[Football] Saudi consortium to take over Newcastle

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hans kraay fan club

The voice of reason.
Helpful Moderator
Mar 16, 2005
62,768
Chandlers Ford
Did you? Not saying this to be ornery, but I didn't notice any. I'm sure there were a handful, but definitely not loads.

.

Plenty - but granted I was looking for them.

I also saw plenty at the Amex last week - including worn by women and girls, which is a pretty sick joke, tbh.
 








The Fish

Exiled Geordie
Jan 5, 2017
403
You aren't a football club now, you're a sportswashing organisation for the murderous saudi regime.

But at least you're not flogging slazenger tennis balls anymore eh

Can't we be both? Newcastle United have recruited well, shown ambition, made sensible appointments, without breaking FFP rules, or spending more than a midtable club of our 'size' normally would. That's what a football club should do. That's what Brighton do. That we're propped up by a barbaric regime doesn't change the fact that NUFC is, once again, a sporting institution rather than a Sports Direct advert.

You're absolutely right to be appalled that a regime like that can own a football club in this country, but your ire should be directed at the people with power to prevent it. FIFA, UEFA, the PL, the FA, the Government. Any one of them could have stepped in and said "No" and that would have held more weight than a thousand banners, a season's worth of a near empty stadium, or whatever will now.

The fans wanted Ashley gone and if there was a straight choice between the Saudis or the Mexican Orleggi group, I'm sure we'd have plumped for the sombreros rather than the tea towels. But even if we had a choice, it was stick with the numbing apathy of Ashley, or change.
 








aolstudios

Well-known member
Nov 30, 2011
5,280
brighton
You aren't a football club now, you're a sportswashing organisation for the murderous saudi regime.

But at least you're not flogging slazenger tennis balls anymore eh

This ^
Less of a football club than they ever were.
& less than any club in British football.
A propaganda tool for murderers. Absolutely nothing else
 


aolstudios

Well-known member
Nov 30, 2011
5,280
brighton
Can't we be both? Newcastle United have recruited well, shown ambition, made sensible appointments, without breaking FFP rules, or spending more than a midtable club of our 'size' normally would. That's what a football club should do. That's what Brighton do. That we're propped up by a barbaric regime doesn't change the fact that NUFC is, once again, a sporting institution rather than a Sports Direct advert.

You're absolutely right to be appalled that a regime like that can own a football club in this country, but your ire should be directed at the people with power to prevent it. FIFA, UEFA, the PL, the FA, the Government. Any one of them could have stepped in and said "No" and that would have held more weight than a thousand banners, a season's worth of a near empty stadium, or whatever will now.

The fans wanted Ashley gone and if there was a straight choice between the Saudis or the Mexican Orleggi group, I'm sure we'd have plumped for the sombreros rather than the tea towels. But even if we had a choice, it was stick with the numbing apathy of Ashley, or change.

Yeah, numbing apathy is sooo much worse than murder, obvs.
Listen to yourself mate, ffs
 






beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
36,026
It is laughable. It is honestly what my otherwise intelligent Geordie friend believes. Very very odd.

well of course Ashley was worse, he didnt spend much on building the squad. :whistle:

the whole sports washing thing seems strange, not sure if it is the main motive or thats a creation of our media. seems very counterproductive when every event, team that is sponsored by arab nations needs to justify itself and be asked if they support their illiberal ways etc. it only highlights their problems, not making them look better. they also have uddles of money, which they want to do something with.
 


A1X

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 1, 2017
20,563
Deepest, darkest Sussex
For some reason this old advert came to mind when discussing Newcastle…



“Who cares where the money comes from if your club wins the treble” indeed…
 




FatSuperman

Well-known member
Feb 25, 2016
2,925
The fans wanted Ashley gone and if there was a straight choice between the Saudis or the Mexican Orleggi group, I'm sure we'd have plumped for the sombreros rather than the tea towels. But even if we had a choice, it was stick with the numbing apathy of Ashley, or change.

Look, I don’t know what I’d do if this happened to Brighton. But I sure as shit wouldn’t be coming up with weak reasons why it’s better than before. You KNOW it isn’t better. You just don’t care enough to do anything about it. You value Newcastle doing well at football more than your principles. It’s difficult I suppose, but you have to acknowledge they’ve not bought your club because they love NUFC, or the area, or as an investment. They’ve bought it solely to try and water down the fact they operate a horrendous, murderous regime. Hell bent on the subjugation of anyone that doesn’t fit in their world-view.

You should be embarrassed to excuse it in any way. Any protest you operate will likely see you quietly banned
 




Tyrone Biggums

Well-known member
Jun 25, 2006
13,498
Geelong, Australia
And everyone involved in that should be punished to fullest extent of the law.

I won't defend them, they shouldn't own a football club.


Yet they get legitimised by a bunch of thick Englishmen who have zero moral compasses who turn up to watch their sports washed football team gleefully.
 






The Fish

Exiled Geordie
Jan 5, 2017
403
Unfortunately they own your football club. But the point I was suggesting is that waving a few flags may not have an impact on someone who authorises that.
100% it wouldn't. Neither would a 1,000 strong boycott, or a march, or anything else really. To enforce actual change in that regime would take action by international powers. Not the crowd at a parochial English football club. That's my point.

Look, I don’t know what I’d do if this happened to Brighton. But I sure as shit wouldn’t be coming up with weak reasons why it’s better than before. You KNOW it isn’t better. You just don’t care enough to do anything about it. You value Newcastle doing well at football more than your principles. It’s difficult I suppose, but you have to acknowledge they’ve not bought your club because they love NUFC, or the area, or as an investment. They’ve bought it solely to try and water down the fact they operate a horrendous, murderous regime. Hell bent on the subjugation of anyone that doesn’t fit in their world-view.

You should be embarrassed to excuse it in any way. Any protest you operate will likely see you quietly banned

The Saudis are a vile regime who shouldn't own any football club, but they do. I'm not excusing it. It shouldn't happen. But it has. And no, I'm not sufficiently principled to walk away from something that is inexorably tied to my identity, and that's on me. I just think the ire that's focussed on the fans would be better directed at the people with actual power in this.

Yet they get legitimised by a bunch of thick Englishmen who have zero moral compasses who turn up to watch their sports washed football team gleefully.

Has it worked? Does anybody think the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia isn't a barbaric regime? Have the crowds of St James' Park legitimised the authoritarian state at all?

It's interesting how many people I've seen state, as fact, that they'd walk away from their beloved football club were it to happen to them and, speaking as someone who's actually experienced it I can tell you, it's not as binary a choice as you're convincing yourself it is. Some have walked away, others are doubling down incapable of understanding that two thoughts can be held to be true at the same time; I support my football club. I do not support the owners.

The overwhelming majority operate somewhere in between. Conflicted. Being a football fan isn't just looking at the results, it's tied to your family, your friends, your weekend plans, your colleagues. Going to your first match with your dad when you were a kid, listening to your grandad talk about old players he used to watch, staying out after a midweek game and the boss being ok with your hangover because she was at the match too, buying your 1yr old his first Newcastle kit and watching him wheel away from bumbling the ball in the net with his hand aloft because you've spent hours teaching him the Shearer celebration.

And what would walking away from the club look like? Not going to the match? Not looking up the results? Not caring? The first one is achievable for many, but how do you stop caring about your football club?
 


Dick Knights Mumm

Take me Home Falmer Road
Jul 5, 2003
19,736
Hither and Thither
Of course it ain't easy - and most are only glad it hasn't happened to our club (of course some would welcome the blood soaked money if it meant champions league I am sure). But every news item about beheadings, jailings, abuses, bombings, intolerance etc is all associated with directly your club and our game. It will be death by a thousand cuts. That is how it is. You can celebrate your wins and march to the champions league but to a lot of the rest of the football it is a cause of shame. You can dance on the head of a pin on here but that is the bottom line. A great club now morally worth nothing.

Anyway I am out. This discussion is going nowhere. It is sad for our beautiful game and for your once great club. The FA (and the government who didn't want to upset the saudis) should be ashamed. Good luck my old fruit. Difficult times for supporters with a conscience.
 






Surf's Up

Well-known member
Jul 17, 2011
10,441
Here
A moral maze for NUFC supporters and it's difficult to be too judgemental as I'm sure they are, and we would be if we were in a similar situation, seriously conflicted. What makes me puke is Shearer cumming in his pants on MOTD in response to the Man City game (as a commentator shirley he has a greater responsibility to present a balanced perspective?) and Smug Eddie getting progressively smugger and smugger with his sidekick Pancho as he described himself as a manager whose team always went for the exciting, crowd pleasing, all out attacking 3 points irrespective of the risk and the opposition - just like his team did at the Amex in their previous game???
 


aolstudios

Well-known member
Nov 30, 2011
5,280
brighton
A moral maze for NUFC supporters and it's difficult to be too judgemental as I'm sure they are, and we would be if we were in a similar situation, seriously conflicted. What makes me puke is Shearer cumming in his pants on MOTD in response to the Man City game (as a commentator shirley he has a greater responsibility to present a balanced perspective?) and Smug Eddie getting progressively smugger and smugger with his sidekick Pancho as he described himself as a manager whose team always went for the exciting, crowd pleasing, all out attacking 3 points irrespective of the risk and the opposition - just like his team did at the Amex in their previous game???

They don't sound very conflicted at all, tbh.
Desperately contorting themselves, certainly
 


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