[Football] Newcastle fans and YouTuber support Saudi, confront protesters

[TWOCHOICEStom]

I don't want sympathy, of course I don't. The worst is was for us was an abstract divorce from the club we've loved for decades. Other clubs have had it far worse with the very existence of their club at risk.

All I'm doing is providing the context that's missing from some of the sweeping generalisations and some fair balance to the criticisms.

I think the sweeping generalisations are caused by the 0% of Newcastle fans protesting.

 

[pb21]

..what The Saudis did to my club, so long story short; they turned a club very occasionally in Europe with ambition and enthusiasm, into a nothing club that bounced around the upper league places for a season or two, solely to act as a billboard for Saudi Arabia. It ceased to be a sporting concern and 0 fans walked away.

FTFY.

 

[brighton_tom]

Mike Ashley's ownership had obviously guided Newcastle's status in English football on a downward trajectory, but in my opinion it gives zero justification for any fan being accepting of the new Saudi ownership. At the time of transition the fans could have wanted Mike Ashley gone, and have simultaneously not wanted it to be the Saudi's that took over. The money has blinded the fanbase, and made people very loose with their morals.

 

[brighton_tom]

I think the sweeping generalisations are caused by the 0% of Newcastle fans protesting.

And when one guy does, as seem in the video, he gets shouted down by multiple others.

 

[The Fish]

I think the sweeping generalisations are caused by the 0% of Newcastle fans protesting.

That's not the case.

NUFC fans against Sportswashing protest every home game.

It's no surprise to me that more don't protest, such was the contempt the old owner was held in. Had we been happy with him (or indifferent) then I'm sure more would have stood against it. The Saudi state should not be allowed to own a football club, and that it was rushed through the minute the broadcast rights issue was resolved just goes to show the PL, FA and UK Government are more interested in it's bottom line than any moral stance.

However, events like this show that the majority of Newcastle fans don't support Saudi, or it's regime, at all. Vloggers and tiktoker arguing with protestors for 'content' show what the internet is about. Even that Saudi national trying to gotcha the protestor was served his arse buy a man who clearly cares deeply about the value of human life.

If this was an attempt to sportswash the fans, it clearly hasn't worked as most of the criticisms under that tweet are from actual Newcastle fans calling the tiktoker a twat, the vlogger a moron and the fat idiot a fat idiot.

 

[The Fish]

FTFY.

You haven't though, not really. What you've done is just make stuff up instead. I know that a good number of fans have walked away, two very close friends of mine won't go back.

We are now a genuine sporting concern with more work being done in the last 2yrs to make Newcastle an actual football club than in the previous 20+ years.

All of which could have been done under Ashley's time, without the blood money of an abhorrent regime.

 

[Happy Exile]

So he filmed people claiming equivalence between the British and Saudi Governments invalidated the protest as if that makes the actions of the Saudi government somehow OK, and when the protestor said he agreed with them about the British Government, they didn't listen to him but carried on arguing with him anyway even though their argument was completely taken away at the kneecaps as soon as he agreed with them and pointed out he'd protested about that too.

A battle between consistency of moral values vs totally making it up as they go along, and only one winner.

And then whoever videoed it thought those were still the strongest, best arguments for Saudi ownership to show the world.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

tbf to the Newcastle fans, I went on their online forum with the assumption that I'd get a lot of posts defending the Saudi ownership, and in fact found the complete opposite. https://newcastle-online.org/topic/36887-pif-pcp-and-rb-sports-media/page/720/

 

[Triggaaar]

If you read the back and forth in the replies he sees the gambling industry, which he suggests that Bloom is a driver of, is equivalent to Saudi Arabia. That's all he has.

Riiiiight - so investing in gambling is the same as chopping up people who disagree with you and disposing of them in rubbish bags. Okay

 

[Triggaaar]

So he filmed people claiming equivalence between the British and Saudi Governments invalidated the protest as if that makes the actions of the Saudi government somehow OK, and when the protestor said he agreed with them about the British Government, they didn't listen to him but carried on arguing with him anyway even though their argument was completely taken away at the kneecaps as soon as he agreed with them and pointed out he'd protested about that too.

A battle between consistency of moral values vs totally making it up as they go along, and only one winner.

And then whoever videoed it thought those were still the strongest, best arguments for Saudi ownership to show the wo

Pretty much

 

[Greg Bobkin]

When I watched that video and Poundland Anthony Gordon (blimey, that's quite a thing!) said "We're here to watch the Saudis play", I HONESTLY thought he was taking about the barcodes. Was there actually an international match on?

 

[Guinness Boy]

When I watched that video and Poundland Anthony Gordon (blimey, that's quite a thing!) said "We're here to watch the Saudis play", I HONESTLY thought he was taking about the barcodes. Was there actually an international match on?

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Reading the Newcastle owner fan apologist on here I thought I would try to find out what the Newcastle Utd LGBTQ group make of it and found this ; (it’s the Arhletic but free as I read it and don’t subscribe);

Newcastle’s LGBT+ fan group leaves wider Pride In Football network amid fallout from Saudi takeover

Newcastle United’s LGBT+ fan group, United with Pride, has decided to leave the Pride in Football network. Pride in Football confirmed the Newcastle United LGBT+ fan groups decision in a statement. It said: "LGBT+ fans groups have faced increasing media attention since the takeover of...

theathletic.com

What a thoroughly f***ing depressing read. They need a new LGBTQ fan group as well.

 

[pb21]

You haven't though, not really. What you've done is just make stuff up instead. I know that a good number of fans have walked away, two very close friends of mine won't go back.

We are now a genuine sporting concern with more work being done in the last 2yrs to make Newcastle an actual football club than in the previous 20+ years.

All of which could have been done under Ashley's time, without the blood money of an abhorrent regime.

OK, sorry, fair enough, its not 0 fans that have walked away its few fans, certainly not many.

As for being a 'genuine sporting concern', you may have a point, but I dont think its anywhere near as clear cut as you would like to think. You have always been a 'genuine sporting concern' IMO, and I expect most other people's too. Yes, you could have had a 'better' owner from a sporting perspective, but you could certainly have had a lot worse!

Regardless, you are now very much a genuine political concern, which you absolutely weren't before. Any work which has been done in the last 2yrs has, ultimately, been undertaken for political reasons; the Saudis haven't spaffed all that blood money and effort up the wall for nothing.

Anyway, no easy answers.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

View attachment 166306

Heads will roll after that defeat...

 

[London Pompous]

The Saudi players will be heading home disappointed after that result.

 

[The Fish]

Reading the Newcastle owner fan apologist on here I thought I would try to find out what the Newcastle Utd LGBTQ group make of it and found this ; (it’s the Arhletic but free as I read it and don’t subscribe);

Newcastle’s LGBT+ fan group leaves wider Pride In Football network amid fallout from Saudi takeover

Newcastle United’s LGBT+ fan group, United with Pride, has decided to leave the Pride in Football network. Pride in Football confirmed the Newcastle United LGBT+ fan groups decision in a statement. It said: "LGBT+ fans groups have faced increasing media attention since the takeover of...

theathletic.com

What a thoroughly f***ing depressing read. They need a new LGBTQ fan group as well.

Full disclosure, I do a Newcastle podcast and so when the takeover happened and the United with Pride group were under the spotlight I was expecting a much stronger response from them to talk about on the podcast. Because we're three straight white men, I wanted to get a better sense of what a gay person felt about it before talking about a sensitive subject so I asked a mate. He said that while it was depressing, you have to understand that the people running United with Pride are just volunteers and likely haven't the expertise or interest in making a more strident position.

I honestly think that at the point of the takeover, they could have taken a really strong position without any fear of blowback, such was the optimism from the fanbase and the eagerness to win over the fans from the new owners. Admittedly it's a piece of piss for a straight white man to think making a stand was easy, but the situation seemed perfect for a free hit?

Either way, you're right that stronger leadership of that group would make a big difference and that weak statement let down their members.

 

[The Fish]

OK, sorry, fair enough, its not 0 fans that have walked away its few fans, certainly not many.

As for being a 'genuine sporting concern', you may have a point, but I dont think its anywhere near as clear cut as you would like to think. You have always been a 'genuine sporting concern' IMO, and I expect most other people's too. Yes, you could have had a 'better' owner from a sporting perspective, but you could certainly have had a lot worse!

Regardless, you are now very much a genuine political concern, which you absolutely weren't before. Any work which has been done in the last 2yrs has, ultimately, been undertaken for political reasons; the Saudis haven't spaffed all that blood money and effort up the wall for nothing.

Anyway, no easy answers.

It's funny, when Ashley bought us I was cockahoop. Here was a self-made English Billionaire, who shied away from the press (unlike Shepherd), who seemed like a man of the people. He seemed to want to get the fans on board quickly, by installing Keegan and all that. The wheels quickly fell off when it was clear he didn't have a clue about football, but lacked the humility to put the club in the hands of people who did. Within 18 months of buying us it became clear he hadn't done his due diligence, he employed yes-men and was already looking to sell us. Then came the cost cutting and abandonment of all sporting ambition.

Could we have had a worse owner? Of course we could. You need only look at Bury etc. But everybody's battles are their own and for us, he was antithetical to everything that makes our club special to us.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

This dipshit is another prime example of these Cockheads.

He takes exceptions to many things, except being owned by the Saudis.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

This dipshit is another prime example of these Cockheads.

He takes exceptions to many things, except being owned by the Saudis.

Weirdly, that view isn't shared by all the people making comments. It's not a problem at all, the rest of the world is out of step.