Shadow Puppets

For what it’s worth my only Spurs fan mate loves Poch.

I mean, give over ?

They’re all based off what Caulkin said last night (that he’s heard the checks will be completed today)

I think a Rafa style team with massively improved players would be a joy to watch, to be honest. Confident of a real game plan in every single game.

It would be a PR own goal to get rid of Bruce immediately like...there’s a fairly significant number of (mainly older) fans who like the guy, and think he’s done a decent job in the circumstances. They will obviously be planning for bigger and better things, but keeping Bruce to see out the season is fine in my opinion.

Theres literally no substance to any of that though is there? I mean, I get your objection from a moral standpoint, but that article is designed to lay into the Saudi's... there's no substance or evidence to be worried about in that paragraph above, other than to serve the narrative of the piece.

All the main journalists have been incredibly quiet for the last 24 hours....

Well fucking said!

You expecting any crowds at these games?

Right, that’s it...ban him! ?

Thought all 3 journalists were pretty fair to be honest. It IS a complicated situation. It’s not as cut and dry as just being ecstatic about it. There’s too much at play.

I’m hoping all of that shit is just a combination of uneducated people getting overly excited and defensive. HOPEFULLY, once this takeover goes through and they’ve got their feet under the desk, all of the press scrutiny and idiot responses to it will die away.

Would it be reasonable to suggest that the Saudi’s owning us would accelerate their “modernisation” and progression as a forward thinking society? They’re going to be fully under the spotlight here...probably more than they realise.

But it 100% will come into their decision making whether having them involved in the premier league is a good or bad thing.

To be honest, if the PL did deny the deal, you couldn't really blame them. It couldn't be further from a black-and-white decision. The letter makes a lot of valid points to be fair, and there'll be many people who'll feel that way too. I dunno how I'd feel if it was all called off... partly disappointed, partly relieved I think. Conflicted.

Refreshed this thread literally every 2 mins these last few days ?

I would consider myself a person with very high moral standards, but I'm not 100% sure why as an NUFC fan my morals should be called into question over something I have zero control over. I don't choose the owner. Am I happy that NUFC are about to be taken over by owners who are likely to bring significant investment to the club and area and see us challenging for things? ABSOLUTELY FUCKING YES! Am I happy that the majority shareholders have a less-than-stellar human rights record? ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT Is this sportswashing? MAYBE Is it a genuine attempt at significant progression from a nation that needs to progress? MAYBE Should I as a fan be held in contempt for supporting my club moving forward? ABSOLUTELY NOT As far as I can tell, morality and football don't go hand-in-hand. They haven't for some time. That horse bolted a long time ago. You get what you're given. Without knowing the ins and outs of Saudi's actions in recent years, or how much they are progressing, it's not really my place to champion or denounce their merits as owners. I've read some horrible things. I've also read plenty of things that suggest that Bin Salman has been a very forward thinking leader so far and that they are progressing as a society very quickly. Let's hope that their involvement in NUFC signals a significant step in that progression.

I mean, that’s not remotely what he has said though is it ?

Seems a bit like blackmail to me

Just out of curiosity, why would Bein write to the other clubs. They have no say in this do they?

Guess or fact?

It's not hyperbole to say that the Saudis are one of the closest things on Earth at the moment to the Nazis is it? If you were going to pick the most brutal regime around, is there one worse? North Korea possibly but at least they're not bombing anyone. The UK had pretty good relations with the Nazi regime up until the outbreak of war, Edward VIII was a friend of Hitler. I don't think "our government likes them" is the most robust defence, you could say the same about Assad and Gaddafi, these people are always our "friends" until they're not. You missed the point. Take all that moral s*** stuff to the other thread, not this one. Jeez. This is the main takeover thread. It's going to be discussed whether you like it or not. Jeez. So what do you want to happen, Wullie? Another boycoutt? Not at all. A matter for the individual conscience this one I think. I don't think the FA/PL should be allowing any states to own football clubs but that ship's already sailed. So what will be your personal stance out of interest? Will you continue to support the club and would you go to games? Good question. Honest answer is I don't know. They've not even taken over yet so will just wait and see how things look once their feet are under the table I guess. Could be a long time before a ball is kicked at SJP but I don't have the aversion to giving them money that I had with Ashley. Out of interest, when was the last time you went? Late last season for me but I've not been regularly for several years now, particularly to home games. I must confess I'm desperate to go back, lots driven by sentiment. Telling my old man when Rafa left that I was genuinely done with it all and wouldn't watch or listen anymore was heartbreaking. When he text me about games or asked on the phone, every time he thought I was joking or going to change my mind. I suppose this is another reason why I'm probably also erring on the positives here; Newcastle was our bond and a huge part of my life. I spent several weekends this last year genuinely pleased to have time back, do fun stuff and not worry about the football. But that was because virtually every semblance of hope was lost. Just the idea of having that kernel of hope and those dreams of any form of enjoyment back kicks up all those feelings again. 2014 for me, fucked it off when they made it clear Pardew was staying. I've barely even watched us play this season so I freely admit that at this point, I'm looking at things as much from a neutral POV as I am a supporter. I consider the money issue to be an irrelevance really, I greatly objected to giving Ashley money because I considered it to be keeping him here (and it was, which is why he's now apparently selling up). Using Uber or buying petrol isn't the same as supporting a football club, quite obviously, and it's not them having my money i object to. It's hard to say where the line is without knowing what the Saudis do politically in future. Like, what is going to happen with their war in Yemen? Our club's good name is always going to be tied to whatever they're up to. I fear that too, but thinking logically I do think after a year or two of ownership, when we’re hopefully performing like a well run football club, it will start to be less relevant. I know it’s not the same, but City get away with far less scrutiny these days in terms of questions of ownership, far less than when they first bought the club.

The new owners will absolutely 100% unarguably be morally way behind the western world, and worse than Ashley. But I am firmly of the opinion that it has very little to do with the fans and shouldn’t be thrown at them as a moral dilemma. We have no choice in who our owners are (as has been made abundantly clear over the last 13 years). All we can do is support the team and hopefully enjoy watching some good football. I think it’s fair to say that you can love what the owners are doing to your club and hate their human rights record at the same time.

If this is all pointing towards a deal being close/done, then we're going to be a very strong position, albeit sadly, as the rest of the teams in the UK will likely be needing to tighten the purse strings a bit during / after the pandemic.