Disney, Facebook, Live Nation, Boeing, Citigroup, Bank of America...

[Alberts__Lob]

PIF owns stakes in all these organizations/companies........were Amnesty International and human rights groups complaining about these investments? Maybe they did and i just didn't hear about it?

[trinitoon]

Amnesty International just hijacking the story for publicity. Other clubs' fans just using this Human Rights talk for leverage.

I don't see anyone saying they're not flying on Boeing and won't be watching Star Wars because PIF has a stake in the respective companies.

[Alberts__Lob]

Amnesty International just hijacking the story for publicity. Other clubs' fans just using this Human Rights talk for leverage.

I don't see anyone saying they're not flying on Boeing and won't be watching Star Wars because PIF has a stake in the respective companies.

Very good points there trinitoon....makes alot of sense

[Jammy89]

PIF owns stakes in all these organizations/companies........were Amnesty International and human rights groups complaining about these investments? Maybe they did and i just didn't hear about it?

I was thinking the same thing to be honest.

[toptoon]

It’s the definition of double standards, mate. They can simply f*ck off as far as I’m concerned.

[Zippity]

They can all **** off on the moral high horse they rode in on.

And we punch horses, don't we?

We're Mongo from Blazing Saddles and they're Gabby Johnson talking genuine frontier gibberish.

[Andy1981_2]

The apportioning of moral responsibility to Newcastle fans is just, sort of, weird...

I'd get being mad at the Premier League, since they have the power to block takeovers. Or being mad at Ashley, since (we now know) he rejected the chance to accept other credible bids in order to hold out for the PIF's higher bid. But why is so much of the online vitriol directed at Newcastle fans? What should we have done? I guess we could have protested, but how many times have fan protests yielded any results with Ashley? Anyone? Bueller? ... Bueller?

If it's not about what we could have done, then it's basically saying we lack moral character for not opposing this. But that's when these other examples in the OP are relevant: because you don't ONLY get the opportunity to demonstrate moral character in the context of football takeovers!

There's an article in The Guardian today which is treating the takeover as some sort of watershed moment, pointing to the incompatibility of the anti-Semitism of the KSA and football’s ‘No Room For Racism’ initiative, for example. But this misses the point. That there’s a need for such an initiative is proof that the problems long-predate this club sale. The KSA aren’t bringing racism into football – it has long been there, and long been tacitly protected by the institutions governing football. That's how players accused of racially-motivated assault can still get an England call-up. There is literally nothing that the KSA have been accused of (from what I've seen, anyway) that didn't already exist in football. This includes misogyny - consider the pretty much universal euphoria at the recent return of Ronaldo to the PL, despite him still being under investigation for rape; the latest developments in that case probably went unnoticed yesterday amidst the outrage about the takeover. It even includes (state-endorsed) murder. The Hillsborough disaster saw agents of the state charged with causing the death of football fans; they were acquitted by other agents of that same state. There's been numerous deaths as a direct result of football hooliganism. That isn't to say I'm trying to equate any of this stuff with anything the KSA do - I just don't think there's any point in taking the 'it's a matter of degrees' approach when it comes to outright racism, outright ***ism, or causing the death of innocent people. The sad fact is that I'm not sure what new moral bankruptcy anyone could bring to the game at this point. But Newcastle fans aren't going to be able to change that, and ultimately the responsibility shouldn't fall on our shoulders - change will have to come from the very top, and there's zero willingness to do that (so far) from anyone.

[trinitoon]

Not being funny. But I reckon that thrusting the KSA in the limelight like this must spur some kind of minimal change in KSA.

They'll have a massive influence on us for sure. But I'm sure that jumping into the middle of the world of football is going to have an effect on them. There were already some token reforms that stopped a year or so ago. I bet that there will be a few more here and there because the spotlight will be on them. That can only be a good thing.

Last time I checked, the USA didn't have the best human rights record: police killings of blacks (https://www.pnas.org/content/116/34/16793), Guantanamo, femicide, stance on abortion in some states (https://reproductiverights.org/un-human-rights-committee-asserts-that-access-to-abortion-and-prevention-of-maternal-mortality-are-human-rights/), capital punishment (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States), and so on. But it's easy to be selective about anything.

The last time I checked, the UAE does not have a sterling Human Rights Record (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_United_Arab_Emirates) but I don't see people calling Manchester City to task on this. It is a load of hypocritical shoite.

At the end of the day, we're here for football; not politics. People throwing these stones are just looking for an angle.

My advice: IGNORE. And pin-up a poster of Amanda Stay Lovely for delivering our club from Jabba the ****.

[Alberts__Lob]

PIF also has stakes in Uber and Starbucks which i didn't realize. Apparently they are looking to invest in wind power in the North East of England which i'm all for:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-58842557

[sherwoodmag]

How many think of Saudi human rights when filling the tank on their car.

[Jammy89]

How many think of Saudi human rights when filling the tank on their car.

Sod all.