Premier League 2021/22

[Lineker]

 

[gunnar hendershow]

I guess it's now just a matter of time until the Qatar Investment Authority makes moves to buy their oft-rumored English club.

[GWPea]

At least it means Bruce will be on the out.

[METALMAN]

Yuck 

[Lineker]

 

[Tigerstyle]

I hope Newcastle get relegated

[Gazz]

Make sure you all boycott all these companies and their subsidiaries too. Not to mention all the investments they have that haven't been made public. No promoting your wrestling companies on Facebook. I'm going to be disappointed if I catch any of you discussing Mandalorian season 3 on WhatsApp. No more concerts either. Might want to sell your car, just to be on the safe side. Though, then you can't get a taxi either.

[METALMAN]

 

8 hours ago, Gazz said:

Make sure you all boycott all these companies and their subsidiaries too. Not to mention all the investments they have that haven't been made public. No promoting your wrestling companies on Facebook. I'm going to be disappointed if I catch any of you discussing Mandalorian season 3 on WhatsApp. No more concerts either. Might want to sell your car, just to be on the safe side. Though, then you can't get a taxi either.

Wasn’t expecting this discussion to sink so rapidly to the level of Louise Mensch on HIGNFY but there you go.

 

And that’s not even addressing the blindingly obvious fact that Boeing, BP, Uber etc are financial investments (not that that makes it okay) whereas Newcastle will actively be used as a promotional tool by the kingdom to launder its image so that when people think about Saudi Arabia they think “Newcastle United” rather than “murdered journalists and women thrown in prison indefinitely for asking for human rights”. The other investments don’t serve that purpose.

[Colly]

I've talked about this a few times over this whole stupid saga, but I'll go on record again to say that I fucking hate this. I hate that the leagues fit and proper persons test isn't worth shit and that community clubs are happily being hoyed out to tyrants.

I don't really agree with Gazz's argument, and I especially don't agree with Luke Edwards "our government sell arms to Saudi" because I don't like that either.

The problem I have is that while the obvious answer is "walk away" I don't think it's that simple. "It's only football" is a lovely phrase, but for me it's somewhere I've been going since the late 80s. It's somewhere I've held a season ticket nearly 20 years. It's the time every other week I can catch up with my brother on the commute, and with a fellow travelling mate at the ground. It's the place where at the start of the season I was delighted to find that the old guy who's sat next to me for over a decade was fit and well post pandemic after I hadn't seen him for over a year. It's genuinely a massive part of my life.

In summary, I don't have a fucking clue what I'm doing. I've pretty much paid for this season anyway so I suspect they've essentially got my money. I'm not wealthy enough to write off that money for nothing. I change my mind constantly, and at the moment my head says keep going but my conscience won't like me. Seriously, fuck the PL, fuck the FA, and fuck the bellends who are going to turn up next week with tea towels on their heads.

[DavidMarrio]

9 hours ago, Gazz said:

 

I would just like to point out, as a Marriott, I have not received any money from a Saudi investment fund whatsoever. 

[Lineker]

Here's some more cheerful reading: 

Quote

A magistrate judge in Nevada has sided with Cristiano Ronaldo’s lawyers against a woman who sued the footballer after saying he raped her in Las Vegas in 2009.

In a scathing recommendation to the judge hearing the case, magistrate judge Daniel Albregts on Wednesday blamed Kathryn Mayorga’s attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall, for basing the case on leaked and stolen documents that Albregts said were privileged communications between Ronaldo and his lawyers.

“Dismissing Mayorga’s case for the inappropriate conduct of her attorney is a harsh result,” Albregts wrote in his recommendation to Judge Jennifer Dorsey. “But it is, unfortunately, the only appropriate sanction to ensure the integrity of the judicial process.”

A date for Dorsey to take up Albregt’s recommendation was not immediately set. “Stovall has acted in bad faith to his client’s and his profession’s detriment,” Albregts decided.

Ronaldo’s attorney in Las Vegas, Peter Christiansen, issued a statement saying the player’s legal team was “pleased with the court’s detailed review ... and its willingness to justly apply the law to the facts and recommend dismissal of the civil case against Mr Ronaldo.”

Mayorga gave consent through Stovall and attorney Larissa Drohobyczer to make her name public.

Albregts noted the court made no decision that Ronaldo committed a crime and found no evidence his attorneys and representatives “intimidated Mayorga or impeded law enforcement” when Mayorga dropped criminal charges and finalized a $375,000 confidential settlement in August 2010.

Ronaldo has denied Mayorga’s claims. “I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me,” he said in October 2018. “Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in.”

In 2019 prosecutors in Las Vegas said Ronaldo will not face any criminal charges over the allegations. “Based upon a review of the information presented at this time, the allegations of sexual assault against Cristiano Ronaldo cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, no charges will be forthcoming,” Clark county district attorney Steve Wolfson said in July 2019.

Ronaldo is one of the most famous athletes in the world. The 36-year-old is a five-time winner of the Ballon d’Or, an annual award for the best footballer in the world. He started his career at Sporting Lisbon before winning titles with Manchester United in England, Real Madrid in Spain and Juventus in Italy. He is also a national hero in Portugal, and led his country to the European Championship title in 2016.

 

[Colly]

I was looking forward to this statement. There's a lot of "hopes" in here which I hope will come to fruition.

 

[Szumi]

So am I right here that re: Ronaldo case: the lawsuit is based off of Ronaldo's conversations with his lawyers (which was leaked) and pretty much was him essentially admitting to raping her. But because the the lawsuit is based off of those leaks that essentially never should have been made public, and that goes against judicial integrity, the lawsuit is being dismissed.

[gunnar hendershow]

1 hour ago, Szumi - A Polack said:

So am I right here that re: Ronaldo case: the lawsuit is based off of Ronaldo's conversations with his lawyers (which was leaked) and pretty much was him essentially admitting to raping her. But because the the lawsuit is based off of those leaks that essentially never should have been made public, and that goes against judicial integrity, the lawsuit is being dismissed.

Yes, similar to the line of reasoning that got Bill Cosby's conviction overturned.

[Adam]

2 hours ago, Colly said:

I was looking forward to this statement. There's a lot of "hopes" in here which I hope will come to fruition.

 

There are a lot of people not best pleased with this statement, not least their justification that they are showing more tolerance because a woman was the broker for the deal.

[gunnar hendershow]

I would think, at least for the large class of billionaire owners in England and elsewhere, that this is met with resounding approval. In some capacity or another everyone has some financial interest in the financial well-being of the Saudi state. Whether it's through investments in arms manufacturers who then sell them arms, vested interest in oil, or they share many of the same investments in their portfolio as PIF. They're all in this together, and the adding of a football club to their portfolio (and perhaps not the last major purchase they make in the sport) brings more money into the Saudi PIF which can be used to provide additional financial backing to other interests. And many of those interests may be shared by other club owners. I don't want to call it a cartel but it's pretty close to that, especially as the players have minimal bargaining power.

Also while fears of sportswashing are legitimate I'd raise the point that Qatar's increased presence in sport has only shone a brighter international light on their numerous human rights abuses and existence as more or less a slave state. It seems to operate differently in practice than in theory.

I wouldn't begrudge fans who were celebrating yesterday (and will continue celebrating). It was the 11th hour for the club's future, if they got relegated before the takeover it was likely off the table. And a relegation right now, with pandemic effects on club's finances just now being felt, could have doomed them for a very, very long time. Celebrating the source of the money is a little off-putting, but it was hyper-evident Ashley was ready to take the entire club down if he couldn't get out. And now Newcastle aren't just saved from an uncertain future they have the certainty of trophies and Europe ahead. It means a lot after a decade-plus of an owner who seemed to resent owning the club. And that's where a lot of people's heads are, a club that should be a big club can finally be a big club again.

[Colly]

1 hour ago, Adam said:

There are a lot of people not best pleased with this statement, not least their justification that they are showing more tolerance because a woman was the broker for the deal.

I'm not really sure about that as an issue to be honest, the point is surely that if a nation famed for subjugation of women have a woman as lead partner in the sale then maybe they can do things differently? Sure it's probably for appearances and doesn't change much, but I'd rather the main LGBT fan group continue to make an impact from inside the camp than to just give up and fold. They're a relatively new group too, and given the (sadly) overwhelming support for the sale I think they're probably wary of objecting too much. Rock and a hard place unfortunately. 

[DavidMarrio]

I think it's only fair people can crticise where the money is coming from and the agenda behind it. But the fans don't have a say in who can come in and buy the club unfortunately. There's not many billionaires floating around in England who are gonna buy a football club of that size who are squeaky clean. 

Curious if they'll stick with what they've said in that there's only so much money for transfers over the few seasons. There's a lot of factors in play so people thinking it's gonna be like FIFA career mode are gonna be in for a shock. 

Taking aside who the new owners are, having got ties to the city via family and my grandad having followed the club. 

I'm just made up for the fans that Ashley has gone. He was holding that club back and given the city and how important the club is to the people it's nice that that fat cretinous prick has gone. Shame that he still has companies where people are on zero hours contracts and are generally treated like shite but least it's one less thing out of his grubby hands.

[Adam]

19 minutes ago, Colly said:

I'm not really sure about that as an issue to be honest, the point is surely that if a nation famed for subjugation of women have a woman as lead partner in the sale then maybe they can do things differently? Sure it's probably for appearances and doesn't change much, but I'd rather the main LGBT fan group continue to make an impact from inside the camp than to just give up and fold. They're a relatively new group too, and given the (sadly) overwhelming support for the sale I think they're probably wary of objecting too much. Rock and a hard place unfortunately. 

As a member of the LGTBQ+ community, I would if I were a Newcastle fan feel extremely alienated by that United with Pride statement. It is almost apologetic in places on behalf of a regime that would quite happily have every member of that group executed. A grim reality.

I think it is the sheer overwhelming amount of hand-waving going on in this city that is getting to me the most. My flat mate is an angry far-left socialist, supposedly, yet last night with a straight face tried to argue with me that "sportswashing doesn't even exist" because he supports Newcastle and the Saudis have come to save them from being a lower midtable Premier League football team. Alan Shearer's article on The Athletic basically going "Ashley was so bad so it's time to celebrate, I know there are worries about human rights though" is galling and all.

[Colly]

I honestly don't think they can win sadly, and I see it as naively optimistic rather than apologetic.