Various: N-O has lost the plot over potential end of Mike Ashley's tenure

[George Bailey]

And neither is anyone wanting rid of Mike Ashley after 13 years and who are willing, or at least are able to square it with themselves to accept a takeover involving the Saudi royals.

Football stinks. Has done for years and for the PL or 'the powers that be' suddenly to gain a conscience now would be hypocrisy of the highest levels.

Russian oligarchs and other nefarious and less than ideal states are all knee deep in the game across the world, so bit late to be getting all moralistic in some respects.

Does purity even exist in lower leagues these days?

 

Had hoped that when MA was finally flushed away we would be able to unite our support base again.Looks like another X amount of years with us all squabbling amongst ourselves is on the cards again though.

 

For me I can't see this happening anyway. Plenty time for it to fall through for whatever reason, and it is us after all, so bound to go tits up.

So here's to another 20 odd years of Fat Mike et al at the helm.

Undoubtedly some will be happy/happier with that than a takeover they can't square away with themselves for some extremely valid reasons.

But just because some can don't get all fucking preachy and holier than thou.

 

As for media bias.

 

To suggest that some journos/broadcasters do not have a bias against anyone daring to upset the balance of power outside the 'big five/six' is naive in the extreme.

It ain't against us per se (though for a couple it does seem a tad personal) but bias has always existed in preference of the revered Man Utd/Liverpool/Arsenal/Chelsea clique.

Not based on North/South at all, but certainly on favouring the established 'big' clubs.

 

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

Man I can’t believe there are people putting the Saudi flag in their Twitter. Also Wraith is happily stoking the “Amnesty are hypocrites!” Idiots on Twitter.

 

The average IQ of the replies must be about ten

 

 

Looking at this guy's timeline and I can't decide if it'd be better if he was taking the piss or not. dedication either way.

 

I know who he is. Lived in the same street in Birtley as my mate when I was a kid.

 

He's got a fair few screws loose. He and his family were known as the "smelly Ellys" by neighbours. Fun fact for you there.

[maze]

 

Where do they draw the line?

 

Do these ask her about Brits using Saudi Oil etc etc

 

It’s getting ridiculous man.

 

Agreed. Whilst I agree with the sentiment, I now question if this is being exaggerated by jelousy and a deep down condemned for Newcastle and the region. Me now =

[Kid Icarus]

Loads of poor f***ers with Ashley Stockholm Syndrome will be high-fiving each other when it goes tits up and he’s he’s still in charge.

 

“Dodged some proper bad PR there lads”.  “Better the devil you know” etc

 

Yes, the people who don't fancy their club being owned by a war criminal are the ones with Stockholm Syndrome. You're on a slippery slope towards driving yourself insane if you're just going to pretend all criticism isn't genuine, even among fellow fans. At the very least, you already look ridiculous while doing it.

I haven’t once said that SA human rights was acceptable. I took offence at all the bandwagon jumpers, yourself included who didn’t give two f***s about what was going on over there until now. NIMBYism at its worst.

 

Are you not the bloke who reopened discussion with being past caring and wished us well, only to spent the next few days posting relentlessly about how bad our new owners were?  That’s more ridiculous.

 

You see, this is why you look ridiculous. How would you know if I or anyone on here cared about SA human rights abuses before all this? You're just guessing and I know you are because I've been on this forum for the best part of 15 years, have discussed this stuff at length for years (amongst other forum members) and there's been an active thread dedicated to Saudi human rights abuses since 2015.

 

https://www.newcastle-online.org/forum/index.php?topic=97318.0

 

I'm the bloke who wished you all well before I knew who we were welcoming into our city with open arms, yes. Does me quickly changing my mind once I realised our owner is going to be a war criminal also disqualify me from prefering the club to not be owned by a war criminal? The mental gymnastics to actually avoid dealing with the substance is astounding. If it's not journalists' hypocrisy and the supposed bias against Newcastle, it's the heel turns of Newcastle fans on a football forum.

 

I wonder how many in the football section would still welcome the Saudis after reading even 2 or 3 pages of this thread.

 

Don’t think many would care, unfortunately.

 

Looks like Deuce was right.

 

P.S I didn't say you said it was acceptable either btw, just that those not wanting a war criminal for a football owner aren't the ones with Stockholm Syndrome.

I apologise for directing at you as this has been yours (and any one else’s stance from the offset) But f*** the bandwagon jumpers!

 

Fair enough, fair play for being big enough to apologise and I accept. Everyone has their own exposure point to this stuff and I would think that for many of our fans this'll be that moment. Not everyone will be jumping on the bandwagon for whatever other reason. Like I sort of alluded to earlier as well, hypocrisy, double standards, bandwagon jumping, and all that that stuff is also kind of irrelevant. None of it stops the points being made from being largely true. 

[Joe_F]

Not a shock like but the Culture Secretary says the gov won't intervene

 

[wormy]

Man I can’t believe there are people putting the Saudi flag in their Twitter. Also Wraith is happily stoking the “Amnesty are hypocrites!” Idiots on Twitter.

 

The average IQ of the replies must be about ten

 

 

Looking at this guy's timeline and I can't decide if it'd be better if he was taking the piss or not. dedication either way.

 

I know who he is. Lived in the same street in Birtley as my mate when I was a kid.

 

He's got a fair few screws loose. He and his family were known as the "smelly Ellys" by neighbours. Fun fact for you there.

 

Fair. Feel a bit bad for being so amused now. The 'tb' every time tickled me.

[Facundo Ferreyra]

Man I can’t believe there are people putting the Saudi flag in their Twitter. Also Wraith is happily stoking the “Amnesty are hypocrites!” Idiots on Twitter.

 

The average IQ of the replies must be about ten

 

 

Looking at this guy's timeline and I can't decide if it'd be better if he was taking the p*ss or not. dedication either way.

 

I know who he is. Lived in the same street in Birtley as my mate when I was a kid.

 

He's got a fair few screws loose. He and his family were known as the "smelly Ellys" by neighbours. Fun fact for you there.

 

Fair. Feel a bit bad for being so amused now. The 'tb' every time tickled me.

 

What does TB even mean?

 

Also how long has that shiny headed shitcunt Steve Wraith been verified for? Will twitter just verify anyone these days?

[Stifler]

[wormy]

Man I can’t believe there are people putting the Saudi flag in their Twitter. Also Wraith is happily stoking the “Amnesty are hypocrites!” Idiots on Twitter.

 

The average IQ of the replies must be about ten

 

 

Looking at this guy's timeline and I can't decide if it'd be better if he was taking the p*ss or not. dedication either way.

 

I know who he is. Lived in the same street in Birtley as my mate when I was a kid.

 

He's got a fair few screws loose. He and his family were known as the "smelly Ellys" by neighbours. Fun fact for you there.

 

Fair. Feel a bit bad for being so amused now. The 'tb' every time tickled me.

 

What does TB even mean?

 

Also how long has that shiny headed shitcunt Steve Wraith been verified for? Will twitter just verify anyone these days?

 

I assumed he was going for the old school desperate 'text back'.

 

Think you just submit your own request to be verified and they'll review it. I guess he can point to the amount of weirdos who actually think he's a credible journalist or whatever he's now doing as evidence.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Not a shock like but the Culture Secretary says the gov won't intervene

 

 

Doubt it’s even legally possible, even if the government weren’t balls deep in SA themselves.

[BennyBlanco]

The same journos throwing out angry half baked ideas on the toon fans not being arsed about Saudi geopolitics are all the same ones taking Ubers all over London happy in the knowledge that PIF own a 5% share.

 

Hypocrisy - good to see it’s alive and well.

[TRon]

Not a shock like but the Culture Secretary says the gov won't intervene

 

 

Hope that's true. There does seem to have been a big push in the last couple of days to stop it happening from the lobby groups opposed to it.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

How could the government possible intervene anyway?

[GWN]

Think we all need to keep off the internet for a couple of days 

[Stifler]

How could the government possible intervene anyway?

The Premier League rules aren’t that they can only object to a takeover on the grounds of human rights or high profile criminal cases not covered in the D&O test if the government object to it.

So therefor there is no outside reason for the Premier League to object to the takeover, and we are safe to assume that they will more than satisfy the Premier League’s criteria.

[Pilko]

I'm assuming someone's already made this point in the past few pages, but surely the PL tests/checks are kind of set in stone and consist of the same things regardless of pressure groups, people objecting etc?

 

I also find it highly highly unlikely that the parties involved in the takeover would progress it to PL checks if they hadn't already made damn sure they were going to succeed in them.

 

Might be just me, but the noise of the last few days (whilst still wholly relevant and not to be ignored) shouldn't impact the takeover happening. If it doesn't happen, it won't be because of Amnesty or beIN getting involved.

[toontownman]

Think we all need to keep off the internet for a couple of days 

This

 

It will happen. People will age 10 years and go through every cycle of emotions if they stick around until its confirmed. We are all gluttons for punishment though and at this stage get our kicks out of the emotional roller coaster whether we like it or not or care to admit it!

 

Now back to hitting refresh...

[thomas]

Not a shock like but the Culture Secretary says the gov won't intervene

 

 

Doubt it’s even legally possible, even if the government weren’t balls deep in SA themselves.

Would have thought SA was the pitcher in this scenario tbh.

[Joe_F]

[TooonDoom]

This fella is speculating that the premier league probably reached out to the government for advice.  Which makes sense. 

 

[Stifler]

I'm assuming someone's already made this point in the past few pages, but surely the PL tests/checks are kind of set in stone and consist of the same things regardless of pressure groups, people objecting etc?

 

I also find it highly highly unlikely that the parties involved in the takeover would progress it to PL checks if they hadn't already made damn sure they were going to succeed in them.

 

Might be just me, but the noise of the last few days (whilst still wholly relevant and not to be ignored) shouldn't impact the takeover happening. If it doesn't happen, it won't be because of Amnesty or beIN getting involved.

It’s all filler. Theirs nothing going in the world of Sport, they need something to fill those pages. On top of this the country and world want to hear about something else other than people dying and lockdowns.

On top of this they would all be on top of this by getting as much clickbait as possible from it.

 

Many journalists and organisations can use this as a means of PR.

 

Amnesty would have known fine well that their letter would be ignored, but their donors will be watching this unfold wanting them to do something. I said it yesterday. I think it would have been far better for them in the long run to get in touch with the NUST and organise it so they can spread their message via them and through kiosks at matches. A lot more Newcastle fans would have looked kindly on that approach and listened to what they said.

Instead though, they decided that donations now and shouting now and letting their voice go unheard after the next week or so is more important than using this as an opportunity to educate people in order to get them onside.

I can see why they did it, I just think in the long run it’s not going to be the best tactic.

 

As for beIN, well we know the two countries are at political war with each other. It was actually Qatar blocking the transmission of Premier League coverage to Saudi Arabia which started the pirating of their coverage.

In their letter to the Premier League clubs that have even acknowledged that before the season was suspended, the coverage from Beout had stopped.

Although you can suspect that the government had something to do with it, or at least turned a blind eye, there is no proof of that. The Premier League cannot entertain the idea of taking it into consideration, it would result in significant legal action against, not just by PIF, but also possibly from Ashley who will have been robbed of a sale.

That is not taking into account how right now, they need as many financially stable clubs as they can get.

 

It is a whole lot of people blowing off steam, and whole lot of nothing.

I called it a while back, this takeover was never going to happen without people wanting to make a story out of it.

First we had people saying there was no deal agreed with Ashley, then the human rights things gathered momentum, now we have a network trying to throw their agenda into the mix.

[SUPERTOON]

This fella is speculating that the premier league probably reached out to the government for advice.  Which makes sense. 

 

 

What would they have asked the government about ?

[Dr Jinx]

Well there we go. It’s just a matter of time now

[Happinesstan]

The hypocrisy of journalists shouldn't come as any surprise.

[SUPERTOON]