Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #nufctakeover
Most recents (16)
Potential Restructuring of the Deal? 🧵
1/ Rumours been gathering pace that there’s a potential restructuring of the deal to finally push through a takeover. Want to clarify these are rumours - but they’re cropping up through different sources now.
2/ It’s on good authority that MA is visiting Newcastle this week. He doesn’t just come up on a whim. We all know that the day to day running of the club is left to Lee Charley - including all things Bruce.
#NUFCTakeover The most epic thread to date limited to some pictures because of Twitter's 25 tweet rule.
By the time I’ve finished this 🧵I reckon I’ll have enough for a scarf anyway…
A few things before we start off on this one and I’m putting it up front:
/1
By the time I’ve finished this 🧵I reckon I’ll have enough for a scarf anyway…
A few things before we start off on this one and I’m putting it up front:
/1
What have we got today:
Rabbit holes, Arbitration, Owners & Directors Test, CAT, a few facts (F), some opinion(O), some guesswork(G) and some thoughts (T) and if you don’t like it you can GTFO.
/2
Rabbit holes, Arbitration, Owners & Directors Test, CAT, a few facts (F), some opinion(O), some guesswork(G) and some thoughts (T) and if you don’t like it you can GTFO.
/2
I genuinely have faith in the legal process. Whether it's Arbitration or CAT. Highly qualified individuals making intelligent arguments to reach a conclusion which will be robustly considered. Win or lose it will be a reasonable decision irrespective of whether I like it
/3
/3
Another #NUFCTakeover Thread 🧵 In Light of Recent Events 🇸🇦⚽️ strap yourselves in for this one ...
1/ First thing’s first. @ADMusgrove and the @ChronicleNUFC have fought for SIX MONTHS to have this information made public. Let’s state the obvious .. somebody, somewhere was desperately fighting back for this not to come to light. We can only assume who that was 🙄
2/ Newcastle fans - through the NUST - have been made a mockery of by the PL. Richard Masters has bare-faced lied to this fanbase and the following extracts will prove this beyond unfounded claims.
1/ The High Court ruling on NUFCs arbitration objections is not a loss at all. To suggest the club are 2-0 down is just media sensationalism. In reality, the club and their legal team raised this objection knowing fine well it was a win-win situation and here’s why ...
2/ Option 1 was the objection is upheld and NUFC push through a change in arbitration chair to somebody less ‘bias’. Obvious win. HOWEVER, and this is an important point, it can be argued that not having the chair overturned was actually their biggest win.
3/ Knowing fine-well that as standard all judgements are publicly available (unless in the public interest to be kept confidential) NUFC and the legal team have forced scrutiny and pressure not only from the public but also from the judiciary and those involved in arbitration
Bellagraph Nova. A company with $12bn revenues but a website dating back as far as June, which consists of one page. 23,000 employees but none of them have mentioned their employer online once. Glassdoor, Google, anything..
Social media accounts (Twitter, Insta) with <1k followers and no posts pre-dating June. An alleged merger between two other companies who show the exact same peculiar lack of internet footprint..
Executives who on LinkedIn have a handful of endorsements for investment banking/valuation and zero activity, but are allegedly longstanding CEOs of successful businesses. Also per LinkedIn a grand total of 8 people work at Bellagraph Nova...
The @premierleague's silence is deafening. Ironically, it's speaking volumes - here's why:
(Sorry, it's another long thread...)
#nufc
#NUFCTakeover
(Sorry, it's another long thread...)
#nufc
#NUFCTakeover
In any business, there are competing interests between marketing and legal. Marketing want to big up the product, make outlandish claims and generate revenue. Legal want to stop marketing scoring own goals.
They're often in conflict...
#NUFC
#NUFCTakeover
They're often in conflict...
#NUFC
#NUFCTakeover
Take Carling. The Marketing Dept probably wanted to say: "The Best Lager in the World" until somebody in Legal raised an eyebrow and the Copywriter hastily added "...probably".
Trust me, Legal always get the final word.
#NUFC
#NUFCTakeover
Trust me, Legal always get the final word.
#NUFC
#NUFCTakeover
It seems that the infamous @KateStewart22 has had her account suspended. Wonder what the reason is. Suspicious activity, abusive behaviour, or state-backed info op? It's been a long time coming.... #NUFC #disinformation
For context, Kate Stewart came on the scene a few years ago. Anonymous, - virulently pro-Saudi for no obvious reason. From whitewashing the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, to more recently being one of the loudest voices advocating the #NUFCTakeover - 'Kate' is a direhard MBS fan
Kate Stewart described herself as an English Convert to Islam who wanted to move to Saudi. She also claims she went to Riyadh amid her promotion of Saudi and MBS. She said 'wallahi' a lot in almost every possible context
The big problem with #nufctakeover process is the lack of transparency.
Is only right that @premierleague probe the ownership model if they feel it doesn't make power lines clear. We have to be very, very robust in making sure it's clear who wields ultimate control. /1
Is only right that @premierleague probe the ownership model if they feel it doesn't make power lines clear. We have to be very, very robust in making sure it's clear who wields ultimate control. /1
@premierleague The attitude of 'just get it passed' doesn't work for me. A decision made in haste under pressure will have huge ramifications. We should interrogate the intentions of every side in this - and not assume would-be owners (just because they're not Ashley) are the 'good guys'. /2
@premierleague If the @premierleague were to pass something that comes apart within months, they will rightly be asked what they were thinking.
Personally I don't want to see a dictator in de facto charge of #nufc. That could be catastrophic. The consortium are arguing that won't happen. /3
Personally I don't want to see a dictator in de facto charge of #nufc. That could be catastrophic. The consortium are arguing that won't happen. /3
1/3 Strange coverage today of the #NUFCTakeover @JBurtTelegraph of the Telegraph, Louise Taylor of the Guardian, and @DominicKing_DM in the Daily Mail (among others) have all framed a story that a Saudi anti-piracy announcement boosts hope of #NUFC takeover going head. It's odd
2/3 because - 1) it seems to be taking Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) at face value. 2) The Saudi government (MOFA) refused to accept responsibility for WTO findings 3) BeOUTQ was essentially considered a patriotic duty three years ago 4) The story is incredibly
3/3 optimistic when there should be more hurdles than simply an anti-piracy announcement (e.g. Saudi courts becoming more transparent to allow IP claims to be challenged in courts by Prem League, BeIn, + others). Odd that a simple SAIP announcement would prompt these headlines
[Thread]1/ The WTO report released today found that Saudi has failed to stop and permitted a commercial-level piracy operation of the BeIN sports channel. Already trending in Saudi is the patently false hashtag, "WTO rejects Qatari complaints". Here is a breakdown of the hashtag
2/ As of 8pm, I've analysed around 6571 interactions (tweets, RTs, replies etc) from around 4000 unique Twitter accounts. The usual suspects are some of the most widely retweeted, including the verified accounts: @monther72 @SalmanAldosary @70sul @amjadt25 @alekhbariyatv
3/ Interestingly, spreading this patently misleading content is @skynewsarabia presenter @a_albander . Also there is @SaudiNews50 - an account linked to SMAAT, a Saudi social media company, who in December 2019 had 88000 accounts removed by Twitter for platform manipulation.
[Thread] 1/ Add this to the list of suspicious Arabic accounts that have suddenly become pro-Newcastle United and supportive of the takeover by Saudi's PIF. Account stinks of PR. It smears the media, using the term 'hostile media' and seems to lionize MBS #NUFCTakeover
2/ In terms of tasteless behaviour, the account laughs at the letter by the fiance of the murdered Jamal Khashoggi (classy). Odd that the account is so into MBS, while many try to justify the takeover saying it is the PIF - and not MBS, who is involved. Suggest
3/ that #NUFCTakeover is as much about sportwashing and burnishing the reputation of MBS as it is about PIF acquiring the club. But how do we know it's suspicious. Read on >
My latest piece for the @MiddleEastEye on the anniversary of the Gulf Crisis - "Qatar blockade: Saudi-led disinformation war is the tip of the iceberg" middleeasteye.net/opinion/qatar-…
"What set the Qatar crisis apart is that it was one of the first international crises to have been initiated around a pre-orchestrated hack and disinformation campaign."
"Despite Twitter having knowingly suspended thousands of accounts connected to Saudi, Emirate and Egyptian information operations, the information war does not show signs of abating....."
[Thread] 1/ Ok this is a network-analysis thread on the disinformation campaign in Qatar using the hashtags (arabic) "Al Wakra" and "Coup in Qatar" [Inqilaab fi Qatar]. First up. The hashtags got noticed. They are still the number one trends in Saudi and Qatar.
2/I downloaded around 20700 tweets, retweets, replies etc from around 12,000 unique accounts. As you can see, there's a lot of interaction on both hashtags, and a dense network of accounts discussing, spreading (and debunking) the disinformation.
3/ Now there is a lot of info here. But there are certain giveaways something odd is happening. Take this slightly offset light blue/turquoise constellation of accounts. It's not quite part of the main hub, indicating it's not really interacting significantly with the main groups
As a lifelong #NUFC fan whose job at @amnesty includes the link between sport and #humanrights, I thought I’d share a few thoughts about the impending Saudi takeover of my club. Mixing the personal and professional rarely works, but here goes… #NUFCTakeover
First, any fan can tell you that a large part of their soul aches for change at #NUFC. I first went to St James’ Pk when I was 7, grew up going to matches in the Keegan era, & revelled in Sir Bobby. I desperately miss Asprilla v Barcelona, Albert v Man U or Griffin v Juve.
The Ashley years have been grim. It’s not just the relegations, the underinvestment, or hiring Joe Kinnear twice. It’s the treatment of Keegan & Gutierrez. The surrender of hope & joy. Becoming a Sports Direct commodity. The feeling our club is grubby and we don’t mean anything.
[Thread] 1/ An interesting aspect of this piece is these two accounts. Both young women NUFC fans. One called Georgia Abrewis, the other Emily Sarnes. Both tweeted the same tweet about Qatari Emir Shaykh Tamim with caption "so ugly". Now this is strange for a number of reasons
2/ Firstly, why would young NUFC from the North East be sharing a topless image of a person who, for all intents and purposes, is not remotely linked to the PIS bid for #NUFC. Secondly, Why are both accounts tweeting the same identical tweet? Thirdly, why has one of the accounts
3/ Thirdly, both accounts are new, being set up in April 2020 - which is usually suspicious. Fourthly, one of the accounts was deleted. Specifically, Georgia Abrewis, whose handle was 'NewcastleMBS', has now been replaced by a new account tweeting only in Arabic Presumably
Let’s talk about the #NUFCtakeover. It’s looking more & more likely that #NUFC, whom I’ve supported since I was 7, will have a new owner in Mohammed bin Salman. Now, I’ve lamented Mike Ashley’s ownership, but a #NewcastleTakeover by this guy would be far, far worse. 1/6
Mike Ashley, who also owns @SportsDirectUK, is an arch capitalist – a villain on a grand scale. He has a terrible record on workers' rights and flagrantly flouts employment law. He’s also run the club I love into the ground. But I’d take him over Mohammed bin Salman any day. 2/6
Mohammed bin Salman is the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia & whilst he is often considered a moderniser, particularly with regards to women's rights, under his watch, human rights in Saudi Arabia have actually got worse, not better. 3/6
