We are not very good at this sportwashing thing are we?

[wolviedinho]

Ive never tried sportswashing, always 30 mins cotton with an extra spin at the end.

Ha ;)

 

[Keith Moon]

Yeah I can see that but it's a mischaracterisation of Abu Dhabi. Nations are we understand them did not exist in the region when the oil money started pouring in. There were no schools outside of the mosques, there wasn't a hospital in Abu Dhabi until the 1960s - instead relying on a Christian missionary mission to provide healthcare. There were the tribes and people belonged to that tribe no matter where they went. If a Bani Yas started farming somewhere then that was Bani Yas land until they were kicked off it. Abu Dhabi and Dubai, two strands of the same overarching tribe had constant battles between themselves. It wasn't like England with pieces of farmland that were worked by peasants but owned by nobles - most of the tribes outside the date farmers (and the pearl industry which collapsed due to Japanese price cutting), lived off the land that they and their ancestors had roamed seasonally and the Chief offered protection to his tribe against bandit raids out of duty. Sheikh Zayed lived in a tent and carried a knife and, if he felt like boasting a bit, a rifle. Streets didn't exist in Abu Dhabi until 1950 let alone any form of real administration.

There's this idea that the Gulf royals plundered the region's wealth and this is an extremely Western way of looking at their society. Zayed had to sit down with a pen and paper and design his country from scratch. I mean that literally, he sat and wrote "well we need a Department of Education, a Department of Economics, a Department of War" etc while he was sat in a stone fort that was hundreds of years old and no bigger than the average semi-detached house.

Hear, hear. in another leaked AD document from 2015 Sheikh Khalifa's personal fortune is estimated to $18 billion + properties, he got the same share as Sheikh Mansour, the idea that Sheikh Mansour doesn't have a personal fortune is bizarre.

 

[Kippaxpete]

Told you we should have bought Robin Van Persil

I thought we were owned by Sheikh 'N' Vac. Altogether now. "It's all you have to do..."

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Stonking posts Damo. Bravo.

One of the points I've made in the past, about Israel/Palestine and the UAE (among other things) is precisely that there are many shades of grey. Whether it's social media, society getting angrier or something else, everything these days has to be black & white. Someone has to be right and some has has to be wrong.

Just because we live in a liberal democracy doesn't mean that everyone should. Places like China, UAE, Afghanistan and many other places have never been either liberal or democratic. We've only had full emancipation for 100 years, despite Magna Carta being signed 800 years ago, and a Bill of Rights being enacted in 1689. Same sex relations were still illegal in this country when we hosted the World Cup in 1966. Yet the UAE is just 50 years old as a sovereign state and we expect it to be a modern, fully-formed democracy.

Of course you can criticise things they do but there's an arrogance with people like McGeehan and his ilk who think that we have a right to tell other people how to live. To ignore hundreds or even thousands of years of their own culture and social norms and to become "like us".

And because they aren't "like us" they have to resort to devious and underhanded techniques like "sportswashing" to cover up their differences. It's extremely xenophobic and potentially racist.

Another element to this is the huge number of Western firms operating in the UAE. According to Google there are more than 1,500 US firms and more than 5000 UK firms operating in the UAE and these include most of the household names. How can any discussion of workers' rights in that region not include those businesses managed and run by UK and the US firms? I agree that a lot of the criticism of Arabs is underpinned by racism and xenohobia.

 

[Pablo ZZZ Peroni]

There's a story about the takeover that came from, I think, David Conn and if this is true then I can make a reasonable guess.

Essentially the story was that Abu Dhabi as an administration was not really prepared for the magnitude of the response to the takeover of Man City. One of the six sons had made a sporting investment as many of them had and suddenly the entire country was swamped with journalists from all over the world who wanted information about it. On top of this the man who was seen as the representative of Sheikh Mansour, Sulamin Al-Fahim, was blasting out to every camera that we were going to sign Ronaldo and Messi and Ronaldinho then it got the response of the Ali Baba sat on a pot of gold type image that many of the Gulf nations have to try and swerve. Just as City are treated badly because we're new money, many Arab nations don't get the same respect as other nations for the same reason and this Arab with more money than brain cells stereotype is something they've all tried to stop.

Al-Fahim however was leaning into that stereotype as a form of self promotion and I think when everybody started asking questions and Abu Dhabi saw the reaction, then MBZ probably got hold of Sheikh Mansour and told him to get his shit together. Perhaps that's where Khaldoon's role came into view as a charismatic and Western facing businessman who could repair the damage?

This is all speculation on my part based on the initial plan that Al-Fahim was to take a role in the club as he claimed and that Sheikh Mansour despised what he was saying, and felt that it embarrassed his country and his family.

However this still doesn't mean "state owned". If my sister comes around to my house and her kids start putting jammy fingermarks on my TV then I'll tell my sister to get her shit together and parent the kids. But this doesn't mean that *I* am parenting the kids.

Khaldoon was involved in the "project" before the purchase and openly admits he was assisting/advising Sheikh Mansour when they were whittling down from 3 or more PL clubs to City and was aware that City were the most attractive propsoition.

SM then appointed Khaldoon to manage and chair the club on the very same day of the MOU announcement and Sulaiman Al Dahim fiasco on transfer deadline day. Sulaiman was then immediately shut down.

Khaldoon immediately appointed Simon Pearce who was at the time the PR guru and head of Strategic Communications for Abu Dhabi and his job was to protect and enhance the reputation of Abu Dhabi.
He had just been involved in the development of the brand of Abu Dhabi (which had emphasised the Emirate's understated style) .

We are not state owned but the interests of the club are clearly aligned with Abu Dhabi. Gary Cook effectively confirmed it was a soft power play (as distinct from the sportswashing bollocks)) and there is nothing wrong with that. Equally it is a big long-term business play and our interests are very closely linked to big picture Mubadala investment.

 

[Marvin]

The journalists who talk about sportswashing don't even think about it when England play but if Russia, China, or a middle east country host a tournament then it's 'sportswashing'. This is at heart a nationalistic argument. Our country is legitimate, and run on a superior model to yours. Well it maybe, but maybe if you hadn't plundered the natural resources, drawn the borders etc for centuries then it would not be so. I am not a fan of royal families and inherited wealth but we have one too and ours is nominally the leader of the commonwealth itself a legacy of Empire.

 

[Marvin]

Khaldoon was involved in the "project" before the purchase and openly admits he was assisting/advising Sheikh Mansour when they were whittling down from 3 or more PL clubs to City and was aware that City were the most attractive propsoition.

SM then appointed Khaldoon to manage and chair the club on the very same day of the MOU announcement and Sulaiman Al Dahim fiasco on transfer deadline day. Sulaiman was then immediately shut down.

Khaldoon immediately appointed Simon Pearce who was at the time the PR guru and head of Strategic Communications for Abu Dhabi and his job was to protect and enhance the reputation of Abu Dhabi.
He had just been involved in the development of the brand of Abu Dhabi (which had emphasised the Emirate's understated style) .

We are not state owned but the interests of the club are clearly aligned with Abu Dhabi. Gary Cook effectively confirmed it was a soft power play (as distinct from the sportswashing bollocks)) and there is nothing wrong with that. Equally it is a big long-term business play and our interests are very closely linked to big picture Mubadala investment.

What connection does Manchester City have with Mubadala? There maybe a cross-over in people but I don't see how Sheikh Mansour's football ownership has anything to do with the success or otherwise of their investments, nor do I see how our interests are linked to Mubadala?

Mubadala has some investments in Manchester e.g., the Graphene institute but it's completely independent of City.

 

[Chi-town blues]

Sports washing is cool but have you tired financial doping ?

 

[JGL07]

Ajax beat to his signing

The Tides of history are with City.

United will face their Omogedden.

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

When THEY say Sportswashing, which colour skin does it make you think of? It seems to me, and I might be wrong, but Sportswashing doesnt apply to any other race than Middle Eastern.

I think the whole term should be turned on its head as a racist fear tbh because that's what it is. Predominantly white controlled power being taken away by Arabs and they dont like it.