Chris_R

Beheadings

That doesn't make any sense. You can't say "We were fine to pirate your matches because you sold them illegally". That's laughable.

Hopefully we'll catch the end of it.

Is this a guess or do you know it for sure? For sure Maybe it's already approved then, and just waiting on funds to transfer? Once the PL have done that approval, Saudi Arabia could pull this kind of stunt and whilst the PL might be sat there facepalming back at PL HQ, it's too late. It's possible the Saudis have just been sat waiting for approval from the PL for the takeover to do this to BeIN. Fucking hell, I think I've just been optimistic about this.

It sums this takeover up that I don't even know what is good news or bad news anymore.

Well he is, because that's literally from his own website. Irrespective, as a functioning adult who is promulgating information to the masses, the very least he should do is have a basic grasp of grammar. Unless he's comfortable with his slapstick writing detracting from the credibility (ha!) of his words.

Idiot can't even use apostrophes correctly: 3 instances of "the Sauid's". From a supposed professional sports writer?

For anyone not wanting to give his site a click: That's all he says about it.

Quite the opposite my confidence is growing by the day think where very close. The Saudi announcement re intellectual property today feels significant. Everything feels significant, until it’s not. So many events looked like being the catalyst to spark the final push, then it just fizzles out time again. If we’re not careful it’ll end up being a documentary on Netflix. I don't think even Netflix would want to screen 47 series of fuck all.

Why does that not appear what's happening, because nobody has specifically informed you? You realise these things go on behind closed doors, don't you? Or do you genuinely believe that the PL have been sat with all the information in front of them and just been unable to decide anything for 14 weeks? Because that's laughable. That would indeed be incompetence, but there's no reason at all to think that's what's happening. The PL have not liked at least some of what they've seen, probably the rampant state-sponsored piracy in SA which we all in our hearts know is or at least was happening, and that MBS is the chairman of PIF and therefore a person of influence and a potential shadow director of NUFC. Therefore they've had (and may still have) things to sort out. There was no way this could pass in its initial format, so we should be grateful the PL seem to be giving Saudi Arabia a chance to satisfactorily put its house in order. If and when they do that to the PLs satisfaction, this passes. If they fail to do that, this fails. But nobody is just sitting round day after day going "You know what, I'm still not sure. Let's have another look at it tomorrow lads!" Yes, it's incredibly frustrating. But I we've just got to wait it out because changes on a national level probably need to be seen to be happening before the PL can approve this.

If the Saudis haven't satisfied the PL's requirements, there's only 3 ways forward: 1) Change the requirements 2) Fail the Saudis 3) Give them more time to make the changes they need to make to satisfy the PL 1) Isn't happening, and nor should it. I'm not in favour of 2) for obvious reasons. Guess we're at 3), which doesn't equate to incompetence at all. Just because nobody has told us anything and it isn't resolved yet doesn't mean anyone is being incompetent.

Well, the de factor ruler of the country being the chairman of the purchasing company is possibly a clue.

Superb.

True, but I bet you still can't make it add up to more than 70k over the past 4 months. Not to the people who are dead as a result, they're still just as dead. And don't for one second say that us having all these Covid deaths is incompetence, because it isn't. Johnson sat on TV and suggested we "take it on the chin". Cummings was quoted as saying in a briefing that if a few thousand pensioners had to die then so be it. The government only changed from a herd immunity plan when they learned that well over 250,000 deaths would be required to achieve it and they stopped, not because those deaths were unpalatable to them, but that they'd be unpalatable to the public. The deaths we're seeing now absolutely ARE malice from this government. Just because they didn't actually cut someone's head off doesn't make them any less responsible.

Our government has killed 70,000 of its own citizens, openly chasing a herd immunity policy for Covid19 because they thought it might be a bit better for the economy (It wasn't). Yet I'm supposed to get pissy about one journalist to the extent that I start wanting to keep Mike Ashley? Get the fuck out of here. Yeah, what happened to him was terrible, genuinely so. I'm not belittling it. But I'm 70,000 times more angry with the Tories than I am with Saudi Arabia right now.

I've spent countless months working in Saudi, I know enough of their failings first hand (and good points) as a country, and I'll certainly be critical of them when appropriate. There's lots wrong with Saudi Arabia politically. But you know what? I judge the owner of my football club on the basis of how they run the football club. Mike Ashley has catastrophically failed there. I'm not a journalist, I'm not an MP, I'm not an Amnesty International activist. I'm just a football fan, and Newcastle are my club, they always will be. Ultimately, my primary judgement on the owner of my club will be based on how they run that club. Provided that aspect is done well, I'll leave the finger-pointing and tutting to those whose job it is to tut and point fingers at those other things. I will probably even vocally agree with them whilst they do it, but I can let shit slide to a large extent if we're being well-run. And by well-run, I couldn't give a toss about winning anything, I just want a well-run club which tries its hardest to compete and uses its own revenue to reinvest in its facilities and staff. If the British government see fit to keep trading with the Saudis and the Queen will have lunch with them, then why should football fans be expected to hound them out and deny themselves the pleasure of supporting a team which is being well-run and hell, may even win something for the first time in the memory of anyone who doesn't actually need drugs to survive? What I've had over the last decade and a bit is a shell of a club, with a man owning it stripping all the revenue out of it so the club shops are just re-badged Sports Directs and we get nothing from the sales, we don't get the catering money, half the adverts are for SD with him paying a token fee for the privilege. He just uses us as a glorified advertising hoarding for his tatty, chav sports shops, targeting 17th each year whilst spending the least he humanly can just so he can keep that advertising hoarding on TV whilst stating openly that trying to win a cup doesn't make economical sense ffs. Screw enduring even a single second more of that, it's fucking miserable. If this goes through I may hate the new owners for their politics, but I'll take them gladly to end a decade of hating the whole club which is far worse, so that I can fill what has frankly become a void in my life on match days. I'll take so that I can stop wanting my own team to lose because getting out of the Premier League for an extended period seemed the only way to get rid of Ashley so I could have a team that actually tries again, even if in a lower division, a team whose successes, however relative, and however modest would at least be something I could enjoy because the club would be trying to improve. Not being able to support your own football club is horrible, and it's not like most of us can pick another one either. I just want a team to support again, even if I can't support the owners. I just want to enjoy matchdays again, supporting a club that wants to be the best it can be. Football has always been a big part of my life from my childhood onwards, I've been stuck in limbo for a decade and that vacuum has been awful. So no, I cannot and will not ever oppose this takeover.

I think she's a little confused if she thinks our anger at Mike Ashley is over his mistreatment of journalists.

Indeed. Mainly because the PL are infinitely more concerned about piracy than dismembered journalists.

Really? Well that's my hope. In reality, fuck knows.

On the other hand, it seems difficult for the PL to try to enforce higher standards than the British government themselves.

So the 5 soon-to-be executed Saudis who were convicted of the Khashoggi murder and the 3 with 24-year sentences now can't do business with us anymore. Bet they're devastated. That's them told. Complete fucking waste of time, as anticipated.

Yeah, that's been a positive, certainly. But there's also been no positive news. We used to get all kinds of rumours that an announcement was coming. Part of me wonders if these were accurate, that something WAS supposed to be happening on some of those dates, but another letter arrived or whatever and things got pushed back. Now we don't even get the rumours anymore. I guess what I'm saying is that it used to feel perpetually close to a resolution. There was excitement. Now it doesn't feel remotely close, even though we're further along in time. It just feels frustrating and annoying.

Remember when we used to get 'ITK' rumours of announcements, with times and dates attached to them? I actually miss those days. The last 3 weeks its just been utter radio silence. There's not even been any excitement.

There's literally 0% chance that the UK government impose any kind of sanctions on Saudi Arabia. That's right at the very top of the "not happening" list. In 6 months time they'll be about the only country in the world we'll do any kind of meaningful amount of trading with.

It's just because of Brexit, doubt there'll be any actual difference to who we trade with. If anything, because Brexit is such a terrible idea economically, we'll be desperate to trade with literally anyone. There's zero chance we pie off the EU and then tell the Saudis to jog on as well. That's just not happening.