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Newcastle United now owned by the PIF | PL receives "legally binding assurances that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control NUFC" ;)
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
I agree with the bolded above, you have changed my mind on this. That's a angle I didnt consider.
I dont agree with the second part about excusing the UK govt because their actions are less evil in comparison, but otherwise point well made. The only thing I will add is while this is definitely a PR move to whitewash their actions, its telling that that the average UK citizen doesnt even need to be weaponised in a PR battle. They just dont care. Which is why I also think most Newcastle fans wont care either, as its a overlapping demographic.
I’m a long way from being a fan of the UK government and its foreign policy over the years. I’m Irish ffs.
I am, however, aware that there are shades of grey. And anyone who claims moral equivalence between the Uk and Saudi Arabia is either stupid or being deliberately disingenuous. All the whataboutism in this thread is silly.
Well it'll certainly create more plastics!
I just find it rich to hear people from UK and US talk about morality of other governments without considering what they have and continue to do throughout the world. Even if you want to talk about shades of grey, the US and UK are as dark as you can get any other country because of how their horrible imperialist policies have destroyed other countries, and how they continue to prop up dictators because it suits their needs in the region.
If you think the UK and US is better than them, this isn't about whataboutism, it's self realization.
This might be the most ridiculous take I’ve seen yet. Kudos.
Why is this thread a pissing contest about the U.K. versus Saudi Arabia? Surely the point is the U.K. government don’t own a sodding football club as a propaganda tool? Newcastle now purely exist as a means of the Saudi state. To support them is to support that state. What atrocities the U.K. state have or haven’t done is sodding irrelevant. It’s not fecking hard.
“Supports Germany”.
By your own standard, this definitely puts you in a great position to criticize the UK and US considering your squeaky clean modern history
Afghanistan? Literally in the last 10 years.
Yeah, I saw 50k people cheering when plastic was prepared, also same emotional investment in the plastic factory as club.
The UK literally owns whole countries not just a football club. They have been whitewashing for centuries
Who is allowed to say anything critical of Saudi Arabia, then?
You see I was going to say the Spanish but then they had that whole Spanish Inquisition, thing.
Then I thought, Sacre Bleu! Why the French of course. But then I remembered their involvement in West Africa.
I guess it is left to you, Germany. Just checking your history over the last 100 years, nope, not a thing...
And everyone with a brain thinks it's awful.
I do agree with this but at the same time these people will become pawns out of their own choice and nothing else.
There have been a lot of "what about" arguments about practises of the countries they live in, what kind of clothes or phones they own etc. in this thread trying to wave away people celebrating having their club bought by a regime that pretty much breaks any human right law that exists. What they fail to see here is that supporting a football club no matter how long and deep the attachment runs is a choice and not a necessity. Many people can´t afford to wear clothes or own phones that are not produced under unsavory circumstances so they are no real alternatives there. At the same time you can very well disagree with the practises of countries you live in and still be part of that society as leaving family behind, uprooting the life of your partner and children to move elsewhere is not only a far greater step than cutting ties with a sports club but also most of the time not even an option.
As for the "suffering" Newcastle fans had to endure to explain their happiness:
My club nearly went under 16 years ago due to massive debt as result of year long mismanagement. It was on the verge of losing its license. If we pretend for a minute that foreign take overs would have been possible in German football back then, Borussia Dortmund would have been one of the ripest fruits in the garden for something like this: large fanbase, famous stadium and rich history. In short an ideal vehicle for positive PR for shady people. With a single stroke of a pen all debt could have been wiped away, no hard route of consolidation with years of mediocre football and even high chances of trophies, international football and glory.
If I would have been given the choice between seeing the club I love to fade into obscurity without much chance of recovery or selling out to a regime like the Saudis, I would have chosen the former in a heartbeat from an emotional standpoint. Logically I might have accepted it because of the jobs tied to the club but I would have still canceled my membership the very same day and walked away from the club. It would not even been a hard decision as that club would have simply lost all values attached to it that makes it worth supporting.
If people just want to reduce their support to what happens on the pitch and ignore everything around it, they are free to do so. Don´t be surprised if other supporters will view your club with a lack of respect, though, as nothing ypur club will do from now on will have any real value in a sporting sense as far a I´m concerned. They will be in good company together will all the other plastic clubs, though.
If and when the UK government buy a football club in another country, feel free to bring that up. Meanwhile, could we maybe keep the focus on the state that just bought a football club in the Premier League?
To be fair, I'd love to see the reaction if the royal family tried to buy Schalke for whitewashing the whole Brexit fiasco.
You are a bit cocky for a supporter of a club who couldn't win a trophy if they were the only team in it and could well be back where you belong, in the championship, next season
irritating wee club.
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Why can’t individuals who live in th UK or USA criticise the morality of other Governments or their own government for that matter!. We are not speaking on behalf of the people who govern us.
It is like saying that individuals who live in Saudi are not allowed to criticise other governments just because their government is so evil. Well Saudi citizens should be able to criticise other governments and their own just like citizens anywhere else but the fact is they would be chopped up if they criticised their own government
So the Ruhrderby would start with "You never walk alone" vs. "God save the Queen"? Yeah, I dunno about that
“Supports Germany”.
By your own standard, this definitely puts you in a great position to criticize the UK and US considering your squeaky clean modern history
Clearly none of you get the point. It's not that you aren't allowed to criticize regimes, it's when you claim to hold the morale high ground with comments like 'ask etc etc who lives there how it is'.
The difference is also that in Germany, kids are taught about the atrocities by the Nazis in all details to the point that some people are saying that it's enough and that they shouldn't be guilt into it anymore. In the UK people still believe they were the 'modernizers' of those backward countries they ruled over and they are the prevayours of peace in the world. That continues this attitude that you are better than everyone else and dehumanizes the area where those atrocities by the British empire/government were commited.
Criticize all you want, I hate Saudi Arabia with a passion eventhough I'm Muslim. But then don't bring this nonsense about how you're better than them, because you haven't been and aren't.
Yeah it's nuts, someone posted a painting of a Newcastle shirt from Twitter earlier. On that twitter thread one of the Newcastle fans talking shit said he was just happy Ashley left and wasn't celebrating the Saudi's arrival. And I might just have believed him if he hadn't already changed his profile picture to one of MBS.
I assume you meant to reply to someone else mate?
Yeah all this guff about Newcastle fans and their 'suffering' this week has genuinely baffled me. They've been in a better position than 90% of clubs in the last decade.
Here we go… was only a matter of time before they signed up.
Because you can't engage in whatboutism to deflect form the topic at hand unless you have something to whatabout, about.
Some aren't bright enough to realize that or know but don't care.
Nope its just that owning a whole country for propogander is worse. But most don't like the mirror held up.
Completely missed my point which is that I do not speak on behalf of the UK government, I speak on behalf of me. I have never mentioned the UK government.
The thread is about the owners of Newcastle United and that is who I have commented on.
What makes you the arbiter of distinguishing between what you’re saying is valid criticism and me saying I am better than the Saudis, or that my country (which you seem to assume is the UK or US for whatever reason) is better than Saudi Arabia? How do you even make the distinction?
Isn’t this silly nonsense applicable in any scenario? Name me one scenario where an entity criticizes another and an observer cannot simple say, “well, what makes you think you or your country are better?”
I guess human rights advocacy, journalism, activism, human rights diplomacy can all go feck themselves. No one is perfect so no one is in a position to criticize anything. Consider me enlightened. My country’s history means I should never do any activism against FGM, honour killings, death penalties for homosexuals, draconian discriminatory rules against women, or the role of Saudi in spreading extremism throughout the Middle East and Europe, or someone brazenly chopping up a journalist in broad daylight, in an embassy in another country.
For the record, I don’t see any issue with a German, even one whose dad was a Nazi, criticizing Saudi, or the US, or anything they want. The world is complex, there are a lot of issues out there that need voices and advocacy. If we are to wait for squeaky clean saints to advocate for them, nothing will ever be talked about or improved.
He literally said in the first line that you can criticise he never said you couldn't that's not the point.
And those that believe that speak for the rest of us, do they? You do know there are still Germans who are white supremacists, I guess they represent everyone in Germany. I guess every Islamic terrorist speaks for every Muslim in the world too.
Just using your standards, mate.
Nope he is saying that to act superior and act like your place is somehow morally superior is silly especially if you are someone who lives in or supports a mature western society. As those societies have and continue to produce atrocities across the world and use countries they literally stole and now own to whitewash their own atrocities.
To act like the Saudis are now tainting the "English" premier league is a joke to anyone who knows what the UK has and continues to do in the world.
Brexit pretty much showed the true nature of the British attitude. The AfD got 10% of the seats in the recent election (down from the previous election, which was encouraging to see), that's very different to over 50% people voting for Brexit.
From all the discussion I've seen here in other threads and on British tv. There is little recognition of the atrocities the British empire did on the countries and the general perception is that they developed those countries from the backward cultures
Exactly.
You just don’t get it, do you? If England, Germany, France, Spain, Uzbekistan, Cyprus or any other fecking country you can think of bought a PL football club, then you can knock yourself out educating us all on how terrible that country’s foreign policy is. That didn’t happen. Saudi Arabia bought Newcastle. Hence Saudi Arabia’s shocking history of human rights abuses is in the spotlight.
At this stage I really think you need to start a new thread “Why I Hate Western Countries” and go to town in it. I’m sure at least some of us might find that an interesting discussion. Because I can assure you that those exact same rants in a thread about Newcastle’s new owners are not only irrelevant they’re boring as hell.
Human rights records and historical colonisation be damned. I'm more pissed off at being lumped in with the bloody Brexit voting Brits, Saor Alba and aww that.
British TV and threads on the Caf are your insight into how people think in the UK? Suffering Christ. That's as bad as those right wingers on Fox news handwringing over random YouTube videos that "represents the far left".
I suppose you don't see Scotland as a country with a very different political landscape compared to the rest of the UK. Interesting you completely ignored how we voted when it came to Brexit. I remember very well learning about the Highland clearances in school, the colonisation by Britain on the rest of the world. I specifically remember older relatives talking about what happened to our ancestors not only in Scotland but Ireland too.
British TV and threads on the Caf are your insight into how people think in the UK? Suffering Christ. That's as bad as those right wingers on Fox news handwringing over random YouTube videos that "represents the far left".
This is correct.
However, the UK govt still needs to be lampooned for letting this happen. That's the important thing IMO.
It will be interesting when the new owners visit Newcastle and see how little the women there actually wear
This "long-suffering fans" bollox has surely got to stop now. Why is this narrative so pervasive when it comes to Newcastle fans? I've never got it at all. They're treated like fecking martyrs all the time because their team, what? Plays in the fecking Premier League. Oh, the horror of it. They happen to play it in one of the most elite leagues in the world in a 50,000+ seater stadium! The humanity of it all.
I don't get it with them. "Poor old Newcastle fans"
Hope the feckers get relegated.
Well said and I don't get the back-patting lark they're getting either. If I remember right, back in 2008 the same was said by many fans and probably myself when City got taken over. Now they are just unbearable. The novelty for feeling sorry for Newcastle and now happy for their fans will soon be forgotten when people realise it's their team under threat from their progression.
Explain how they are not tainting the PL?
All you seem to keep saying is that you believe in an eternal justification of evil essentially based off ‘an eye for an eye’ type thinking. Is that genuinely what you think?
How sad
All it takes is one murderous regime to take you over and you come on here and wum.
You're going to last long.