Donald Trump has an approval rating of ~43% despite everything he has done (or not done) and thats because there are enough people who are now brainwashed by his words. That's probably the best way to understand many footy writers...

They've brainwashed themselves that City is owned by a middle eastern state, that state is a horrible place where you have people's rights being abused everywhere. You can keep providing them with evidence or reach out and talk but it doesn't register.

Many of them see no moral quandary in praising Russia or its Olympics or understand the extent of issues in that country and its leader over-shadows anything that a middle eastern country has done.

Many of them cannot relate UK's own issues with rights and war.

Those are grey areas in their minds but it's all black and white when it comes to the Middle East.

This isn't about who is worse than whom but the difference in the way they look at things & justify their choices. (Putting up a "same old tired screenshot" as it's been called)

Look at their logic that a gulf nation buys a club to Sportswash, can I assume that they mean that it is trying to blend itself w/ the British society and clean it's image. Does that not feed into an Otherisation narrative? Does the connection w/ Trump's followers become clearer?

You could shout from the rooftops that buying a football club has possibly ONLY created a negative image for the country/owner's country. The Saudis have invested more than £80 Bn in the UK but a small £300 Mn investment is probably going to give them more grief than others

They have also repeatedly floated the idea (and it's been quotes from McGeehan) that these countries invest to get "business contacts". No one has questioned the vast stupidity of that statement. No one has bothered to question this expert or that statement.

I'm not for a minute saying that a detailed fit and proper test should not be done on the Saudi investment, the complaints of stolen feeds from BeIN certainly merits a look. And the Saudis need to be pushed hard for Kashoggi's murder.

But how is Newcastle different from say the Saudi PIF investment in the UK healthcare provider Babylon Health? Or how Sheikh Mansour's buying of City different from Qatar Emir's brother in law buying the Ritz.

Can anyone of these guys explain how UAE has benefited through the alleged Sportswashing over the last 10 years? Haven't all of what the CFG team has done with City and Sheikh Mansour's investments in East Manchester changed some opinions? If these haven't then why is it?

So in the end, is it time to call it what it really is?...

Racism.

And treat it like you would see any modern day racism...not by negotiating but by shaming them into silence.