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Sunderland will face Saudi Arabian opposition Al Shabab in Friendly (poll in Parsnip)


I am Boss said:
According to their Wikipedia, the club have made significant financial contributions to Riyadh infrastructure and they have a close relationship with the former deputy minister of defense and a member of the House of Saud, Khalid bin Sultan. Whom their stadium is named after.
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Who really cares tho? Fact is most football clubs owners are going to have connections to people like this unfortunately. I don’t think people would care if Saudi didn’t own Newcastle.
 
Roker Mackem said:
Not daft at all. The Mags are Saudi FC and are owned by MBS. Surely boycotting playing the Mags would make more sense than a friendly
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It's hypothetical anyway vs the mags, this game however could have been avoided. Have a match against Stoke, they are over there. Or set up a camp in Spain or Portugal if you want some warm weather training and play a team over there.
 
I am Boss said:
I'd be pretty appalled if we went for a training week in Belarus and invited CSKA Moscow over for a friendly despite them not having involvement with the Russian regime
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Is that the 'Central Army Sports Club' team, 75% owned by VEB, a Russian bank sanctioned since February? The same VEB whose chairman is Igor Shuvalov, a man who moved into that position in May 2018 having previously been First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia?

I get the point you're making, but CSKA (nicknamed 'the Army Men' in Russian) may not be the best club to illustrate of that point.
 
Roker Scoreboard said:
It's hypothetical anyway vs the mags, this game however could have been avoided. Have a match against Stoke, they are over there. Or set up a camp in Spain or Portugal if you want some warm weather training and play a team over there.
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Our younguns played their under 21s at SJP the other week mate.
 
Fletch said:
I agree , still a bad decision though
And most fans be against it
Can’t have it both ways , slating the mags
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The mags are owned by the saudi state. That's deserves all the criticism it gets and more.

We're playing a team from Saudi Arabia. That's just not even comparable.
 
pride of the north said:
Is that the 'Central Army Sports Club' team, 75% owned by VEB, a Russian bank sanctioned since February? The same VEB whose chairman is Igor Shuvalov, a man who moved into that position in May 2018 having previously been First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia?

I get the point you're making, but CSKA (nicknamed 'the Army Men' in Russian) may not be the best club to illustrate of that point.
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:lol:

Only Russian club I knew
 
dangermows said:
Why do some of our lot think Al Qaeda is pronounced Al Ky Eeda?
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Pretty sure the BBC pronounced it like that early days thanks to the septics mangling it from the beginning.

There’s no English equivalent to the correct pronunciation, Al Keeda is probably the closest without the bit in the middle.
 
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