into a club and allow them to get around the rules and spend more than they are allowed.

The temporary freeze will be in place for a month while talks are held about a permanent rule change.

One Premier League executive said: “If we didn’t have the ban, there would have been nothing to stop Newcastle signing, say, a £100m naming rights deal for their stadium with a Saudi company linked to their owners.

“They could then have used that money to buy players in January and get around our financial fair play rules.”

Neville slams Newcastle’s treatment of Bruce

Gary Neville has given a critical assessment of Newcastle’s new ownership and called its treatment of Steve Bruce “totally wrong”.

Bruce had been expected to be sacked in the build-up to last weekend’s game against Spurs following the club’s £305m takeover earlier this month but new part-owner Amanda Staveley said Newcastle wanted to be “patient and considered” in their approach and that “change doesn’t happen overnight”.

Despite the optimism around the club following the takeover, a recent Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust poll revealed that almost 95 per cent of fans wanted Bruce’s dismissal.

However, there has been no clarity regarding how the new owners want to move forward with the managerial structure and as it stands, Bruce will take charge of their match at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Neville thinks the Newcastle board’s treatment of Bruce has been disappointing, telling Monday Night Football: “I think this situation with Steve Bruce is totally wrong.

“If this was any other industry it will be classed as employment abuse as the employer would be in serious trouble.

“You have got to demonstrate decency – that’s not just the new owners at Newcastle, it’s the ones before who had him as a lamb to the slaughter or an umbrella to stop the rain coming on their heads.

“Think about it in your own walk of life – if you’re a lawyer, or an accountant or an electrician and you are being treated like this. Think about all the things that have happened in the last few weeks, the leaks, it is not fair on a brilliant football man, a manager who has had 1,000 games. He deserves to be treated with decency.

“Steve Bruce will get [it] – if you are going to sack him, pay him up the full money, don’t resist it, do the right thing and move on.

“If you aren’t going to sack him, tell him and be clear so at least the fans can start having a go at you.

“Stop using Bruce as a shield for criticism at your football club.”