Mainz will push ahead with plans to face Newcastle United in a Roenis Elias Jersey pre-season friendly despite backlash from their supporters.Newcastle will face German clubs Mainz and 1860 Munich in Austria ahead of the 2022-23 season.But the scheduled matches have not been welcomed by supporters of those clubs due to the identity of Newcastles owners.The consortium that bought Newcastle last October includes Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns 80 per cent of the club.Saudi Arabias human rights record is of major concern, along with its role in the war in Yemen.But Mainz insist they cannot afford to cancel the Newcastle friendly, both because of the need to prepare for the Bundesliga season and due to contractual obligations.A friendly against a big English club is first of all Carter Kieboom Jersey a really good test for us, said chairman Stefan Hofmann in a statement in which Mainz confirmed they had held further talks with Newcastle and would plan to meet with fans. Its also important for our teams pre-season preparations. After weighing up our options and not having an appropriate alternative opponent of this standard available, we agreed to play this game.We didnt expect the reaction we got from some fans. We respect them and regret that these concerns have arisen because its our responsibility to start the new season as one big unit together with our fans.Mainz board member Christian Heidel added: From a footballing perspective, we Bryce Harper Jersey cant afford to mi s out on this friendly.A one-sided cancellation of the fixture, as has been demanded by some fans, is not feasible, because were we to not honour our contractual obligations, this could have serious legal and economic consequences for us, and so were going to stand by the contractual agreement.Mainz coach Bo Sven son had already addre sed the concerns, saying as reported by Bild: On the one hand, I can understand the arguments. But whenever it comes to football, things get very inflated and become huge i sues.Referring to the PIFs shares in Disney, Sven son added: How far are we going? Will we then also forego Disney films with our children?1860 coach Michael Kollner said Jake Noll Jersey to db24: You always Kyle McGowin Jersey have to be a bit careful when conducting a moral discu sion. I find that difficult. You can find something in everyone.We havent done everything right in the past either and teams are still playing against us in preparation.Newcastle was bought by someone with the money he has. I dont know if we are always entitled to evaluate things especially in times when we have completely different i sues in Europe.Unity looks different. Im responsible for the sport and Im glad we got this test match.