Club Sale | It’s done!

[Edwards6]

Morality lessons from supporters of a club that plays at Emirates stadium, wearing Emirates sponsored kits with Rwanda on the sleeves owned by an unscrupulous character with Walmart money ties known to have defrauded the taxpayers of a whole major city, you can't make it up

Yeah it's ridiculous, I understand United fans have reservations about owners from Qatar but as an Arsenal fan he needs to look closer to home before worrying about other clubs

 

[MDFC Manager]

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[Tom Van Persie]

Annoyingly behind a paywall you couldnt be a legend and copy it in here please?

It's against the rules but basically it's an article on how Ratcliffe/Ineos have been running Nice and Lausanne-Sport. Not exactly pro-Ratcliffe.

 

[Hulme91]

Embarrassing the amount of 'fans' wanting to turn this club into a proxy for Qatar just because they've got the most money and the better PR.

Sovereign states owning sporting institutions is an abomination and should be opposed at every level.

 

[SER19]

Talk about sweeping statements?? I've never heard such a ridiculous exaggeration in my life. 'Using a club to sanitise itself'? What does that even mean? And where are your facts? I don't see the difference between a country that is institutionally racist and gun-crazy to one that is institutionally homophobic and misogynistic. They're just different types of shit but still shit at the end of the day. But you do whatever makes you sleep better at night.

I just disagree with everything you type. Im going to ask you to stop quoting me now please.

Raped migrant worker women in Qatar get jailed for sex outside marriage. Anybody happy with the archaic country that upholds these extremist laws is just somebody i disagree with so much i see no point in discussion

 

[onemanarmy]

Horrified in the direction the club will possibly take.
If anything like PSG it will be an absolute shitshow.

 

[sglowrider]

That same lot have a Rwanda sponsorship which I'm sure that poster was similarly reprehensed over given their dictators presidents tremendous respect for human rights

Plus didn't the Rwanda advert budget spent with arsenal the equivalent of Iike 10% of the nation's GDP?
Nothing fishy going on here.

 

[Attila]

“Shitrag” but we all rely on it for trustworthy transfer news eh? Funny how these things work

All the votes are for people who pay for the subscription and that includes rival fans, its a pointless poll

You could get a far better poll on this forum but unfortunately its not allowed here

 

[2 man midfield]

I'm resigned to it now, there's simply no one we could have got as owners that would have been ideal. Not one potential owner suits ethically, simply put the richest people in the world are cnuts.

They will still only be custodians, the club will remain long after they leave, just like the Glazers. That can't be bought or sold.

Just feels so shit that we’re going to be losing exactly what set us apart from the likes of city and psg. A proper club using its own money. I hate the glazers, they’re parasites, but since they never put a dime into the club it was still us the whole time. Any success was our success, not because of some sheik and his wallet.

Even if you can somehow ignore the massive moral implications, it just feels shit that any success we might be about to have on the pitch is going to forever be tainted by calls of “yeah well you had a rich sheik bankrolling you, what do you expect?”. Just as we were finding our feet again thanks to ten Hag, now it’s Qatar who will take the credit. And we’re just another plastic club hoovering up hollow trophies with a big asterisk next to them in the history books. I feel worse about this than I did in 2005.

 

[FlapR]

From an economic point of view we'd be better off owned by Qatar(more likely to throw money at a new stadium and facilities), but I'd much rather be owned by Ineos.

 

[Nogbadthebad]

both the source of the money (being owned by a dictatorship with a terrible human rights record) and the outrageous amount of money is the issue for me. let's put the first one aside.

I'm really not trying to act holier-than-thou. For example, I could justify the new owners paying off our debt since it was created by the Glazers in the first place and not by the club.
But I really don't want the new owners to suddenly pour hundreds of millions out of thin air on the squad, not even on a new stadium or training facilities. Even a new stadium would represent a huge competitive advantage in terms of revenue and opportunity cost, while other clubs had to take out huge loans to build theirs. What's the point in that?

No one, ratcliffe included, whi has the money to buy us, is anything but a crook.

You don't get to be a billionaire by being honest.

So given any of them are as terrible as you can imagine peoiple to be behind the PR, just maybe the best choice is the one with the best offer. Debt free secures the club for the future.

Indebted businesses go bankrupt every day. Especially when shareholders want their pound of flesh regardless.

 

[Rolaholic]

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Environmental activists have been ringing the alarm about INEOS's sporting ventures being used for just that for years but as long as it's a British company they're seemingly not as problematic as the dubious Gulf regimes

 

[RedPed]

Oh how convenient. It's the exact same playbook, man.

There isn't a chance there's an independent businessman spending 3-5% of the GDP of an absolute monarchy like Qatar without said Monarchy being heavily involved.

Anyone believing that is either naive or being willfully ignorant.

Right, so you got nothing then. Ok, move along.

 

[jm99]

So is this it? Jim or the qataris, no american or Saudi bids?

 

[Red in STL]

City's former owner is an actual murderer and the bloke before that sold toilet rolls. Their history is as bad as their present.

So you still use newspapers to wipe your arse? Selling bog rolls made him a multi-millionaire and he wasn't that bad a player either - what's wrong with that?

We had an owner who sold dodgy meat for children to eat, I k ow which one is worse

 

[pocco]

Ratcliffe from saviour has turned into a persona non grata on here.

You can read the logic like a book. First off they're angry that we're shit and our transfer window is a shambles, and see Ratcliffe as our saviour. Then 6 months later, guys with more money come along and promise to buy us titles, and Ratcliffe is in the gutter.

It's not about retaining any last semblance of what we once were, but more about being able to brag that your team just spent £300m on such and such a player, whilst winning trophies galore. It'll be hollow as feck but some people just won't care. Each to their own I guess, but when I stood next to fellow reds singing about Chelsea taking Roman's money etc, I never thought that deep down, these guys were just jealous. Now they're here, parting their cheeks for that oil money.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Right when do the Saudis bid so we can complete the Trio of Worst Possible Cnuts?

 

[BluesJr]

So is this it? Jim or the qataris, no american or Saudi bids?

Don’t know yet really. They might have bid, but you would think they would have to go public soon to gather support.

 

[LordSpud]

A basic summing up of the SJR and Qatar bids for those wanting to catch up:

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[LARulz]

So is this it? Jim or the qataris, no american or Saudi bids?

That we know of. I don't think the bids have to be disclosed, it's up to the bidders

 

[Fts 74]

I would too for sure

they won’t put as much cash into the club but it’s not really needed

a minuscule price to pay to not be state owned

Absolutely..
He's proved a lot wrong on here who called him a bluffer who won't even bid.

 

[dwd]

He's sings no surrender to the IRA and all.

Doubt it. He’s Arsenal & British till he dies. Or until he finds out his club are owned by Americans and the Taliban sponsor them. Whichever comes first, i’ll go with the former.

 

[UnitedSofa]

All the votes are for people who pay for the subscription and that includes rival fans, its a pointless poll

You could get a far better poll on this forum but unfortunately its not allowed here

I’m sure there’s a poll on this very site

 

[Salwan]

I think Qatari bid is about to clear our debt, focus on youth and the club’s own financial capacity to compete with the others. They are not seeking profit but reinvesting any profits back to the club and the community.

What you describe is the perfect owner (again, ignoring the dictatorship and the human rights aspects for the sake of argument). However, I am afraid that they are going to spend big and create an unfair competitive advantage for us, thus killing the romance and fabric of this club.

 

[thegregster]

I can’t decide if that gooner chap genuinely thinks Qatar is the taliban or is just being a bit racist in a “Well they’re all terrorists innit” kinda way.. or it’s an amazing wum ( least likely )

Qatar have acted as an intermediary for the Taliban with the West.




https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban_in_Qatar

 

[MiceOnMeth]

So is this guy not closely tied to the qatari royal family? Is he just a very wealthy qatari citizen?

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Right when do the Saudis bid so we can complete the Trio of Worst Possible Cnuts?

There's no angel out there that can buy the club.

 

[BluesJr]

You can read the logic like a book. First off they're angry that we're shit and our transfer window is a shambles, and see Ratcliffe as our saviour. Then guys with more money come along and promise to buy us titles, and Ratcliffe is in the gutter.

It's not about retaining any last semblance of what we one were, but more about being and to brag that your team just spent £300m on such and such a player, whilst winning trophies galore. It'll be hollow as feck but some people just won't care. Each to their own I guess, but when I stood next to fellow reds singing about Chelsea taking Roman's money etc, I never thought that deep down, these guys were just jealous.

Or people would like the club to be invested in and debt free? Enabling to run properly. Just a thought. The Ratcliffe bid has red flags all over it. More financed bullshit.

 

[Attila]

I’m sure there’s a poll on this very site

Where?

 

[Berbaclass]

So is this guy not closely tied to the qatari royal family? Is he just a very wealthy qatari citizen?

Yes

 

[Wibble]

Talk about sweeping statements?? I've never heard such a ridiculous exaggeration in my life. 'Using a club to sanitise itself'? What does that even mean? And where are your facts? I don't see the difference between a country that is institutionally racist and gun-crazy to one that is institutionally homophobic and misogynistic. They're just different types of shit but still shit at the end of the day. But you do whatever makes you sleep better at night.

Even assuming they were the same thing (and they aren't) the US government aren't trying to buy United.

And sports washing is all about improving your image while changing as little as possible. With added playing with shiny toys.

 

[jm99]

Don’t know yet really. They might have bid, but you would think they would have to go public soon to gather support.

Yeah I'd imagine so. As I've said before with Jim my concern is if he's buying it through the company rather than himself he has a fiduciary duty to the shareholders and taking it loans to buy a football club he'll have to justify how he'll make it profitable, and i imagine that involves us paying g the loans

 

[Withnail]

I’m sure there’s a poll on this very site

That's a bizarre claim, isn't it?. We get polls for all sorts of nonsense on here.

 

[sglowrider]

My united dies the moment it's taken over by murderers

Thoughts & prayers.

 

[Rolaholic]

Right when do the Saudis bid so we can complete the Trio of Worst Possible Cnuts?

Nobody on earth materially capable of coughing up a cool 4-6B for a sports team will ever be a paragon of virtue

It's a pick your own poison sort of deal for conscientious people at that level of mega wealth

 

[BluesJr]

Yeah I'd imagine so. As I've said before with Jim my concern is if he's buying it through the company rather than himself he has a fiduciary duty to the shareholders and taking it loans to buy a football club he'll have to justify how he'll make it profitable, and i imagine that involves us paying g the loans

Putting Qatar to one side, if Ratcliffe was the only bid I don’t think I’d be keen at all. It’s just more of the same in a different skin.

 

[adexkola]

Its called sportswashing.

For the nth time, sportswashing is bullshit.

Rich people do rich people shit, like buy football clubs. They don't give a feck how they look to United fans or any other fan base. They don't need advocates or people wearing turbans in front of stadiums. They buy rich clubs for the same reason they buy huge yachts and expensive shit no one else can buy; to show off their wealth and tell their harems/mistresses: "his yacht doesn't have an igloo outside the jacuzzi". They aren't trying to "launder their reputation", they don't need to. Their reputation (to those who matter) is already "great", great enough to do business with and take money from. They have access to your economies, defense industries, real estate, politicians... already. Before the club buying started.

But some idiots at Amnesty International believe some Arab scion is desperate for love and attention and is willing to buy a football club to have people on the internet arguing in his favor?? Ignoring the fact that idiots on the internet who suddenly love Saudi embassies, are vastly outweighed by the ton of negative press and attention on their bigoted and archaic laws, literal slave labor, women relegated to second class citizens...

It's enough to oppose them owning the club for being cnuts. Sportswashing though? Please

 

[MiceOnMeth]

Yes

Nevermind just seen he's son of the prime minister

 

[Robbie Boy]

Its called sportswashing. Foremost they are dictators and want to keep power by establishing good relations with the west. Investment in the west is the best for this. most recently we have seen gulf states invest in sport, spending big money to get the F1 to Saudi Arabia, competing with the PGA tour by having an alternate tour where the money is better.

Sure they will hang homosexuals in their home country and whip women who leave the house with their knees showing. But they will gladly invest in women's football and allow the vessel club to promote LGBTQ rights, even if it is disingenuous.

Money goes a long way in having someone forfeit their moral conviction. Although after City and Newcastle accepted got taken over by Arabian dictatorships, its pretty much cut the grass for other premier league clubs to have their own dictator.

As for me, never will I surrender to the taliban. Arsenal & British till I die. No shit 350m for Neymar would ever cause me to forget who I am.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Nobody on earth materially capable of coughing up a cool 4-6B for a sports team will ever be a paragon of virtue

It's a pick your own poison sort of deal at that level of mega wealth

So I have to decide between a Brexiteer and an Authoritation, slave owning, LGBT hanging, women flaying oil state?

Feck, that's a tough one.