Abu Derby County

[i-Ram]

There is a tremendous ignorance of culture and religion being shown here towards this Sheikh, and the UAE.  I do not support all their laws and beliefs, and no doubt there are some human rights issues operating within the Emerati, but a picture is being painted that greatly distorts (in my opinion).  I suspect the same posters would be happy to have Chinese, Russian or American owners (I could go on) even though those Countries facilitate worse atrocities within or outside their borders. 

[ram1964]

6 minutes ago, MackworthRamIsGod said:

You have to wonder why he bid 2 billion for Liverpool? I dont think it is his personal wealth he is spending, he clearly has rich investors in the back ground and he is the front for it.

The fact that Mike Ashley said "if they are as rich as they say they are then an extra 10 million here or there won't matter", you have to assume that Ashley tried squeezing every penny to the point that Khaled and his team walked away.

Mike Ashley is a multi billionaire and for him to say "10 million here or there wont matter", it is laughable, why is he bothered about an extra 10 million with all the cash he has?

A Newcastle supporting mate always said that Newcastle were very nearly taken over by Mansour but the deal got messed up by Ashley, so they bought Man City.

Mike Ashley may be worth vast fortunes,however I believe he isn't cash rich.Most of his wealth is tied up and he isn't prepared to release assets to create cash injector into Newcastle.Think this is what frustrates their supporters.

[Rammeister]

1 hour ago, ziggyram59 said:

I have no interest in the politics, my main concern is does the potential new owners have enough money to invest and to hopefully take the club forward? Or could this be another 3 amigo's takeover which could totally ruin the club we all love? 

Quite right. 

We could even find ourselves in the Championship relegation zone if it goes wrong.
 

 

[MackworthRamIsGod]

2 minutes ago, jimbo jones said:

How many takeovers haven’t happened at Newcastle? Ashley loves the limelight too much, he just listens too takeover bids to keep the Geordie faithful happy, he has no intention of selling in my opinion.

Yeah I totally agree, as soon as he sell Newcastle he just becomes another business man in the background, he wont sell.

On the Liverpool bid, I just read a story that said the 2billion was backed up by a 750million investor from China, so the 1.25billion you would think is from him.

During both the Newcastle and Liverpool bids it says Khaled met with people numerous times over a couple of years, so either the bloke is genuine, or he just making up his wealth and the bids and basically wasting his time, for one of the most alleged successful investors in the Gulf, I'd doubt that to be the case.

[Tyler Durden]

1 hour ago, ziggyram59 said:

I have no interest in the politics, my main concern is does the potential new owners have enough money to invest and to hopefully take the club forward? Or could this be another 3 amigo's takeover which could totally ruin the club we all love? 

This is true. We could end up avoiding being bottom of the Championship only through a team with a substantial points deduction and one whose a nailed on relegation certainty propping us up. 

Oh hang on a minute.....

[StantonRam]

hi all

I've been following this since it broke, so here are a few thoughts.

Whenever anyone invests in anything it's reasonable to ask "where did the dosh come from?".  That's why we now have Unexplained Wealth Orders, it's why if you suddenly make a large purchase with a credit card you'll probably have to answer a phone call from the credit card company, and it's why you have to declare large amounts of cash at the airport.  Millions of ordinary people are inconvenienced by this stuff every year, and it is justified by the "fight against money laundering", even though we know very well that via the use of LLPs and/or the Cayman Islands, the real criminals still mostly get away with it.

It's also reasonable to take a view on whether or not someone's wealth that they propose to invest is tainted by activities of which we would morally disapprove.  The line that folks here are attempting to draw is between (a) not imposing western morality on a country where it is inappropriate - the "cultural relativism" argument - and (b) the notion that, for example, murdering journalists, imprisoning anyone disagreeing with an undemocratic form of government, and restricting what we regard as people's "rights" are things that should always be disapproved of and condemned irrespective of cultural and historical conditions in another country.

Until we know more I'm not taking a view.  However, I have to say that I would find it difficult to continue to support a club if I knew for sure that the investment of those owning and running it had been derived from extreme suffering and injustice visited upon innocent people, even if those people are thousands of miles away.  Let's hope that doesn't ever prove to be the case.

LR2

 

[Mihangel]

12 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

There is a tremendous ignorance of culture and religion being shown here towards this Sheikh, and the UAE.  I do not support all their laws and beliefs, and no doubt there are some human rights issues operating within the Emerati, but a picture is being painted that greatly distorts (in my opinion).  I suspect the same posters would be happy to have Chinese, Russian or American owners (I could go on) even though those Countries facilitate worse atrocities within or outside their borders. 

Personally, I've made not mention of culture or religion (or race), rather his association with the government of UAE which is factual. When the poster who mentioned walking away from the club due to this, it really made me stop and think, at one point do we put our morals before buying a new 20 a season striker? That post keeping playing on my mind. I think if people are honest there a plenty here who are suppressing any concerns about the background of the new owner because there's a potential for a load of cash being spent.

[Topram]

All gone abit quiet 

[ThePrisoner]

41 minutes ago, Topram said:

All gone abit quiet 

It's only ever been rumours/information leaked by the press. Nothing has ever been offically announced so there's no need to panic yet. 

[Van der MoodHoover]

If we get loads of cash can we buy Phil Jones? THAT'S a statement of intent.....?

[sage]

1 hour ago, i-Ram said:

There is a tremendous ignorance of culture and religion being shown here towards this Sheikh, and the UAE.  I do not support all their laws and beliefs, and no doubt there are some human rights issues operating within the Emerati, but a picture is being painted that greatly distorts (in my opinion).  I suspect the same posters would be happy to have Chinese, Russian or American owners (I could go on) even though those Countries facilitate worse atrocities within or outside their borders. 

Am I one of the ignorant ones? I certainly don't consider myself Islamaphobic. I certainly do not think that the UAE are the same as Saudi re human rights and atrocities.

My issue is the lack of democracy and the human rights violations. You are right in that you cannot blame everyone in a country based on the policies of their leaders, however in this case there is some evidence, somewhat hazy like the true nature of his identity and position, that he is part of that leadership. If he is, then I think people are entitled to have concerns. I would feel the same way if someone of any nationality tried to buy our club, if they had links to human rights abuses.

    

[ziggyram59]

1 hour ago, Van Rammeister said:

Quite right. 

We could even find ourselves in the Championship relegation zone if it goes wrong.
 

 

We could end up like Sunderland when you see the last 2 investors to take over there club, no interest in the club at all. 

[Big Bad Bob]

I haven't read the whole thread, but I can see it has turned quite political. And my next statement is not me expressing an opinion, but stating a fact. 1.5 million British people (2019 stats) visit UAE per year.  Not sure if that has any bearing on people's opinions. But why do so many people visit when there are questions over human rights? People on here are questioning the source of the funding and human rights element. Well 1.5 million British people have contributed to the UAE.

[Josh]

8 minutes ago, Big Bad Bob said:

I haven't read the whole thread, but I can see it has turned quite political. And my next statement is not me expressing an opinion, but stating a fact. 1.5 million British people (2019 stats) visit UAE per year.  Not sure if that has any bearing on people's opinions. But why do so many people visit when there are questions over human rights? People on here are questioning the source of the funding and human rights element. Well 1.5 million British people have contributed to the UAE.

Good point. Wonder how many on here going on about it, have been there? ?

[GboroRam]

17 minutes ago, Big Bad Bob said:

I haven't read the whole thread, but I can see it has turned quite political. And my next statement is not me expressing an opinion, but stating a fact. 1.5 million British people (2019 stats) visit UAE per year.  Not sure if that has any bearing on people's opinions. But why do so many people visit when there are questions over human rights? People on here are questioning the source of the funding and human rights element. Well 1.5 million British people have contributed to the UAE.

Not sure what the relevance of that is. Are you saying because some people don't have a problem, nobody should have a problem? If it was half a million would that make it OK to question their record? 

[MackworthRamIsGod]

[SamUltraRam]

I do wonder whether this is similar to, for example, the ongoing Twitter debates regarding past elections. An onlooker may read Twitter and think that the majority of people are against something  but when it comes to the final vote it's the silent majority that outweigh the 'noisy' minority.

Like it or not, most fans will not look too deeply into other matters and will just accept the hope for a rich and generous owner. There will always be people who are heavily for or against but it's the middle voters who decide results/acceptance

 

[Ewe Ram]

52 minutes ago, sage said:

Am I one of the ignorant ones? I certainly don't consider myself Islamaphobic. I certainly do not think that the UAE are the same as Saudi re human rights and atrocities.

My issue is the lack of democracy and the human rights violations. You are right in that you cannot blame everyone in a country based on the policies of their leaders, however in this case there is some evidence, somewhat hazy like the true nature of his identity and position, that he is part of that leadership. If he is, then I think people are entitled to have concerns. I would feel the same way if someone of any nationality tried to buy our club, if they had links to human rights abuses.

    

If you read social media right now you will get the impression that we here live in a country guilty of human rights abuses. How dare they take away our freedom for another 2 weeks? 

[CBRammette]

34 minutes ago, Big Bad Bob said:

I haven't read the whole thread, but I can see it has turned quite political. And my next statement is not me expressing an opinion, but stating a fact. 1.5 million British people (2019 stats) visit UAE per year.  Not sure if that has any bearing on people's opinions. But why do so many people visit when there are questions over human rights? People on here are questioning the source of the funding and human rights element. Well 1.5 million British people have contributed to the UAE.

And more would probably go if they could afford it 

[SamUltraRam]

A huge amount of the engines made in Derby by Rolls-Royce in the last 20 years have been for Middle East based airlines providing lots of Derby workers with an income. Are we saying that Rolls-Royce are wrong too or did they just get on with business?