over on rawk

[Chinandeler Bong]

Went very quiet on Yossi all of a sudden huh? That for me must mean that a takeover is definitely happening an should be concluded before the week is out.

 

Why on earth does it mean that ?

[Randy Marsh]

Usually I'd just brush these sale rumours off because as everyone rightly points out, we've heard them so many thousand times before. I was told something similar to the current story a few weeks back and told a bit more about it a few days ago. Club as good as sold pending Premier League ratification which stems from the owners being related to the city lot (although a certain Dubai Sheikh we are familiar with is ultimately behind it all). Deal to be concluded in next 6 weeks, the yanks now are largely powerless to prevent it. Around the 500mill mark. That's what I was told anyway, still taking it with a large pinch of salt because we've all been excited and let down before. The reason I'm a little more confident though is that I 100% know for a fact that this has come from someone with various connections in the club. Here's hoping!

[Code]

Headline about RAWK and thread about sale.

 

I could have missed it all, anyway I`ll say my prayers tonight.

[Stouffer]

I find it really hard to be positive about the sale anymore; I just expect the worst to happen. Like Rimmer in "Better Than Life".

 

Stouffer Judas McStouff.

[pr1tpal]

Its not this brother is it?

 

Wealthy brother of UK football chief linked to gruesome Gulf 'torture tape' | World news | The Observer

 

A shocking videotape showing a wealthy prince from the United Arab Emirates brutally torturing a man in the desert has brought a sharp focus on western dealings with the oil-rich Gulf state.

 

The man at the centre of the 45-minute tape, which shows bloodcurdling scenes of abuse and was smuggled out of the country in secret, is Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a half-brother of the owner of Manchester City FC. Issa is shown attacking a helpless Afghan merchant he accuses of cheating him on a business deal. He fires guns at him, inserts a cattle prod in his anus, sets fire to his testicles and runs him over.

 

The tape was first obtained by the ABC News television channel and broadcast last week. The tape is so gruesome that it is bound to cause ructions across the world because of Issa's network of family connections, many of them friendly with western firms, universities and politicians, and the fact that he has not been punished for the attack.

 

Issa is the brother of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy head of the UAE armed forces. He is also the half-brother of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who last year spent £210m buying a 90% per cent stake in Manchester City. Mansour is a key political figure and is a member of the UAE federal cabinet and minister of presidential affairs.

 

The tape is a terrible blow to the human rights image of the UAE, which for decades has been portraying itself as a western-friendly country ripe for trade and investment.

 

US congressman James McGovern has already called for a freeze on government aid to the UAE. He also wants Issa to be refused US visas. In a letter to the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, he said: "I cannot describe the horror and revulsion I felt when witnessing what is on this video ... I could not watch it without constantly flinching."

 

The video is especially shocking because it also shows a man in police uniform helping to tie up the victim and hold him down in the middle of the desert. At the start of the torture session, which is believed to have happened some time before 2005, Issa stuffs sand in the victim's mouth and fires a machine gun into the sand around him as the man screams helplessly.

 

At one point, Issa tells the cameraman to get a close-up. "Get closer. Get closer. Get closer. Let his suffering show," the sheikh says.

 

Later the sheikh beats the man with a wooden plank with a nail protruding from it, and pours salt in the bloody wounds left by his blows. He also inserts an electric cattle prod in the man's anus and turns it on, and pours lighter fluid over the man's testicles, which he then sets alight. Finally, the man is held down in the sand and a Mercedes is driven over him. The sound of bones breaking can be clearly heard.

 

The victim, an Afghan grain merchant called Mohammed Shah Poor, apparently survived the experience, because the government later justified taking no action against the sheikh by saying the matter had been settled privately between the two men and each had agreed not to press charges against the other.

 

Another of Issa's brothers is the interior minister. Despite one police officer helping to carry out the torture, part of the UAE government's statement on the matter said: "All rules, policies and procedures were followed correctly by the police department."

 

The tape was smuggled out of the UAE by US citizen and Houston businessman Bassam Nabulsi, a former business partner of Issa. Nabulsi claimed he himself was tortured in the UAE after refusing to hand over the videotapes after falling out with the sheikh.

 

Nabulsi claims Issa ordered Nabulsi's brother to record the torture scene in order to watch it later at his own leisure. Nabulsi is now suing in America for the alleged mistreatment he received.

 

But the story does not end there. Nabulsi credits US embassy staff with keeping him alive while in prison, but he also says he brought the existence of the torture tape - and the collusion of the police - to the US's attention to little effect, including to a US official assigned to train UAE police.

 

McGovern has called on Hillary Clinton to investigate this side of the story and discover when US officials knew about the tape, if they took any action and, if not, why not.

 

He urged Clinton and all relevant US officials to watch the tape in its entirety. "It shocks the conscience," he said.

[Stouffer]

He'd be immense at dealing with agents.

 

Agent - "My client would like a 20% pay increase and another 15% on image rights".

 

Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan - {Cocks gun and smiles}

[zigackly]

[Soup]

Its not this brother is it?

 

Wealthy brother of UK football chief linked to gruesome Gulf 'torture tape' | World news | The Observer

 

A shocking videotape showing a wealthy prince from the United Arab Emirates brutally torturing a man in the desert has brought a sharp focus on western dealings with the oil-rich Gulf state.

 

The man at the centre of the 45-minute tape, which shows bloodcurdling scenes of abuse and was smuggled out of the country in secret, is Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a half-brother of the owner of Manchester City FC. Issa is shown attacking a helpless Afghan merchant he accuses of cheating him on a business deal. He fires guns at him, inserts a cattle prod in his anus, sets fire to his testicles and runs him over.

 

The tape was first obtained by the ABC News television channel and broadcast last week. The tape is so gruesome that it is bound to cause ructions across the world because of Issa's network of family connections, many of them friendly with western firms, universities and politicians, and the fact that he has not been punished for the attack.

 

Issa is the brother of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy head of the UAE armed forces. He is also the half-brother of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who last year spent £210m buying a 90% per cent stake in Manchester City. Mansour is a key political figure and is a member of the UAE federal cabinet and minister of presidential affairs.

 

The tape is a terrible blow to the human rights image of the UAE, which for decades has been portraying itself as a western-friendly country ripe for trade and investment.

 

US congressman James McGovern has already called for a freeze on government aid to the UAE. He also wants Issa to be refused US visas. In a letter to the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, he said: "I cannot describe the horror and revulsion I felt when witnessing what is on this video ... I could not watch it without constantly flinching."

 

The video is especially shocking because it also shows a man in police uniform helping to tie up the victim and hold him down in the middle of the desert. At the start of the torture session, which is believed to have happened some time before 2005, Issa stuffs sand in the victim's mouth and fires a machine gun into the sand around him as the man screams helplessly.

 

At one point, Issa tells the cameraman to get a close-up. "Get closer. Get closer. Get closer. Let his suffering show," the sheikh says.

 

Later the sheikh beats the man with a wooden plank with a nail protruding from it, and pours salt in the bloody wounds left by his blows. He also inserts an electric cattle prod in the man's anus and turns it on, and pours lighter fluid over the man's testicles, which he then sets alight. Finally, the man is held down in the sand and a Mercedes is driven over him. The sound of bones breaking can be clearly heard.

 

The victim, an Afghan grain merchant called Mohammed Shah Poor, apparently survived the experience, because the government later justified taking no action against the sheikh by saying the matter had been settled privately between the two men and each had agreed not to press charges against the other.

 

Another of Issa's brothers is the interior minister. Despite one police officer helping to carry out the torture, part of the UAE government's statement on the matter said: "All rules, policies and procedures were followed correctly by the police department."

 

The tape was smuggled out of the UAE by US citizen and Houston businessman Bassam Nabulsi, a former business partner of Issa. Nabulsi claimed he himself was tortured in the UAE after refusing to hand over the videotapes after falling out with the sheikh.

 

Nabulsi claims Issa ordered Nabulsi's brother to record the torture scene in order to watch it later at his own leisure. Nabulsi is now suing in America for the alleged mistreatment he received.

 

But the story does not end there. Nabulsi credits US embassy staff with keeping him alive while in prison, but he also says he brought the existence of the torture tape - and the collusion of the police - to the US's attention to little effect, including to a US official assigned to train UAE police.

 

McGovern has called on Hillary Clinton to investigate this side of the story and discover when US officials knew about the tape, if they took any action and, if not, why not.

 

He urged Clinton and all relevant US officials to watch the tape in its entirety. "It shocks the conscience," he said.

 

I believe this is that chap. Seems to rule with a plank of wood with a nail in, rather than an iron fist in a velvet glove.

[kelster]

If it is Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan who's rumoured to be buying the club then we are best waiting it out. To say that he is the scum of the Earth is a slight understatement. He'll still fly the FAs fit owners test though.

[Jim MM]

I'd be okay with a cattle prod up the arse as a parting gift for Tom and George.

[Brownie]

Another one of those ownership threads which touches 100 pages without anything actually happening.

[Chinandeler Bong]

Another one of those ownership threads which touches 100 pages without anything actually happening.

 

FF wouldn't be the same without it.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

It's not supposed to be Issa, but another brother.

[Hair Police]

Another one of those ownership threads which touches 100 pages without anything actually happening.

 

We're not alone: .tv et al have all followed suit. Although Kraptalk-or big Dunc-have/has refuted the rumour that we are on the cusp of a takeover. Allegedly 'money was bought to Purslow's table and he pushed it on to the floor'.

[Section_31]

He fires guns at him, inserts a cattle prod in his anus, sets fire to his testicles and runs him over.

 

I like him already. The Richie Aprile of the Arab world.

[Red Nick]

and some were against Thaksin

[Guest TesticleOReilly]

and some were against Thaksin

 

Thaksin is far worse.

[Barnesey]

Its not this brother is it?

 

No, this is a disowned brother. It is another one

[BCM]

Just had a text off a mate, basically confirming whats already been said. Deal done with the Arabs £542 mill, to be made official on July 19th. Info is about third hand from a certain players dad. Just passing it on.

[stringvest]

Info is about third hand from a certain players dad. Just passing it on.

 

Not John Terry is it?

[bornleverpuller]

I would love to believe this but I can't

[Gigantic Lamb]

Just had a text off a mate, basically confirming whats already been said. Deal done with the Arabs £542 mill, to be made official on July 19th. Info is about third hand from a certain players dad. Just passing it on.

 

 

Ian Wright...

[Irishlad]

Just had a text off a mate, basically confirming whats already been said. Deal done with the Arabs £542 mill, to be made official on July 19th. Info is about third hand from a certain players dad. Just passing it on.

 

That text is going around with different dates. I've heard the 15th & 18th as well

[Bogman]

Just had a text off a mate, basically confirming whats already been said. Deal done with the Arabs £542 mill, to be made official on July 19th. Info is about third hand from a certain players dad. Just passing it on.

 

A players dad has three hands?

 

Wouldn't trust it then.

[Guest PurpleNose]

That text is going around with different dates. I've heard the 15th & 18th as well

 

Which one is a tuesday?