The only fact I was trying to get clarity on was the current position of the consortium bid? I struggled to establish if they were saying it's there, or it was there and might come back, or it's gone completely and he (Ashely) is seeking compo for the difference? PL didn't seem to deny any of the accusations. No idea how this works, but I didn't see the allegations getting flat batted. Maybe this wasn't the forum for that and they just didn't talk about it; I'd be super interested to see a live court case with emails and the like from" big6" clubs saying things like "we strongly urge", etc. That would be ****ing hilarious. As you lot have said before, there's 0.000001% chance of that ever happening. Too much potential damage, mainly from sponsors. But the only point that's still murky - for me at least - is whether THIS buyer is still there?
I think the claims that there was no guarantee that the consortium are still there was gamesmanship. We did however learn that there was other credible bids on the table from other interested parties and this was how Mike Ashley was calculating the value of the club now in comparison to the £340m which had been agreed with PIF.
I think the buyer is still there, otherwise Arbitration would be pointless. However, to increase the chance of the CAT case running, it is better for us to say we don’t know if they would come back - this also countered one of the points raised by the PL QC
The premier leagues QC built a huge part of his case that the takeover will go through via arbitration in January. The nufc QC wisely said there's no guarantee that pif will be there in January.... The premier league can't prove there's a guarantee, so it dismantled a huge part of the premier leagues argument no case is applicable yet. The premier league qc tried using newspaper reports as evidence pif were still there. Was just a well played card
I honestly think they are. I don’t see the point in ARB if they are not. The CAT would be sufficient on its own. ARB on its own does nothing if they are not there. AS wouldn’t have been so vocal a couple of weeks ago. Also Liam Kennedy has gone on record yesterday claiming the Rueben brothers are more confident than ever.
Staveley was on TV two month ago saying all the buyers are there, but saying there's no guarantee can't be disproved. The premier leagues arrogance is coming to light
Luke Edwards was twatting out crap all day and night changing his mind between its dead due to separation and its dead coz of piracy. When asked to show any documentation where the Saudi State was found guilty of piracy he changed his story back to separation.
Keith was taking a bit of stick last night from fans about the lack of Sky coverage on it. He’s a nufc fan I believe so he has to be careful. However he did promise content today and he has delivered on his promise. However the threat of expulsion from the PL has been neglected and I think that’s strange.
They are still there - we better be careful though or Adam Lewis will be quoting sources such as RoyMunson, GeordieGinola, DPP from not 606 at the appeal hearing
He’s totally anti NUFC for some reason. He was literally winding up NUFC fans from day one. He was even suggesting on Tuesday that the PL would just appeal the ruling anyway but I think it’s clear based on yesterday’s events that that is unlikely to happen.
I really hope it goes through and the new owners tell the Telegraph they need a new reporter as he's banned.
I think he has to have a valid point of law to base his appeal on. The fact the PL don't like a decision isn't a valid point. Judging by his historic precedents he tried using yesterday - I don't think he really stands a chance. I think he knew they were at the end of the line by the end of that meeting, hence his outburst about the club and St James' Holdings not being separate due to NDM being there. By the end of it all he just looked petulant. He spent the entire morning repeating the same points of the ownership structure 9 or 10 times. He literally fluffed out what any of us could have said in 5 minutes over 2 and half hours. On the flip side. Our QC had much better arguments but still strayed way off track and had to be pulled in by the judge a number of times. Only thing I could see the PL QC having an issue with would be - did the chair help our guy with the gambling question to bring him back on point?
Think about the gravity of these arguments. 1. NUFC threatened with expulsion because we wouldn’t sign a form of compliance. Because it may jeopardise the takeover. 2. The big six setup a ESL behind everyone’s back and nearly destroying English football. All they got was a naughty slap on the wrist. Just dwell on the above and think how bad it is!
My feeling was that he was trying to win he case definitively so it wasn't easy getting it past the judge without questions. I don't think he succeeded otherwise a decision would have taken about 2 minutes. I feel it was something he had to go for.
