Chris_R

Well, he wasn't wrong.

Fucking nailed on that the Saudi bid collapses and we end up with this penniless cunt. Honestly, fuck football.

If it's true, he's probably bidding £350m because Ashley is lending him the money to buy the club, which will then be paid back to Ashley by taking out a loan against the club's value. The extra £50m is Ashley's "loan fee". That's the only rational explanation. Guess who wins again etc.

Most of us are worth more than Henry Mauriss.

It's just "so Newcastle" to go from the richest consortium on Earth being (hypothetcially) rejected to someone with no money whatsoever being accepted. Whole club can just fuck off. If Mauriss happens I'm done. All hope is gone, at least with Ashley there's the vague hope he sells soon but with a new owner even that's gone and Mauriss has no money.

Honestly, probably less than mine. Utter chancer and a fraud.

Seriously, he can fuck right off. He doesn't have any money. I'd honestly rather keep Ashley, at least he can actually afford to own and run us.

Nothing can block the takeover. That's not what the PL are potentially doing. They're saying that if the takeover happens, Newcastle can't play in the PL because MBS (presumably) is on their "not allowed" list. Newcastle then have to choose between the takeover, which legally cannot be stopped, and playing in the PL, which is nothing but a glorified members club. Don’t be daft, PIF’s lawyers will be all over this report forensically, and MBS won’t be sitting in the boardroom, he isn’t a named director of the club. For about the millionth time, he doesn't have to be a named director. He just has to be someone the PL think will have influence over the club, which as PIF's chairman he clearly does. I mean, I've literally linked to this part of the O&Ds' test a load of times.

Nothing can block the takeover. That's not what the PL are potentially doing. They're saying that if the takeover happens, Newcastle can't play in the PL because MBS (presumably) is on their "not allowed" list. Newcastle then have to choose between the takeover, which legally cannot be stopped, and playing in the PL, which is nothing but a glorified members club.

They don't. At least not directly. But they can tell Newcastle United that they won't be allowed in the PL with someone they disapprove of in a position of power. But then you cycle that forward: Newcastle's options are play outside the PL (Because the PL aren't potentially stopping the takeover per se, they're just saying Newcastle can't join our club), Newcastle ensure they don't have that person in a position of power (takeover collapses), or they ask the PL what can be done to allow this person to both be in a position of power and Newcastle be in the PL. That's when the PL say "well, if the person in question (MBS) would clamp down on piracy, we're all good." So they can't directly order SA to clamp down on piracy, but indirectly they can say it's a condition of Newcastle playing in the PL with him in a position of authority / control over the club.

BeoutQ has been closed down, last August, what more can they do? Allow Qatar to prosecute the individuals concerned? That's basically what the entire WTO thing is about, Saudi Arabia's refusal to allow this to happen. There’s servers in the UK offering illegal streams, how many prosecutions do you hear of. It’s not easy to catch the perpetrators as you think and I guess it’s the same in any country. That's irrelevant. They've literally been denied the right to prosecute on the grounds of diplomacy, what, 9 times they've tried? So as to "what more could they do?" the answer is clear - Allow those prosecutions to take place. That's not saying they must convict, but they should at least have the right to be tested in a court.

Definitely. Here's a company selling it. http://www.andre-champagne.com/ (Although technically I think it might be sparkling wine, despite the URL) You can't call is champagne unless it's made in the champagne region and it follows the correct process of which part is the bottling process and turning the bottles etc. Fully aware of this, but they literally call it champagne on their site. Repeatedly. But hence why I referred to it as sparkling wine. Anyway, if this goes through I'll drink anything. Even the thus-far untouched bottle of 70% ABV "Mount Etna Fire Water"we brought back from, well, Mount Etna, which we've so far been unable to face is looking in jeopardy.

BeoutQ has been closed down, last August, what more can they do? Allow Qatar to prosecute the individuals concerned? That's basically what the entire WTO thing is about, Saudi Arabia's refusal to allow this to happen.

Definitely. Here's a company selling it. http://www.andre-champagne.com/ (Although technically I think it might be sparkling wine, despite the URL)

"spewing the same drivel" = linking and referring to actual clauses of the owner and directors' test, relating that to the personnel involved in PIF, and saying there'll be problems. Which I've said from day 1, and oh look, there's now problems. Just because you don't want to believe there are problems, and that this will therefore likely fail, doesn't mean that my posts are drivel. Especially as the things I've said look like they might well happen. Sorry for not toeing the "mindless optimism" line and just spending my time writing "CANS!" and speculating on what players we'll buy with our billions whilst shouting that PIF and SA are separate so this can't possibly fail. I didn't realise that was the only thing anyone was allowed to post in here, sorry. I've said repeatedly I'll be delighted to be wrong. I'm not saying the test WILL fail, I'm saying I EXPECT it to fail based on my understanding of the PL's Owner and directors' test. It might still pass, and I sincerely hope it does. I'll be posting on here if it does pass, of course I will. Why wouldn't I? And I certainly won't be gloating if I'm correct and the test fails because as a fan I'll be as gutted as anyone. And with that I'm done. I'll just read from now until there's a decision one way or the other, this has taken enough of my life over the past 3 months and like everyone I'm utterly exhausted by it.

Why? Shit as he is in the PL, he'd improve them greatly and is far better than anything else they've got.

Or that it has failed and PIF have appealed. The PL won't publicly announce any pass or fail, so we could at any point be in the appeals stage. We could be there already....

I've literally quoted the test from the PL's website and highlighted the relevant bits. You have your head so far in the sand it's hilarious, though I understand why as I we all want this to go through but so many have lost the ability to think critically and objectively over this. I'm not willing to spend my day going in circular arguments so I'll just say as I've said to others when I've reached this point: Time will tell, and I hope for the sake of this club and my own enjoyment that I'm wrong. I'll be delighted to be wrong, genuinely, but I maintain my stance which I've had since this first all started.

Whose chairman owns the fucking country. Why are people so blind to this being an issue? Do people just have their heads in the sand? There's not a chance on earth this goes through. Zero. The directors' test says anyone who might have an influence over the club has to be squeaky clean, and not "reasonably" thought to have done anything like, I dunno, be involved in piracy. Can you think of anyone who has connections to PIF who this might apply to? I've been saying this for weeks. Doesn’t fucking matter it’s about PIF being a separate legal entity. lol thats not how it works Legally yes that’s how it works. Yeah, for the test on PIF, sure. But they also look at anyone involved in PIF who might have some significant say in the running of the club, and what they may have been involved with in other parts of their life. The fact that he did that outside of PIF is utterly irrelevant. It's this bit.... You can't tell me with a straight face that MBS doesn't fall into any of this bit. Especially the last, bolded bit, because he's the chairman of PIF. I get that PIF and Saudi Arabia are separate entities, but that's not the argument I'm having. They'll reject PIF on the grounds that MBS is the chairman and outside of PIF there's enough to say that... This gets rejected, for those reasons. It's about MBS and what he's done outside of PIF, and PIF cannot be separated from him as a person because he's the chairman. It's nothing to do with whether PIF and SA are separate, people need to stop banging that drum, it's a distraction and an irrelevance.

Whose chairman owns the fucking country. Why are people so blind to this being an issue? Do people just have their heads in the sand? There's not a chance on earth this goes through. Zero. The directors' test says anyone who might have an influence over the club has to be squeaky clean, and not "reasonably" thought to have done anything like, I dunno, be involved in piracy. Can you think of anyone who has connections to PIF who this might apply to? I've been saying this for weeks.

It's a positive paragraph to read, but just because FIFA isn't implying something at this point doesn't mean FIFA doesn't think it's happening. Those would be 2 very different statements.

This. Absolutely nothing in it. None of you fuckers would have gotten sacked for that no matter what your job is. What if you were press officer for the Simon Weisenthal Centre?

If it’s a fail, there’ll be an appeal, if that fails I would think potential legal action. It could go on a bit longer. Do you think they would definitely appeal. My worry is they'd try elsewhere. Where, it’s the PL they want into, biggest league in the world, global coverage. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk It's only the biggest league in the world because it has the most money and the best players. But if both of those go elsewhere.....? No reason for that to change, PL is the richest and biggest for a reason. You're not suggesting that the Saudis buying a club in another League would be enough to even begin to dethrone the PL are you? I don't know the answer to that. But things are not beyond being able to be changed. It's only what, 25-30 years since Serie A was at least as big if not bigger than the PL. They certainly had all the biggest players. I remember watching Football Italia and being astonished that Italian spectators were being charged over £30 per ticket when I'd rock up at Newcastle and pay £3 on the door, admittedly as a 14-year old in the second division. They had the players, they had the spectators, the grounds, the money, the exposure. Then Sky came along and everyone came to the PL instead. I'm not for one second saying things will change, but things can change, we're not above being dethroned as the self-proclaimed biggest and best league in the world and the world's richest consortium buying a club in a different league and whilst it won't tip the scales entirely on its own, it can't be overlooked as something which may alter the balance of power between the different leagues at least a bit. The French league has already gone up in everyone's eyes because of what's happened with PSG. Anything can change over the course of 25-30 years, but with regard to the Saudis they aren't buying well into the future they're buying now. If they want a club in the biggest league then for the foreseeable future that means the PL. I get that. But if they can't have us, they can't have another team in this league so they either walk away from football altogether, or they try with someone in a different league.

If it’s a fail, there’ll be an appeal, if that fails I would think potential legal action. It could go on a bit longer. Do you think they would definitely appeal. My worry is they'd try elsewhere. Where, it’s the PL they want into, biggest league in the world, global coverage. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk It's only the biggest league in the world because it has the most money and the best players. But if both of those go elsewhere.....? No reason for that to change, PL is the richest and biggest for a reason. You're not suggesting that the Saudis buying a club in another League would be enough to even begin to dethrone the PL are you? I don't know the answer to that. But things are not beyond being able to be changed. It's only what, 25-30 years since Serie A was at least as big if not bigger than the PL. They certainly had all the biggest players. I remember watching Football Italia and being astonished that Italian spectators were being charged over £30 per ticket when I'd rock up at Newcastle and pay £3 on the door, admittedly as a 14-year old in the second division. They had the players, they had the spectators, the grounds, the money, the exposure. Then Sky came along and everyone came to the PL instead. I'm not for one second saying things will change, but things can change, we're not above being dethroned as the self-proclaimed biggest and best league in the world and the world's richest consortium buying a club in a different league and whilst it won't tip the scales entirely on its own, it can't be overlooked as something which may alter the balance of power between the different leagues at least a bit. The French league has already gone up in everyone's eyes because of what's happened with PSG.

If it’s a fail, there’ll be an appeal, if that fails I would think potential legal action. It could go on a bit longer. Do you think they would definitely appeal. My worry is they'd try elsewhere. Where, it’s the PL they want into, biggest league in the world, global coverage. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk It's only the biggest league in the world because it has the most money and the best players. But if both of those go elsewhere.....?