🚨 Dortmund sporting director on the record about the 2022 Haaland sale:
“Manchester City never wanted the real number out. That was the first condition they put on the table. Not the release clause everyone printed. The full package.
Officially it was reported as £51 million because that was the figure written into the clause and that was the figure they asked us to stand by.
Internally it was a completely different conversation. When you add the guaranteed payments, the structured extras and what was agreed around the player’s camp, we were looking at something close to €250 million all-in.
That is more than PSG paid for Neymar in 2017. City knew that. We knew that. They did not want Europe talking about it.
They were very clear: if Dortmund confirmed anything above the clause, the deal would become politically messy for them. So there was a private understanding.
We stay silent on the real total. They stay silent. A few people in the media were steered toward the £51m line and that became the official story
I am not going to sit here four years later and pretend we sold the best young striker in Europe for pocket money. We did not. City paid what they had to pay to get him. They just did not want the world to see the receipt.”
Irish Media Falsely Portrays Israeli Footballer’s Snooker Celebration as Gun Gesture
Sayed Abu Farchi routinely mimics a snooker shot after scoring, as footage from previous matches confirms.
The false portrayal reflects a consistently hostile framing of Israel, turning a familiar celebration into apparent gunfire because the player represented Israel.
Brenda Power is a rare voice of moral clarity amongst the Irish commentariat on this issue. In under a minute she eviscerates Ireland’s hypocrisy.
‘There wasn’t a single peep of protest to the Irish cricket team voluntarily playing Afghanistan last month, where women are treated worse than battery chickens. It is the most extreme humanitarian crisis in the world right now, as far as I can see, the gender apartheid in Afghanistan. Not a word of protest.’
‘Where was your indignation when we played [Afghanistan]? England wouldn’t play them, South Africa wouldn’t play them, New Zealand wouldn’t play them. The great humanitarians in Ireland had absolutely no difficulty. We’re hypocrites.’
If you praise and welcome decisions of the Parades Commission when you agree with them, but block the roads when you disagree with them, why should anyone take you seriously? Why should the other side act any differently, and abide by rulings it opposes?