dubai_phil

Oh how right you always are and how well you always interpret everything. An expanded Stadium will NOT ONLY serve the wishes of potentially the 55,000 Saints fans at Wembley but will ALSO (by PL REGULATIONS) allow a higher number of AWAY fans (eg local plastic mancs) to attend games. AT THE SAME TIME it could offer up "A Neutral Zone" for those who simply want to watch a game of football. Enjoy living in perpetual averageness

You hit "The Problem" of promotion to the PL on the head. How many people in the Central South of England subscribe to Sky Sports and watch football? It is the uberfan argument that someone with an interest in football should never be allowed to attend a live game, but why shouldn't 500 or 5,000 tickets be available each week to neutrals? (hell they could sit in the Chapel & never be noticed for not singing!). Why shouldn't the Away section be able to hold 5,000 plastic mancs from Basingstoke/London etc? It will not happen overnight but there is something wrong with not seeing how to make it happen

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jessicahagy/2012/02/28/the-six-enemies-of-greatness-and-happiness/ lol just found this. Sort of hits a lot of nails on the head

A mate of mine down here is one of those Social Media Marketing Guru's. He posts something to keep "his brand active" on Twitter or FB about 5 times a day, they are intended to get people to comment which does some funky sh1t apparently. Anyway, he is not a "proper" footie fan (he's from Middlesboro) only ever live game was Eng v Columbia Corporate back in '98. So on Saturday he innocently asks Why doesn't anyone like Liverpool fans? He got over 200 replies on his thread and almost every one from a Scouse was whingeing, moaning, aggressive, offensive and basically "We are the bestest fans in the world because we have had so much suffering and pain and nothing is ever our fault, we didn't want some rich Arab owner, how were we to know our Yanks were broke, we weren't thugs in Heysel it was the old stadium's fault, we weren't drunk or ticketless in Sheffield it was a Government/Sun conspiracy, and you should all bow down before us because you are not worthy, the European Ban was enforced as a mark of respect." It was actually quite a shock - he's been swamped and had to change his FB profile which has now affected his work. Total mongs that make the phew seem well bred and educated. And THEN they booed the National Anthem. (*note the attitude of their fans in no way affects my belief that the events of Heysel & Sheffield were tragic accidents based on a combination of factors and my sympathy at the senseless loss of life and pain on the families and friends.)

OK so you are saying Year One Stay Up. year Two or more Consolidate, then push on for a cup run or an outside chance of Europe. Sorry, but to me that sounds like a PLAN. This whole argument has become so polarised (again) and that is NOT what it is about. Those who say we are not fit to consider anything but survival will be the first to moan when an Academy Graduate of star quality leaves. So you people are advocating continuous stagnation for the next decade? You say you want to improve each season. Well, how many seasons do you expect us to keep improving? We go up we improve every year for 20 years where would we end up? Man Utd sure have not improved this year, nor (so far) have Chelsea. But what on earth is wrong with having a plan to keep improving? To have a goal? Have NONE of you listened to a Nige interview all season? We want to be the best we can be? You simply do NOT do that by saying we just want to be mediocre, we want everything to stay the same, we don't want any more people coming to St Mary's. The 55,000 fans and many more who couldn't get tickets for the JPT weren't Saints fans. Dear new version of Gareth/Alex/Theo, please sign this new contract because next year we will be the same as last year. Wow, what dull lives it must be always hoping to only be the same each year. NOBODY is saying WE WILL BE IN THE CL IN 5 YEARS. What everybody is saying is that NC is a clever Businessman and (unlike the Venky's) is asking "What do we have to do to eventually become a club that can challenge for the CL" Those are two VERY different statements. The first is insane PR drivel. The SECOND is about carrying out Research, Establishing Process that will find the best Youngsters in the World, PLANNING to develop OVER TIME an Income structure that allows you to be Sustainable AND still allow you to pay "Competitive" salaries. IF we have to pay 50k a week salaries in 10 years time (even IF it is only due to Hyper Inflation) then perhaps a WISE man would work out ways to have the INCOME (TV Gate receipts Foreign Tours Merchandising) in order to afford that. Hell perhaps the PLAN includes producing 6 AOC's per season and selling 4 of them. Sport is a COMPETITIVE environment. You seek every possible improvement all the time. Clubs like Saints under Lowe that become complacent and lazy and only aim for Mediocrity (or Shareholder return) ALWAYS fail

Yes, And he played at SMS. HTH

Just a point of order. 190 million was invested in Man City. Just because you lot still think they are a Football Club has clouded your judgement. It was an ADVERTISING budget, Invested by Etihad Airways. It included some 400 mil for the Naming rights to the Stadium. The club actually can show that with the 190 mil spend they made a profit. They will have every proof in the book to show the number of Impressions that their brand got and how cheap it was. Jeez, a crappy Ladies Golf Tournament down here produced $33.6 mil equivalent value for Rolex & CNN In the same way that the Infrastructure "Investment" can be loans but loans to the club have to be converted into shareholder Equity. It's all about the BRANDING And Jeez, haven't you lot worked out yet how Accountants can bend anything they like?

HTC One X is in the shops here and cheaper than some of the older spec kit you guys have mentioned Thanks for the inputs will go check it out S3 won't be available here until at least July which is too far away and we have seen people having no end of problems even with Unlocked kit from Europe so that is a no go

OK so let's get back to the OP. This is a 5 Year Plan. It is not a 5 year guess. So the Plan will contain a RoadMap. It will set targets and budgets for each of the next 5 years. Year one achieve survival means you know what your TV & minimum Prize Money income will be. You could guess an average attendance & Merchandising earning figure. That becomes the Operational Budget for the Year and becomes NA's transfer budget (inc salaries). You even have a plan in case of failure (the Parachute Payments) so you make sure you don't commit to long term contracts that the PP's cannot cover in nPc. It ain't rocket science. Ditto the subsequent years, Each survival and improvement sets the prize money. BUT and here is the point people. This plan MUST include WHAT IF factors. Sod you Uber fans, IF the club is successful in staying up and progressing, there is an extreme possibility that for a large percentage of home matches, MORE than 32,000 people will want to go. FFS we had a sell out against EXETER, and you wonder about the crowd for Wigan? The 5 Year Plan MUST include a method of coping with that demand. That will mean EITHER continuous increases in Ticket Prices OR you plan to make MORE tickets available. It is NOT going to be done WITHOUT a clear Business Reason. It is NOT going to be done just to annoy Turkish, it would be done WHEN there are 5 people each week INSISTING that they will pay 80 quid or more for Turkish's seat. Fairness doesn't come into it. This is the PL FFS - Divers, Agents & Cheaters paradise The BUSINESS PLAN will have to establish BENCHMARKS. It will have to have Contingencies and it will have to have a budget allocated to look at ALL the options (Architects Planners Lawyers Consultants just for the Oh krap we are full every week NOW what do we do moment). The POINT is that it will be a BUDGET for a POSSIBILITY with key targets to be met BEFORE it needs to happen. Lowe was "An Idiot" for not investing - NC is no Idiot, he is working out EXACTLY how much money is needed for each of the POSSIBILITIES, then his job is to make sure that IF such an eventuality happens he has the funding to do it. NC is sure as hell not going to find himself in the Top 4 at Christmas (any time in the next 4 years) and then say Oh bugger I didn't think this would happen I have no money available in January. And likewise he will have balanced Summer spends with an Emergency spend to stay up budget in January. IT IS PLANNING. Of COURSE he will PLAN what to do if we reach the CL, IF we COULD sell out 50, 60 or even 100,000 tickets a week. Of COURSE he will work out the risks and costs of adding 8,000 at SMS vs having something bigger elsewhere. EQUALLY it does not mean he will DO IT LOWE - had no plan. He had an Opportunity he had no idea what to do with it. NC is NOT that stupid, he will cover ALL eventualities

Send him over to the US for the next series of American Idol. They had a whole bunch of Singer Songwriters this season. They also seem to actually have found some REAL talent this year, probably because Cowell has nothing to do with it any more. Joshua Ledet is going to be a massive star. His voice simply ain't natural http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ4pNlvt0m8&feature=player_detailpage

Yes. Of course we will. Equally obviously of course not next year or the year after. BUT it's such a simple change from the years of Rupert. Set a target that isn't simply survival and World Class Catering. Financial Fair Play will change the dynamics. Then it will come down to how much money we can earn. IF NC can convince the family to build a 50/60k seater stadium and convert it into equity then I have NO doubt he will do it.

C'mon you PST, we KNOW you can do it. You have the bestest fans in the world ™ so you're gonna make it all the way to the promised land of community ownership. And we will LOVE you for it. 'Cos it ill mean many more years of us ROFLING ourselves to death and spraying our coffee over our keyboards. C'mon lads, one more push. don't let us down

Hint. The Limo bookings were made some time ago. They took account of the fact that there may be some play-off games coming up. HTH

Got to get some for work. Apple are really sh1t down here, Apps market is very underdeveloped and their service is appalling. Galaxy S3 not coming here until you lot stop buying them en masse, but we need something to work from in the next 2 weeks. Suggestions? (Oh and we don't have rental contracts we just have to buy the things so ease of use for thick fingered tech dumbos who need email, the forum, fb, twitter skype and great pictures)

Dave Merrington. Every PL game is shown live on TV down here, up to 9 games on the same day. While I enjoyed the SaintsPlayer days sitting on the laptop bantering with the Nuns, I'll be downstairs in front of my proper telly (arrgh yet another Satellite dish to put on the roof and decoder to install) For Saturday games there will also now be more trips to the pub to watch with the ever growing Dubai Saints boys (and Hosties) - (Hell we even have our own corner in the bar now!). So yeah, I will miss finding out what we don't want to do now every game. But hopefully will get a Smartphone shortly so will still be on the match threads

A classic oxymoron. US & Intelligence

Whether he was good or bad for us, he never really stood a chance with the fans due to his "total lack of passion" during a game. But happy for him getting success, now he has to beat that monkey on his back of always managing to NOT get Cardiff promoted from the Championship

It really is beginning to sink in that this club and those within in it really seems to be becoming something quite special. What a great story, well done guys

Says a man who is clearly not married with kids....... Picture the two conversations in your own home.... "Honey - me and the lads are heading off to Vegas for a long weekend and a right massive party." vs "Oh wow, the Boss is paying for ALL the lads to go to Vegas for a long weekend and a right massive party, sorry babe I HAVE to go, it's work". Trust me The first line NEVER works when you are married with kids (insert ANY City name btw). But the second line worked all the time

But who are these people spouting so called bile? Just about everybody agrees that Beattie was a great player for us and moved on. Terry Paine was also a great player for us and has moved on. The point is those 3 letters WAS. Many fans did not want him back what most of them are now doing is showing why that was a good decision, this same posters almost universally wished him luck in his career if that is spouting bile then PC-ness/Anger Management has certainly moved on since I was last back in the UK (last Saturday)

Ah the first Annual meeting of the Dune fan club. Don't actually agree with FD at football OR Rugby 7's (should keep it to Cricket) but fair play to so many for deciding to do it.

KD is the best Keeper outside the PL (Well that is what the Voting system says) I would have him as first choice at the start of the season without any hesitation. He is in his Prime, has had a great season and has PL experience and will NOT want to screw up his big chance. Bart is IMHO a very good keeper. BUT I think it is clear that he has not had enough playing time. Hence concentration and experience wise he now has a problem. For that I lay the blame squarely on the idiots that signed Fourpast. IF we had an acceptable 3rd choice, then while we were in L1 & even nPc, we could have let Bart out on one month loans to get that experience and game time. Now we have a problem. Technically Bart should be good enough as #2 but mentally he is certainly not ready for the PL in that position. So we DO need a number two. Think Bart would benefit from a season long loan, so that makes it even more difficult to work out what to do

Interesting. Have to admit I didn't realise Fox is an International Footballer - he's played for Scotland and Has already played in the PL. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2759014,00.html

Following on from the "interesting" Danny Fox thread. Kelvin & Bart in the Premiership. Discuss