Geordie Arabia

[RedHeadedRed]

I have no sympathy for Howe or Tuchel they knew exactly who they are involved with especially Tuchel his last job was with the Qatar monstrosity in Paris, he obviously has no qualms about where his paychecks come from.

[m0e]

People won't even remember Eddie Howe by the time the West decides they don't need Saudi Arabia any longer.

[stringvest]

Tuchel is being very measured - and dare I say, correct - in his responses.  You can't ask for more than that.

[elvis]

29 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

in this particular instance i don't see the issue with asking the question or Howe simply replying something like "i live and work in a country that doesn't employ capital punishment and wouldn't like to live in a country that didn't". they are quick enough to take money from these regimes, I don't see how they should get off with it. unless we believe sport doesn't create political pressure. which which would make you question why players take the knee every week and we made a point of supporting Ukraine the other week. and indeed why these countries are there buying football clubs. 

 

if you don't want to be asked tricky political questions, don't work for a tricky regime. 

This

[Bobby Hundreds]

I'd ask them every single day. Sportwashing works because we let it. Hard to clean up your image if everyday it's highlighted what bastards you are. Make managers uncomfortable they should feel uncomfortable. 

[polymerpunkah]

Newcastle's owner had a man killed, dismembered, and his corpse disappeared, because the man said bad things about him.

 

If your job is PR for a murderer, don't be surprised if you get asked questions about the murderer.

 

 

 

 

[stringvest]

1 minute ago, polymerpunkah said:

Newcastle's owner had a man killed, dismembered, and his corpse disappeared, because the man said bad things about him.

 

If your job is PR for a murderer, don't be surprised if you get asked questions about the murderer.

 

 

 

 

no wonder Howe is keeping schtum 

[Lario]

Maybe they had to sign some sort of gagging order to not talk about the owners?

And they're hardly gonna come out and say "my contract doesn't allow me talk about the owners".

 

I obviously haven't a clue.

[Anubis]

The Saudis aren't sportswashing because of Howe. They were at Newcastle before him. They were able to do it because the PL decided that a state that executes people by beheading, and which pushes escaping schoolgirls back into a burning building because they weren't wearing the correct headgear, and which murders and chops up journalists, were fit and proper people to own a PL club. Your problem isn't Howe. Your problem is right there.

[3 Stacks]

2 minutes ago, Anubis said:

The Saudis aren't sportswashing because of Howe. They were at Newcastle before him. They were able to do it because the PL decided that a state that executes people by beheading, and which pushes escaping schoolgirls back into a burning building because they weren't wearing the correct headgear, and which murders and chops up journalists, were fit and proper people to own a PL club. Your problem isn't Howe. Your problem is right there.

Part of the job of being a football manager is being asked questions about the club you manage. 

[Pureblood]

2 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

Part of the job of being a football manager is being asked questions about the club you manage. 

He's not going to answer them, though. It's a pointless exercise.  

[JohnnyH]

What I found remarkable was that he couldn't even bring himself to say beheading 81 people in a day was not nice? 

 

He could have even said something like "With my UK upbringing such a thing would be seen as extraordinary and so that doesn't sit well with me, but that's from my cosseted UK viewpoint. I can't speak for the people or country of SA" or some fudge like that where he at least acknowledges that his bosses beheading 81 people doesn't sit well with him? But to totally skip the question was incredible.  

[Anubis]

It never ceases to amaze me how people would rather go after a man paid to manage a football team and who has answer questions supposedly about the team and game ahead/just played, while the people who really are able to have an effect are ignored.

 

While the back pages are about Howe, the likes of Staveley and the PL can sit back and rest easy that nobody is asking them why they work so actively to promote regimes like the Saudis or why they are fit and proper people to own a football club in the UK.

 

Even before the beheading yesterday, the Saudis have been busy with the business of oppression, murder, backchannelling funding to terrorism, and playing all sides off against each other in the Middle East. They have a hold on politicians in this country. We supply their weapons of oppression and destruction. Tory politicians openly court them. Blair's Labour ended the bribery investigation into British Aerospace at the Saudi's behest. The agenda is set from the top. Howe is a sideshow.

[cloggypop]

How often does Staveley do press conferences? 

[Leyton388]

Absolutely scandalous the premier league allowed these murdering despots to be part of english football. 

 

 

[Pureblood]

16 minutes ago, JohnnyH said:

What I found remarkable was that he couldn't even bring himself to say beheading 81 people in a day was not nice? 

 

He could have even said something like "With my UK upbringing such a thing would be seen as extraordinary and so that doesn't sit well with me, but that's from my cosseted UK viewpoint. I can't speak for the people or country of SA" or some fudge like that where he at least acknowledges that his bosses beheading 81 people doesn't sit well with him? But to totally skip the question was incredible.  

It would inevitably lead to headlines everywhere about himself. "Howe Condemns Murderous Bosses!!!".  He's never going to answer these questions in a trillion years. 

[Anubis]

9 minutes ago, cloggypop said:

How often does Staveley do press conferences? 

The PL mandate the press conference for the manager to talk about the game and any issues regarding the team. So no, Staveley doesn't do them.

 

However, how difficult can it be for every sports 'journalist' to continually contact the Newcastle press team seeking an interview with her or Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and then continually publicise their refusal or silence in the face of requests? The answer is not very. How hard is it to do the same with the PL? The answer is not very.

 

Anyway, I've voiced my opinion. If you want to go after the low hanging fruit that is Eddie Howe, pick away.

[cloggypop]

Do that as well. I don't have a problem with bringing up sportswashing at every single press conference though. It's what they are being paid for.

[Shitty Arse]

It’s fucking outrageous they’re allowed to own a football club in a supposedly enlightened civilised society. There should be murder every week. Protests. Questions. People and the media have a duty to ensure this remains in the public eye until it becomes untenable and they fuck off back to Saudi Arabia. City as well. After whats happened with Chelsea it beggars belief that these two cunt organisations can just operate with impunity under the radar, with all the usual knobhead brain dead pundits lapping up the football without acknowledging the massive elephant in the room.

[cloggypop]

7 minutes ago, Shitty Arse said:

There should be murder every week.

Erm...

[Barrington Womble]

1 hour ago, Anubis said:

The Saudis aren't sportswashing because of Howe. They were at Newcastle before him. They were able to do it because the PL decided that a state that executes people by beheading, and which pushes escaping schoolgirls back into a burning building because they weren't wearing the correct headgear, and which murders and chops up journalists, were fit and proper people to own a PL club. Your problem isn't Howe. Your problem is right there.

Actually my problem is with Howe. It is also with the Saudi's. With the UK Government. With the PL. And with every single employee that allows the sportswashing to happen. If people didn't go and work for them, the sportswashing wouldn't be successful. 100% Howe is part of the problem and his role is the public face of the club. 

[Barrington Womble]

33 minutes ago, Leyton388 said:

Absolutely scandalous the premier league allowed these murdering despots to be part of english football. 

 

 

Yeah, but they're not pirating premier League football each weekend now. 

[Numero Veinticinco]

The owners are the villians, not Howe. However, Howe can't howl over being held to account for his actions, he knew who he was signing up for and he decided to take their money, so he's happy to profit off the backs of a regime like that. He's responsible for that. 

[Manny]

Ask away as far as I'm concerned. There's several points to sportswashing, and one is simply to create diversion and ambivalence. When Eddie Howe says "oh I don't know about that, I'm just here to talk about football" that's precisely what murderous cunts like bin Salman want. Stop asking awkward questions and look at the baubles - and Eddie Howe is simply illustrating it. Do it enough and people eventually start equating Saudi Arabia with Joelinton and Dan Burn rather than beheadings and war crimes.

 

I know lots of Newcastle fans who are basically saying "yeah it's a bit awkward to be honest but not much we can do about it" and it fucks me right off. I'd almost rather people revel in the newfound wealth and be unapologetic of its source. Acknowledging it and then carrying on as normal cheering the proceeds of it just feels redundant, and again another perfect illustration of sportswashing: "I don't like it but I'll accept its net benefits."

 

And I can't fucking stand the whole "it's up to the Premier League." Plenty of Newcastle fans were losing their shit when the PL was blocking the deal because of TV rights, claiming Richard Masters is corrupt and a conspiracy to keep Newcastle down so they don't upset the order of things. They wanted the Saudi money so they can be the richest club around so claiming they rely on the PL to arbitrate the game is wrong because they don't want them to do that, given their objection when they almost did.

 

To be honest I'm just fucking fed up with the whole thing. It's absolutely sucking the soul out of the game, now we're basically completely and totally aligning success with wealth, and wealth is aligned with sportswashing regimes. The potential endpoint of it is dystopian as fuck.

[ManéMan]

55 minutes ago, Leyton388 said:

Absolutely scandalous the premier league allowed these murdering despots to be part of english football. 

 

 

That's where the question needed to be asked before it was too late...not to someone who can't do anything about it, what's the point in doing that, unless it's to feel better about letting happen