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Leicester fan here. Just coming on to (hopefully) congratulate you guys on your much deserved takeover. I must say from my perspective, I don't understand the outcry regarding the Saudi Arabians taking over your club at all. If one looks back, every single "benevolent" and "good" owner of a Premier League club in recent memory has bought their club for underlying motives. For instance, we know Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea to raise and cleanse his public profile as an unscrupulous and powergrabbing oligarch during the break up of Soviet state assets. Abu Dhabi bought Manchester City to enhance their standing in the West with a view to diversifying their economy. Even my beloved former Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha bought Leicester City in the midst of suspicion regarding his state-backed monopolisation of Thailand's Duty Free market and his role in attempted coups. The core questions are these though: What were the positives and what were the negatives of these purchases; do the positives outweigh the negatives? The positives that these acquisitions brought need little explanation. Despite initial short-term hatred from rival clubs, these three clubs have provided some of the greatest footballing stories of recent memory, adding untold extra layers of intrigue, interest and as a result incredible long-term growth and prosperity to the Premier League. Similarly, local areas around the clubs have been significantly invested in and thus transformed, substantially increasing wealth, jobs and standards of living. The Saudi Arabian takeover of yourselves will surely yield similar rewards for the Premier League and local area. The negatives are however indiscernible; potentially they have helped Abramovich, Srivaddhanaprabha and Abu Dhabi in their home power plays against whatever similarly shady rivals they were operating against, but I can't pretend to be an expert on these matters so as to offer a proper analysis of them. The same can be said for so many of the sports journalists we are seeing now who suddenly seem to be experts around the complexities of Saudi Arabian politics and governance in the Middle East. In this way, resistance to your takeover is seeming to revolve around this issue of morality, and television rights. As I can see has been covered by others numerous times in this thread already, the Premier League can't resolve the alleged issue of Saudi Arabian piracy by ostracising them completely. We can see from history that ostracised individuals actively resist the wills of those they've been ostracised by. The Premier League needs to get the Saudis around the talking table, strengthen the volume of mutually beneficial dialogue between the two and work together as collaborative partners to address this issue. Similarly, the moral issue doesn't land at all. The simple recent increase in journalistic activity on Saudi Arabia is evidence enough that this deal has drastically increased public interest in Saudi Arabian affairs, and will continue to do so as the profile of Newcastle United rises under their leadership. This then increases public interest and scrutiny of the regime's activities, and consequently public clamour for action regarding alleged misdeeds will rise in parallel. Accordingly, our governments therefore feel more pressured to act, and will have increased influence over Saudi Arabia to do so with due to their mutually beneficial collaborative relationships, and the increased array of sanctions to threaten Saudi Arabia with that come with the closer economic integration exampled by this deal. So, from both a television rights and a moral basis, the best long-term play is to support this deal. I do not know if it is just the media's self-designated duty to support whichever side of the argument necessary to herd the opposing factions into the fight ring in the most explosive and best selling fashion possible, or whether the coronavirus epidemic is making them all especially sentimental and clouding their ability to make a long-term and logical interpretation of this takeover, but I feel really sorry for you guys having to put up with it all. I have my fingers crossed that it is sorted imminently.

R.e Delaney... There are questions he won't answer. Why was he seemingly in support of the PIF take over of Manchester United? What has changed in 18 months & why is the discrepancy between his support of one takeover & vilification of another so huge? We all know the answers to these questions. Why is it ok for him to draw wages from a newspaper that is 30% owned by Saudi Arabia? Why is he making a business transaction between a sovereign state and a British millionaire the burden of the working person i.e those who have the least control? He hasn't held Ashley to account in 13 years, he's not even holding Ashley responsible for dealing with Saudi Arabia. In front of his very eyes he's watching his beloved Man United pushed another place down the pecking order by a club who hitherto were also rans, irrelevant. Just like Man City were. It's plain and simple jealously. There's no two ways about it.

Pretending to care about human rights because your football club isn’t the one being taken over is ‘cringe as fuck’. #cans

"Cabbage did you say?"

I'd rather not

'Wu neyd ta mak the club restaront sound classy as fuck seying as wa putting the advert in Ponteyland airport. Any ideyas, teym?" "Put a K in front of carbon instead of a C, marra!" "Up there for thinking, Doon there for dancing!"

He's definitely copied & pasted that.

The Shady Cabal of Tyneside Businessmen working their magic once more.

So that's what those bread recipes mean by "knock back for 10 minutes".

See you later, pet. I’m just off to the wank shed to prove me dough

I can't see any possible way that League One is finished this season. The Premier League and possibly the Championship I can see them being put into World Cup style camps and playing out the remaining fixtures over a month but surely anything lower than that is finished? And the good news is that there is no conceivable formula that would see the mackems promoted.

“How are the pork & egg nuggets did you say?”

I’m laughing thinking about how quiet Charnley must have been in that Premier League meeting today. Staring into the camera like Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan being rumbled.

The BBC during the last general election campaign hoyed a fair bit of weight behind a government complicit in this country’s alliance with Saudi Arabia. They, like a lot of other hypocritical cunts seem more arsed about this all of a sudden. It’s definitely not helping in terms of the light being shone on it because of the current situation meaning there’s no live sport but that doesn’t excuse these journalists

Spotted in Washington Galleries bus terminal......

Tbf that's the Hilton's marketing. But still, the fucking tragedy of that poster. I hope we returned the favour the following year with a similar poster in Park Lane bus stop.

Dough baskets.

"Karbon Grill" though, howay. Sounds like the kind of place that'd serve pork and egg nuggets.

Things you never would have expected to see.

Mr moral compass is now taking it upon himself to ban #cans. “Indulging” what a sanctimonious little prick.

It’s bollocks. It will have zero effect.

Someone made the point recently that if it were a female politician who had six kids by three dads, refused to acknowledge one of them and got knocked up shortly after entering No.10? There would be a moral outrage.

Must’ve paid the ransom.

That might be the best bit of all this. They seized on our relegation so strongly that season, they didn’t go as far the prior time we went down, and it backfired so spectacularly. They’re a third tier team

You’re just tempting fate now.

2020 could not get more bizarre could it

Well I'd never heard of the twat till this week so his agenda is working, for him at least.

Tbf to this guy, I'd never heard of him until the takeover kicked off. He's probably trying to 'Piers Morgan' his way to greater status.

Who was it Steve Wraith that said a number of clubs were also on board with trying to block the sale? Seems more to do with upsetting the status quo than anything else. These stupid pricks cant fathom the idea of anyone potentially getting up alongside the likes of their precious Liverpool and "United". Might be acceptable for London clubs even, but not us. We're supposed to be the bunch up north who ungrateful for their generous owner because of delusions of grandeur. This is completely off the script and they cant get their heads around it. Pricks

More and more everyday...

I hope the Saudis buy out his contract and make him Lee Ryder's apprentice.

Who’s Miguel Delaney’s favourite player? We should sign him and leave him on the bench.

Can we call them “peggetts” to save having to type “pork and egg nuggetts” every time I want to feel sick?

You’ll notice these lads above aren’t particularly tanned- that’s how.

I just can't get my head how armed civilians can wonder around shouting and balling and it's perfectly fine yet fucking Leroy walks down the wrong street and he's in danger of being killed by the police. Fucking weird country.

Classic loafing thread, like days of old. Not.

Someone tell him

Ban this sick filth

They're not going to be a top flight club for a veeeeerrrrrrryyyyyy loooooooonnnnnnnnnngggg tiiiiiiimmmmmme. Shame.

Bruce proving the adage that it’s better to be lucky than good.

Feels like we’ve been at DefCan 2 for a fucking century.

@Christmas Tree a trailblazer on here when he went all Mumsnet it seems?

Was drinking a lot less in the last 10 days but fell off the wagon spectacularly last night during a zoom sesh with my brother and his kids...a cocktail made if Lidl spiced Voodoo rum, ginger beer, cider & lime. And Cornish IPA. And whisky...