A lot of Newcastle United fans have replied to a post from the Evening Chronicle that contains a link to their live blog from the 1st of June.
From here (19:47), they have a link to a claim made in Al Jazeera on the Toon’s proposed takeover by Amanda Staveley’s Saudi-backed consortium.
They claim that the takeover is ‘floundering on the rocks’ because of claims that the Saudi government knew about the piracy station BeoutQ.
The piece talks about how BeIN Sports have paid incredible amounts to be the exclusive broadcaster of the Premier League but that BeoutQ through Arabsat have lifted their content to be shown in Saudi Arabia.
They also spoke to Torbjorn Soltvedt, who claimed that the World Trade Organisation’s ruling on BeoutQ was ‘hugely damaging’ to the proposed takeover of the Toon.
This drew a reaction from many Newcastle fans who were annoyed at yet more negativity surrounding the takeover with one Toon fan even calling this Groundhog Day.
Do you think this will have any impact?
No, it is just propaganda from Qatar
Yes, it could cause trouble
Shut up man it’s the same every time , it’s always “huge concern” honestly we’ve had enough..
— kenny-???? (@kenny63117040) June 1, 2020
Nothing but click bait from the chronicle again. Shambles
— Jordan Wilson (@jordwillo20) June 1, 2020
Here we go again. Groundhog Day.
— Sam (@Funguslover) June 1, 2020
They are waiting for the ful reports from WTO in my opinion and the premier league will be hoping they can go against the deal
— craig colledge (@colledge) June 2, 2020
Al Jazeera are a Qatari-funded news agency, and therefore many Toon fans do not trust this piece because they feel it has an agenda behind it.
Al Jazera though- hardly unbiased
— Dave Rees (@johndavidrees) June 1, 2020
beIN Media, a subsidiary of Al Jazeera Media Network. Al Jazeera regurgitating old news now. Won’t be surprised we have another “takeover doubts over NEW piracy evidence” headline by the @guardian_sport Like the previous couple. All I say is NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS. ??????
— Jimmy (@Jimmywoods99) June 1, 2020
Al Jazeera = Qatar’s mouthpiece
— zapaz (@zapaz66) June 1, 2020
Qatar and Saudi Arabia are involved in geopolitical conflict, and Qatar’s company BeIN Sports sent a letter to the Premier League, urging them to block this takeover.
This could be because if the takeover goes through, Saudi Arabia intend to bid for the rights to show the Premier League and blow Qatar out of the water.
This could explain why Al Jazeera have now produced this piece.
The deal for Newcastle to be taken over by Staveley’s Saudi-backed consortium has been with the Premier League for a while now, and Richard Masters insists that there is no timescale for how long it could take.
However, the longer they leave it, the longer they give the likes of BeIN and Al Jazeera to express their negative views on the deal, which has clearly annoyed many Toon fans.