junkhead

PIF is by definition an investment vehicle of the Saudi government - a sovereign wealth fund. Sovereign stands for state-owned. Even if it was not central to MBS' vision 2030 fairy-tales, even if he was not explicitly named as Chairman, even if KSA was not an absolute monarchy - the link to the government is crystal clear. For instance, BeIN's claims in front of the WTO arbitrage are against the government of KSA. FWIW, I think it all comes down to one thing: - The PL is already in a billion pound relationship with Nasser Al-Khelaifi who apart from bein BeIN owner, appears to be one of the most corrupt football officials ever and the figurehead of their whole WC bid. edit: Two things after all: - Saudi Arabia is not Qatar or the flashy Emirates. It's still largely a black box to the Western world. The law and the people are ultra-conservative. There are people in the Royal family, who were born with millions but prefer to lead a tribal Bedouin-like existence in the desert.. living in tents, hunting foxes and stuff. Even in 10 years, Saudi Arabia will not be able to match the quality of production of Al-Jazeera's (BeIN). Never mind advertising revenue - 90% of western world adverts, shown on BeIN would be considered immoral to air in KSA. It's easy to see why the PL might side with their Qatari partners.

It's not that incredible, Saudi Arabia are notorious for misjudging outcomes. Their response is also predictable - Minimal cooperation. Whatever the WTO report states, they'll deny it. They have no choice really, as every other fucker in the entertainment industry - from Hollywood studios to the Australian Football League is suing them for copyright theft. Owning NUFC cannot be that important to MBS for him to back down in any way over the Qatar embargo either. If KSA and Qatar somehow strike a deal over this, then we REALLY are heading for world domination.

The Government intervention we've been waiting for? Bring on the Saudi dollars!!1!

Everybody loves Gergg but in this case he can take a bit of stick over his initial explanation

No. Saudi Arabia are free to contest it afterwards of course. There is more info in the page I linked. Not according to the ex WTO bloke of 15 years mind. Don't doubt that. The PL's decision however does not require a definitive ruling. They are free to base their decision on a 1st level panel, a draft, heresay or whatever and live with the consequences. And then be subject to court proceedings as it's not a legal document, are they really going to risk that? Argued this with you before, a reasonable opinion in law has to be based on factual evidence. Until that report is signed off then it cannot be used as factual evidence; as upon appeal the report could change. Hearsay is not admissible in court either so they wouldn't use that for a start. They could wait until the appeal takes place and the report is signed off though. I'm obviously not qualified enough to say if they would have a case but the Premier League is a private organisation and, at least on paper, they are simply following their internal procedures. The would-be owners are always free to restructure the deal so that they can pass the test. Unfortunately, that's not an option as the whole purpose of the Saudi involvement in the PL is for it to be fronted by MBS' PIF.

No. Saudi Arabia are free to contest it afterwards of course. There is more info in the page I linked. Not according to the ex WTO bloke of 15 years mind. Don't doubt that. The PL's decision however does not require a definitive ruling. They are free to base their decision on a 1st level panel, a draft, heresay or whatever and live with the consequences.

This is another cause for concern. The WTO report carries a lot of weight and the PL's hands will be clean if they base their decision on it. I realise I'm spreading negativity like fuck today but from browsing through similar WTO reports it seems that the panel's decision will be based not solely on juridical (technological in this case) evidence but on political findings too. This is something that lacks in previous third-party analyses against beoutQ and can further incriminate Saudi officials. If there's evidence of course. The Guardian claimed that it'll contain categorical evidence of government involvement. The report will be published here: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds567_e.htm There's a similar report summary (understandably not very favourable to SA at all) on the trade-related aspects of the blockade here - https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds528_e.htm As I said a few pages back, I'm sure that the political fallout of that decision would be too great for the government to allow to happen (I know they don't have any direct influence over the decision, but there will definitely be behind the scenes influence). Our government's diplomatic and financial interests are too tied up with Saudi Arabia to allow that to happen. I hope so too. It's true that there is an old diplomatic and military alliance with KSA but the UK actually trades more with Qatar nowadays and the PL already take their billions.

No. Saudi Arabia are free to contest it afterwards of course. There is more info in the page I linked.

This is another cause for concern. The WTO report carries a lot of weight and the PL's hands will be clean if they base their decision on it. I realise I'm spreading negativity like fuck today but from browsing through similar WTO reports it seems that the panel's decision will be based not solely on juridical (technological in this case) evidence but on political findings too. This is something that lacks in previous third-party analyses against beoutQ and can further incriminate Saudi officials. If there's evidence of course. The Guardian claimed that it'll contain categorical evidence of government involvement. The report will be published here: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds567_e.htm There's a similar report summary (understandably not very favourable to SA at all) on the trade-related aspects of the blockade here - https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds528_e.htm

this..ive stopped reading speculative articles and remain on course with the consortium 100% Think it's better if people start preparing mentally for the bad news. There are enough facts that confirm that Qatar are more interested in stopping this than Saudi Arabia are in owning us. As it also happens, Qatar are notoriously influential (corrupt) in football and also kick the other Gulf nations' ass economically and politically, regardless of the blockade. Care to share these 'facts'? I am repeating myself but until Qatar intervened it seemed like the deal was going through within days, as reported unofficially by Caulkin and others. Since then, they have mobilised (paid) lawyers, journalists and H. Cengiz in a seemingly consolidated effort to stop this takeover. BeIN's chief himself and PSG owner - Nasser Al-Khelaifi is set to welcome the PL CEO for a round of luxurious Gulf hospitality.. I urge people to check how many outstanding trials for football corruption there are against this guy. Unfortunately, the noises from the other side are limited to Staveley's reported ongoing optimism and SA mobilising a few bots to spread messages of future sporting glory. I hope I'm wrong obviously and there has been equal pressure applied to the PL by SA/Staveley ..

this..ive stopped reading speculative articles and remain on course with the consortium 100% Think it's better if people start preparing mentally for the bad news. There are enough facts that confirm that Qatar are more interested in stopping this than Saudi Arabia are in owning us. As it also happens, Qatar are notoriously influential (corrupt) in football and also kick the other Gulf nations' ass economically and politically, regardless of the blockade.

This confirms my fears (and posts which I've been ridiculed on). From everything that I have read about Qatar-SA relations, there's no way MBS or Al-Khelaifi will back down an inch. Even leaving aside, the latter's tendency to corrupt as many football officials as possible and the fact that the PL is already taking billions of Qatari money. This can all be avoided easily if we were brought by just some nameless Saudi royal family member, that's not what SA wants from nufc though. Most likely it's either PIF or no Saudi involvement. Well, it was fun dreaming of football domination for a while, now we can all enjoy the mother of all comedowns. :'( :'( :'( :'(

The ones I ended up disliking the most are those that featured more. A truly ugly team.. Look at that midfield!! R.Elliot Carr - S. Taylor - Williamson - Dummett Smith - Butt - Colback Obertan - Owen - Duff

I only ever bet on our games (against us) when I'm fairly sure of the outcome.. I made very good money during the Pardew years and pretty much stopped when Rafa arrived. Been waiting all season for Brucie's trademark complacency to kick in and I think the Sheff Utd game is a great opportunity. Was expecting slightly higher odds but I put some money on Sheff Utd win in both halves; to not concede and to win by at least 2 goals - 9/1.

My thoughts exactly. It will be identical to last year except this one actually made it to the O&D tests. So not identical then.... Identical as in we never really got to hear why that deal never came off. All we got was a newspaper interview from Ashley with him whining on & asking why a wealthy arab Prince could not just stump up a few extra million if he wanted NUFC so badly. There was no bin Zayed bid ffs.. it was obvious even at the time.

Little Qatar are a remarkable nation.. one of the most powerful right now in terms of wealth and soft power.. their influence doesn't stop at football. Has anyone seen a critical documentary on Qatar? Frontline PBS, VICE, YouTube? Fair enough there might be nothing to critisize but still.. Can't see them back down easily over the beIN thing, they hold all the cards in the conflict.

They might need to intervene for the takeover to go through. The PL board is seemingly already in Qatar's pocket What evidence do you have to suggest that "The PL board is seemingly already in Qatar's pocket"? They've already bought FIFA with its 100s of delegates. I'm sure influencing several anonymous members of the PL board to stop (an already unpopular) takeover of a club no one cares about, is well within their powers. Qatar's foreign policy is based on such excersizes in soft power. And they already have а multi-billion relationship with the PL. What MBS is attempting to do now - diversify through PIF, the Qatari's have been doing since the 90s. They kick Saudi's ass left, right and center right now and I think this failed takeover would be another small win in their economic war. So none then? And if it goes through, are they still in Qatar's pocket? All the delay is because of Qatar's involvement. People surely can spot that.. or are we into the 3rd month of checks, cause the PL cannot afford to hire lawyers and economists? So no actual evidence then? A rejection on the basis of unproven piracy concerns would be enough for me. I don't have evidence of corruption on FIFA either.. anybody gonna claim that the WC is hosted in the desert due to footballing reasons?

They might need to intervene for the takeover to go through. The PL board is seemingly already in Qatar's pocket What evidence do you have to suggest that "The PL board is seemingly already in Qatar's pocket"? They've already bought FIFA with its 100s of delegates. I'm sure influencing several anonymous members of the PL board to stop (an already unpopular) takeover of a club no one cares about, is well within their powers. Qatar's foreign policy is based on such excersizes in soft power. And they already have а multi-billion relationship with the PL. What MBS is attempting to do now - diversify through PIF, the Qatari's have been doing since the 90s. They kick Saudi's ass left, right and center right now and I think this failed takeover would be another small win in their economic war. So none then? And if it goes through, are they still in Qatar's pocket? All the delay is because of Qatar's involvement. People surely can spot that.. or are we into the 3rd month of checks, cause the PL cannot afford to hire lawyers and economists?

They might need to intervene for the takeover to go through. The PL board is seemingly already in Qatar's pocket What evidence do you have to suggest that "The PL board is seemingly already in Qatar's pocket"? They've already bought FIFA with its 100s of delegates. I'm sure influencing several anonymous members of the PL board to stop (an already unpopular) takeover of a club no one cares about, is well within their powers. Qatar's foreign policy is based on such excersizes in soft power. And they already have а multi-billion relationship with the PL. What MBS is attempting to do now - diversify through PIF, buying soft power.. the Qatari's have been doing since the 90s. They kick Saudi's ass left, right and center right now and I think this failed takeover would be another small win in their economic war.

They might need to intervene for the takeover to go through. The PL board is seemingly already in Qatar's pocket

Unfortunately I agree. Qatar are simply too influential.

That's how I feel. Personally, I don't see why we as fans should strive to be impartial or even objective on matters that don't concern us at all. My only real concerns about the potential Saudi involvement is the lack of expertise in PIF, the worry that they might be hands-on in terms of decision making at the club and their relations with the other shareholders in nufc. Everything else is not my fight to fight.

His sons can't really say anything if they want to continue living in SA. They have also reportedly severed their ties with their father years ago..

Doubt that the Muslim brotherhood and Al-Thani family will donate millions to your foundation though..

There are very obvious hidden agendas though. This woman is no-more a freedom fighter than Richard Keys in this case - A high profile name who is being paid to defend Qatar's interests. Even leaving aside the fact that she's met "the love of her life" - a 60-year old guy with three previous marriages - less than 10 times. They've known each other for 5 months, the first 3 of which they only chatted. The moralists on here should rest easy though - her Qatari overlords dwarf Saudi Arabia in any way imaginable and I have little doubt that their influence will stop this takeover, so that we can continue with our honourable lives under Ashley's ownership. You sound like those Saudi troll accounts on Twitter Well done. I'm not defending Saudi Arabia.