Would you stop supporting Hibs if a Saudi business took over?

[Kato]

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Surely, the win against Rangers in the SC Final in 1998 was pre Romanov.

It was. However the pieman ran £20m of debt up winning that and during subsequent seasons, which Romanov paid off using money he stole from investors in his toy bank.

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[Hibees1973]

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Surely, the win against Rangers in the SC Final in 1998 was pre Romanov.

Yeah you are right, thanks for correcting me.

As a subsequent poster commented, prior to Romanov taking over The Pieman racked up a debt in excess of £20m through dire management of the Yam and providing stack loads of cash for players and wages for Jeffries. To the point where he accepted an offer from Cala to buy the land their stadium stands on.

There is not any doubt that their last 3 Scottish Cups were bought on a mountain of debt which brought them to their knees.

[jacomo]

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Apathetic eh? Like being a Labour party member for 20 years and once I was convinced Independence was a good thing then an SNP party member for the next 26 years. Like being a union member for 46 years? Like being a shop steward? Like standing on picket lines? Like being a Citizens advice volunteer advisor?
No need to tell me what politicians love my friend ok. I've acknowledged further up the thread that politics infiltrates almost every facet of our lives from birth to death. I deal with that how I can. I will not let it stop me from supporting my team.

Not saying it’s easy, but all it takes for them to win is for the likes of us to shrug our shoulders and look the other way.

F*** the takeover of football by petro-states and political actors.

[Glory Lurker]

I was genuinely, and I mean this, genuinely disappointed that there wasn't a backlash in the Hearts support when Romanov bought them. He was obviously dodgy and FCUM had only happened a couple of years before that, which I thought would be an inspiration for some.

If we were ever to become a plaything for a dodgist I'd be like snaw aff a dyke.

[Hibernia&Alba]

It presents an ethical dilemma for sure. I really don't know how I would react. In my heart I would know it's morally wrong to have any kind of relationship with a regime like Saudi Arabia, but it would be difficult to walk away from supporting the club. It would be a difficult moment, and I can't promise I would do what I thought morally right. I hope I would, but I can't promise.

[hibbydog]

I’ve always thought that foreign billionaires buying clubs is vulgar, unfair and I wish they would hurry up and buy Hibs

[OldEast]

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Not saying it’s easy, but all it takes for them to win is for the likes of us to shrug our shoulders and look the other way.

F*** the takeover of football by petro-states and political actors.

OK I'm pretty disappointed by your response to my post. Thought you may have had more to offer. Let's discuss... "Them to win" and "the likes of us" your response was to my initial post so knowing what I said who are you talking about? You know you're on a loser with me and you also know I pretty much agree with you so stop digging your ever deepening hole.

[The Baldmans Comb]

At the moment Hibs are under USA ownership which is 24th on the worlds corruption and human rights index and day to day English control who are 18th in the table.

Saudi Arabia are ranked 54th so definitely it would be a moral step backwards from not a particularly impressive starting point.

[DIXIHIBS]

Will always support hibs no matter who actually owns them at any given point in time. Clubs change players, managers and owners constantly. The only constant is the fans. Fans a big clubs down south get a hard time for supporting dodgy owners but what are they meant to do? Walk away from the club that they and their families have followed all their lives...no chance. Foreign owners care about a global brand not local, lifelong fans. There are literally billions of potential fans out there who will buy into that brand through shirt, tv etc etc. I hope it never comes near scotland, but if it does hibs is my team, always, no matter who owns them.

[OldEast]

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Will always support hibs no matter who actually owns them at any given point in time. Clubs change players, managers and owners constantly. The only constant is the fans. Fans a big clubs down south get a hard time for supporting dodgy owners but what are they meant to do? Walk away from the club that they and their families have followed all their lives...no chance. Foreign owners care about a global brand not local, lifelong fans. There are literally billions of potential fans out there who will buy into that brand through shirt, tv etc etc. I hope it never comes near scotland, but if it does hibs is my team, always, no matter who owns them.

Why would anyone disagree with this?

[vercol36]

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Why would anyone disagree with this?

Because if my son, on becoming a teenager, were to ask me “Dad, why do you support a club run by Saudis?”, and I was to respond, “because my dad and grandad and great grandad supported them”, the answer would be, “So what?”

Yes it’s nice to support a club in solidarity with the memory of your forebears, but it’s hard to justify it when your ticket money is being spent on whipping women in Jeddah whose crime was allowing themselves to be raped.

I’d be supporting my local juniors team in a flash. And in three or four generations, my descendants would proudly be talking about their family’s long-time support for Newtongrange Star. Unless they get bought by the Saudis too

[DIXIHIBS]

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Because if my son, on becoming a teenager, were to ask me “Dad, why do you support a club run by Saudis?”, and I was to respond, “because my dad and grandad and great grandad supported them”, the answer would be, “So what?”

Yes it’s nice to support a club in solidarity with the memory of your forebears, but it’s hard to justify it when your ticket money is being spent on whipping women in Jeddah whose crime was allowing themselves to be raped.

I’d be supporting my local juniors team in a flash. And in three or four generations, my descendants would proudly be talking about their family’s long-time support for Newtongrange Star. Unless they get bought by the Saudis too

Hope you dont drive a car that uses saudi oil? Hope you dont wear clothes made in china...etc etc. Where does it end.

[OldEast]

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Hope you dont drive a car that uses saudi oil? Hope you dont wear clothes made in china...etc etc. Where does it end.

That'll do thanks. I should have answered but I'm losing the will to live here.

[vercol36]

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Hope you dont drive a car that uses saudi oil? Hope you dont wear clothes made in china...etc etc. Where does it end.

I try incrementally to do things that fit my moral profile. You’re right, the fuel one is really tricky. I have tried for several years to cut down substantially on using my car at all, for several reasons! However, I don’t see my failure in that space as a reason to fail in another.

I’m sorry lads. Dropping a fitba team is a lot easier than sourcing moral fuel and clothing

[vercol36]

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That'll do thanks. I should have answered but I'm losing the will to live here.

A bit unfortunate you’re getting so troubled, I think we can all afford to respect each others opinions here

[HarpOnHibee]

I'd be forever furious towards anyone who hands our great club over to the hands of slave owning tyrants and I wouldn't be back until they're gone.

[DIXIHIBS]

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I try incrementally to do things that fit my moral profile. You’re right, the fuel one is really tricky. I have tried for several years to cut down substantially on using my car at all, for several reasons! However, I don’t see my failure in that space as a reason to fail in another.

I’m sorry lads. Dropping a fitba team is a lot easier than sourcing moral fuel and clothing

So if i choose to get rid of my car but still go to the football...thats okay. If everyone done the 'morally right thing' we would be back living in the dark ages...no nuclear, oil,gas...no trading with any morally corrupt countries. Got to live in the real world, not an idealistic one.

[vercol36]

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So if i choose to get rid of my car but still go to the football...thats okay. If everyone done the 'morally right thing' we would be back living in the dark ages...no nuclear, oil,gas...no trading with any morally corrupt countries. Got to live in the real world, not an idealistic one.

The world can’t right itself in the blink of an eye. Human progress takes millennia. But if I can make one little change (i.e. not giving my ticket money to a bunch of sinister dictators) during my lifetime then I will do so. I’m not going to say ‘Och I give them money when I buy fuel, I might as well give them even more money with my season ticket’. Incremental change.

I imagine it’s the same reason you separate your rubbish into recycling? You’re not going to save the planet in your lifetime, but it’s part of a wider movement which might eventually do just that

[DIXIHIBS]

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The world can’t right itself in the blink of an eye. Human progress takes millennia. But if I can make one little change (i.e. not giving my ticket money to a bunch of sinister dictators) during my lifetime then I will do so. I’m not going to say ‘Och I give them money when I buy fuel, I might as well give them even more money with my season ticket’. Incremental change.

I imagine it’s the same reason you separate your rubbish into recycling? You’re not going to save the planet in your lifetime, but it’s part of a wider movement which might eventually do just that

Fair comment...but im still going to choose the hibees👍

[OldEast]

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A bit unfortunate you’re getting so troubled, I think we can all afford to respect each others opinions here

Yes fine. I'm pretty old fashioned and find the self righteous hypocrisy here and other forums laughable. As I said earlier, all in or not at all. You can pick and choose what you're outraged at but unless you're an off grid hermit or a monk it amounts to nothing.

[HarpOnHibee]

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Fair comment...but im still going to choose the hibees👍

There wouldn't be a hibees in my opinion. There's so much more to our football club than simply playing football. We're a club with deep rooted values that sets our club apart and shapes our overall identify. That identity would be quickly lost.

[Victor]

What if Hibs were bought by a Scottish person, with money borrowed from the Saudi’s, or earned from a business that trades in oil?

[vercol36]

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Fair comment...but im still going to choose the hibees👍

Fair play Dixihibs. I suppose there’s a wider question here around how much a government should be the one guiding these things, so that citizens don’t have to live their lives as if they were Gandhi! In the same way that we are now mandated to recycle, maybe governments should be preventing terrible foreign governments from buying our clubs. Makes this whole thread moot!

[vercol36]

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What if Hibs were bought by a Scottish person, with money borrowed from the Saudi’s, or earned from a business that trades in oil?

Good point Victor. If I’d managed to spot it, I’d be against it too! But I’m not sure how much time I’d have put into researching a Scottish owner and their means of cash generation

[Smartie]

Overall I’m fairly principled and I think I’d be against it, but I can’t pretend that spectacular football, crushing Rangers, Celtic and Hearts and the threat of decapitation hanging over Keith Jackson wouldn’t make me think long and hard.

[A Hi-Bee]

What if Hibs were bought by someone who could afford to buy them?
Would it matter what nationality he or she or it was?.

[HarpOnHibee]

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What if Hibs were bought by someone who could afford to buy them?
Would it matter what nationality he or she or it was?.

Nationality is never the issue. It's how they've obtained that wealth. It just so happens that the vast majority of obscenely rich Saudi Arabians have built their empire on the backs of foreign workers who are effectively duped into going there, only to be hit by taxes and expenses that ensure they don't actually make any money for years, if at all. Not to mention the deplorable living conditions provided by the employer.