geordiesteve710

Well I was curious about this line. "The Premier League has already offered independent arbitration, rejected by the bidders, who say their ownership structure - with the PIF an independent investment vehicle as set out in its charter - and business plan were clear. " Have not seen any mention of that before, and why reject a potential arbitration that might actually agree with them? As far as I can tell the Crown Prince WhateverHisNameIs appointed the director of PIF to run the investment vehicle and doesn't interfere with it. By what right does the PL have to say "We don't believe you". If you go back to that interview with the PIF director, it was posted, he describes how he was appointed and what his remit was for the PIF. He seems to be doing a brilliant job. NUFC would be a tiny slice of PIF's investment portfolio, why the f*** would the Crown Prince be interfering at all. I would imagine that the PLs argument would be that if the Crown Prince appointed the head of the PIF then presumably he could also sack* him and hire somebody else instead if he became dissatisfied with, for example, the PIFs strategy. If so then there is an argument that the head of the PIF has to do what the crown prince wants and the PIF is therefore in effect under the control od the Crown Prince. Obviously this all depends on the finer details of the operation/structure of the PIF etc. I was also intrigued by the phrase you highlighted in bold. If it's true it doesn't look good does it. *was going to write terminate here then realised it could be open to misinterpretation...

Or they're just putting any plans for potential signings & managers on hold whilst they throw all their eggs in one basket and try and push the takeover through. Or it could even be that Immobiles agent has decided that his client would like a payrise and any rumours of this sort, even if it's complete bollocks, would give him the justification to demand one? We just don't know.

Look forward to reading the transcripts of that Geordie baiting session. I think you’ll find Simon Jordan will be very much on our side. Balanced no doubt but he’s no fan of the EPL. I always thought he loved to rile our fans up. Am I getting him mixed up with someone else? Is Steve Parish a prick about us? He's Ashley's mate. When we were giving him stick we were deluded geordie idiots, now Ashley wants to sell the club he will say we have been treated diagracefully by the PL and deserved better. To be taken with a shovel of salt at all times.

Fucking hell. Must say, I hadn't really bought into a lot of the "conspiracy" stuff flying around, but that is really bad. A bit twilight zone-y that the tone of the article is along the lines of "Pete has been naughty and his employer won't be happy" and not "Sky gag presenter for sharing petition requesting their commercial partner show transparency."

f***ing hell, it is Chopra.

Definitely. If not then we're all making tits out of ourselves for absolutely nothing

That will definitely be their angle if they ever do have to make a statement, and I think that's fair enough to a point. But when PIFs answer* is to say no we don't think that's fair and we're not making amendments to our proposed directors then the PL really should (as you're kind of alluding to) be formally rejecting it. * this is an assumption based on staveleys comments- of course nobody knows what exactly has happened apart from the parties involved in the negotiations. Fucking hell. I did not know that our own FA voted for Qatar not really sure why I'm surprised either.

So how do they get out of this? Do nothing? Ain't going to work now, they have to make a decision and take a side. They're not fit for purpose and need to be reformed. Abolish the PL and bring the whole shebang back under the purview of either the FA or the government. If the big clubs cry and f*** off to form a european super borefest then all the better. I like the sentiment but it would actually destroy the English game Debatable. Putting aside that a European Super League is unlikely to ever happen for several reasons, it's entirely reasonable to conclude that the top 6 need English football more than the rest of English football needs the top 6. Anyone in a hurry to watch Villa vs Fulham? Don’t get me wrong, I agree with the PL showing it’s true colours and showing themselves as a farcical organisation but without those big clubs English Football would be of a much lower standard. Yes, for starters Villa and Fulham fans. The top 6 aren't the be all and end all in English football and there are other clubs who have big fanbases such as Villa, ourselves, Everton, the mackems, Leeds, Sheffield clubs, West Ham. Villa vs Fulham also becomes a lot more attractive to the neutral when the league as a whole is more competitive and it's not just about the battle for 15th. Granted the overseas interest and tv money won't be the same but that's a hit English football could take in the medium to long term- just means squad players who mainly sit on the bench will have to settle for a more reasonable wage than 50k a week plus to do so. Big loss.

So how do they get out of this? Do nothing? Ain't going to work now, they have to make a decision and take a side. They're not fit for purpose and need to be reformed. Abolish the PL and bring the whole shebang back under the purview of either the FA or the government. If the big clubs cry and f*** off to form a european super borefest then all the better. I like the sentiment but it would actually destroy the English game Debatable. Putting aside that a European Super League is unlikely to ever happen for several reasons, it's entirely reasonable to conclude that the top 6 need English football more than the rest of English football needs the top 6.

This is it. When you cut through the noise, the outrage (from all angles) and the bulllshit, this is what it's ultimately going to come down to. If there's no credible legal comeback on rejecting or refusing to make a decision then there is no way the PL are going to approve or negotiate potentially doing so in good faith.

:lol:

Romario and Bebeto

My theory is (and this is based on the square root of fuck all other than gut feeling) that they hope to ratchet the pressure up on the PL. The PL see the letters from MPs, columns from serious journalists pointing out how flawed the process has been, dissussions surrounding an independent body to apply the O&D tests etc etc and realise it's not going to jusy blow over and they need to engage with this properly and stop taking the piss. Once that has happened I'm hoping that Staveley will have something up her sleeve, ideally in the form of another concession from the Saudis, that will allow the PL to approve the deal but also save face at the same time. I can't see that it's going to get approved without an olive branch of some sort from the consortium. On the other hand it appears the PL will do anything to drag it on as opposed to rejecting and having to defend their decision on appeal. So either way the alternative of sitting doing nothing needs to be made as unpalatable as possible.

This is not true. It's been repeated many (many) times, but it's not true. Strictly speaking. According to the rules, every club that wins promotion must submit their directors to the PL O&D test: However, immediately above this is another curiosity: It strikes me, and I've said this before, the problem isn't that the rules aren't being followed. It's that they're not being followed equitably. Because, by my reading of that, each club has to list all their directors (and owners and controlling interests) and declare that they are fit and proper persons to be a director in the PL. (NB "Fit and proper person" in this context means has not committed any "disqualifying events" that would prevent him from being a director)

Nails it. The PL don't appear to have applied the test in the spirit in which it was drawn up at all. And is this why they won’t reject it because they would lose the appeal. Even if this pressure makes them make a decision and reject it, that maybe is what the consortium are after. As far as I can see that's what the consortium's gameplan is now. Kick up enough of a fuss that the PL has to make a decision one way or the other. If it's s no- which it likely will be without any further concessions- then they have an appealable decision they can take to CAS

From that full statement it looked like he was sitting on the fence tbh and supporting both sides. probably can't say much more publicly in case of being accused of government interference in football which brings down fifa like a ton of bricks True but I would have thought if the takeover going through was so important to him he would have stepped in by now and told the PL they need to approve. with what leverage though? He could try and put a bit of pressure behind the scenes or whatever but he can't order them to do it The only leverage the PL recognises- revenue streams. For example the Government is in charge of when spectators are allowed back into stadiums and to what extent and the PL will be keen to get as many back in as soon as possible and won't want to piss them off. For clarification I'm not saying that's what the PM will, could or should do but that's an example just off the top of my head of the leverage the Government can have over the EPL without ordering them to do something.

Nails it. The PL don't appear to have applied the test in the spirit in which it was drawn up at all.

I presume Crayon was already taken. Is Ryder on the forum like?

This is one of the dafter angles (and they're all pretty daft) being pushed. There doesn't need to be any shadowy links between the Premier League and Qatar - Qatar pump 100s of millions of pounds into the Premier League's coffers every year as a result of the beIN deal. That's the financial link that's important and it's in the public domain. Everything else is conspiratorial fantasy that will come to absolutely nothing. This. People seem to think that it's illegitimate for the premier league to listen to concerns of a major customer. Of course they do, it's not shady it's the real world and if say some business i was in a long term contract did formed a partnership with someone who was stealing from me, of course it would be a problem. There's no doubt in my mind that that precise commercial reality is what has dictated the PLs attitude in how they've applied the test to this takeover. Thing is, there's nothing in the O&D test (as far as I understand, happy to be corrected if there is) that says it can fail because the prospective owners have (or maybe that should say "are connected to an organisation which has") upset one of the league's commercial partners. I'd bet everything I have that after this is done and dusted it will swiftly be updated to include such a clause mind.

Add Lindon Gooch and Donald Love if they're still there and you've got the cast of a porno nobody wants to see. Donald Does Dallas Stuart Dallas?? Not a chance he's dropping two divisions to sign for these.

Very good, but what the PL seems to have completely overlooked in all this is even if the PL accepted MBS as a director of PIF, as the Crown Prince, does he really have the inclination to get involved in the politics of running a football club, when he has a massive country to run. Anyway why doesn't PIF set up a limited company in Al Rumayan's name and make him the owner/managing director/Chairman of that company and have that company buy us, in much the same way Sheikh Mansoor did with Man City. That would sever any direct link to the SA government and MBS. Everyone knows that the club belongs to Mansoor, and if he told them to sell the club to a third party and place the money into his bank account it would be done. If they're contending that MBS ultimately controls PIF then PIF establishing another company in someone else's name only wouldn't solve the matter if that company is controlled by PIF as PL would argue that MBS still controls that company via PIF. The Mansoor comparison is an interesting one and one that I'm sure the PL are not finding very helpful at the moment!!!

Yep. This is what sticks in the craw for me- that was probably the one singular event which signalled the start of Newcastles fall from grace (although of course since then it has nearly all been self-inflicted.) Without missing out on the top 4 in 2003/4 Robson doesn't get sacked, there's no Souness nearly bankrupting the club whilst simultaneously ruining the first team squad beyond all recognition and potentially no Mike Ashley. IIRC nobody from Newcastle ever came out and said Chelseas takeover wasn't fair or immoral, we just got on with trying (badly) to complete. So why should other clubs get the chance to whinge on and influence matters when we're in a similar position?

Add Lindon Gooch and Donald Love if they're still there and you've got the cast of a porno nobody wants to see.