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Some context/background to the deal the sale has been stalled for more than a year at that point , the league had decided arbitrarily to put a fitness check a
by manquer 5y ago
Some context/background to the deal
the sale has been stalled for more than a year at that point , the league had decided arbitrarily to put a fitness check and delay(not reject) the deal. Roman, usmanov (minority holder ) and Abu Dhabi sovereign fund are current owners of major clubs before Saudi Arabia .
The stalling and later approval has nothing to do with concerns of sportswashing (PL has sold out any morality they had long before then). The block and later approval was mostly because Qatar was pissed .
Qatar owns PSG , hosting 2022 World Cup and most importantly owns lucrative PL broadcast rights in Middle East.
beIN with Saudi government informal support has been streaming matches illegally. Complicating this Qatar for last 4/5 years has been pretty much isolated in Middle East and kicked out of many forums in unrelated diplomatic fights.
In the end Saudi paid 1Billion pounds to Qatar to settle that dispute before Newcastle could be bought.
Sovereign/government influence peddling and involving in sports clubs is nothing new. Real Madrid has benefited a lot over the years , west ham got a brand new stadium for nothing , even in the U.S. favorable policies , tax breaks are used heavily to attract sports teams at city /state level all the time.
Democracy or dictators sports are cheap trick to improve ratings , it has been used at least since gladiators in Rome as a tool.
My intention is not defend Saudi actions just that it is not surprising governments were involved.
Disclaimer : I am a Newcastle fan
- recuter 5y ago> Disclaimer : I am a Newcastle fan As-salamu alaykum I reckon the fans of rival clubs will absolutely terrorize you with taunting going forth.
- nickt 5y agoI’m sure the Sunderland lads have already clocked it. Feel free to drop by… https://www.readytogo.net/smb/ https://www.readytogo.net/smb/
- recuter 5y agoShots fired! I had to look them up. Today I Learned about one of the earliest football paintings in the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunderland_A.F.C.#/media/File:Thomas_Hemy_Sunderland_v_Aston_Villa_1895_A_Corner_Kick.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunderland_A.F.C.#/media/File:... That is pretty neat actually. I don't really follow football but I do enjoy the shit talking. This seems like a fun team to root for actually :)
- hkt 5y agoI was once goaded into going to a Sunderland away game. I was somewhat surprised to hear them chanting "he s*ts where he wants" to the tune of the theme from the Addams Family. No, I cannot explain.
- ineedasername 5y agoUSA chiming in here to point out that the name of the sport is pronounced "soccer".
- ineedasername 5y agoTo be clear, the above was meant as satire. Maybe not a good example of the form though.
- smcl 5y agoThere's quite a good series on Netflix about the club called "Sunderland 'til I die". The timing was sort of perfect, when it started Sunderland had just been relegated from the Premiership (England's top tier) and I think it was intended to be a series documenting them rebuilding the team and immediately getting promoted back. In reality thought it didn't go like that at all. The team collapsed, their wealthy owner lost interest and stopped supporting them financially, they made a few management blunders and suffered more tragedy that I will not spoil. I don't support the team, but I still found the series quite fascinating and found myself rooting for them to succeed. I was surprised to see two of my university friends in the show - Sophie (one of the backroom staff who clashed with the management) and another friend who happened to be in the crowd and got an extreme-closeup before/after a goal in one of the match sequences.
- manquer 5y agoThat is par of the course, you are always taunted no matter what your team is or isn’t doing . I would rather be taunted and be in the conversation rather than fade away as a once good club .
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]