You fail to mention that plight of the immigrants in Qatar, the vast number of immigrants in Qatar and the fact it’s nearly impossible for immigrants or their off spring to gain Qatari citizenship.
The men behind Man city: If you thought Qatar was a problem, wait till you get a load of Abu Dhabi
- Thread starter Maradona10
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RasenBallsport Leipzig technically adheres to the German rule. Red Bull does not officially own the club. Its a membership club just like the rest but the votes are all controlled by Red Bull executives. You can join RasenBallsport Leipzig as a club member for around €1,000/year but its non-voting membership. Only the Red Bull German(iirc) executives own voting shares.
Today in RedCafe school, I learned that being completely bankrolled by a dodgy state is the same thing as having a portion of sponsorships that have ties to dodgy states. Thank you to the fans of Abu Dhabi City FC for showing me the light.
While I am in no way defending Abu Dhabi and take the reprehensible actions stated in the article as fact think this author was really only tying in Manchester City to increase the circulation of an article mainly about the Abu Dhabi ruling class. I mean first horrible story was about the brother of sheik mansour. No connection to the club and then the author makes the point of saying sheik mansour is just a figurehead anyway so not really understanding the relevancy of including that story.
That's because he's pointing out that the 'brother' is the one that actually bank rolls your club - so it is relevant. Your owner likes using a cattle prod on his business associates.
Which is flat our untrue because the club is owned by Mansour.
Nothing new I guess. Similar types of dictatorships in these regions. A lot of western countries have a lot of busniess deals with these nations so for those reasons they will normally not speak against it. Money talks as we all know.
Says he's only a figurehead - not the one with the cash. Anyway, what's it matter, Mansour is no better than his brother.
No that's not what the article said the candle prod weilder is Sheikh Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the brother of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The one the article said is bankrolling the project is Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Because if he can't get a simple thing right in his article then it means in laymans terms he's full of shite. While as I said I'm under no illusions City's owners are angels or even good people.
He starts off being all dramatic about what he thinks would be good for the "real" documentary and then goes on to spout ten minutes of shite with not a single thing to back up what he has said.
He shows an email about NYCFC that was leaked which says that people in the US may have issue with Abu Dhabi's stance on "gay, wealth, women and Israel (the most evil state in the world according to many btw)". Of all those I can guarantee the one America would have most issue with is not recognising Israel but that's another debate for another day. But those are all things well known to most before said email.
He then goes back to talking about the Sheikh's brother and trying to claim he owns City again to tie his story to something that will get him clicks.
Lets face it, had his story been "Sheikh Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan uses cattle prod on business partner, this has nothing to do with Man City" it most certainly wouldn't be turning up on the front page of the CAF's football forum.
While I'm under no illusion Mansour is the worlds nicest guy, this guy is writing clickbait journalism by trying to create a link between the Sheikh's brother and the CFG with nothing whatsoever to go on. He does though manage to stick in a line about how stuck he is for cash to make his own documentary (some abu Dhabi like sneaky ulterior motives) right at the end.
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?? What does that have to do with what your owners represent?
Notice you've conveniently neglected to comment on this Simon Pearce fellow... some damning allegations in there on how he conducts business.
In any case, it's your club, if you don't feel uneasy about the situation, then of course it's your prerogative.
It has to do with the article posted in the OP. I know exactly what our owners represent and I've said so earlier in the thread.
Pearce of course is a shithouse doing shithouse work, but every government in the world has those type of people and thats just part and parcel of it. I don't doubt for one second he's a piece of shit, but what has anything said about him there got to do with Manchester City? yes he's on the board, yes his job is to make Abu Dhabi look good, yes he's a scumbag. Nothing there either implicates anyone involved with Man City with any wrongdoing, bar Pearce himself being a piece of shit.
What I am arguing is 99% of that article is click bait shite and nothing to do with City and or CFG other than the authors "because I typed it here". I've already said I think our owners human rights record is bad and they aren't good people but I also said I'm pretty indifferent to it as I am to Qatar, was to Berlusconi and Gadaffi or Abramhovic. If everyone stopped supporting their club because their owner is a cnut wouldn't be many clubs with fans.
Those labourers deserve human rights also
That's City's job, also. The regime has taken on your club as a public relations/propaganda piece of window display. You are not even a financial investment as Utd is to the debt restructuring dollar men who own us. The Sheiks of Abu Dhabi do not care if they lose money on you. It is also true that you, de Bruyne, Jack Foden and the tealady etc are not personally implicated in wrongdoing. But if the media actually follow through with proper investigative reporting you are going to get sore fingers calling articles like this that draw attention to the financial source of your defence, midfield and attack 'clickbait shite'.
I've read it, twice.
Basically the author tries desperately to link our owners brother to the club then goes off on a tirade of things he's done.
I'm not saying our owners brother hasn't done those things I'm just saying its got nothing to do with our owner. I'm certainly not responsible for the things my brother has done.
He's got the first part of the story so horribly wrong you have to question the validity of the rest of it.
Basically the author tries desperately to link our owners brother to the club then goes off on a tirade of things he's done.
I'm not saying our owners brother hasn't done those things I'm just saying its got nothing to do with our owner. I'm certainly not responsible for the things my brother has done.
He's got the first part of the story so horribly wrong you have to question the validity of the rest of it.
Yes because making it a Capital Offense to be homosexual and not providing free homes and healthcare to the homeless are entirely equal.
Yes the West destabilized it so badly it's the wealthiest region in the world. The Middle East has ALWAYS been destabilized because of religious tensions. Different factions in Islam have constantly fought for power through war in the area (let alone what they do to anyone else of a different religion).
Yeah it's bullshit. City fans really excel in this diversionary tactics. Just wait whilst one of them brings up James Gibson in this discussion.
Think you answered the question in the latter statement? Like it or not, he also represents your club's interest. In this instance, City is being used as a vehicle for these owners for their own nefarious reasons, and it doesn't look like it involves football.
And please don't go off on the author of this piece. There have been articles before (not as blunt as this one) that's hinted at some underhanded activities from City, but unsurprisingly, they quickly disappear, and/or, 99% of the rest of the press in this country conveniently ignore it. Simon Pearce is indeed very good at his job...
You can't deny the West has contributed in major ways to modern destabilization in the region. The Sykes-Picot Agreement after WWI led to what set all the modern borders of the middle east which were drawn for Western benefit not any sort of logical reason or local determination. Its why you have a 100 years of problems like the Kurds spread across several different artificially created nation states and making up an oppressed minority in all of them.
"The Sykes-Picot Agreement created the modern Middle East. It represents one of the first instalments in a long line of modern European – and subsequent American – meddling in the region. And, in providing a set of unrealistic and impossible promises to the Arabs, it led directly to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The line across a map of the Middle East it drew created colonial spheres of influence that cut directly and artificially across a region that had previously been divided along ethnic, linguistic and religious lines.
Area “A” was to be under French influence and control, while “B” was to be under British influence and control. The Sykes-Picot Agreement also proposed an “international administration” for Palestine.
In 1920, the latter region was transferred to British control as “Mandatory Palestine”. It was governed under British civil administration until 1948, during which the competing Arab and Zionist nationalist movements clashed with one another.
The cause of many of these clashes were unrealistic promises made to each side by the British; promises directly related to the artificial arrangement of the modern Middle East initiated by the Sykes-Picot Agreement."
https://theconversation.com/the-sykes-picot-agreement-and-the-making-of-the-modern-middle-east-58780
And that's just the start. While you can certainly blame the rise of radical Wahhabism for some instability you can't ignore the responsible the West has for instability as well.
Oh and their wealth results from simply sitting on the largest reserves of fossil fuel energy. That wealth is independent of anything anyone could/would have done.
The City owners are disgraceful and the club is corrupt, flaunts FFP and has an unfair leg-up on the rest of the league/world (other than PSG). We knew that already. The article sheds light on some additional stuff, but fundamentally we knew this all before.
But what are City supporters, real pre-2009 supporters, supposed to do? Stop supporting their club? Start a petition? It's not like they voted the new owners in. It could have equally happened to Derby County or Stoke. If this happened at United I would be outraged but I honestly don't know what I'd do.
It is up to the Manchester council, Premier League, FA, UEFA, etc. to not allow this to happen. But they failed and now we have this. Money talks, and these oil states could always purchase a plaything and subsequent success if they wanted to. And they did.
But what are City supporters, real pre-2009 supporters, supposed to do? Stop supporting their club? Start a petition? It's not like they voted the new owners in. It could have equally happened to Derby County or Stoke. If this happened at United I would be outraged but I honestly don't know what I'd do.
It is up to the Manchester council, Premier League, FA, UEFA, etc. to not allow this to happen. But they failed and now we have this. Money talks, and these oil states could always purchase a plaything and subsequent success if they wanted to. And they did.
Yes it's likely that city's owner came about this wealth entirely above board.
I'm sorry I don't particularly feel guilty about what people have done to the region in the past that makes it okay to still have slave labor and commit plenty of other human rights violations. No amount of meddling has anything to do with the values that a majority of people hold in the region.
I agree, this isn't citys real fans fault. But some degree of balance, acceptance of reality and a semblance of humility would be welcome. City fans seem desperate to convince people that they haven't bought success, let alone speak about the entirely dubious origin of the money that did it,
For me the issue isn't City fans. Seeing the British media report that this city project is good for the British game is, without exaggeration, disgraceful journalism.
This is the exact type of stuff I alluded to in my reply to you. The denial is staggering
I agree. That sort of deflection is desperate barrel-scraping.
Come on. There’s no bullshit in pointing out that your club takes money from the same so-called dodgy states mate. It’s not diversionary tactics either as you invited us blues to offer up our comments on the article which some of us did, and despite the fact that we’ve been happy enough to take up the baton, discuss it, and admit we have our reservations about our owner that obviously isn’t enough for some of the tub thumpers on here.
As for Gibson, I’ve not mentioned him for the best part of a week
In any case, he’s irrelevant to this particular discussion. And with that, I’m out as there’s nothing further to add. I’m taking a break from here (I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know lol) as I’ve spent way too much time on this forum over the past week or so and I really should be investing some of that time away from the net. Plus it’s been getting a bit too heated on various topics and rising to it every 5 minutes isn’t always the wisest thing to do.
Yes, agreed. The author of this current article does a good job of pointing the double standard out. And City investing heavily in PR has definitely helped their cause.
This amazon project will be the most nauseatingly cringeworthy contrived reel of horseshit ever produced, declared a masterpiece by city fans and not really watched by anybody else
People need to stop being so sanctimonious.
We're all sitting here now on technology that someone, somewhere was exploited in some way as they built it.
We're wearing mass produced textiles that all but the most beautiful of us never bothered to check how it was made.
We're all Qatar. We're all Saudi Arabia. They just happen to be absolute bottom-barrel dwellers that everyone can knock. Large groups of humans coming together always ends in horrible shit. Exploitation at every turn.
Holy shit I'm high
We're all sitting here now on technology that someone, somewhere was exploited in some way as they built it.
We're wearing mass produced textiles that all but the most beautiful of us never bothered to check how it was made.
We're all Qatar. We're all Saudi Arabia. They just happen to be absolute bottom-barrel dwellers that everyone can knock. Large groups of humans coming together always ends in horrible shit. Exploitation at every turn.
Holy shit I'm high
I believe that's what's called false equivalency. Using an iPad is not the same discussion about the sporting and moral questions raised by a below average club being bankrolled to the tune of incredibly murky billions and actively trying to project themselves as some sort of sporting good in the world, while being lauded for doing it by mainstream media. It's a very very very lazy argument to make to be honest.
Though your last line explains it
Locally they've lost them in droves. United have lost a load too of course post Glazer. It's an inevitable result of that disconnect, part of which is relevant to this thread, between the club and it's traditional fanbase. Half my extended family are blues, and several mates that go back decades and only one still goes to the game.
I think there's more than a slight difference between an owner 'being a bit of a cnut' and sitting at the head of a state which has been described as a black hole in human rights.
And let's not pretend this is any ordinary club-ownership scenario. Man City has effectively become a satellite of the Abu Dhabi state. The experiment going on at your club is nothing more than a PR exercise to launder the reputation of the regime. By all accounts, Mansour couldn't care less about football. This is about something entirely different for him.
If you want a clearer appraisal of this beyond the OP article, I'd suggest having a look at The Billionaire's Club by James Montague.
Right, this is definitely my last post on this topic - honest!
The notion that City is the main vehicle for this PR exercise - in the UK at least - is incredibly amusing when you see that it goes a lot higher than that and goes back far longer. I think you better cancel that family day out to Buckingham Palace pronto mate:
come on, queens speech being quoted, I've spoken in a lot of posts about the lengths city fans will go to to avoid just coming out saying we're run by absolute scum and are celebrating football borne off the back of money. That to take one step further is money from pretty dark origins. queens speech, that just does it for me. Should be filed in the annals of redcafe history that postThis is just cold truth. Even abramovich seemed to have some element of the mad billionaire that loves football about him. City are a pr vehicle, a thought out project down the every detail including choice of city to buy a club in
Oh dear - if you can't see that this so-called PR exercise doesn't go higher up than MCFC then you're blinkered beyond belief. Is the UK government not high enough up for you? That's some pedestal you're putting likkle City on there.
And let's face it sunshine - if City were nowhere near the top of the league, you wouldn't even be commenting about this would you? Back in your box and keep sucking on those lemons - have a good Christmas mate.
Most people on here do not seem to realise that Abramovich isn't any better than these Arab guys as Russia is a black hole for human rights too. Russia's government is a vile dictatorship.
And City is not only a PR exercise for those guys (I don't like them at all, btw). It is a sound business project. If they sell City now, they will make profit, imo.
And City is not only a PR exercise for those guys (I don't like them at all, btw). It is a sound business project. If they sell City now, they will make profit, imo.