PIF and RB Sports & Media

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, Fak said:

Takes a brave man to go toe-to-toe with Rod. 

I'm waiting to be told where to go - he's indulged me so far.

[Rod]

Just now, Fak said:

Takes a brave man to go toe-to-toe with Rod. 

Fak, it really annoys me that certain people go on about the right and wrongs regarding Saudia Arabia whilst I am watching a complete maniac that is Trump going mental in the world.  I hate Trump with a passion.  He's a dangerous threat to the world.

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, Rod said:

Fak, it really annoys me that certain people go on about the right and wrongs regarding Saudia Arabia whilst I am watching a complete maniac that is Trump going mental in the world.  I hate Trump with a passion.  He's a dangerous threat to the world.

Can't both things be true, though?  That KSA is a nasty dictatorship (I know about how it has 'liberalised' a bit recently - I suspect more down to not wanting a revolution from its relatively young population), and Trump is a nasty cunt who is a danger to the planet?

[Rod]

4 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

They can also execute you for blasphemy, homosexuality and witchcraft.  They can execute on a whim because there is no written law code - it is up to individual judges to make judgements and sentences in their own interpretation of Sharia.  

It's THEIR laws. Don't do it then.  Stop being a witch and be careful about kissing your boyfriend/girlfriend.  It's THEIR laws.

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, Rod said:

It's THEIR laws. Don't do it then.  Stop being a witch and be careful about kissing your boyfriend/girlfriend.  It's THEIR laws.

I'm all for executing witches and sorcerors, obviously - who wouldn't? - but do you think that gay Saudi Arabians might have an issue with being executed for being born gay?

 

And tbf if it is their laws - why give a shite about what Trump is doing in the US?  That's their laws, too.

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

19 hours ago, Rod said:

What are you talking about?  They prosecute and execute murderers, rapists and other low life's.  In the UK they get an equivalent of an Airbnb.

As someone who used to volunteer for Trailblazers https://www.trailblazersmentoring.org.uk and did a placement in Peterhead jail during my MH Nursing degree, I’d really have to suggest you refine your search criteria in AirBNB if they’re anything like a U.K. jail.

 

Honestly wish people would actually volunteer to help in these places rather than take bollocks written in the Mail at face value, as jails are yet another thing that have seen insufficient public investment for the past several decades. They’re overcrowded, filthy and falling apart and lots of the education and rehabilitation is almost non-existent and often reliant an charities such as Trailblazers. Yet another case of being too tight to invest the relatively small amount in terms of staff, to try to prevent reoffending (or better yet stop offending before it starts with the youth outreach programs etc) but quite happy to pay the vast quantities to keep people locked up and stuck in cycles of repeat incarceration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 21 by Ghandis Flip-Flop

[Rod]

1 minute ago, TheBrownBottle said:

I'm all for executing witches and sorcerors, obviously - who wouldn't? - but do you think that gay Saudi Arabians might have an issue with being executed for being born gay?

 

And tbf if it is their laws - why give a shite about what Trump is doing in the US?  That's their laws, too.

"What Trump is doing in the US"?  Have you not read the news lately?  He's a massive threat to world harmony.

[Fak]

Rod?

[TheBrownBottle]

6 minutes ago, Rod said:

"What Trump is doing in the US"?  Have you not read the news lately?  He's a massive threat to world harmony.

Agreed, he is - as is KSA.  It isn't a coincidence that the 'peace talks' between the US and Russia re Ukraine took place in Riyadh - minus Ukraine, of course.  Who has been funding Wahhabism / Salafism around the world, causing untold harm in Asia and Africa?  Some of those taps have been turned off recently, but not all of them.

 

In terms of his actions within the US - if KSA has moral immunity for how the govt conducts itself internally, then so does Trump in the US.

 

MBS is what Trump would love to be, if he could.

[Fatwax]

45 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

They literally don't have laws, Rod.  There is no Rule of Law in KSA.

They do have laws, but it isn’t a written constitution. Sharia law isn’t interpretation to the degree that you state and to be honest you are misrepresenting the country somewhat. 
 

Yes, witches wizards and witchcraft (along with music) is considered haram. I have also performed in the pit band for Phantom of the Opera in KSA and in the orchestra for Bocelli when he performed there. Shrek the Musical was also performed there recently. You’re using the ‘it’s legal to kill a man with an arrow in York’ argument and ignoring reality.

 

It isn’t a dictatorship, it is an absolute monarchy. You may not agree with either of these as a ruling structure but there is a difference.

 

For the record I don’t agree with many of the rules there but it is tiresome to hear people spout stuff about KSA and the Middle East with very little or no first hand knowledge.  

 

 

[TheBrownBottle]

2 minutes ago, Fatwax said:

They do have laws, but it isn’t a written constitution. Sharia law isn’t interpretation to the degree that you state and to be honest you are misrepresenting the country somewhat. 
 

Yes, witches wizards and witchcraft (along with music) is considered haram. I have also performed in the pit band for Phantom of the Opera in KSA and in the orchestra for Bocelli when he performed there. Shrek the Musical was also performed there recently. You’re using the ‘it’s legal to kill a man with an arrow in York’ argument and ignoring reality.

 

It isn’t a dictatorship, it is an absolute monarchy. You may not agree with either of these as a ruling structure but there is a difference.

 

For the record I don’t agree with many of the rules there but it is tiresome to hear people spout stuff about KSA and the Middle East with very little or no first hand knowledge.  

 

 

'I have anecdotal evidence and got paid to be there for a bit, so everything is hunky dory'

 

The 'arrow in York' is irrelevant - that hasn't been an issue for centuries.  For gay Saudis, this is not the case.

 

It is a dictatorship - what else could an absolute monarchy be?

 

It does not have the Rule of Law.

[McDog]

3 hours ago, Rod said:

Fak, it really annoys me that certain people go on about the right and wrongs regarding Saudia Arabia whilst I am watching a complete maniac that is Trump going mental in the world.  I hate Trump with a passion.  He's a dangerous threat to the world.

 

 

 

Let the record show:

 

1) When I was 20 years old (hint 40 some years ago) I thought Donald Trump was a moron then.

2) I did my bit, but landed in the minority once the votes were tallied.

 

 

[TheBrownBottle]

3 hours ago, McDog said:

 

 

 

Let the record show:

 

1) When I was 20 years old (hint 40 some years ago) I thought Donald Trump was a moron then.

2) I did my bit, but landed in the minority once the votes were tallied.

 

 

Reform are currently on a plurality in the polls in the UK.  The world isn’t a happy place atm. 

[et tu brute]

Wasn't there a thread where all this political stuff was put. Leave this one to football matters.

[Dr Venkman]

10 hours ago, Rod said:

Stop being a witch

POTY

[WilliamPS]

12 hours ago, Fatwax said:

Shrek the Musical was also performed there recently

I’m not getting involved in this debate - but this is a very important point!  

 

If they've  got Shrek THE MUSICAL all bets are off!

[wyn davies]

13 hours ago, Rod said:

"What Trump is doing in the US"?  Have you not read the news lately?  He's a massive threat to world harmony.

Thought this forum was about football and not politics, but for my pennies worth, is Putin not also a major danger to the world also.

[madras]

23 minutes ago, wyn davies said:

Thought this forum was about football and not politics, but for my pennies worth, is Putin not also a major danger to the world also.

He is, even worse if Trump is, at worst, leveraged, at best, in awe of Putin meaning he'll let himself be Putin's fuck toy.

[Rich]

Wor Rod just on pure ethanol these days?

[Ronson333]

 

[80]

22 minutes ago, Ronson333 said:

 

Looks like he's missing Mehrdad to play with.

[SAK]

27 minutes ago, 80 said:

Looks like he's missing Mehrdad to play with.

Don’t hear much from Jamie Reuben these days as well.

[joeyt]

 

 

 

[Miggys First Goal]

Quote

 

While those on the inside of Matfen Hall’s oak-panelled Morning Room looked into a window of Newcastle United’s future – new stadiums, training grounds, commercial deals - a couple of fellas on the outside cleaned the glass.

 

Given the sensitivity of what was being presented on screens in the ground-floor conference suite, it felt like an oversight by the management of this five-star country hotel.

 

Consider, too, the presence of Yasir Al Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, who last week kept company with Donald Trump and Elon Musk. He was sitting close to Eddie Howe this time.

 

Maybe it was, then, that the window cleaners and the gardener, who casually tended to immaculate lawns, had earpieces and pistols.

 

Because here, 18 miles from the spiritual home of the football club, the current custodians were making decisions that will shape its soul for tomorrow’s generation. This was top brass, top level, top secret.

 

I wandered by the pair with their buckets and squeegees and the guy combing the grass - maybe they weren’t special agents after all - and into the gothic entrance of the countryside mansion, with its stained-glass windows, wooden staircase and grand piano. It felt as if the music stopped when a couple of the Newcastle hierarchy noted my attendance.

 

The summit had just broken for lunch. Howe was saying his goodbyes before dashing across the pebbled car park and into his Range Rover, off to continue preparations for Wednesday’s trip to Liverpool.

 

‘I was very pleased that the ambition and drive to be successful is still very much there from everyone connected to the club,’ he later said.

 

Meanwhile, in the chic 1832 cocktail bar - velvet Chesterfields and a sweeping vista of the Northumberland countryside - an overseas executive type who would be taking Howe’s seat for the afternoon session drank coffee and waited in front of his laptop. A club partner, most probably, who need not be privy to the football and finances of part one.

 

Sporting director Paul Mitchell, on brand in black jumper and white shirt, soon greeted the gentleman.

 

‘Were you at the game yesterday?’ he asked.

 

‘No,’ came the reply.

 

‘Oh, you missed a good ‘un,’ said Mitchell.

 

He was talking about the 4-3 win over Nottingham Forest, a result that no doubt contributed to the gaiety of the laughter and niceties that echoed around the stone-walled Great Hall in which board members, PIF chiefs and lawyers were gathering.

 

It all felt a little first day at school, or Slough meets Swindon for fans of The Office. Darren Eales, the chief executive, and Peter Silverstone, the chief commercial officer, were among the genial hosts.

 

‘Good flight?’

 

‘Nice room?’

 

‘Have you had lunch?’

 

With that, the doors to the Emerald Restaurant were open, where a buffet of the finest meats and fish awaited. Simon Capper, the club’s chief financial officer, was one of the first up to refuel.

 

Little wonder, he is the man charged with calculating Profit and Sustainability margins and delivering to the room the unavoidable truth: We need to generate more money! He looked like he needed a cocktail next door, never mind the chicken.

 

All the chiefs were here, but none more important on this historic day than Brad Miller, the chief operating officer who is leading the stadium and training-ground projects. 

 

This was his chance to present to Al Rumayyan and the chairman’s PIF colleagues what those on the ground believe is the best way forward. Our sources have long since said that a new stadium on nearby Leazes Park will be their proposal, with a 70,000 capacity and state-of-the-art design.

 

The alternative is a renovated St James’ Park holding just over 60,000. World-renowned architects KSS are among those to have provided drawings for both, as we revealed last month.

 

We also understand that a planning consultant has now been enlisted to progress the newbuild option, while the freemen of the city have been wined and dined at home games. They and the city council are key to unlocking the use of the Grade II-listed Leazes Park.

 

And so, beneath the chandeliers and painted ceilings, the sight of one man felt significant. Roger Thornton, head of property at Motcomb Estates, owned by the Reuben brothers, the club’s minority shareholders.

 

He was appointed to the board last year and, say sources, has contacts inside the council that are unrivalled in the construction industry. Wheels must be greased before the engine of the digger is engaged.

 

But for all of the groundwork that Miller, Eales, Silverstone, Thornton and others have done in recent months, two questions remain - what do the Saudis want and will they pay for it?

 

The days of the PIF open chequebook are over, not that you could tell by the waft of the buffet, the blacked-out Mercedes vans buzzing around the estate and the Gulfstream jet waiting at a private airfield 12 miles away.

 

It was always the preference of the Saudi ownership to stay at St James’, at least during initial exploration. But as Al Rumayyan kicked a ball about on the pitch after Sunday’s win, he looked lost amid a million thoughts, perhaps wondering how best to invest a billion pounds.

 

Howe was far more focused when asked on Tuesday what needs to be done for Newcastle to compete at the very top. Don’t forget, it is Al Rumayyan’s stated ambition to be ‘No 1 in the world’.

 

‘We certainly need - if we are looking to catch the teams above us - to drastically improve everything we are delivering, still,’ said Howe, who is without a first-team signing in two years because of PSR limitations. 'That goes right across the board at every department of the club. We have so much to do to get to the top.

 

‘It’s not going to happen just by thinking it. It’s not going to happen by willing it. We have to actually deliver it. That takes money, that takes investment, that takes smart and strategic thinking, which I know is going on at the club. Then, we need to implement it.’

 

It was a sober and statesman-like evaluation of where the club is at. For all of the suits inside Matfen Hall’s de facto boardroom, the one wearing the tracksuit is as smart as any of them.

 

He was long gone by the time the others retired to the 1832 bar, where the spirits sit on shelves beneath a series of ornate, church-like arches. Supporters can only pray that the future of their club is in good hands. But until those once-in-a-lifetime decisions are communicated, they, like the window cleaners, are watching and wondering from the outside.

 

 

[80]

10 minutes ago, Miggys First Goal said:

 

I didn't have high hopes, but what a load of waffle.