Happinesstan

"We've had success with UK based players"? Aren't all of our players UK based?

"The" only L O G I C A L outcome "is" that it MUST "be" C L O S E D Wait!!! Interesting how happy some people are when there is news that could negatively impact on our Takeover. Are you all from Sunderland? Nobody is happy about it. Other than Luke Edwards and Steve Bruce. You can't differentiate people wanting it to happen and not believing it will? Weird. Him and Whitley have had similar views about this in the past. Not being blindly optimistic = don't want it to happen/apparently mackem now as well. IMO, this thread would have been quite at home in the Twitter bullshit thread, it seems to be all it's about....... "Let's get ahead of ourselves over random twitter 'ITK's' and call it optimism". Missing the point, again, guys. Posting "smiley emojis" when negative news appears is what I am referring to . . as I am sure you know. Why do some people show this happiness at bad news, then (when they are brought to account) deny it afterwards? How about coming clean for once? Surely you cannot actually be happy about negative news about the Takeover? My Happiness was cancelled by the cancel culture people a few years back.

Not to start going around in circles again but the takeover was never rejected. That's the whole issue with this sorry saga. The PL have allowed this to drag on by not laying their own laws down and putting an end to it. I keep saying the same thing to some of the knackers on here. The Premier League neither rejected or accepted the takeover. They did f#ck all. That's the whole point of Ashley taking them to task. Because Masters and his mates REFUSED to make a decision without any given reason. Who says thats even the process? I think, in order to approve the sale the PL asked PIF to provide 'XYZ' in relation to MBS and PIF and PIF failed to do so. As such, the sale was never approved, but as the PL didnt receive 'XYZ' they didn't have grounds to reject it either. As far as I can see, despite bluster, buyer confidence and loads of bread, the situation hasn't changed one single bit in about a year. Until PIF can demonstrate that they're a separate entity from KSA the sale will remain unapproved. Whether De Marco can go some way to prove that, remains to be seen. He'll need to be a miracle worker to be able to deny what seems very much blatant. I didn't think it had anything to do with the sale of the club, only the Owners and Directors test. I thought that was the final hurdle that had to be jumped. The buyers appear to have not been able to pass it but instead of the PL saying "Sorry, you haven't provided the necessary qualifying evidence in the required time frame therefore you have failed the test", they've just let it drag on and on. I mean, they are a terrible organisation so it's feasible, but it doesn't seem a very good practice for a multi billion pound organisation to not have a proper closing process to this kind of test. It seems to be either you pass it, or is just sits in a filing tray forever. Unless the time frame is about five years of course A terrible organisation vs Ashley. We never really had any right to expect this to be straightforward.

Not to start going around in circles again but the takeover was never rejected. That's the whole issue with this sorry saga. The PL have allowed this to drag on by not laying their own laws down and putting an end to it. Didn't they claim they were awaiting requested information. And then PIF announced they were pulling out. My best guess [because that's what it is] is that they requested information that PIF weren't prepared to divulge. Perhaps information that, in their opinion, they have no right to request. Could well be a stalemate. They did but for a test that is supposed to take 2-4 weeks, you'd think that their internal process would be set that if the necessary information isn't provided within a reasonable time frame, then the test would be rejected and not just left open forever until someone comes up with something. Supposed to take 2-4 weeks if things go as planned. I'm sure I read in somebody's quote of the process, that they get 5 days to respond to requests for information, but [and I'm not 100% on this] I remember also reading about eventualities that can reset the clock. I assume that the PL were communicating with Ashley and I wouldn't put it past him to piss about.

Not to start going around in circles again but the takeover was never rejected. That's the whole issue with this sorry saga. The PL have allowed this to drag on by not laying their own laws down and putting an end to it. Didn't they claim they were awaiting requested information. And then PIF announced they were pulling out. My best guess [because that's what it is] is that they requested information that PIF weren't prepared to divulge. Perhaps information that, in their opinion, they have no right to request. Could well be a stalemate. PIF provided legal evidence and court documents to say they were legally so stated from the Saudi State. The Premier League kept asking for documents to say they were separated by the Saudi state. How can you gain more evidence then what they provided. I don't know. What I do know is that the PL haven't backed down, in a year. And I'm sure they have legal advisors too. Maybe they'll employ the legal advice team that secured the purchase of Burnley. That would be interesting.

Not to start going around in circles again but the takeover was never rejected. That's the whole issue with this sorry saga. The PL have allowed this to drag on by not laying their own laws down and putting an end to it. Didn't they claim they were awaiting requested information. And then PIF announced they were pulling out. My best guess [because that's what it is] is that they requested information that PIF weren't prepared to divulge. Perhaps information that, in their opinion, they have no right to request. Could well be a stalemate.

Can't remember what it was exactly, but only a week ago there was already talk of relations cooling between US and SA. Some sort of trade agreement had been torn up, or something. Might have been arms trade, but it is definitely a sign that things are changing. Can't find any of the reports now, like. The US is reliant on Saudi oil not a chance. They’ve halted arms deals that’s about it. There is no way the U.K. will follow suit after brexit, not a chance. This will blow over as everything else has it’s a non event. In 2019 SA accounted for about 7% of US oil imports, I'm sure Venezuela can cover that.

"The" only L O G I C A L outcome "is" that it MUST "be" C L O S E D Wait!!! Interesting how happy some people are when there is news that could negatively impact on our Takeover. Are you all from Sunderland? As long as Ashley remains, I will be far from happy. But can't help feeling we've maybe dodged a bullet. I've never been comfortable with being overjoyed at our prospective new owners, just because they have enough cash to ensure we never have to compete again.

Can't remember what it was exactly, but only a week ago there was already talk of relations cooling between US and SA. Some sort of trade agreement had been torn up, or something. Might have been arms trade, but it is definitely a sign that things are changing. Can't find any of the reports now, like.

Unless it's to throw a cabbage onto the pitch. Personally I would never advocate for such behaviour, but it would make a cracking photo. "Game abandoned-Leaves on the pitch"

Wouldn't interpret this as him being likely to move on? https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11715/12225837/leeds-united-marcelo-bielsa-happy-to-wait-until-end-of-season-for-contract-decision Rafa comes here til the end of the season, before leaving for Leeds?

Large Spanish core at Leeds, isn't there? Might make things easier, for him. Celtic would allow him to bring in his own team. Not sure about Wolves, they seem to have their own set-up which seems to work, it could appeal, but it might be a bit hands-off for him.

I think he might enjoy a crack at Europe with them. Taking each game as it comes, outthinking his opposite number on a match by match basis.

They'll lose their no-claims bonus, though.

Didn't Sheff Utd do exactly that?

Well that's not true, barristers have no choice but to take on a case if instructed, there are only very limited circumstances where they can refuse and feeling they can't win is not one of them. Surely when you’re as high profile as De Marco though you would just say look Mike you’ve got no chance here. I can’t imagine Mike paying huge fees to a QC who has told him I don’t like you’re chances ? If he had no chance I've no doubt he'd tell him. Likewise if it was open and shut the PL's lawyers would advise accordingly and it would be over. It's probably somewhere around the 50/50 mark.

If you remove all the shite, and make it more in line with it's name [i'm guessing it is Video Assisted Referee] then it would be alright, but it wouldn't be anywhere near the technical advancement it claims to be. Why pay the inventors millions for what Gary and Jamie have been doing, in the studio, for years.

Replying in here as I didn't want to upset the optimism: Has he never lost a case? I'm sure he gets paid either way and taking a lump sum from Ashley isn't going to damage his reputation. The fat cunt that didn't do due diligence when buying the club in the first place. I imagine his lawyers in the Keegan case were confident also. Has anybody asked the PL's lawyers how confident they are?

Applies so much to many facets of society these days and it's fucking disgusting. It always applied to Murdoch's approach to media.

think darlow has to be dropped just because of the criticism in the press and online. he'll be nervous as fuck as a result anyway. Yeah, he's probably praying to be dropped. But Bruce, being such a good man manager, will know best. I'm beginning to suspect that Dubs' transfer fee won't be risked again this season.

Calling them clueless is flattering. They clearly have an agenda. It's evident all over the media. Two newsreaders not knowing that April comes after March? Nobody is that clueless. It's subservience to the narrative. It's the same in the PL. The narrative is that it's highly entertaining and COMPETITIVE.

If we get relegated, and the takeover fails, we could well be fucked. There will be vultures looking to take the club off his hands [in some shady deal] and he'll take the deal that suits him best.

All of those things are perfectly acceptable in your average Joe [he'd be a dick, but if he was a good wingman, you'd tolerate him].It's not acceptable for the man entrusted with running a £350M sporting institution.

The way Bruce goes on, he'll pick Darlow, as dropping him might affect his confidence. Totally oblivious to the fact that his errors were inevitable and only manifested because he didn't drop him at the right time.

Let's not rewrite history. Big Joe and ASM were forced upon him, just as they would have been forced on Rafa. And he accepted it man Once you go along with it then you are culpable, which is why Rafa walked. You also have to consider that Bruce accepted them knowing full well he had no idea who they were or how to get the best of them or coach them up in anyway whatsoever. He is desperate and quite honestly pretty pathetic. Oh. Absolutely. That's my point. The truth is worse than him spending 90M exactly as he wanted.