Minhosa

On a legal level waving through the takeover has nothing to do with Qatar/Bein does it? They own the broadcasting rights for a specified period of time for a specified region. Surely they don't have a say in which teams are in the league and who their owners are? On an informal level I understand they can exert huge (commercial) pressure on the PL, but I don't see how they could legally challenge beyond that option being open to any other outsider to the specific deal in question. Yes and No. I'd imagine they'd have lawyers all over the PL's interpretation of their rules to ensure total compliance and because those rules don't have a 'murderous, morally questionable' clause then the application of the rules to the Saudi's will almost certainly require some interpretation from Lawyers. The Lawyers will then provide advice to the PL along the lines of 'we cannot prove contravention of clause 12.3, clause 13.4 is open to interpretation and could be argued either way, clause 16.2 is fine and clause 19.7 is N/A'. Just as a basic example. The Lawyers will not make the decision. They will provide input and the PL will interpret and make the call. If they get any element of that call wrong or, possibly more importantly, they allow room for debate/challenge then I'd imagine they know full well that Bein will be all over that because they clearly DO NOT want KSA having an influence as that serves as a risk to Qatar on numerous levels.

Well put. This has nothing to do with us being NUFC...this is an incredibly difficult thing for the PL to manage their way through. It’s nonsensical for our fans to expect this to be rushed through simply because the fuckwit of an owner we currently have isn’t refunding money. It has huge implications for the PL whichever way they do with it. Cheers - I wanted to get my thoughts down as I don't think there's been much coverage at all about the consequences for the PL of saying yes. Like I don't think this is purely a question of 'do we have a legal basis to say no?', I think it's possibly just as strongly 'what does the relationship with one of our largest TV rights holders look like should we say yes?'. You'd have to presume that would be strained at least. I've seen lots of comments, probably made them myself tbf, of 'just do a deal with KSA for the TV rights, at a minimum of the same level' which guarantees a financial pipeline long into the future but, if there was any danger of that being discussed as an option leaking, then the whole thing is nuclear with BEIN. Therefore, all in all, a bit of an unwelcome clusterfuck for the PL who could probably have done without this Saudi involvement happening now given everything else going on with Covid/Restart etc etc. You'd have to assume that they'd realised the potential for KSA to buy in at some point (be that with Man Utd, us or someone completely different) but I don't think the timing suits the PL at all. Also a total hospital pass for Masters. Welcome to the PL...............here's a hand grenade for you. Hence why I think it has to come down to legal interpretation only and, in taking that interpretation, making decisions based on risk (legal, financial, reputational aspects all taken into account). Messy as fuck for them in fairness to the slow cunts.

Seeing a lot of talk about the PL only being interested in money etc etc which might be the case but I think in this specific situation it's actually 'legality' that is their top concern/issue. Put yourself in their shoes here for a minute; 1) Decide to reject the takeover based on piracy concerns then almost certainly prepare for a well funded legal challenge from people (in Staveley) who are not afraid of fighting people in the most powerful courts in the land (Barclays), the second richest UK family (who happen to fund the current party in power) and one of the richest men in the world who you've just embarrassed in possibly the most high profile manner. You don't say no to people like him. I'd imagine this Qatar interference has only strengthened his resolve tbh. 2) Decide to accept the takeover then you have to be absolutely watertight on your decision making processes based on the law/PL rules as they stand because you're very likely to become embroiled in legal challenge from Qatar/Bein in respect of them dropping £500m for TV rights that, in their view, have had their value reduced due to piracy and the PL's lack of integrity by becoming an enabler for the Saudi regime to get much much closer to the action. Now, either way, they're in for a tough time no matter which way they decide to go. They have to therefore put this in the hands of the Lawyers and say 'give us a steer here' and then somebody at the PL will need to play God and make the call, probably based on the least damaging interpretation of the legalities against their current rules. We have to hope this call falls in our favour.

Yes but organisations of this size don't operate in silo's. They're a large organisation who should be able to manage issues across it in parallel imho. Also, I'd presume they have third party lawyers on retainer etc for exactly this scenario.

Minhosa[/member] how many times have I said this to you? Kanji[/member] - loads and makes perfect sense. Hence why Qatar are making a huge offensive to prevent it. Massive geopolitical implications for them losing the rights.

100%.

That's a great piece. I still think we'll be right amongst it come the end of the season tbh. Wouldn't trust Bruce to have done any form of prep ahead of the season restarting. Almost certain that will show.

Yep - doesn't help that the only shows in town are us and the restart. Miles more attention than normal as no cunt has anything else to write about.

Want a wager we won't win more than 3?

Aye - the useless cunt has been more bothered about creosoting his fence than he has about preparing players for any potential restart. Compare and contrast with Rafa......

Yep. Definitely not getting ahead of yourself there. If this doesn't come off, I'm f***ing off into e-hiding given the sheer amount of s*** NUFC fans will get on every single online platform going. This is the positive-optimism thread, so I have the right to be optimist in this thread. Wonder if they can throw in VvD and Mane too?

Yep. Definitely not getting ahead of yourself there. If this doesn't come off, I'm fucking off into e-hiding given the sheer amount of shit NUFC fans will get on every single online platform going.

Obviously. Fuck me. As thick as a prison wall. Get to fuck Shola you utter cretin.

Imagine being in talks with the club for over 2 years. Checking out the coverage, tone and mood music. Then coming to the conclusion that Lee Ryder is the man you wanna give an exlcusive to :lol: . 'I know just the man who can convey our message to the fanbase. Sorry guys, slight delay, I'm on hold whilst they peel him off a window'..............

I think the Ritchie interview where he basically said Shelvey is half arsed about football, not fully committed and tosses it off to play golf say everything tbh. Mistake giving him a new contract. I don't rate him and can see why Rafa used him less and less during his reign. He'd be one of the first I'd ship.

Bollocks. He’s had a massive amount of luck, we’ve been playing the shittest ‘football’ in 4 divisions and the entire thing is completely unsustainable. Are you going to tell us it was a plan to have our defenders go on an unprecedented scoring spree? Good management that rescued a point with 2 injury time goals? Managing to get past the mighty Rochdale and Oxford in a mere 360 minutes of dross was top class stuff? By rights we should have been bottom of the table and thanking our lucky stars for Covid-19. We've got the joint best home defence in the league FFS. We play shit football, but the team spirit is clearly strong, and we consistently pick up points. In the quarters of FA Cup and 35 points after 29 games isn't shit. It's okay. We've got that defence BECAUSE of his predecessor. We've also got that togetherness largely down to Rafa staying on when we were relegated too. He's the luckiest cunt going. Top of my head: Sheff Utd away - robbed them Chelsea home - robbed them Spurs away - lucky as fuck to get one on the break and play them when they were the shittest they'd been in over 3 years Brighton home - fuck knows how we got a point. They battered us. Palace home - we robbed them late on, should have been a draw, they were arguably the better side. Everton away - joke of an outcome based on any reliable probability. That's relegation all day long without those flukes. Not to mention the hard work he made of every round of the F.A Cup. We hobbled through to the quarters. Bloke is a fraud and the quicker he's off the premises the better as far I'm concerned.

Bollocks. He’s had a massive amount of luck, we’ve been playing the shittest ‘football’ in 4 divisions and the entire thing is completely unsustainable. Are you going to tell us it was a plan to have our defenders go on an unprecedented scoring spree? Good management that rescued a point with 2 injury time goals? Managing to get past the mighty Rochdale and Oxford in a mere 360 minutes of dross was top class stuff? By rights we should have been bottom of the table and thanking our lucky stars for Covid-19. Aye. 100% agree. I've genuinely never seen us have the luck he enjoyed at any time over the last 33 years. He's the jammiest cunt we've ever had in the dugout. Lucky to get there and nothing but luck as he sat his fat arse there. I hope he's fucked off the minute they get the keys.

Chief Entertainment Officer.

No way I'd keep Carroll. He's a crock. Completely finished.

Reading the Sunday Times Business Section today and his son-in-law Michael Murray is front page and spread across pages 2 and 3 whinging about Commercial Landlords charging models and basically saying that they all need to change to turnover only based rental. Bigger the turnover of the store, bigger the rent. Can you imagine trusting Ashley to declare his store turnover honestly? :lol: Would rather trust the McCanns taking my kids on holiday.

Fucking hell. I'd say we've been run like an amateur football club but that'd be so harsh on amateur football clubs.

Had no idea Barca usually launched the ball over the top 80 yards every single fucking time they've got possession in their own half.

Agreed.

Yeah agreed and if relegation is to stay how can it ever be equitable if, for example, Troy Deeney comes down with Corona and is unavailable for two weeks and even then not fully fit and yet Villa all stay fully fit? These aren't equitable circumstances, personally don't think we should have relegation threatened teams holding football hostage. Coronavirus was an unforeseen event, there's no way to deal with it equitably. The best you can do is either cancel it, or try to complete the season in whatever way you can. Relegated teams can whinge it is unfair, but if they cancelled the season, how is it fair on teams like Liverpool if they get their title season wiped out? Believe me, I'm very far from a Liverpool fan, but fair is fair. They should just take a vote from all the clubs and go with the majority decision. What would happen if a squad lost 12 players to it? I just can't see how it can be done on anywhere near a level playing field.