The two things that struck me about that Masters interview with Bloomberg were:
- They're suppose to be a serious and respected financial outlet so the question about why our case was taking so long when the Everton one was concluded quickly was a fucking stupid one to ask in the first place. It showed they knew fuck all about the two situations.
- Having asked it, his answer was hesitant and slightly incoherent. It should have been on the lines of "You can't compare the two cases. In Everton's case, the PSR rules are quite straightforward and while there may be some wiggle room, it's quite black and white, a bit like going to court for speeding; you were caught driving in excess of the speed limit, probably significantly so, but there may be some mitigation. City's case is more akin to a complex commercial dispute where there are in-depth technical questions to grapple with and a mountain of documents in evidence. That will clearly take a lot longer to resolve".
You can bet if Khaldoon had been asked the same question, his answer would have been much more confident and cohesive. With Masters, you got the impression he really wasn't on top of his brief, and you could see why perhaps he lacks the strength of character to stand up to some of the louder voices in the room.
Well you talk about how Khaldoon would handle it differently, but like City’s and Everton’s individual cases aren’t really comparable the same is true for Masters and Khaldoon.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak
-Khaldoon is a very astute and successful businessman.
-He has the ear and confidence of the Abu Dhabi Royal family.
- he is the CEO of Mubadala investment group which manages ~$230bn
- he is highly celebrated, being awarded a CBE as well as similar accolades in Korea, Italy, France and being given freedom of the city of London (I’d love him for a laugh to drive his cattle through there as is his right now)
- Khaldoon sits at the highest of tables. Earlier this year was on a deliberation brokering a deal with no other than the President of the US
He is a very impressive man and I could go on and on with his successes.
For comparison
Richard Masters
- went to school in Solihull.
- clearly has a healthy appetite.
Genuinely difficult to find any successes he has outside of being gifted the PL job after being interviewed by the rags and dippers.
But further to my point these 2 aren’t comparable, it’s like comparing a 3 legged donkey to a champion race horse.