1/ Journos are reporting yet another “hurdle” overnight in the form of the BeIn Sports letter. As NUFC fans know - we do everything the hard way! Hopefully it'll be worth it in the end. Here's some thoughts about what we make of it, as requested, in one place.

2 / This letter is a commercial one, it should have nothing to do with the fit and proper persons test. However, TV rights are hugely important to the Premier League and its clubs.

3 / In August 2018, the PL agreed a 3 year deal with BeIn to broadcast games in the Middle East and North Africa. This was an exclusive deal worth about £500m, about 12% of total overseas broadcasting revenue. For comparison, Sky pay almost £1.2bn per year.

4/ BeIn have a habit of attacking European Leagues, in 2019 the CEO stated that rights holders “spend more on Christmas parties than on anti-piracy”. BeIn have also previously threatened to end a £390m deal with Serie A because the Italian Super Cup was played there;

5/ The main challenge from BeIn was against BeoutQ, a Saudi based pirate broadcaster who worked via Arabsat. The Premier League publicly announced they were working with BeIn to try and shut BeoutQ down, and to stop any link with Arabsat;

6/ BeIn have already pursued Arabsat in the French Courts and were totally unsuccessful. The French Court dismissed all BeIn's claims imposed what has been reported as “unprecedented financial compensation”. That suggests they found no link between Arabsat and BeoutQ;

7/ The problem we have is that the Premier League have previously spoken about how much they value the relationship with BeIn and the importance of being “shoulder to shoulder”. They will take note and consider what has been said - even though they shouldn’t;

8 / What is more concerning is that various clubs have been written to. The TV rights represent approx. 80% of income for some of the smaller clubs e.g. Bournemouth. They are likely to raise their own concerns given the threats made by BeIn;

9/ Helpfully for NUFC fans. BeIn don't appear to be a trustworthy company. CEO, Yousef AlObaidly, has been charged as part of the French investigation into the Qatar World Cup bid. Chairman, Nasser AlKhelaifi (President of PSG), has been charged as part of the Swiss investigation

10 / The letter borders on blackmail: agree to stop the deal or we’ll stop paying you. You may think it seems similar to the approach taken by Qatar to the 2022 WC Bid. The PL should not be listening, it is not relevant to the test, we remain hopeful it wont halt the deal.