The Guardian Tomorrow -

https://twitter.com/david_conn/status/1 ... bEDgmWjdGA

Well I for one am absolutely shocked by this report!

I wonder if money was involved - just a wild guess

Didnt FIFA once look unfavourably upon football bodies who were "influenced " by their governments ?

Reverse their results.....please.

Football is broken

LowtonClaret wrote: ↑

Tue May 24, 2022 10:23 pm

Football is broken

Country is broken mate

World is broken

Follow the money

LowtonClaret wrote: ↑

Tue May 24, 2022 10:23 pm

Football is broken

Mate, it's beyond football, politics is broken. The Office for Investment was set up post-Brexit to stabilise our economy. We're sloshing around in Gulf state money. The Saudis in particular have huge investments in British organisations like BP, BT, HSBC, The Independent newspaper, the Evening Standard, the Savoy, Jaguar Land Rover; absolutely loads of luxury real estate; millions donated to Oxford, Cambridge, the London School of Economics.

The Office for Investment was ostensibly set up by Boris Johnson to "break down barriers to landing top-tier investment". It's currently helping plug the Brexit-created hole in the country's pocket (some of these investments pre-date Brexit, I want to concede that point lest anyone dismiss what I'm saying for mentioning the B-word, but it must be noted that such a government office being deemed worthy of creation implies an urgency to use other people's money to keep the UK afloat that was not there years ago...otherwise why not do it twenty, thirty, forty years ago?) but I digress, it's quite obvious that these investments carry with them the expectations of political favours being returned in exchange. So, as a result, we support the Saudis at the UN, sell to them weapons to prosecute wars which when done by other countries we label as monstrous. We sell them wiretaps, spyware, the technology which allows them to intercept the communications of dissidents and journalists, enabling the despotism of Gulf monarchies. And to bring us back onto football, we allow these countries to involve themselves, to maim, disfigure and distort what I would argue is one of England's single biggest cultural institutions: the national game, the football pyramid — the spring from which our national team arises; the only damn thing capable of actually unifying the English. Eroded, defamed, distorted beyond recognition, ripped from our hearts; the integrity of the sport rent asunder by geopolitics, by the logic of capitalism, and by our so-called leaders who care nothing for our culture beyond its ability to make people filthy rich. I could vomit.

Spiral wrote: ↑

Tue May 24, 2022 11:10 pm

Mate, it's beyond football, politics is broken. The Office for Investment was set up post-Brexit to stabilise our economy. We're sloshing around in Gulf state money. The Saudis in particular have huge investments in British organisations like BP, BT, HSBC, The Independent newspaper, the Evening Standard, the Savoy, Jaguar Land Rover; absolutely loads of luxury real estate; millions donated to Oxford, Cambridge, the London School of Economics.

The Office for Investment was ostensibly set up by Boris Johnson to "break down barriers to landing top-tier investment". It's currently helping plug the Brexit-created hole in the country's pocket (some of these investments pre-date Brexit, I want to concede that point lest anyone dismiss what I'm saying for mentioning the B-word, but it must be noted that such a government office being deemed worthy of creation implies an urgency to use other people's money to keep the UK afloat that was not there years ago...otherwise why not do it twenty, thirty, forty years ago?) but I digress, it's quite obvious that these investments carry with them the expectations of political favours being returned in exchange. So, as a result, we support the Saudis at the UN, sell to them weapons to prosecute wars which when done by other countries we label as monstrous. We sell them wiretaps, spyware, the technology which allows them to intercept the communications of dissidents and journalists, enabling the despotism of Gulf monarchies. And to bring us back onto football, we allow these countries to involve themselves, to maim, disfigure and distort what I would argue is one of England's single biggest cultural institutions: the national game, the football pyramid — the spring from which our national team arises; the only damn thing capable of actually unifying the English. Eroded, defamed, distorted beyond recognition, ripped from our hearts; the integrity of the sport rent asunder by geopolitics, by the logic of capitalism, and by our so-called leaders who care nothing for our culture beyond its ability to make people filthy rich. I could vomit.

Yeah, but blue passports.

TheFamilyCat wrote: ↑

Tue May 24, 2022 11:19 pm

Yeah, but blue passports.

I wasn't making an anti-Brexit post, and we really ought not to antagonise one another over this, I think. There are plenty who voted for Brexit who will be equally sickened by this state of affairs.

Kick 'em out of the league!.....& kick Boris out while you're at it!

Takeover being looked at again.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65102462

A bit late now. Are the Premier league really going to tell the Saudis they have to sell up? Not a chance in hell.

One set of crooks advising another set of crooks.
Sweet.

Remember the 'ethical foreign policy' promise that helped Labour back into power after years in Opposition? That was one of the first promises of theirs to be broken when it became expedient to do so from a financial perspective. Political morality was abandoned but it saved jobs in the armaments industries. I guess if my job had depended on selling out to corrupt regime I would probably have shrugged my shoulders.

FCBurnley wrote: ↑

Tue May 24, 2022 10:33 pm

World is broken

Morning has broken

Some positive news with regard to Saudi Arabia:

"Iran and Saudi Arabia to renew ties after seven-year rift..."

"Saudi Arabia and Syria ‘close’ to reopening embassies
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed by Riyadh in 2012"

This may bode well for Yemen.

Glad I was born in 1952 and glad I'll be bowing out sometime in the next 25 years or so. 20 years earlier or 20 years later would not be something I would have wanted.

Currently sailing the Caribbean thanks to VK and the boys delivering and only missing the Sunderland game.