Happinesstan

I was still thinking of fireworks apologies. Should never go back to a dud.

Closer to what? I’m not going to be tedious and claim to be ‘in the know’, but I’m relatively confident this takeover will happen. Maybe not this week as others have suggested, but certainly within the next two. So where's the confidence coming from then? Positive noise, really. I may be proven completely wrong, but I’m more confident now then I have been through the whole takeover period. Happy to hold my hands up and say my ‘confidence’ is s*** in a couple of weeks if it’s proven to be, but hopefully I’ll be right. Mike still seems on side so that’s not to be underestimated at this point. Neither is his ability to fuck things [football related] up.

How does the process actually work? Do the buyers approach the PL and ask for the test or does the owner approach and say "I've got a buyer, can you check them out?"?

Married in to Hexham aristocracy and has a couple of properties up here, and a massive Toon fan apparently. This is ON. You still never responded to my genuine attempt to engage in a conversation Penn[/member] Why do you think that the PL never rejected the takeover ? Yep he has skirted my attempts several times now. How are we being played in ways that we cannot comprehend. Please elaborate? Seems to me that it's possible we are just an instrument in a more far-reaching game, that we know nothing about.

Can totally see the Tyne bridge in the pattern.

Ashley, the Saudis, Boris, some bloke without a mask. We've found some odd bedfellows through all of this. All for our fair share of the corruption.

Ah. Terraces.

You’re perfectly correct to say that the rules say they should do this, and should do that. In fact, if that idiot above was paying attention, he’d notice that my arguments are generally fact-based, and when I’m presented with facts that are inconsistent, I adjust my opinion accordingly. You, yourself, convinced me of f.1.3 about ten pages ago - because I asked for your argument and you provided it. However, the string of facts I presented above are true, even if Wandy[/member] denies it. As you said, JB, the PL does have to provide an answer within five days. If they ask for more information from the consortium, it has to be provided within ten days - and then the five days starts again. The PL have not adhered to those rules. Wandy[/member] suggests that is not a fact. To which I say “How then do you reconcile rule F.1.2 and rule F.1.3 with the facts as we know them?” The consortium has not challenged the failure of the PL to make a decision. This is indeed an opinion - based on the information available. These pages are filled with people suggesting the consortium should sue the PL, Ashley should sue the PL, the Trust, even that goose with his private letter. And I ask you, what legal basis is there to challenge in this case? Who could bring action, and what type of action, and in which jurisdiction? And if someone can give an actual answer to that, I’d love to hear it. I’m actually hoping that all the optimists/fantasists are right, and that MBS is signing the cheque for Mbappe before the new season starts. So please, some real hope would actually be really appreciated. Not some fluffy, hopeful bullshit. I am not a lawyer, nor is this anything like the area of law I have professional experience of, but I think it's highly likely that there would be legal avenues for, at very least, the consortium to sue the PL to for the £17m deposit they lost because the PL did not make a decision. Staveley is suing Barkleys for £1.6 billion , they're not going to just write off that £17m that the PL have caused them to lose. But that's a matter between the consortium and the PL. I think the more pressing issue for us, as supporters trying to make it as uncomfortable for the PL to continue not making a decision, is to raise the fact that there is a timescale in their rules and the PL have broken their own rules by not meeting it. Also that Richard Masters either doesn't know the PL's rules on the O&D test or mislead a Parliamentary Select Committee when he said "there is no timetable set out as part of the rules". They're not writing anything off. They're the Saudi investment fund, they've invested £17 million on fostering a positive relationship with the NE of England.

Correct. They didn't just tell the media, though. They made a statement to the media, which translates as telling the interested world. It wasn't just something Staveley told Caulkin, over dinner.

Diamond Lights.

Saint & Greavsie, of course.

Taylor and McMenemey

If Shearer in his prime is available, you pick him.

The offer has been withdrawn the ball is in the PL's court, that's how PIF see things. But PL isn't playing. They've moved onto the strawberries and cream. If anybody takes the PL to court they can probably get away with saying that the official announcement that it was orf, was enough to justify cancelling the test. Sure, there is probably some legality that states they should wait for confirmation from the respective parties, but how long do they wait?

Yeah, I think the PL have got themselves into a real shitshow and wish the whole thing just didn't exist. They've obviously got themselves a cartel of powerful opponents to the takeover (the chosen few PL clubs, Qatar via BeIN Sports, others with an axe to grind) who they really don't want to put offside - if these interests weren't applying extraordinary pressure on the PL then the takeover would likely have been approved within the aforementioned 4-5 weeks. I doubt if they are worried about getting sued by those who want to stop the takeover, but they obviously risk commercial arrangements (with the likes of BeIN) and risk a potential revolt from those leading PL clubs (who they may fear leaving the PL to form a new European super league). But, whilst the PL may wish to bow to those powerful interests (forcing the takeover to not happen) they don't have a clear (or even token) set of criteria against which they can justify stopping the takeover, meaning if they do they know they will get sued into oblivion. They can't afford to define a specific reason for rejecting the takeover because that will give Ashley and the buying consortium a tangible thing to sue the PL over (because it will very obviously be a justification that won't stand up in court). This leaves the PL under the impression they are in an impossible position - but, the problem they have not reconciled themselves to is that, laws (in this case mostly commercial law, but likely some regulatory laws too) trump other commercial risks. If/when the PL are forced to say "rejected" and forced to give a reason then they risk a substantial lawsuit from Mike Ashley, the buying consortium, and potentially other interests who stand to lose from the takeover not happening (e.g. Newcastle City Council, Reubens, others). Even if the PL decides that the potential lawsuit is going to cost them less than the cost of pissing off BeIN Sport (Qatar) or the preferred clubs, the lawsuit could still cause the PL to go bankrupt because the amounts of money are so huge. The PL have only got themselves to blame for this - it is through their negligence and incompetence that they did not anticipate the consequences of the ODT (as it is written) and did not properly manage the process from the beginning. They also failed to hold other clubs, those that were purchased prior to the current ODT, to the same standard - and courts take a dim view of hypocrisy. They stuck their heads in the sand, probably assuming that fat-Mike would screw up the deal and they wouldn't have to worry about it, and know they're royally fecked! In reality what they need to do is accept their medicine, approve the takeover, and then pucker up to kiss the arses of BeIN and the lead PL clubs for the next decade by way of apology. That is the only way they save this - otherwise they may cause the whole Premier League to collapse. They've screwed this up so bad they may cause the league itself to cease to exist (due to lawsuits, loss of lead clubs, loss of sponsors, loss of broadcasting revenues). This post excites me. If we can’t have our takeover then I hope the PL suffer big time. But if we get our takeover you'll forget all about the corruption.

The game should be decided on the pitch not in the studio. I never watch the analysis so they can do whatever they want, for me.

Does that count as confirmation that it has failed?

VAR should get one look at a replay and if they can't make a decision attacker gets the advantage. It's video assisted refereeing not video and felt tip assisted. One look in normal time and the TV companies should do the same with their replays. One of the reasons VAR & goal-line technology came in was because of the technology of the TV companies showing up incorrect decisions with their umpteen angles, super slo-mo replays and fancy graphics. Made me laugh Lineker hating VAR when he was in a studio for BBC & BT pulling apart any decision. SSN even have a segment every week where an ex-ref scrutinises everything. Maybe if they backed down proving everything wrong, referees would have a bit more freedom to make the right call...but then you get the whole 'big club bias' argument and you're back to square one. It was introduced to eliminate clear and obvious errors. If you can't tell straight away then it's hardly a clear and obvious error. It's not complicated.

VAR should get one look at a replay and if they can't make a decision attacker gets the advantage. It's video assisted refereeing not video and felt tip assisted.

That made me love football all over again. For a brief moment.

Is that the bloke that thought he was Gary Numan?

And people said for years that the protests would discourage new owners.

They had to do something after I said they wouldn't.

But it's not to difficult to imagine the passage of information between EPL and Bein on a so called "private and confidential process" wether deliberately or not It may not be difficult to imagine, but any actual evidence of it? Keys doesn't seem to have had any accurate information. Genuine question. Has anybody?

Don’t forget how the media refuse to hold them to account and are basically a mouth piece for them. Exactly. The media are the central cog to the corruption.