Changes at Newcastle since Saudi takeover

festa5 said:
Yeah, fair play to them.

The whole "this will help Saudi Arabia modernise and become more tolerant" arguments are pathetic. Stories for kids to help them sleep at night. The same b***ks FIFA came out with about the world cup only to fold when Qatar rolled back on some of the already pretty pathetic concessions they'd agreed to to get the gig.

Henderson wanting to "grow the game" over there is another one. Do these people hear themselves? Still I suppose Hendo "hasn't ruled out" wearing a rainbow armband again. If they allow it. What a hero eh?
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Football will do anything to get more money. That's the name of the game. That's the only reason for cosying up to countries with no previous interest in the industry. It's been going back a long way too, USA 1990 was the start of it.
 
Since Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MBS) ascended to power in 2015, Saudi Arabia has seen a widescale crackdown on freedom of expression, targeting the human rights community as well as a wide range of individuals who have expressed any form of dissent or criticism of the government. As of mid-2021, nearly all human rights defenders, women’s rights activists, independent journalists, writers and activists in the country had been arbitrarily detained, put through prolonged and unfair trials – most often by the Specialized Criminal Court(SCC) – or released but under conditions that include travel bans and other arbitrary restrictions to their fundamental rights, such as to conduct peaceful activism. Furthermore, the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, alongside state-sponsored digital surveillance and cyber targeting of activists abroad, further shrank the civic space in the country and fermented a climate of fear and oppression.

From amnesty international

I’ll say again MBS directly owns Newcastle utd not a consortium not a board MBS directly though his PIF
 
The FA also have a role to play here. They were obviously sufficiently concerned to firstly reject the takeover and secondly to get ‘legally binding assurances’ in place to confirm the Saudi state weren’t running the club. That is very clearly happening and the Chairman guy has been shown in a court case in US to be a Government minister. So what are the FA now doing in response? Where’s the legal case?
 
TurnbullsCans said:
The FA also have a role to play here. They were obviously sufficiently concerned to firstly reject the takeover and secondly to get ‘legally binding assurances’ in place to confirm the Saudi state weren’t running the club. That is very clearly happening and the Chairman guy has been shown in a court case in US to be a Government minister. So what are the FA now doing in response? Where’s the legal case?
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No they argued the PIF was state controlled in the LIV case exactly THE OPPOSITE of what they told the premier league board - because state ownership is banned.
 
WilliamMunny said:
People have been saying that for more than 20 years. It will never happen.
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Just an opinion of course and I used to say it would never happen but I think we are fairly close to a tipping point now with so much foreign ownership that it will come along within the next few years.

I can see an attempt by the big money clubs to leave a B Team in the domestic leagues, they are already increasing the supply of technically good players and developing systemised ways of playing to facilitate that.
 
Jedi boro said:
Howe will be next ( only he’s too vain to realise it) as the Saudis go for pep or Klop style name etc and they will….

They may have billions in the bank but they are morally bankrupt.
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They've started the season poorly, and it won't be long until the natives turn on him when they aren't in the top 2 at Christmas.
 
Unfortunately there are very few people that money can't buy. Don't pretend if we had an injection of cash from some morally repugnant source that most of us wouldn't find a way to justify it. It's the easy way and it's how most of us live our lives.
 
h_m_boro said:
In the 90s I would have been gutted seeing Newcastle winning something, the Keegan era.

Now, it's hollow. It's been bought by blood money so same as City, Chelsea - f*ck them.

Fans are becoming intolerable once again, success at any cost, turning a blind eye to the Saudi brutality at the expense of the pursuit of some bought trophies.

No. Fooking. Thank. You.
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My concern is not Newcastle being the new Man Utd or the next Manchester City..

It’s US bring the next Newcastle.. a sea of clueless mouthy gobshytes who know nothing about football complaining taking utter bollokcs.. total cringe.. hope we pack it in asap
 
The only change that has slightly disturbed me has been the sight of headless bodies hanging over the central motorway when they lose.
 
Nero said:
I was speaking with people with first hand knowledge of player development at Newcastle recently.

This season the club have brought into the academy U15 players from worldwide. Brought their families over, put them in a house and the players in private school. The players can’t be paid apparently so money goes into a trust fund. Newcastle have gone from mainly local recruitment to having scouts in all countries and major leagues.

It’s probably no different to what the likes of Manchester City do but I found it interesting. It must cost them millions each season, but I suppose they have the oil money now.
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The advantage is largely FFP for the big clubs, with maybe one or two players good enough for the first team.

The income Man City and Chelsea, for example, generate from selling academy players is significent.
 
Interesting to see that the friendly yesterday was carried out under a media blackout enforced by Saudi. I’d completely forgotten it was in to be honest, only 5000 there to watch and protests outside the ground.
 
The videos of the fans challenging the protest group as absolutely awful. Uneducated and ill informed morons having a go at the older guy protesting based on his own principles. Shows the Sportswashing is working well.
 
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