My country is reliant on sucking Russia's dick and it's the government I hate the most over any other in the world. You are still not getting my point. It's not about agreeing or disagreeing with Middle Eastern policies, or the Quran, or Qatar's penal code.
It's about any government buying a sports club with their bottomless pit of money to 1. use it as a sportswashing tool 2. make the competition utterly pointless for teams that aren't state-owned, especially long-term.
If Ineos bought the club, their pollution and wrongdoings should be brought to light and be criticised. I'm not a fan of them or Ratcliffe. It's just that they cannot even be compared to any government, especially to state like Qatar.
The first Manchester United I can remember is Martin Edwards. He was a man of extremes. On one hand he was the guy who invented the business model we have and which, up till the Glazers came in, was lauded by everyone. He also invested on the club's infrastructure and while he wanted Venables as manager instead of SAF, he listened to Sir Bobby's opinion and he also stuck to SAF when things got sour. On the other hand, he came inches away from losing SAF because he refused to give him the pay rise he deserved, he refused to sanction the deal for Batistuta who would have easily made us win another CL and he whored United to anyone with money.
The PLC placed United in the European map transfer wise. Finally we could afford buying European based players without us having to beg the players to forfeit their signing on fee bonus as we did with Jaap Stam. However it also had it share of weaknesses. First of all it took ages to take a decision (not to the extent of the Glazers but no one is like the Glazers on that). It also opened the door to the Glazers.
Then the Glazers came in. Many warned us about them, how their modus operandi is to squeeze as much money out of their assets, without really investing into them and then still sell them at a profit (shopping malls etc). To my shame I took a wait and see attitude. It was down to many things like for example my ignorance about the owners. However it was mostly down to the arrogance of believing that Manchester United was far too big to fail.
At each stage we praised their strengths and we criticised their weakness. No one defended Edwards peeping tom's antics or the PLC sluggishness just as no one defend the Glazers simply because they are our owners. That's because most of the fans can see a clear distinction between the football owner and the person or in Qatari case the state. This is not just a United thing. Its quite evident during the WC. I can't think of anyone who really liked it. I honestly didn't like it and part of it was down to Qatar (a WC in winter and in a small country with no history in football is a turn off for me). I thought the same with the Japan/South Korea one as well. Sure the US pulled it off but the country is absolutely massive and is located close to South America who are frigging crazy about football. Anyway, no one changed his views about Qatari policies on homophobia etc because of the WC. It won't change if they buy Manchester United.
I disagree with state ownership. If UEFA/FIFA/FA had to ban them all then I'd be the first one to give them the thumbs up. However they won't ban them and I am sick and tired of watching my club having to compete with a broken foot. That's something quite evident as apart from the moralists the only ones supporting INEOS bid are the ABUs.
PS: I might support a super rich owner as an alternative. Unfortunately INEOS are so so shit in football.
