Aye, Jim, you've got me there mate. However, it can be seen from your ramblings that you definitely haven't given up the booze!
If you promise not to tell anyone I'll let you into a secret......I have. Not only do I always have a dry January, I've alternated one month on the beer and one month off for a few years now. Most of the sh!te I come out with on here is when I'm not drinking..
The problem I have is when I've had a month off it takes me a while to get back into it. Sometimes it can be as late as ten past midnight on the 1st of the month.
https://www.shieldsgazette.com/spor...ver-letter-sent-qatars-bein-sports-urging-pre News The beIN Media Group chief executive officer’s letter, excerpts of which were first reported on in April 2020 but now seen in full, ‘strongly suggests’ clubs “fully interrogate this deal, and ask the Premier League to do the same, as a matter of urgency”. While clubs going over details of the £300million deal itself does not necessarily breach Premier League owners’ and directors’ test rules – although it does open up confidentiality issues - any pressure applied to the top flight board by shareholders on this matter would be against test protocol. The Premier League board alone, without influence from its 20 shareholders, is tasked with making any decision on change of ownership. I am writing to you as the Chief Executive of beIN MEDIA GROUP, one of the Premier League’s largest worldwide broadcast partners and, consequently, one of the largest investors in English football. Over recent days, media are reporting on the potential acquisition of a Premier League club – Newcastle United Football Club – by a group backed by the Saudi Arabia government via its Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (KSA PIF). In light of the Saudi Arabia government’s facilitation of the near three-year theft of the Premier League’s commercial rights – and in turn your club’s commercial revenues – through its backing of the huge scale beoutQ pirate service, I would strongly suggest that you fully interrogate this deal, and ask the Premier League to do the same, as a matter of urgency. The industrial-scale theft of the Premier League’s and its clubs’ intellectual property by Saudi Arabia is, sadly, now notorious. The Saudi operation called “beoutQ” has been the largest and most sophisticated sports piracy service ever seen. To recap on the operation originally exposed by The New York Times (see also Annex 3 – which includes the opinion of the UK Minister of State of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport), the vast majority of the 380 live Premier League matches in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons were broadcast live and wholly illegally on the Saudi beoutQ channels and distributed via the Riyadh-based satellite provider Arabsat, across both Saudi Arabia and the wider MENA region. Throughout this period, beoutQ operated as a full-scale pay-tv business, transmitting 10 HD live sports channels via satellite and featuring a huge volume of live and delayed Premier League programming – see just one of many examples in Annex 1, where Newcastle United’s commercial rights are being stolen. BeIN Sports strongly oppose the proposed takeover. Although the beoutQ branded channels themselves are no longer available, the huge number of beoutQ set-top-boxes now installed in Saudi Arabia and other MENA countries continue to facilitate access to 100s of other international sports channels through streaming IPTV apps, including the channels of the majority of worldwide Premier League broadcast licensees (including Sky Sports, BT Sport, NBC, ESPN, Canal+, NENT, DAZN and beIN SPORTS). Since the beginning, the Saudi Arabia government – the very acquirer of Newcastle United – has fully backed and facilitated the operation of the service. Its operation within Saudi Arabia has been indisputably and repeatedly recognised by the US Government, the UK Government, the European Commission and every major football rights holder, including FIFA and UEFA. The Premier League itself, along with other major football rights-holders, has tried everything to stop the Saudi service, including trying to instruct 9 different law firms in Saudi Arabia, each of which either simply refused to act or initially accepted the instruction, only later to recuse themselves. It is within this context that I strongly and urgently suggest that you request the Premier League to fully investigate the potential acquirer of Newcastle United, including all directors, officers and other representatives from the KSA PIF or other Saudi Arabian entities involved in or otherwise providing any financing for the acquisition – including (but not limited to) the open and uncompromising application of the Owners’ and Directors’ Test. There appear to be several reasons why such an investigation is being called for by other parties’; however, my request is purely based on the Saudi Arabia government’s role in the past and continuing theft of the commercial interests of your club, the Premier League, all its broadcast partners and football in general – which, I think you would agree, simply cannot go ignored. It is no exaggeration to say that the future economic model of football is at stake. I would like to state unequivocally that this request in no way criticises or bears any reflection whatsoever on the Premier League office or their management, who have done more than any single entity in world sport to combat Saudi Arabia’s operation; including legally, politically and technologically. The Premier League executive team – on behalf of you and all its member clubs – has committed more resource, time and expertise to protect the League’s intellectual property than any other league or indeed sport in the world. As an exemplar and without compromise, they have led the industry fight against Saudi Arabia’s commercial theft for nearly 3 years. It is for this reason that beIN MEDIA GROUP is more committed than ever in supporting, promoting and partnering with the Premier League around the world. This request simply seeks to hold to account, on behalf of all broadcasters, those parties that have sought - and continue to seek - to undermine the Premier League and its member clubs Yours sincerely, Yousef Al-Obaidly
The PL cannot be held responsible for a letter they received. What they can be held responsible for is what they choose to do with the content. This is going to drag on forever and I still don’t think we will get PIF to the table. Unless SA allow Bein to broadcast then Bein will be in the lower especially as they have just signed the new broadcasting deal. It’s bizarre how this got leaked mind?
