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

[Wilson]

I love next week.

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

So that’s Richard Keys and Gorilla confirming it. Bit of a theme emerging.

Have Richard Keys and Gorilla ever been seen together? Maybe the Gorilla username is Keys hiding in plain sight?

[SUPERTOON]

Person I work with in a professional capacity kind of I don't interact with him that often and he whatsapped me to tell me. We don't really ever talk about football so unusual

 

Any reason he would know it had been done ?

[relámpago blanco]

Yeah, he knows someone at the club but plenty people on here do.

[Robster]

Person I work with in a professional capacity kind of I don't interact with him that often and he whatsapped me to tell me. We don't really ever talk about football so unusual

Any reason he would know it had been done ?

That's the obvious question. How is this person possibly connected.

[Guest godzilla]

Yeah, he knows someone at the club but plenty people on here do.

 

So why is Bruce still coming out with a decision needs to be made then if it's coming from someone at the club?

[relámpago blanco]

Yeah, he knows someone at the club but plenty people on here do.

 

So why is Bruce still coming out with a decision needs to be made then if it's coming from someone at the club?

That's why I wasn't going to post it. I'm not sure. Anyway probably bollocks but just seems an odd thing for him to say.

[Dokko]

I heard something similar last Sunday night that It’s done, poch has agreed terms and that they got 3-4 targets agreed in principal. They said this week though, it’s why I’ve been quite excited all week and keys comments and bein ban have done nothing to make me think otherwise.

 

I did ask why and who is waiting and got no answer, only an assumption that they wanted a few things lined up and come in with a bang. It sounded plausible, but it all just seemed to good to be true so haven’t said owt. I’m only saying this now as I think it might be the same rumour going round, and it’s probably got no substance, just good guess work and hedging it on timings.

[Guest godzilla]

Yeah, he knows someone at the club but plenty people on here do.

 

So why is Bruce still coming out with a decision needs to be made then if it's coming from someone at the club?

That's why I wasn't going to post it. I'm not sure. Anyway probably bollocks but just seems an odd thing for him to say.

 

[Sean]

It would be mad if this turns out to be true as I would be the first person to confirm the last 2 takeovers.

 

 

If it happens next week (and that's a big if, like every week) you won't have confirmed it ffs 

[Kanj]

in Dokko and Gorrilla I trust.

[Andy]

It would be mad if this turns out to be true as I would be the first person to confirm the last 2 takeovers.

 

 

If it happens next week (and that's a big if, like every week) you won't have confirmed it ffs 

 

Unless he works for the FA

[Cort]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/07/16/mps-launch-late-bid-halt-saudi-arabia-led-newcastle-united-takeover/

 

A group of cross-party MPs have launched an 11th hour bid to torpedo the Saudi Arabia takeover at Newcastle United, by telling the Premier League any deal will help whitewash the state's repressive regime.

 

England's top tier "should do everything in its power to bring individuals carrying out human rights abuses to account", according to the letter from eight MPs to Richard Masters, the league's chief executive.

 

The group expressed particular concern at Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's chairmanship of the state's Public Investment Fund, which wants an 80 per cent stake in Newcastle. 

 

"Unless Saudi Arabia reform their criminal justice system and release all political detainees, the Premier League cannot sign-off on the sale of Newcastle United to PIF," says the letter from John Nicolson, Damian Collins, Caroline Lucas, John McDonnell, Crispin Blunt, Virendra Sharma, Alistair Carmichael, Lord Judd, Chris Law and Baroness Young of Hornsey.

 

The state-ordered murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been disastrous for bin Salman's current campaign to earn new Western allies, but he has pressed ahead with dramatic reform in his attempts to modernise Saudi, and diverse his economy away from oil.

 

Masters has already received several warnings over the deal from the likes of Amnesty International  over the state's human rights record and Qatari broadcaster BeIN Sports over the nation's role in the beOutQ TV piracy scandal. 

 

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of PIF, is in line to be nominated chairman of Newcastle if the deal goes through. With a long-awaited decision from the league's directors and owners' test still pending, the MPs see their letter to Masters as the last chance to derail the deal.

 

Businesswoman Amanda Staveley in the stands during the Premier League match at St James' Park

Amanda Staveley is involved in the consortium looking to buy Newcastle CREDIT: PA

"There are serious concerns regarding his (bin Salman's) suitability as a ‘fit and proper person’ as defined by the English Premier League (EPL) Handbook. Section F.1.6, which applies to both owners and directors of football clubs, provides that an individual cannot hold such a position if the board determines that certain offenses conducted outside the United Kingdom would disqualify them from such a position," the letter says.

 

Mr Nicolson, an SNP member of the  Select; Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, told the Daily Telegraph: “On top of the disgraceful assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia under the stewardship of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman continue to commit human rights violations at an egregious level. Whether using detention as a tool of political repression, which has seen senior royals such as Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Prince Turki bin Abdullah imprisoned, or the continued detention of women’s rights activists such as Loujain al-Hathloul and hundreds of other prisoners of conscience, Saudi Arabia are trying to whitewash their image through this acquisition.”

 

The MPs claim the Premier League's own rulebook should immediately exclude Saudi. "According to sub paragraph F.1.5.2 and F.1.5.3, these offenses include 'any offence involving any act which could reasonably be considered to be dishonest'," the letter adds, also citing oppressive living conditions for women. "We are seeking clarification on how the Premier League could possibly define the head of one of the most repressive regimes in the world as ‘fit and proper’. This is the head of a regime whose war in Yemen has resulted in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world, who executed 184 people in 2019, and who continue to repress any form of dissent through the use of illegal detention.

 

"The Saudi authorities are only too aware of these allegations, and through a sophisticated ‘sportswashing’ campaign, are attempting to whitewash their reputation as a repressive regime. By enabling this, the Premier League is facilitating this activity and acting as a laundry service for repressive regimes to improve their images internationally."

 

Last month the state was criticised by the World Trade Organisation for turning a blind eye to piracy. This week the country escalated its ongoing dispute with Qatar by permanently banning beIN Sports, the only Premier League TV rights-holder for the region.

 

"We are gravely concerned by the direction of travel of Saudi Arabia and believe the English Premier League should do everything in its power to bring individuals carrying out human rights abuses to account," the letter adds. "Unless Saudi Arabia reform their criminal justice system and release all political detainees, the Premier League cannot sign-off on the sale of Newcastle United to the PIF. Human rights should be a red line in any proposed sale of a club."

 

Current owner Mike Ashley bought Newcastle in 2007 and put the club up for sale in 2017. The prospective owners hoped to complete the deal, brokered by British financier Amanda Staveley, before the resumption of season last month.

[Charlies]

 

Letter day today?

[SUPERTOON]

Hardly 11th hour ?

[Ikon]

I heard something similar last Sunday night that It’s done, poch has agreed terms and that they got 3-4 targets agreed in principal. They said this week though, it’s why I’ve been quite excited all week and keys comments and bein ban have done nothing to make me think otherwise.

 

I did ask why and who is waiting and got no answer, only an assumption that they wanted a few things lined up and come in with a bang. It sounded plausible, but it all just seemed to good to be true so haven’t said owt. I’m only saying this now as I think it might be the same rumour going round, and it’s probably got no substance, just good guess work and hedging it on timings.

 

Coutinho's grandson doesn't seem to get the chance to decide himself.

[Toon No9]

I love next week.

I loved last week, because that was next week two weeks ago.

[Hhtoon]

Hardly 11th hour ?

 

4000th hour doesn't have the same panache 

[Robster]

Hardly 11th hour ?

Unless they know something we don't

[TheInfiniteOdyssey]

I swear this is like the fifth time a cross-party group of MPs have sent a letter

 

Are they just forwarding the same one over and over?

[Wilson]

As long as the cross party nonces aren't Boris we're sound.

[Guest chopey]

I wish those pesky MPs had something else to do, it's been a very quiet few months what with the global pandemic and the entire economy going to shit that will take a generation to sort.

[madras]

I swear this is like the fifth time a cross-party group of MPs have sent a letter

 

Are they just forwarding the same one over and over?

Masters keeps sending it back "Not known at this address "

[Guest godzilla]

I swear this is like the fifth time a cross-party group of MPs have sent a letter

 

Are they just forwarding the same one over and over?

 

Makes no difference how many they send when the official government is encouraging trade and being very vocal about it also.

[Teasy]

So who are these MPs?  I mean we keep hearing this kind of thing, several times there have been reports of letters from various numbers of MPs.  But I haven't seen any specific names mentioned.  Anyone know who they are?

 

Edit: Ah so the article actually names them this time.