Rich

Greg[/member] is a legend so I'm not having a go..... but I really wonder what has gone wrong (if anything) since this day of supreme confidence Was that not when it was assumed Sheff Utd's ownership was the last remaining obstacle to the deal and the changes on Companies House were made public?

The PL are surely just trying to make the best of an impossible situation, being the exceptionally greedy cunts that they are? There was more good than bad in that article, I reckon! It depends on MBS' motivations. This is a tremendous opportunity to stick it to Qatar even more than he already has done, and I'd suggest he probably know this sort of pushback was coming.

Definitely an interesting time for betting, though I'm more delighted than ever to be out of the industry instead of trying to predict every game in the world! Interested to know if the bookmakers' models/traders are pricing in the lack of home advantage when opening the markets, then mug money is pushing home teams to be more like a standard home favourite by the time the matches kick off? From a week ago: "Since the league has restarted away teams are 41.3% more likely to win away from home. Home wins in general are down by 24.3% and away wins have increased by 17%."

He was unreal. Sure he had 100% pass completion and won the ball back more than 10 times through intercepting/tackling. Probably the best all-round debut performance I can recall.

Can't edit the post, but should've added on the very end "Or if he's just happy to keep denying involvement in beoutQ and for this to drag out, safe in the knowledge that the PL has no real legal grounds to block the takeover and predicting that they'd be too scared to take him on in court by attempting to do so." The length of time this is taking may point to the latter, and though I can't pretend to know much about him I suppose it's safe to say that he's probably not the type to bend. For all we know the takeover could be motivated by wanting to get after Qatar and beIN as much as anything else revolving around sportswashing or sporting glory .

https://theathletic.co.uk/1854065/2020/06/08/saudi-arabia-piracy-tv-rights-premier-league-newcastle-united

Very lengthy and informative article by Matt Slater in The Athletic on the takeover this morning, which is largely positive while remaining realistic. The bit that it all boils down to, IMO, is that "...the Premier League cannot see a way to sanction the deal without Saudi Arabia unblocking beIN Sports, shutting down beoutQ and opening up its courts." "One source described the situation as a "potential disaster that could become the biggest win-win in history" if the Premier League can persuade the Saudis to properly crack down on beoutQ, lift its blockade of beIN and allow its lawyers to take custom from aggrieved overseas rights-holders... and then, when the Premier League's Middle East and North African broadcast rights become available again in 2022, a legitimate Saudi Arabian sports broadcaster can give beIN a run for its money in the auction, creating genuine competition in the region and very probably driving the price up." Back in February it seems the PL's head of legal made some comments to this effect, noting that it's impossible for them to access the Saudi justice system to do anything about the piracy."I'd like to see it be on a level playing field with any other territory where there's a number of illegal operators in the market, so I can go there, I can get evidence of what's going on, and I have access to legal remedies." They're basically saying this WTO report is going to be additional leverage for the PL and beIN, too, as it's so heavily in their favour and against Saudi Arabia, so that's another potential cause for the ongoing delay. Staveley and Co. most recently answered PL questions on Wednesday, and there's still a heavy back-and-forth ongoing. Suppose it all boils down to how much MBS is willing to bend in order to get control of NUFC and get a foothold in the Premier League, because it seems the PL (and beIN's) positions are pretty clear.

You are right I’m slowly going mental like the rest of us. But that’s part of the problem really! I generally appreciate the desire to find a different angle on stuff, but that one just got me a bit. Sorry. Can relate to the slow descent into madness. To keep things marginally on track I'd also heard from "a source" that 1st June was the date, though I didn't buy it. It came from someone who'd normally be very sensible too, which sort of shows just how much of a crock of shit these things tend to be. I can't see it being knocked back, seems to my untrained eyes that the PL is just being very careful and getting written responses from PIF on everything that's being flagged up to cover themselves legally if something else turns out to be the case. That's bound to be an incredibly slow process. Our corporate solicitors have been moving even slower than usual since lockdown was enforced, the absolute parasites that they are.

What planet are you on, man? Imagine even hypothetically threatening to protest over that with everything that's going on in the world.

TaylorJ_01[/member], thoughts?

Don’t think it’s very secret he already said hello in the welcome back thread Hoogen[/member], innit. Premature esalutation, it seems. Further proof that Dave is the superior being, he’ll only return when it’s done for real.

Get to fuck Steve, you fat cunt.

E I E I E I O

Been waiting for a post like this

What a tremendous argument. Well done.

Edgar?

What a post.

Fucking hell

Anyone know how much a ten person box runs at for the season, roughly?

Aye, but if you (and thousands more like you) didn't pack up we'll never know if Ashley would've stayed forever in a day.

Certain posters are obsessed with discussions like this; it's become more of a sport to get their point across over and over and over. It's almost like they love the drama of it all. I wish I could bring myself to be in opposition to the Saudi takeover because I know it almost certainly makes me a worse human being that I'm not. My heart just wants Ashley's mentality out of the club. It's never been about Ashley himself for me, and it's not about the Saudi's themselves. It's about the mentality, the approach the club takes on the pitch, and in that sense the takeover is a no brainer. This is it for me too.

It has to be Rafa, man. Has to be. My only doubt is if he’d walk away from his current role. There is no better manager for the job. He was incredible under Ashley, imagine him under this lot.

Manu's clearly hacking their Zoom sessions.

Eh? It’s the same as he’s got now. If the report is true, of course.

Honoured to be included.