I don't see any hypocrisy from either the PL or our government, they are being consistent, if they allow Chinese owners, why not Saudi ?
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They insist and applaud the EPL mandate to "take the knee" and end racism while allowing despotic regimes to integrate and emasculate our domestic football teams. They are consistently shown to be a set of disingenuous, hypocritical tw@ts, I'm sorry you can't see it mon ami. :s
Just about anybody is on their "Hit List"...
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other...?ocid=msedgntp
Football Supporters Association response:-
FSA statement regarding yesterday’s Newcastle United takeover:
The Premier League’s decision to approve the PIF takeover has reopened the debate about who owns our football clubs. While Newcastle United fans are understandably ecstatic to see the back of Mike Ashley, many supporters throughout the game, including some Newcastle fans, have expressed concerns about the role of nation states in the ownership structures of clubs and the impact of their human rights violations.
Ultimately supporters have been put in an impossible position as billionaire owners pass clubs from one to another with no input from fans, meaning clubs at an elite level have become the playthings of individuals or regimes with shocking human rights records.
Alan Shearer sums that up in The Athletic today saying ‘it seems to me that ethical issues have not played a huge part in Newcastle’s takeover. Or, to put that a different way, they have been part of the discussion, but not in the decision-making process. Should they be a fundamental strand of the owners’ and directors’ test? Perhaps they should, and perhaps the whole system of governance and ownership needs reform to reflect that. These are the rules that clubs have decided for themselves.’
Football Supporters Europe (FSE) also raises important questions at a continental level, asking why the game as a whole has become so attractive to authoritarian regimes? And we too ask should moral judgements on overseas regimes be part of football’s Owners and Directors Test? Probably. Are those rules around moral relativism easy to draft? Definitely not. Is it possible to apply them retrospectively? We don’t know. But the FSA backs FSE’s demand of football’s governing bodies to work with supporters’ organisations in order to embed and enforce human rights protections within the game.
We meet regularly with the Premier League and we will be questioning them, in great detail, about the exact nature of the ‘legally binding assurances’ they received before approving the takeover. We absolutely believe that any entity which owns a club in our league system should be UK-registered with total transparency in relation to overseas influences.
The ongoing Fan-Led Review of Football Governance also provides an opportunity for the Government to look at the current Owners and Directors Test in relation to human rights. The review’s interim report was very good and its final report is due soon. We will discuss recent events, and the challenges they bring, with the Fan-Led Review panel as well as the Government, the football authorities and FSA members at our upcoming Annual General Meeting.
By the way I’m happy for the legions of Toon fans who are desperate for a return to the glory days of Jackie Milburn and to gather and blast out communal and wholehearted renditions of the “Blaydon Races”.
We cannot hold the Newcastle fans to account for our governments and the British weapons industry steadfast refusal to hold to account the Saudi state for its human rights violations, including the literal butchering of Jamal Khashoggi.
We have a Tory government that point blank refuses to criticize the Saudis fake war in Yemen, for fear of losing enormous arms sales and construction contracts in both Saudi Arabia and London. Welcome to Tyneside guys and bring your ill-gotten lucre with you.
From where I sit, it is morally reprehensible for the UK’s liberal elite to ask Newcastle United’s fans to lead the fight for human rights when all the Toon Army really wants is to win the Champions League. ;)
One thing for sure-Newcastle will no longer be favourites for relegation which increses the odds on us going down.They will be able to attract a statement manager then buy 3 or 4 additions in January.
I saw it years ago BT, when an IRA terrorist with chiidren's blood on his hands became Minister for Education in Northern Ireland, and then Deputy First Minister. If you're starting to fret about disingenuous and hypocritical politicians you're a bit late mon ami, that horse bolted a long time ago.