Thing is though - They set up another company in the UK - NCUK - they named their choice to be chairman. MBS was not named in this company. Yes the finance comes from PIF but MBS was not named as a director of the purchase vehicle which would buy the NUF ltd which in turn owns the club. I wouldn't worry about falling foul of FFP - You get a fine a smack on wrist and told your very naughty. Can see that rule being tossed out very soon.
Regarding your final paragraph this is the exact reason why we are so frustrated as fans. We where never going to be a Man City and not an actual threat to the dirty half dozen (yet). So you have to then look at what the motivation behind it was. And that’s two things. Bein (Qatar) didn’t want KSA having a club. The dirty half dozen didn’t want a future threat from a sustained investment in a low club. Both of which creates bias and both of which have HEAVILY influenced the PL decision. The end result - restriction of competition which is EXACTLY what the CAT case is for.
PIF were going to be the 80% stakeholder though, that’s the entire point. As for us falling foul of the PL rules, I’d not be so sure that we’d just get a slap on the wrist tbh, hence the reason the club have reacted this season, they’ve defo been given a warning shot & if was just going to be a fine, they’d have shrugged and carried on. The fact that they haven’t speaks volumes.
The WTO ruled that SA had facilitated the piracy, they tried to spin that into a ‘win’, only it wasn’t.
What evidence is there that the ‘Big 6’ opposed the Saudis? And if they did, on what basis did they oppose them? If it was on the basis of them facilitating the IP theft, then why as stakeholders in the PL would this be in any way outrageous? Unless Ashley has got any solid evidence of PL clubs opposing the Saudis taking a stake in Newcastle on the basis that they’d have become a stronger club and a threat to their dominance, then where’s the actual case?
First of all, It wasn't all of the BIG 6 that objected. It was Spurs, Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal. By all accounts Man City and Chelsea didn't object. What do those 4 have in common? American owners. Where does the idea of no relegations or promotions come from? America. American owners object as they were deep in talk with regards the ESL.
Still nowt from Qatar this week, no widow, no hairy hands, no bein, nothing. I reckon Qatar are all in to win CL this season then bailing out of France and will come knocking for an EPL team within 18 months.
Okay lets try this another way. In the UK we have the Royal Family, who have a government, who have an investment arm like Crown Estates. Now lets say Crown Estates decided to purchase a large club in the North West. We'll call this large club Liverpool to keep it as real as possible. Do you think the Prem league would want the Queen named as a director, simply to block the sale on the grounds that Prince Andrew allegedly knobbed a minor? We then Have Saudi Royal Family who have a government who have an investment arm called PIF, who have set up a company in the UK called NCUK to purchase NUFC. Why the **** does the Prem League want the Saudi State named as a director?
The prime stakeholder is PIF, the Chair is MBS, the same MBS who heads the state that facilitated the theft of the PL’s IP, it really is that simple, always has been. You’ve all become so embroiled in fanciful conspiracies and whataboutery that you’ve just consistently ignored the salient point and the reason the PL wanted cast iron assurances that MBS wouldn’t be the defacto owner. He could have finished it by setting up a completely different entity that didn’t have him as any part of it, but he didn’t and walked away instead.
They gave the PL the cast iron proof of a legal testimony from the highest court in the land that he had no part of it........ This is where it gets good. The PL said they didn't need a copy of that letter as they had enough to make their decision - that was 20 months ago. Still no decision, still a waiting game. If the PL wanted to fail it, they should have done. However once they made a decision and it was ****ed about in arbitration behind closed doors they knew Mike Ashley would rip their arses out at the High Court on legal grounds.
