Whitley mag

Care to be specific ?

Well Ashley cant withdraw his bid as he never made one. PIF who did make a bid have very publicly withdrawn theirs's. I believe it is the clubs responsibility to inform PL that the bid has been withdrawn and thereby the bid is no longer with the PL, this has not happened. Frustrated with the process they did, however it has been reported that they would be back like a shot if guarantee of green light was given. My opinion is this was a tactical move with no other option available to them. The weight of evidence again in my opinion suggests there is still mileage in this, local journalists Caulkin, Douglas and Liam Kennedy have all reported this.

Any chance that silence can mean that nothing is happening and the buyers have moved on ? Also, believing anything that Ashley says All negotiations must be conducted via club, therefore by leaving deal open with them discreet soundings can still be made between parties to seek resolution. Will they be successful who knows, but confirmation deal is not dead. I do appreciate the thinking and fair play to you if you are still able to optimistic about it all. I can't i'm afraid. I also cannot see how it gets past the PL. I remain cautiously optimistic, but very much of the belief things are going on behind the scenes still. Time will tell whether they can restructure this in a way to get it through.

Any chance that silence can mean that nothing is happening and the buyers have moved on ? Also, believing anything that Ashley says All negotiations must be conducted via club, therefore by leaving deal open with them discreet soundings can still be made between parties to seek resolution. Will they be successful who knows, but confirmation deal is not dead.

He doesn’t need an ulterior motive he does as he pleases anyway.

Douglas confirms Ashley has still not withdrawn bid from PL, silence from all sources which can only be good. Technically the deal is still alive, vindication for Manorpark, myself and others. Good feeling to know we were right, all apologies will be accepted with good grace.

Rogerio just a smokescreen then. Have to admit don’t watch much PL football these days, but this kid seems highly rated or just hype ?

Conveniently forgetting the fact she facilitated the sale of Man City.

I feel morally so much happier at the moment, since the takeover was called off (not dead though I hesitate to add) all those poor staff at bein sports have had their jobs saved, piracy has been crushed and Human rights abuses have been eradicated. Who’d have know that by shafting the takeover, the world would become such a better place for so many.

The takeover is off but not dead. Why else would you keep returning and posting on this thread. Stop kidding yourself and join the club. It’s an Ashley thread, not a takeover thread. Define “dead”. You mean until the club is sold there’s a chance it’ll be sold? You only comment on the takeover though not Ashley. I mean as GC said yesterday it’s not dead. Still a flicker, a ray of hope until Staveley says she’s done it’s not done. Ashley is a c***. There is no takeover. The club is dead in a sporting sense and has been for more than a decade. The end. Yes the club is dead, but the takeover is not.

The takeover is off but not dead. Why else would you keep returning and posting on this thread. Stop kidding yourself and join the club. It’s an Ashley thread, not a takeover thread. Define “dead”. You mean until the club is sold there’s a chance it’ll be sold? You only comment on the takeover though not Ashley. I mean as GC said yesterday it’s not dead. Still a flicker, a ray of hope until Staveley says she’s done it’s not done.

The takeover is off but not dead. Why else would you keep returning and posting on this thread. Stop kidding yourself and join the club.

Not really said that though have they. No they said: Takeover off, silence from the top: Newcastle fans struggle to see the point of it anymore “...deal collapsed in acrimony. Even the consortium didn't blame Ashley (this time, they said pointedly)” https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/takeover-off-silence-top-newcastle-18869385 It’s not dead though, it may be off presently but not dead. George Caulkin clearly stated it wasn’t dead yesterday.

Not really said that though have they.

Boris has been speaking to MBS tonight, I wonder if the deal came up in conversation.

The WSJ stumbled across this story when doing a piece on the Kardashians mate, it all seemed far fetched at the time but around November Carla Di Bello, Staveley and Mehdrad Ghodoussi sealed the deal on MBS’s yacht in the Red Sea. I believe Caulkin knew about the deal for a while, he’d frequently said in the previous months he knew of interest, however if it was leaked it would be off. The interesting next leak came from Jason Burt who said the deal was with PL, now was it the PL who leaked the deal at this point. After that Caulkin revealed all and the rest is history.

I think he’s playing his cards close and won’t want to be burned again. He’s previously stated that he’s spoke to consortium nearly every day for 2 years, he’ll know what’s happening but won’t want to be accused of raising hopes.

The truth is the PL made the test all about their own self interest and our well being didn’t come into it. They stretched the remit of the test to it’s limit and still didn’t have the courage of their own convictions to fail the bid. The nerve of Masters to suggest our interest was foremost in the process, if anyone has any doubts about what has gone on, that one line alone should tell you what lying bastards they are. What have the PL achieved with this whole corrupt episode absolutely fuck all. Bein sports are still barred from Saudi Arabia with the prospect of a much reduced MENA contract in a years time. There in dispute with the Chinese broadcaster another of their biggest tv incomes. Has the piracy situation improved I would suggest probably not in the scheme of things, after all this is world wide and hardly a Saudi only issue. The PL is currently dull and starting to lose its appeal to many, this was a chance to refresh one of the giants of English football, and provide a whole new dimension to the competition. The decision or lack of one is short sighted and smacks of incompetence and protectionism. Above all they’ve switched off thousands of fans in arguably the most passionate area of the country, who now consider them corrupt and beyond reproach.

Fuck off judas

What exactly did GC say, because the way you've worded your post suggests he's already leaked that there's something going on. Caulkin has said this week, since pulling out all parties reaffirmed their commitment to deal, however the next we should hear is whether deal is off or completed. So whether you believe the deal is likely or not, what is pretty clear is that they are still looking at ways to make this happen. I don’t think we’ll be receiving any running commentary this time, as if Saudis are still involved they won’t want to lose any face if this falls flat again. I would guess PCP are exploring the options open and if there’s a possible route to approval with discreet nods and winks given, the Saudis will come back on board. What has he had to say about his source telling him "no red flags", "done in the next few days", and other things that utterly failed to happen? Quelle suprise.

What exactly did GC say, because the way you've worded your post suggests he's already leaked that there's something going on. Caulkin has said this week, since pulling out all parties reaffirmed their commitment to deal, however the next we should hear is whether deal is off or completed. So whether you believe the deal is likely or not, what is pretty clear is that they are still looking at ways to make this happen. I don’t think we’ll be receiving any running commentary this time, as if Saudis are still involved they won’t want to lose any face if this falls flat again. I would guess PCP are exploring the options open and if there’s a possible route to approval with discreet nods and winks given, the Saudis will come back on board.

I agree and I would have loved the PL to have been put in this position, it might have had some political consequences if they did find him not fit and proper. Who’s to say the reason it’s now gone quiet though is that all members of PIF including the chairman are now undergoing the o & d. If it is all hush hush who would ever know if he has failed or not, after all it is meant to be a confidential process. In this scenario yes MBS would be p*ssed off he failed, but there would be no public embarrassment now. After all who knows whether Sheik Mansour was ever subjected to test.

Being involved in day-to-day running is not the object of the test. It's all about control which is defined as: “Control” means the power of a Person to exercise, or to be able to exercise or acquire, direct or indirect control over the policies, affairs and/or management of a Club, whether that power is constituted by rights or contracts (either separately or in combination) and having regard to the considerations of fact or law involved, and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, Control shall be deemed to include: (a) the power (whether directly or indirectly and whether by the ownership of share capital, by the possession of voting power, by contract or otherwise including without limitation by way of membership of any Concert Party) to appoint and/or remove all or such of the members of the board of directors of the Club as are able to cast a majority of the votes capable of being cast by the members of that board; and/or (b) the holding and/or possession of the beneficial interest in, and/or the ability to exercise the voting rights applicable to, Shares in the Club (whether directly, indirectly (by means of holding such interests in one or more other persons) or by contract including without limitation by way of membership of any Concert Party) which confer in aggregate on the older(s) thereof 30 per cent or more of the total voting rights exercisable at general meetings of the Club. For the purposes of the above, any rights or powers of a Nominee for any Person or of an Associate of any Person or of a Connected Person to any Person shall be attributed to that Person PIF would have to prove objectively that their governance is entirely separate and outside the influence of MBS/KSA (which is in effect the same thing). I think that is a very hard argument to prove. Why would no Saudi law firm take up the PL in their attempts to combat BeOutQ? How can any Saudi body of wealth (let alone one legally benefiting the state) be independent in the light of MBS' previous actions? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017-19_Saudi_Arabian_purge) So when PIF present a verdict from the Saudi court saying PIF is independent, it really carries zero weight. I'm guessing here, but in my view it is likely the PL made the PIF-MBS connections very quickly (it should take less than a minute if you go on their website- www.pif.gov.sa/en/Pages/Boradmembers.aspx) and the consortium then spent time trying to find various alternate ways around the inevitable, ultimately unsuccessfully. And FWIW, in the example you gave yes Charles would be considered a Director for the purposes of the test unless his ownership was through a sufficiently independent trust structure to convince the PL he would not be able to place influence over the club. It's not uncommon for monarchs to be considered beneficial owners of assets and be subject to financial crime monitoring as anyone else could be- in fact they are usually required to be subject to enhanced measures vs the man in the street. "Control" is absolutely what it came down to. The bolded comment is something that a lot of people say "yeah, but" in response, but can't actually deny. So maybe it "should" have been rejected, but it was never getting approved. The one reason I don't agree with this is because (in my opinion) it's easily resolved. The Premier League could have made the approval conditional on there being no evidence of MBS (or anyone else the PL doesn't like) influencing the operation of the club. The O&D Test is, allegedly, run every year for each club in the PL, so it would be easy for the PL to decide at a latter date that MBS had influenced the running of the club and to then eject NUFC out of the League. Having said this, it is possible that the PL attempted exactly this and it may have been what caused PIF to withdraw their involvement (viewing the naming of MBS in such a manner as being insulting). I might be wrong but didn’t Staveley mention something similar to this in her interview with Caulkin. I seem to recall her mentioning a scenario where directors could be removed or similar and it was completely unacceptable ?

Liam Kennedy and Miles Starforth’s latest take, most journalists seem to agree on one thing Ashley wants out. All quiet on the takeover front, is that a good or a bad thing? LK: “Quiet makes a real change, doesn’t it? If it was dead, we’d know. People must take comfort from that. But things are going on in the background, and on the ‘hush, hush’, which really is no bad thing. This is how it should have been from the start. Will these behind-closed-doors talks be enough? I can’t say. Good things come to the those who wait. Ashley wants out and he will be gone whether it is in weeks or months – we’re in the Ashley endgame, I’m sure of that.” MS: “Everything has gone very quiet, and if there was no chance of the takeover being resurrected, I think we’d know by now. So the complete silence from the buying side – and owner Mike Ashley – can be taken as a sign that there’s still a chance of a positive resolution to this long-running saga. United’s fans have done their bit by voicing their support for the would-be buyers – and pressuring the Premier League – and now they must wait.”

Being involved in day-to-day running is not the object of the test. It's all about control which is defined as: “Control” means the power of a Person to exercise, or to be able to exercise or acquire, direct or indirect control over the policies, affairs and/or management of a Club, whether that power is constituted by rights or contracts (either separately or in combination) and having regard to the considerations of fact or law involved, and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, Control shall be deemed to include: (a) the power (whether directly or indirectly and whether by the ownership of share capital, by the possession of voting power, by contract or otherwise including without limitation by way of membership of any Concert Party) to appoint and/or remove all or such of the members of the board of directors of the Club as are able to cast a majority of the votes capable of being cast by the members of that board; and/or (b) the holding and/or possession of the beneficial interest in, and/or the ability to exercise the voting rights applicable to, Shares in the Club (whether directly, indirectly (by means of holding such interests in one or more other persons) or by contract including without limitation by way of membership of any Concert Party) which confer in aggregate on the older(s) thereof 30 per cent or more of the total voting rights exercisable at general meetings of the Club. For the purposes of the above, any rights or powers of a Nominee for any Person or of an Associate of any Person or of a Connected Person to any Person shall be attributed to that Person PIF would have to prove objectively that their governance is entirely separate and outside the influence of MBS/KSA (which is in effect the same thing). I think that is a very hard argument to prove. Why would no Saudi law firm take up the PL in their attempts to combat BeOutQ? How can any Saudi body of wealth (let alone one legally benefiting the state) be independent in the light of MBS' previous actions? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017-19_Saudi_Arabian_purge) So when PIF present a verdict from the Saudi court saying PIF is independent, it really carries zero weight. I'm guessing here, but in my view it is likely the PL made the PIF-MBS connections very quickly (it should take less than a minute if you go on their website- www.pif.gov.sa/en/Pages/Boradmembers.aspx) and the consortium then spent time trying to find various alternate ways around the inevitable, ultimately unsuccessfully. And FWIW, in the example you gave yes Charles would be considered a Director for the purposes of the test unless his ownership was through a sufficiently independent trust structure to convince the PL he would not be able to place influence over the club. It's not uncommon for monarchs to be considered beneficial owners of assets and be subject to financial crime monitoring as anyone else could be- in fact they are usually required to be subject to enhanced measures vs the man in the street. That’s all great if the PL applied these rules consistently every season which I believe is in their power to do. I don’t disagree that MBS would have the power to exert influence, but as you correctly state that would apply to any person of wealth in Saudi Arabia, which in this instance would surely include the owner of Sheffield United. Also Sheik Mansour could fall into this category, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to state that Khalifa Bin Zayed as the ruler of Abhu Dhabi would be able to exert influence over Man City or that the Chinese National Party would be able exert influence over Fosun at Wolves. Yes none of the above are accused of piracy, however the PL insist that at this stage that hasn’t even been considered. I ultimately believe if it wasn’t for the piracy, the PL would have been more than happy to accept PIF as a separate entity.