Whitley mag

I think if we don’t get a decision by a week on Friday, serious questions need to be asked of PL. At that point I believe we’d be looking at them actually refusing to make a decision due to fear of legal action. The question then will be are PIF going to walk away or can they force them to make a decision through court action. I actually believe it will be Ashley at this point who will instigates legal proceedings.

I would have been more concerned if they’d announced a new sponsorship deal with a new company. This just smacks of a short extension whilst everything is sorted, and it suits all parties. The puma deal was also extended similarly, nothing to see here in my opinion. Also we must be getting quite close to timescales for replica shirts being produced etc, the PL delaying has definitely now impacted upon plans, however particularly with the fun88 deal the details appear pretty sketchy. I’m sure they can be moved aside to a betting partner down the line, and the main shirt sponsorship can be sold on.

Would you trust this government to back you up if it gets messy? I think plenty of people would be out of their depth with this, given where it's ended up. Regardless of govts credentials, there’s no way if they’ve lobbied for it be approved he’ll go against them.

Pointing out that we're still waiting for her words to become actions = hate She’s the only person to get this far so I think some credit is due. She could easily have walked away, instead she’s secured the backing of one of the worlds richest sovereign wealth funds. She appears well respected and very well connected in Middle East. Don’t think anyone could have foreseen the shit show that’s followed. As for her briefing I don’t doubt she speaks to Caulkin, but I also suspect Chris Mort maybe his more regular daily source for updates.

Masters looks out of his depth, he won’t knock back the takeover though as govt appears to be backing it. I still think within 2 weeks we’ll get our decision, I base this purely on end of season and transfer window opening.

The PL need to grow some balls and draw a line under the deal, telling the buyers that a resolution cannot be found. Everyone needs to move on from this. Move on to what exactly ? If it means waiting a bit longer for them to work through it, that’s far more preferable than rejecting it because some people are sick of the wait. As far as we’re aware nobody has ever failed the o & d test, do we really think the premier league are going to reject pif and Britain’s 2nd richest family. They’ll get there keep the faith.

Yeah thieving hypocrites.

As a not so know all, they wouldn't have known a country was going to pull out as Saudi Arabia have know, when they bought those rights. I bow to your superior knowledge in these things, just putting a suggestion out there. He hasn’t got any superior knowledge he’s just simplifying a complicated situation. There’s all sorts of things in play here bein have had to shed jobs, the premier league will have to rebate bein. I wouldn’t dismiss the notion Saudi strike deal with Bein via PL to attain rights for remainder of current deal. Which is exactly what I just said is the only (but unlikely) way out of this Putting aside the geopolitical side of things it would make perfect financial sense for bein. The fee they’ll have paid for contract will have been calculated on the biggest nation in the region providing a certain amount of subscriptions. That’s clearly out of window now, if they really are struggling as badly financially as claimed a deal with Saudi would make perfect sense. Could it be brokered I don’t think anyone really knows at minute.

As a not so know all, they wouldn't have known a country was going to pull out as Saudi Arabia have know, when they bought those rights. I bow to your superior knowledge in these things, just putting a suggestion out there. He hasn’t got any superior knowledge he’s just simplifying a complicated situation. There’s all sorts of things in play here bein have had to shed jobs, the premier league will have to rebate bein. I wouldn’t dismiss the notion Saudi strike deal with Bein via PL to attain rights for remainder of current deal.

Yes the fact they have sold the rights ? Sorry, i meant what's to stop them selling more rights directly to the Saudi's. Nothing in the future. Until the end of the current deal, the Bein rights are for the whole MENA region I get that, if they've pull/pulled out of the Mena region agreement as someone has alluded to earlier, what's to stop the Premier League issuing them direct rights just for Saudi Arabia next season. I guess it would be a legal minefield, just wondering if it's an avenue that could be broached sooner, rather than at the end of the Mena agreement. If Caulkins info is correct the consortium knew nothing about the decision coming to ban bein, so I’m kind of not thinking this was part of some grand plan as part of the takeover if you take that at face value. However, by all accounts the PL will have to pay bein a rebate based on project restart, think this is also true of sky. Now if bein and PL accept they’ll be unable to broadcast in Saudi for remainder of contract, surely it’s in the PL’s interest to try and strike a deal with Saudi. It would also be in Bein’s interest because they’re clearly not going to get any new subscriptions from Saudi over next 2 years. The Saudis could pay a premium for remainder of contract to air in own country, this is a win for premier league as it covers rebate, and may also be a way for Saudi to buy Bein out of contract without being seen to pay them directly. Like I say at start if you believe Caulkin this is probably a stretch, and it may be that Saudi institution’s are just acting independently as this was an old court case, and there’s no grand plan in place at all. But I’m also struggling to believe that they’ll not be wanting their nation to watch a trophy purchase like this. Bottom line is though their fully entitled to choose which broadcaster airs. It may well have oiled the wheels if they had allowed bein to broadcast, and it may increase piracy concerns if there’s no legal way of watching it over next 2 years, and that can be the only concern the PL have from this decision to ban bein.

Let's get it right. SA are not in a position to bid for the rights of the MENA region for two years. This week basically SA stopped being part of that MENA region when they banned beIN from broadcasting within the SA region. I think it's wishful thinking to think that SA can just declare themselves "Out" of MENA and therefore bid for individual rights. No way will that (or indeed should that) be allowed to happen because it makes a mockery of what BeIN successfully bid for and would undermine every future deal the PL would seek to make. This now becomes a legal dispute between SA and BeIN, I don't think it has much to do with the PL. It'll be up to BeIN to prove that they've been illegally banned from exercising their contractual rights in SA, and it'll be up to SA to prove BeIN have broken enough rules to allow them to kick BeIN out. If this comes in favour or BeIN they'll be due a lot of compensation from the Saudis to make up for their lost revenue. How's that?, it's like saying South Korea stopping from broadcasting due to North Korea having the rights. Even the WTO report mentioned in the report about the rights of SA to exercise their property and security rights under TRIPS. There is a reason this has been done and until we know the full facts (not from that useless c*** Ryder) then nobody can make a conclusion as to exactly what is happening. This the premier league have not got the right to impose a broadcaster on any nation. They choose to group the rights, there is nothing illegal here to worry about.

There’s no way they’re keeping this knacker, he’ll be out the door pronto. You could give him the best players in the world, but they’d not be much good in the treatment room. Good managers are not readily available often, and especially not out of contract ones. There’ll be no messing about here Pochettino nailed on.

I certainly don’t think the Saudis decision to ban bein looks as bad now as when first announced. After the initial reaction by journalists, it seems to have gone very quiet, and the PL haven’t released a statement as some journos suggested. Ian Mearns made an interesting comparison last night, if a foreign broadcaster say China wanted to broadcast in the U.K, we would have every right to deny them. The PL choose to lump their package together for the MENA area, therefore they can’t just expect every country within that region to accept this broadcaster. Taking into account the geopolitical situation the Saudis have every right to deny who they want, Bein could be broadcasting propaganda messages during the adverts (probably very likely from what we’ve seen so far). I actually think this weeks announcement can have no bearing on test, so in conclusion I think piracy measures have been taken and in next 2 weeks we’ll be the richest club on the fucking planet.

The situation will develop as pif wont wait around forever. Also Ian Mearns MP made an interesting point last night, at what point does Ashley consider this a restraint of trade. Though there own rules don’t appear to have a set timescale for a decision, however a court could rule that this delay is not reasonable and does constitute a restraint of trade. Don’t think it will come to this though as I expect decision in next 2 weeks. Mike Ashley thought lockdown was a restraint of trade Very true, however without having any sympathy for the cnut, you could argue he has a case this time.

The situation will develop as pif wont wait around forever. Also Ian Mearns MP made an interesting point last night, at what point does Ashley consider this a restraint of trade. Though there own rules don’t appear to have a set timescale for a decision, however a court could rule that this delay is not reasonable and does constitute a restraint of trade. Don’t think it will come to this though as I expect decision in next 2 weeks.

Was checking on this earlier and the last newspaper media reports about it seem to be from November last year (google search) so if that's the case then it seems a big gap without any other reports. Think it’s still in the background, Leeds chairman seems very close to PSG/bein chief. Maybe, think there would have been fresh stuff coming out though, 8 months is a long time with nothing new. Staveley went quiet after 1st bid but she was still in the background. Be interesting to see what happens, would certainly move the power base of English football.

Was checking on this earlier and the last newspaper media reports about it seem to be from November last year (google search) so if that's the case then it seems a big gap without any other reports. Think it’s still in the background, Leeds chairman seems very close to PSG/bein chief.

Leeds promoted what’s the odds Qatari’s launch takeover bid. This would become the derby of the north, could become very tasty with this lot again.

C mon lads you know you want to.

That’s exactly what’s happening nowt to do with the widow and piracy. Get fu#%kng posting.

It’s happening no way it goes this far to be rejected. I’ve had doubts at times but more convinced than ever, they’ve had plenty of opportunities to knock it back.

Seems like Crispin’s on the Qatari payroll to.

I think it’s a safe bet they didn’t consider regional structure when they included Qatar and Saudi in same rights package to begin with. Why is that safe to say? Because Saudi and Qatar have always been best of friends? If they have built in a get out clause in the event of a scenario like this I’d be very impressed, however my guess is all that mattered was the 500 million. Also the likes of Matt Slater and Jacobs seem to think Saudi negotiating individual rights for remainder of contract are complicated and unlikely. I don't know if they have or not, just wouldn't say its safe to say they didn't possibly foresee a issue between two sworn enemies. Also don't really put much faith in journalists when it comes to anything but reporting something they're told, in this case they're speculating, like everyone else. Saudi conflict with Qatar began in 2016/17 and MENA rights were agreed just before 2018 season, they may have anticipated some problems. However, I’m with Slater and Jacobs on this though, just don’t see bein paying 500 million and agreeing to a get out clause. Also Saudi is biggest audience in MENA area, we know it has cost bein a fortune in subscriptions, if there was some clause for conflict with Saudi surely bein would have negotiated a rebate with PL.