The wording of @AngusMacNeilSNP letter to Liz Truss on the #NUFC takeover is intriguing. He's absolutely right to raise concerns, & I have said many times I have huge sympathy with beIN (& any rights holder) who has had content stolen.

However, the wording of MacNeil's letter somewhat mirrors a series of quotes sent to media that were wrongly attributed to the WTO report. This either suggests he's chosen to allude to these, having also read the full report, or has just picked up on a slightly distorted summary.

MacNeil writes: "In its ruling, the WTO held that the government of Saudi Arabia has, from the beginning, been actively... supporting the beoutQ piracy operation that has stolen the commercial rights of UK sports bodies for three years."

The media quotes published, which weren't contained in WTO report, read: "The WTO has conclusively ruled that the government of Saudi Arabia has actively promoted & supported beoutQ... since the beginning & has wholly breached, & is breaching, its obligations... to protect IP.

"Should The Premier League approve the Newcastle takeover by KSA, it would be acting inconsistently with its own decisions & factual evidence as part of the WTO proceedings & also its submissions to the US government, the European Commission and others over the past three years."

Most media who unintentionally published the above have now removed or clarified the quotes, but that hasn't stopped them doing the rounds. Just one example here: https://www.todayfm.com/sport/fresh-newcastle-blow-uefa-welcomes-wto-saudi-piracy-report-1031597

MacNeil also kind of mirrors first quote, while there's no mention of #NUFC or PIF in the report. There is indeed a strong case Saudi gov. supported beoutQ, but WTO report only concluded beoutQ originated from Saudi & was supported by 'prominent' (it didn't say gov.) officials.

You can argue if Saudi government didn't do enough to protect IP they are clearly complicit in supporting beoutQ. They knew about channel & didn't shut it down. In my view, report was thus quite damning, but (even if morally it should be) not necessarily damaging to the takeover.

But the point of this thread is to encourage people to read the full report because, sadly, certain (and multiple) media outlets, mostly by accident, have ran incorrect quotes, wrongly attributed to WTO, and these have seemingly caught the attention of politicians, too.

I've said repeatedly, I sympathise with beIN & many of the moral objections to the takeover. If the PL do take a moral stance then I, for one, will applaud that. But in making decisions or tabling concerns, it is vital that incorrect quotes & conclusions aren't being alluded to.