Chances are any talk of it being a stunt is misguided, as the fact is they weren't getting anywhere with the Premier League, they never felt wanted, so they pulled out. Lots of fans have reacted with outrage and shock and have attacked the Premier League verbally over this takeover failure but have they actually asked properly why it failed?
"The Premier are corrupt!" some scream. They got the hashtag #PremierLeagueIsCorrupt trending on Twitter and many were lapping it up. Someone showed a picture of that hashtag tattoed on themselves. If true, they are a mental case.
But they don't quite go as far as that fruitcake who was filming himself down at the PL HQ offices badgering PL receptionists and staff, asking if Richard Masters was at home. Embarrassing. The look on the receptionists face who was polite enough to give him the light of day said it all, cringeworthy.
He promised to keep going back with updates but as I write this, he has already given up. So 24 hours that campaign lasted for and comments of support he was getting on Twitter was skin crawling. "You are doing a great job" some would say. Doing what? Making up stories?
According to this clown, Richard Masters sneaked away from the building under heavy guard using a back entrance so he didn't have to face him. None of this on camera of course, just in his mind. Who is he stalking? The President of the United States.
I would say give it a rest pal but it seems he already has. His latest post said he isn't going to PL today (he has only been once!) and instead he is going around London trying to find "famous people" he can film and I assume ask awkward questions to? Who the hell knows. Crack pot.
Going back to the question of have the fans actually asked why the Saudis have got nowhere with the PL and why are they pulling out? Are they actually interested in the reality of the situation or are they more interested in petitions and hashtags?
Oh, very quickly, that petition has managed to gain almost 100k signatures which is some going but has anyone actually read it? I laughed out loud when in the opening paragraph states the petition is 'requesting a government investigation into why the takeover failed.'
A government investigation? Are you being serious? By whom? Boris himself? Jacob Rees-Mogg? Theresa May isn't as busy these days. You've lost your minds. Tyneside has finally snapped. Or was it always off it's head and this is just exposing it?
If you wanna know why the Saudis haven't got anywhere with the PL and have pulled out, then I will tell you. It's pretty straight forward to be honest. You see, the Saudi state have been stealing the PL product for years and the PL know it. The WTO confirmed it to the world with their report.
So, the PL don't like that. In fact, they hate it. They hate it beyond anything else. You may be able to get away with murdering a reporter in your own Embassy but steal PL rights and give them away for free? No, no. The PL won't stand for that carry on, at all.
With this the PL played a blinder. You see what they will do is use their own owners and directors test how they see fit. So what they did is they asked PIF to provide a member of the Saudi state to sit on the board of directors at NUFC so they would be O&D tested.
Once tested they would fail on two counts. 1) they have been shown to be stealing PL rights based on the respectable WTO report. Fail. 2) they have been strongly accused of murder by Amnesty International and many others. Fail.
Part two of the plan is to put the issue back into PIF hands. They either comply and fail the test or refuse and eventually walk away. Part two has happened and PL are well happy as they haven't needed to make a decision. Jobs and good un.
Now, you may not like that as a NUFC fan but put yourselves, if you can, in the PL point of view. A country has been stealing your product from one of your major partners and giving it away for free. How would you feel about this country or more specifically, this state, this Kingdom? Would you like them?
Would you welcome them with open arms if they wanted to buy into one of your members and join the exclusive 20 party membership that is the Premier League? The answer is no, you wouldn't. To pretend otherwise is disingenuous.
Have the Premier League made it very difficult for the Saudis to buy in? Yes. Impossible? No, I wouldn't say so. Money can still talk and if PIF wanted in, then they would have to make the PL an offer they simply couldn't refuse. What that is I couldn't say but they haven't made such offer and the deal is off.
As for us fans, we need to move on. Signing petitions and creating hashtags may feel like it's constructive but it isn't. You may feel like going down to PL HQ and annoying receptionists is fun but it won't help our cause. In fact, I would say it will harm it.
If PCP and Amanda Staveley believe in their project and the club then they need to come up with a new plan. A new major backer. My initial thoughts are can PCP convince the Reuben Bros to go all in and own the club themselves, well 90%, and take it from there?
It will be a slower build but these lads are the second wealthiest family in the country. They are richer than Roman Abramovich, so they aren't short of a few bob. They already own property in the North East, as we know, as well things like the Racecourse.
I can't see why they are so against ownership but who knows, maybe they aren't. Maybe they were happy for the Saudis to be the big cheese, seeing as they dwarfed every other football club owner by a long way and would take their 10% returns.
Now PIF is out, 90% return sounds a lot better if this club reaches its potential. Make no mistake about that. This club can be worth a billion if you get it right and it won't need an entire Kingdoms money to do it. If Spurs can do it, so can NUFC.
So first step, try and get Reuben Bros to go for it. If not, find a new major backer to get this club out of the hands of Mike Ashley once and for all.
No mention of the money poured into Man Utd.for years by the Saudis. No mention of the Chinese, Russians, who have killed off millions of their own people for years, and indeed are still at it, but hey! no matter. It must not pass that a little outpost in the north should dare to improve to join the really big lads.
ReplyDeleteI would point out that the Saudi government fronted an arab coalition that included numerous Arab and African states which eventually severed diplomatic relations etc with Qatar in 2017 due to their alleged support of terrorists in the shape of the Muslim brotherhood among others, one of their demands was that they shut down Al Jazeera television station, Al Jazeera own bein sports so why did the Premier League sell the rights to bein sports less than a year later (may 2018) knowing fine well that the Saudi's had severed trade relations and would not let them broadcast. I suggest greed was the motive, they turned a blind eye to that and the fact that the human rights of 3rd world nationals were being violated in the building of the world cup stadiums? Smacks of double standards.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't disagree with both of these comments. Just providing some thought process as to why this has happened as many seem to ignore it or dont get it. The aftermath has gone a bit mental.
ReplyDeleteYou make an interesting case, but ultimately what the current situation boils down to is that the vast majority of NUFC fans feel wronged, and the premier league has abused the owners and directors test (rather than applying it as they see fit) to deliberately stall and ultimately sabotage a deal. The O & D test is laid out in the premier league handbook, it is effectively a checklist, not a vague outline open to interpretation. I agree with your assertions about why the premier league wanted to put a Saudi government representative as a director as a means to fail the test, however it is not for the premier league to decide who the directors of a club are and thus this (if indeed it was what they did) was a deeply underhanded move. I agree that someone turning up at EPL headquarters is madness, but the fanbase is right to demand answers.
ReplyDeleteAmanda Stavely made some fairly serious allegations with regards to how the test was conducted, yet the premier league have said nothing. Technically the process is still ongoing (somewhat pointlessly for the moment) so they could still argue confidentiality, however if what Stavely has said is not true, why have they not come out and denied it, the silence is deafening. Another allegation was that initially the EPL said the takeover would be approved both before and after it was submitted, if that is the case, piracy can't have been that big an issue because the EPL would have known of Saudi Arabian involvment and are more than aware of the privacy issue. Ultimately it boils down to whether or not you wish to take Amanda Stavely's interview at face value or not. There's two sides to every story, but as one side won't give us theirs we have to make a judgement based on what we have.
Oh... and your point about Spurs, they have may have improved significantly over the last decade without a sovereign state pumping money in, but they've still won nothing.
Great comment.
DeleteI wouldn't disagree with most of it. PL have definitely played around within the walls of their own test but you can see why they have done it, when you look at it objectively. I dont like the deal dying but I can understand. For the reasons given, I have never expected it to go through. I just couldn't see how unless the Saudis do what men in suits do best and butter each other up.
Spurs may have won nowt but they are worth a shed load if their owners want to sell for a profit
A fair point, and I can also see why they have done it. However, the argument is ultimately over whether it was right to do so. Particularly if, as the buyers allege, there were other outside influences such as other clubs putting pressure on. As other clubs should have no say in the process (lets be honest, who is going to be happy about a rival suddenly being a lot more competitive). Ultimately, if the test did not fail on any of the criteria in the handbook, it should be passed, the premier league failed to do this (for whatever reason) and thus have robbed us of a huge chance to progress. IF they want the shouting, petitions and criticism to go away they have two options -
Delete1) Get the consortium back round the table and approve the deal
2) Provide a legal justification for their actions.
Still goes back to them with the beoutQ nonsense. Without it, it would be done. Its at their door ultimately.
Deletewell said the epl are at fault i have heard that the top 10 clubs where agenst it as well that means man utd which has sponsor money from the saudies for a number of years should be looked into how did the EPL miss that
DeleteI see you only singled out saudi as to showing premire league matches via bein or another internet connection, what you failed to say is all matches are showen live through out the whole world and not just saudi, so with this information what is the premire league doing about that then and why does qatar have so much power within the league when they are really just a subscriber for the matches, about all the clubs who oppose this takeover did we oppose theres no we didnt it has nothing to do with other clubs
ReplyDeletenow lets see who makes these illegal boxes so people in other countries can watch the premire league in action week in week out without paying a subscription, china and korea, did the PL stop the chinese from owning southampton and wolves no might have taken a few months but they didnt make them jump through hoops did it, now lets get to the advertising rights via saudi to man united did anyone complain about that not a word was said, how about abranovic nothing said again even when man united where taken over by the glaziers with borrowed money I may add the PL didnt say a dicky bird did they, so it looks as though its just newcastle united yes so whats the PL,qatar and the rest of the clubs so scared off
ReplyDeleteBut this is the Saudi state. An individual from China, Korea and even Saudi (Sheff Utd) can get thru these tests. Its a very messy situation which they have been unable to sort out and get thru.
DeleteThe premier league have a test for potential owners and directors. This test is comprised of specific criteria which a potential owner must satisfy. The test is a legally binding procedure. If a candidate passes this test, the league cannot just decide that they don't want them to be able to pass it. They either do or they don't. What newcastle fans are 'losing their minds over as you say is the fact that they havnt failed the test, however they are also not allowed to pass it, this is not lawful and should therefore be investigated by a higher power. Point and case. Nothing else matters here.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous above. Sums it up for me perfectly
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