Thumbheed

Yeh, agree with this. Its even more farcical when you consider that they haven't deemed Sheik Mansour at Man City as a person of control when that structure is even more blatant.

This is true, but to be honest it's the type of shithousery from Ashley that I'd be all for, for once.

Not that I'm advocating James' theory but wouldn't he be able to say uncertainty around the takeover restricted his ability to make a long term decision? Thus impacting the clubs status? Could the PL actually argue in court that they didn't have grounds to make a decision either way? From what I've seen, they've had ample opportunity to reject the takeover.

Yeh but do you have proof of this? Where is this written down in black and white?

So have we decided where I can go to read things that make me all warm and fuzzy inside or are we all still measuring dicks?

He'll have 1 eye on the takeover. Don't think he's got the heart to face into another relgation battle, he's been called out by too many people.

I don't think he'll have the bottle for another season.

I see, but what if the other person is brandishing the people's elbow?

Where do we stand on Stone cold stunners? Aye or nay?

Fair enough, as in the edit above, it's worth noting DIC tried to buy Liverpool but for Hicks and Gillet. At the end of the day it's mindless speculation on something which is not even close to having any grounding in reality, but I do stand by my belief that there would be a risk should it be a viable option and I only do so against the backdrop of the type of person MBS is and more specifically what he's trying to achieve with his flagship Vision2030 policy.

Yeh agree with that, and certainly not disputing what a great investment we would be, in fact I'd go as far as saying we were a better investment than both those clubs (reckon Qatar regret investing in PSG personally), all I'm saying is would wealth funds have invested in PSG and Man City if they knew Man Utd was available? Rhetorical question obviously but a relevant one all the same. Edit: worth nothing that Staveley herself tried to facilitate the purchase of Liverpool by DIC...

Well this is fundamentally where we disagree. We've established that £4bn would be nothing to them so the financial viability angle doesn't really stand up to scrutiny. You have to look at their investments in F1 and major boxing events to see what they're trying to do with sport. It's to showcase KSA on the world stage and as much as I hate saying this, but having Man Utd as the centrepiece of Vision2030 with their ready made global fanbase and their well estabilshed commercial positioning makes them a much more appealing investment imo. It'd be akin to them purchasing Man City over Man Utd pre Sinawatra. Culturally speaking I think they will always want the very best, I think the public talk of seeking value is as misleading as there 'we've pulled out because it's no longer economically viable' statement.

I don't think there's anything in the law that could force PIF to purchase us though, which means any subsequent legal case would be nothing to do with them. Can only hope that there's some agreement with Ashley in place in light of the efforts he's going to to force through this takeover which makes PIF investing in another club unviable but even then I'd imagine there's a limit on that. Agree, investment in the city is a big plus point in our favour, but again, I think there's more value in what Man Utd brings to their image.

Financially it obviously makes perfect sense to purchase us over Man Utd, but you have to offset this with what they're trying to achieve with Vision2030 which appears to be about diversifying their economy as well as reestablishing their image on the world stage. Sadly, you only need to look at this very board to see how easily their less savoury antics are forgotten at the slightest hint of investment in a football club, now multiply that impact by the substantially larger Man Utd fanbase. That's where the real value is.

4bn is nothing to PIF. They paid $3.5bn for a 4.3% stake in Uber.

Agree with this, not sure making money sits as high up on their agenda as having a centrepiece for vision2030 does. I would have genuine concerns that they would switch their attentions to Man U given the opportunity.

Lock the thread again.

You know something I don't?

If Ashley doesn't get his £350m, then we protest.

"Let's play"

Over and over and over and over again. We get it, you don't beleive it, why do you keep telling us?

But it's only the "realists" who've been mostly wrong about whether the takeover was on or off who get to decide what's a lie and what's not? Righto.

Not sure why it's so hard to understand that if your views align with Luke Edwards, then this is probably not the thread for you. But then again if your views did align with him, then it makes sense why you struggle understand that in the first place.

To be honest, if it's something the PL are desperate to keep from the public, then fuck them and release it anyway. No way should we be providing shade for them cunts, let them burn.

What to release to the Sheilds Gazette via Keith from Whitley Bay?