Geordie Arabia

[Bjornebye]

Just now, aws said:

They'll be in two minds. On the one hand there'll be no further arguing  that Newcastle aren't  bigger than them and there's even less chance of them ever winning anything. On the other hand it might stop us winning things. The other hand will win. 

They will all be saying our heads have fell off over it. 

[Chris]

4 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

Telford's in Shropshire isn't it? Never been there but it's in my top 5 most boring place names in the country. 

 

Technically speaking it is, unfortunately. But it's also part of its own borough; Telford & Wrekin. We try and disown them as much as possible. Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Church Stretton, Bridgnorth, Bishops Castle, though? Beautiful parts of the country. 

[Chairman Meow]

2 hours ago, Chris said:

I'm not too concerned about this purely because it's Newcastle, it'll go tits up and it'll be hilarious. I can't see it going much better than it has for Everton. If it was West Ham, Arsenal or Villa, say, I'd be much more concerned because those can be relatively attractive destinations for top, top players. Not that shithole.

 

EDIT: That's not to say this isn't yet another dark day for footy.

 

 

Clearly someone who has never spent any time in County Durham or Northumberland.

 

However, I'd advise you don't chance it. There is a strong chance you may realise how mint it is and then we'd have to put up with complete fucking idiots like you turning up in the area. 

[Chris]

4 minutes ago, Chairman Meow said:

Clearly someone who has never spent any time in County Durham or Northumberland.

 

However, I'd advise you don't chance it. There is a strong chance you may realise how mint it is and then we'd have to put up with complete fucking idiots like you turning up in the area. 

You're welcome to it. And by "It" I mean the entire north east. 

[tokyojoe]

21 minutes ago, Chris said:

 

Technically speaking it is, unfortunately. But it's also part of its own borough; Telford & Wrekin. We try and disown them as much as possible. Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Church Stretton, Bridgnorth, Bishops Castle, though? Beautiful parts of the country. 

Aren't you allowed to kill a Welshman with a bow and arrow in Shrewsbury? Can't be that bad.

[Chris]

2 minutes ago, tokyojoe said:

Aren't you allowed to kill a Welshman with a bow and arrow in Shrewsbury? Can't be that bad.

 

Yeah, it's one of those weird ye olde lawe things that's technically never been explicitly overturned to say "no you can't" 

[Pete]

Wonder if Pep fancies a trip up to the North East sometime in the near future??

[JagSquared]

There’s rumours the Saudis also want to buy inter Milan too, so not sure how that would work. I suppose Salzburg and Leipzig have no issues competing in the CL so maybe that isn’t an issue?

[Bjornebye]

2 minutes ago, JagSquared said:

There’s rumours the Saudis also want to buy inter Milan too, so not sure how that would work. I suppose Salzburg and Leipzig have no issues competing in the CL so maybe that isn’t an issue?

"Meadow Well twinned with Milan"

[RedHeadedRed]

1 hour ago, Jimmy Hills Chin said:

 

But at least they've sorted out the broadcast piracy issues eh, I mean that's what's important, right. The more I see of man, the more I love my dog.

Yep that's genuinely the reason why this deal was held up for so long. What a fucked up world this is, just look at where the next world cup is being held.

[dockers_strike]

One of the few erudite articles on this shitfest.

 

Anybody horrified by the Saudis’ capture of Newcastle United risks running headlong into hostility from the club’s long-suffering fans. All demand to know why the same moral indignation is not reserved for Manchester City acting as a shop front for the United Arab Emirates, or for Paris St Germain’s role as a convenient conduit for Qatari soft power. The key difference, surely, is that while both those regimes have fallen short on multiple Amnesty International metrics, neither sanctioned the murder and dismemberment of a journalist just three years ago this week.

 

The case of Jamal Khashoggi – the Washington Post columnist killed, according to US intelligence agencies, on the direct orders of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman – is crucial to understanding why Newcastle’s takeover represents such a grotesque moment for football. Over the past 20 years, the game has made peace with Roman Abramovich turning Chelsea into two-time European champions, despite the owner acquiring Russian oil giant Sibneft, the key to his £10.5 billion fortune, in a post-Soviet landscape described by his own lawyer as having “no rule of law”.

 

It has worn the spectacle of Sheikh Mansour, head of an Abu Dhabi regime condemned by Amnesty for unfair trials and failing to investigate allegations of torture, bankrolling City to three Premier League titles in the past four seasons. It has tolerated Paris St Germain, a club that did not even exist until 1970, becoming the envy of Europe on the back of Qatar’s bottomless sovereign wealth fund, with president Nasser Al-Khelaifi stockpiling star strikers as remorselessly as his fellow powerbrokers in the tiny Gulf state acquire Belgravia properties.

 

But Saudi Arabia’s buy-up of Newcastle, the latest pawn in its sports-washing campaign, deserves a category of noxiousness all its own. If it were not unpalatable enough that the kingdom is ranked among “the worst of the worst” in Freedom House’s annual survey of political and civil rights, or that it leads a coalition accused of war crimes in Yemen, its sanctioning of the hit on Khashoggi leaves a stain impossible to expunge.

 

Let us briefly absorb the horror of what happened to Khashoggi. On October 2, 2018, he was lured by Saudi operatives to their consulate in Istanbul and killed, with Turkish authorities describing how the sound of a bone saw could be heard. All this took place, in the words of a declassified US intelligence report earlier this year, on the approval of Bin Salman, the man now hailed as Newcastle’s knight in shining armour.

 

Supporters whose view on the ghastly deal is roughly summarised as “anyone but Mike Ashley” are conditioned to dismiss this as some trifling ethical caveat. Except Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, regards it as anything but. She has implored the Premier League not to acquiesce to the Saudis, telling Telegraph Sport: “It is horrifying to learn that the Crown Prince is on the brink of getting what he wants: to wash his reputation, and sully the name of sports.”

 

You might hope that the testimony of Ms Cengiz, a woman whose life has been ruined by a terrible state-sponsored crime, would resonate with those Newcastle fans who have not become overnight apologists for the rulers in Riyadh. You trust that it would rattle the Premier League, who demand that would-be owners pass fit-and-proper-person tests, but who are expected to wave this takeover through regardless. And you certainly hope it would deter journalists from offering specious justifications for a regime that has murdered one of their own.

 

But the grim reality is that the Saudis’ PR drive seems to be working. Already an argument has been advanced this week that the only tool they need for fending off human rights concerns is a decent communications strategy. It is an abysmally myopic view. Any brutal tyranny can launder its image via an expensive PR company: for years, Bell Pottinger, since disgraced and dismantled for fanning racial tensions in South Africa, would happily serve as spin doctors for dictators including Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko and Chile’s Augusto Pinochet.

 

While covering Anthony Joshua’s “clash on the dunes” with Andy Ruiz Jnr in Diriyah, in December 2019, PRs were eager for reporters to sit down with Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal, the Saudi sports minister, so that he could he depict the super-fight as part of a grand plan to grow grassroots sport in the country. This is all very well, but the endgame of using sport to gloss over barbarity is transparent. You expect this type of cynicism in boxing, where Eddie Hearn has long since shelved any moral dilemmas to negotiate the best possible contracts for his fighters. You expect it in Formula One, too, where Bernie Ecclestone – admittedly in jest – did not discount holding races in Syria or North Korea so long as the price was right.

 

It might be an endearingly guileless view, but there was once some optimism that football could hold itself to a higher standard. After all, Javier Tebas, president of La Liga, claimed last year that he was not prepared to let his teams play in Saudi Arabia, refusing to be party to any “whitewashing” of human rights atrocities.

 

For Newcastle, the calculus is a little different. If sell-outs to the Saudis are good enough for the British government, and if the death of even a minor member of House of Saud mandates British royal representation at the funeral, why should football be a special case? It is this whataboutery, sadly, that trumps any thought of the Khashoggi family’s disgust for what Newcastle appear and the Premier League appear poised to do. Even in football’s hall of infamy, this is the most dismal Faustian pact yet.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/10/07/sport-awash-awful-characters-saudi-arabia-represents-new-low/

[YorkshireRed]

My Dad was a proud Newcastle fan, proud of his North East routes. I grew up with stories of Wor Jackie and the 1950’s Cup Final wins. 
 

I’m fairly certain he wouldn’t consider this good news. I suspect that today marks the beginning of the end for Newcastle United. The name may remain, perhaps the fan base will retain a core of those who know that what’s about to happen is not who they are, but the football club they adore will be no more. 
 

Perhaps they don’t know it yet but this is a sad day. 

[Kevin D]

Made up. Will be out dancing in the street tonight.

[dockers_strike]

Risable.

 

With Newcastle under new ownership, William Hill make them 12/1 to win the Premier League title within the next five years.

The Magpies are expected to be backed financially and they are 6/1 to break the world transfer record (£199.8m) by the end of December 2025, while they are 10/1 to break the £100m British record Manchester City spent on Jack Grealish in next summer’s transfer window.

Steve Bruce might be the one to suffer with the new regime, with the current manager 3/1 to still be at the helm on Christmas Day this year, with the 60 year-old 20/1 to remain in charge on the first day of next season.

[Jennings]

PL: We're really strict. We only want fit and proper owners round here! You'll have to pass a stringent test!

 

 

 

 

PL: You passed. No skeletons in your closet. Come on in!!

 

 

[Stickman]

I wonder what deadbeats will come out the woodwork now hoping they get a gig on Sky or the BBC as the face of Newcastle a la Micah Richards or Trevor Sinclair 

Already had Warren Barton throwing his hat in the ring on Sky saying how much the fans deserve this after Mike Ashley …If the fans deserved it Warren they’d  have done something about Ashley years ago rather than filling the ground and buying all those shirts from his shop …If Ashley had been at Liverpool I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have lasted anywhere near 14 years 

[Jennings]

Newcastle will 'earn' a place in the Big Five within two years.

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

FC 9/11

[TheHowieLama]

8 minutes ago, Kevin D said:

Made up. Will be out dancing in the street tonight.

You can get that tattoo filled in now.

[TheDrowningMan]

Bring on the super league. It’s the only way forward.

[dockers_strike]

1 minute ago, TheDrowningMan said:

Bring on the super league. It’s the only way forward.

Will be interesting to see how Newcastle's voting intentions within the PL will now change. I bet they start supporting things like individual clubs getting a greater share of overseas tv income, 5 subs for league games, clubs in European football not being shafted with 12:30 Saturday kick offs after international breaks etc. The list is endless.

[Stickman]

16 minutes ago, dockers_strike said:

Risable.

 

With Newcastle under new ownership, William Hill make them 12/1 to win the Premier League title within the next five years.

 

Wonder what odds you’d get on them winning the championship next season ?

[Harry Squatter]

33 minutes ago, Stickman said:

I wonder what deadbeats will come out the woodwork now hoping they get a gig on Sky or the BBC as the face of Newcastle a la Micah Richards or Trevor Sinclair 

Already had Warren Barton throwing his hat in the ring on Sky saying how much the fans deserve this after Mike Ashley …If the fans deserved it Warren they’d  have done something about Ashley years ago rather than filling the ground and buying all those shirts from his shop …If Ashley had been at Liverpool I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have lasted anywhere near 14 years 

Yep they all professed to hate him, got relegated twice but still never protested once apart from calling a couple of them the Cockney mafia. 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

Dearth of top players around only so many each club can get and you have both Mancs, Chelsea, PSG,Bayern, the inevitable Phoenix like rise of Real and Barca, plus far better destinations than Newcastle in Juventus, Dortmund etc. Not forgetting us. 

 

[Trumo]

I suppose it depends on how much the Saudi royal family want to channel funds through PIF and then on to whatever parent company they create to own Newcastle. This could go the Man City/PSG sportwashing route, or be like that guy who bought Portsmouth. The Geordie fans obviously wish for the former, but then they've had to put up with Mike Ashley and his mis-management for over a decade, so any change would feel like a welcome change.