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No, obviously not. It’s a PR stunt to highlight the Saudi justice system.

 

It worked as it got coverage in a national newspaper 

 

The same way the Saudis want to use Nufc to highlight postive PR about Saudi, people against the Saudi regimes ownership of Nufc can use the club to highlight negative PR about Saudi arabia

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30 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

Howe is obviously the wrong person to target. At the same time he knew exactly what he was signing up to when he took the gig.

 

Yes, he was signing up to be manager of Newcastle United, an opportunity that comes along once in a lifetime. He wasn't signing up to endorse dismemberment of journalists, shock horror. Just like fans like you aren't signing up to it either if you go to St James to watch your team play football.

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3 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Yes, he was signing up to be manager of Newcastle United, an opportunity that comes along once in a lifetime. He wasn't signing up to endorse dismemberment of journalists, shock horror. Just like fans like you aren't signing up to it either if you go to St James to watch your team play football.

 

I'm not suggesting that he endorses or is to blame for the actions of KSA. What I am saying is that if he thought he wouldn't face any form of scrutiny for choosing to be an employee of an arm of KSA, he's either as thick as pig shit or the naivest man under the sun. I'm sure he's neither.

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It's not really about raising awareness with the proper channels. They know exactly what MBS is all about, co-sign on it, and we wouldn't even know about it or be talking about it if a letter was presented to them - you may as well present it to the bin. It's about raising public awareness.

 

Howe's as powerless to change anything as the rest of us, but he chose to take the job and these kind of PR stunts are likely to be the price on the ticket every now and again.

 

Whether these things are productive or counterproductive overall is up for debate like - I'd probably say they're counterproductive with our fanbase, but productive outside of the fanbase. Either way I'm hardly going to get on my high horse about the act of someone giving a letter to Howe while simultaneously ignoring all of the heinous shit contained in the letter itself, the stuff that's the root cause, to blame, and the driving factor in all of it.

 

It's a pretty strong case of don't shoot the messenger.

 

 

Edited by Kid Icarus

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Guest reefatoon
1 hour ago, christ said:

He can’t do anything, but that’s not the point is it? It’s about generating awareness of what’s going on in Saudi. 


At the embarrassment of Howe though.

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Where do you draw the line though? BAE Systems have numerous contracts with Saudi, Qatar, Oman etc. 

Are we expecting workers there to front up to MBS? MBDA's weapons are built in Stevenage & dropped in Yemen 

Yet Newcastle United and Eddie Howe are the problem. Bollocks 

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Guest reefatoon
16 minutes ago, christ said:

I’m sure he’ll cope.


That isn’t the point. I am sure he isn’t thrilled with any undue attention when trying to concentrate on an upcoming final.  It’s drawing attention to him via press conferences, putting him in a position he doesn’t deserve to be in. It’s a cheap shot and very crass. 

 

 

Edited by reefatoon

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Not to mention it’s not only Saudi involved in Yemen, both Abu Dhabi (As past of UAE) and Qatar are also heavily involved too. So why are the media not asking question of Man City’s owners regarding this too? It’s a bit like giving us a free pass for 30 years of counter-insurgency, because it was US led.

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Just now, reefatoon said:


That isn’t the point. I am sure he is t thrilled with and undue attention when trying to concentrate on an upcoming final.  It’s drawing attention to him via press conferences, putting him in a position he doesn’t deserve to be in. It’s a cheap shot and very crass. 

That’s all moot. He’s the de facto spokesperson for the Saudi state’s most visible asset. This is a thing that he’s going to have to confront on occasion. He’ll be aware of that. 

 

We don’t get the luxury of being able to spend that filthy Arabian lucre and not have to think about where it’s come from. Just because it might make us, or the players and staff feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean its in anyway unfair when others dare to do something to draw attention to it.

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Guest reefatoon
3 minutes ago, christ said:

That’s all moot. He’s the de facto spokesperson for the Saudi state’s most visible asset. This is a thing that he’s going to have to confront on occasion. He’ll be aware of that. 

 

We don’t get the luxury of being able to spend that filthy Arabian lucre and not have to think about where it’s come from. Just because it might make us, or the players and staff feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean its in anyway unfair when others dare to do something to draw attention to it.


[emoji38]

We should probably just leave it there as we are never going to agree and it’s boring as fuck doing this merry dance every other week.

 

You agree with Eddies letter, I don’t. Let’s just leave it there :thup:

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17 minutes ago, Likelylad said:

Where do you draw the line though? BAE Systems have numerous contracts with Saudi, Qatar, Oman etc. 

Are we expecting workers there to front up to MBS? MBDA's weapons are built in Stevenage & dropped in Yemen 

Yet Newcastle United and Eddie Howe are the problem. Bollocks 

BAE are a constant target of protesters, and their execs have to deal with that as part of their jobs.

 

Now NUFC managers will have to as well. 

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NUFC are in a cup final and will have visibility to wider audience (albeit it’s only the League Cup Final - I can’t say I’m arsed about it when we’re not in it).  It’s the perfect time to raise visibility and awareness.

 

I just don’t agree with NUFC supporters causing any sort of distraction to the manager - I agree that Howe should have been aware of what he was signing up to, but I fail to see how this helps.  Protest outside and inside Wembley, present the letter to Staveley and Reuben etc - Howe’s the employee, they’re the public faces of the PIF’s investment.  They’re on Twitter; they’re at most games.  It doesn’t seem impossible to approach them.

 

Human rights abuses in KSA are a much more important subject than NUFC - but the only people taking notice of letters to Howe are the smarmy moral lecturers of the very, very soft left. 

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16 hours ago, christ said:

That’s all moot. He’s the de facto spokesperson for the Saudi state’s most visible asset. This is a thing that he’s going to have to confront on occasion. He’ll be aware of that. 

 

We don’t get the luxury of being able to spend that filthy Arabian lucre and not have to think about where it’s come from. Just because it might make us, or the players and staff feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean its in anyway unfair when others dare to do something to draw attention to it.

 

Then don't watch the cup final on Sunday if you really believe he's the de facto spokesperson for the Saudi state's most visible asset. If that's how I viewed him, I think for my own self-worth I would give it a miss and probably stop watching NUFC altogether until the club was sold on.

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23 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Then don't watch the cup final on Sunday if you really believe he's the de facto spokesperson for the Saudi state's most visible asset. If that's how I viewed him, I think for my own self-worth I would give it a miss and probably stop watching NUFC altogether until the club was sold on.

Why should I? It’s my club. I’ll keep supporting the team but I do so fully aware of who our owners are and with an always hypercritical eye on them. I’ll also not take it as a personal attack if someone tries to do something to raise awareness of the situation in Saudi.

 

I hoped our supporters would keep their head’s screwed on, and we’d not allow ourselves to be ‘sportswashed’. The fact someone doing something as inoffensive as handing a letter to the club’s most prominent employee is met with such outrage suggests I was a bit fucking optimistic.

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9 minutes ago, christ said:

Why should I? It’s my club. I’ll keep supporting the team but I do so fully aware of who our owners are and with an always hypercritical eye on them. I’ll also not take it as a personal attack if someone tries to do something to raise awareness of the situation in Saudi.

 

I hoped our supporters would keep their head’s screwed on, and we’d not allow ourselves to be ‘sportswashed’. The fact someone doing something as inoffensive as handing a letter to the club’s most prominent employee is met with such outrage suggests I was a bit fucking optimistic.


My point had fuck all to do with soortswasihing, it was the correct point that Howe can do fuck all about the situation and that the letter should have been sent to the people who actually have the power to do something, whilst still raising awareness. I was going to let it go after my earlier comments, but you can fuck right off accusing people of sportwashing, when they're making a valid point. 

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