dubai_phil

Oh and just to annoy the Troll. He talked about the family wanting their 20 mil back NC turned down 25 mil in the close season. HTH And feck no I won't tell you on here who from or my source. Let the troll rant, and if you ain't had a PM or ain't a regular on here then feck you no I won't tell you either, but enough know to be able to realise that the troll is just full of sh1t. Oh and yes there is a Digital Forensic trail that anyone with a basic understanding of IT security could have found once the clowns went onto FB, and no none of you have bought that software yet and yes it did scare Symantec & McAfee to death this week down here And for the second time on this thread I retire with an

Just to put the record straight on this thread at least. There was a Solent Interview with NC where fans were asked to send in questions. Thanks to the moral ground that the few had given us I sent in a question as I was (at the time) also concerned about our finances, was it loans, was it bank guarantees etc. NC was VERY specific in his reply. It was NOT debt. So we must be careful NOT to confuse so Accountancy day 1 points. Share value and funding The Liebherr family will have very clear concepts of what SFC are currently worth to them vs what they have paid, so many rumours went to die about us being bought. A sceptic COULD say that AOC went for the same price that Marcus paid for the club, so maybe NC paid the family back. BUT the key point is? This thread saw 2 years ago that poopey were insolvent way before they convinced the Courts & EPL that they were still solvent. Meanhile however you view our finances loans grants or whatever, SAINTS are solvent

Lol at some of the replies. Iran is not Iraq. Although unpopular with many, the regime came about through Iran's own Arab Spring when they over threw the "old way" Now there is a strong and educated Middle Class who are not happy with the totalitarianism of the regime, but they really do not want to have a McDonalds on every street corner. Iran "Hates" Saudi Arabia with a passion, they do not believe that the Wahibi's are to be trusted as Custodians of the Holy Places. This whole "thing going on with the Telly News channels" was never about an attack on AMERICA. It was about blowing up the SAUDI Ambassador.... Now will US have to go to war with Iran - pretty much always inevitable because one day the Gulf Staes would probably have had to do it themselves anyway. (It got lost in the Human Rights/Arab Spring thing but the trouble in Bahrain was actually (PARTLY) about this issue) Will it be easy? No. Would the US be able to invade and win? No. Could it go Nuke? Yes Should YOU worry? Feck yes. They do not need to Nuke London to make you all die slowly. Just hit Dharran a few hundred miles away. Lights out Europe. Power Cuts for 18 hours a day in EU? Guess who wins? Ain't the US At the end of the day, World War 3 started years ago, just nobody ever noticed and unfortunately if there is to ever be global peace then a more moderate Iranian regime needs to emerge from one MOFO of a mess of a 2nd revolution. As a good friend from Iran once said. If only Jimmy Carter had had a brain instead of a broken down helicopter...

In unrelated news, I see the poopey marketing manager has moved to Flash Entertainments in Abu Dhabi. Well he must have, I just won 2 tickets to see Britney Spears in concert. I wouldn't mind, but I didn't even ENTER the fecking competition, so it was obviously a skate. And I met a very sad soul in a bar this evening, a Jock who was born in poopey watching the game against Spain... He was bigger than me so I didn't laugh too much at their result, mind you when I said Snottrill should be nailed on manager of the year it took me a while to get my pint back out my ass. Ho hum, it was worth it

Also worth pointing out that a lot of "what seem to be Migraines" are related to the facial nerves around the outside of the head/face. I used to suffer blinding pains, had to go lay down for a day or so. Was in the car one day and heard someone mention that some of these can be caused by facial nerves being out of kilter due to an imbalance in your jaw. the most normal cause of that being uneven bite caused by fillings etc. Anyway, at the dentist some months later and asked and they got this blue carbon paper stuff out and yep one side of the jaw was raised up. They filed the tooth down and bingo - solved. 20 + years later had an attack here, Doc sent me to a facial nerve specialist and again after tests and X-Rays it came down to somehing similar caused by having Wisdom Teeth removed - so worth doing research on all the possible causes, the pains can be very similar when you try and describe them to a Doc. 10 minutes at the Dentist was a hell of a lot better than a life on meds

Lol there speaks another wise head. Always amazes me when a tourist automatically offers half what the "seller" asks and then ends up thinking a 25 or 30% discount is a good deal! We had a conference over there (Phuket) one year for customers and actually sent them out to haggle as a part of the training course. The winner got 80% discount, but it took him 2 trips. The loser was a Brit who thought he'd done well getting 10%. Don't know about Krabi but in Phuket the Tuk Tuk's are a decent way to get around but again they always try and double the price. What you end up paying usually depends on how late at night it is and how many beers you've had, you reach the point with them that you just cannot be arsed to go to yet another to fight! Oh and for Sambosa - side of the road fish restaurants - Sea Bass steamed with Lemon Grass and Chilli.... Squid stuffed with minced pork or crab.... yummmmmmmmmmmm

Lol NC is gonna be REALLY p1ssed off. TSW's team makes it into Europe before his 5 year plan. Cracking idea, get the forum match organising gurus involved and GET US SOME PHOTOS!

Oh there's gonna be such a ROFL told you so moment when THAT happens. You gotta love the new technology of Digital Forensics

Which is the point after all. When I came here it was the biggest gamble of my life. I look back to those days when NOBODY had heard of Dubai, I honestly thought it was the same as Saudi. I took a risk and I adapted and now from being a nobody making up the numbers in a village cricket team, Tiger Woods greets me by name and buys me a beer (had to get one in!) but MOST of all, I have been able to bring up the greatest most balanced and successful kids ANY man could dream of. You wouldn't fit in and none of us is suggesting you even think about it. You have Political opinions and a view of your world. That's great. I learnt a great deal more from coming here. A simple fact. I had strong Political Opinions but I learnt - It matters not who is in power or what views you hold, us, the proletariat, workers or just humans will always get screwed and ripped off and given excuses by our superiors, the class or old school systems or even our elected representatives with their expense claims. And you will never win an argument about the "Values" of Western Political Civilisation these days (go watch some of the Financial Crisis Movies), and versus this system down here - ha! Simply because a great deal of extreme Islam simply want to destroy it because it is alien to THEIR beliefs. Your only mistake in the "West" is to have been tolerant of the views of those (many millions) who wish to destroy you and to STOP you having opinions. There are of course billions of Muslims who are caring and sharing. This place has many faults, I have many faults, and so does every damned place on the planet. You are NOT homophobic/racist etc. Sorry to shock you but one hell of a lot of the world still is. Go change the world. I hope you can, me? I'll just do my thing to promote understanding and enjoyment of the life that the Big Man upstairs granted us when he invented Branes/Big Bangs or String Theory or whatever the hell else Morgan Freeman is on about on telly at the moment

Ok so a bunch of heard them all before opinions, but no confirmation on what is happening or on the post about the trial being adjourned due to a mix up. Very helpful, thanks gang

You called?

It just goes back to the main point. It ain't Kansas.... There are a zillion laws in the EU that are just plain wrong or daft. BUT, if Western life and Law and Culture was built solely around one specific interpretation of The Bible per country then you'd likely still be a homophobic nation. It's Islam that is homophobic, not Governments, just here Religion is at the heart of their society & culture. You can best compare here with the Bible Belt in the US. I don't personally agree with their view of the world but I wouldn't go there and expect to be allowed to get on and live my live in peace if I railed against them every day. See, that's the point. As an expat in many places - you ain't got no Politics

Been down there a bunch of times on holidays and conferences. As UP says the people that take you round the bay - there will be hundreds of them and thousands of touts. Some are just so OTT touristy that they are just miserable days out, others are so designed to simply rip you off and are overcrowded and unsafe. Doing it "the back-packing" way - ie hating crowds, you will probably find the hotel has a number of cars / almost taxis attached to it (If they are limo types then forget it) but the guys are normally tied in to the hotel (by mafia more than employees) but they 1) Will know a lot and 2) will need to keep hotel clients pretty safe as it is their long term livelihood. With that in mind when we were last in Phuket we used the hotel taxi driver for a day out then next day got him to take us to the "Long Tail Boat" dock which was just off the Island and closer to Krabi. There he spoke to some people and we ended up with what appeared the dodgiest crew you could imagin and a boat that was made of rotting wood. Anyway we loaded a cool box the driver called the hotel to tell them where we were and where we were going then he came and joined us for the trip as well he had life jackets and off we went - the guy knew everywhere, the only time we saw tourists was at James Bond Island, yes we actually broke down but within minutes he'd got a mate alongside and we all just hopped across and carried on. Yeah it was scary but also real "adventurous" but we did know that someone linked to teh hotel knew where we were and this guy had obviously been doing this every week. It cost us about $100 for a day - less than the monster boats, we took our own beer and munchies and would go back there in a flash and do it again.

And parts of the UK aren't openly racist against Jewish people, and hostile towards Muslims? Or parts of France to their Algerian immigrants? or Germany twoards their Turkish Migrants? I seem to recall George Michael being the butt (sic) of many jokes. hell, I'm willing to bet that most posters Grandparents would class themselves as homophobic

Perhaps better is "We ain't in Kansas anymoreToto" is a better description. Brits come here thinking it's Blighty with Palm Trees or the Costa Del Sol and give it large. They will eventually get found out, into trouble, or will end up going home having blinged themselves to death. Come here & understand it's the Middle East with the ability to do a lot of Britness type stuff but DON'T upset the locals then as Eric says, perfect. Great example? Drink Driving. In UK you can drive to a country pub, have a meal and one or two beers and drive home, you have a legal limit for booze. here the legal limit is ZERO. So many Brits don't understand that - punishment one month in an Arabic Jail with your head shaved. Second offence Deportation. It is an incredibly simple thing to change your thought process to simply take a taxi everywhere but people are so set in their ways. Point is people move anywhere in the world and with the right attitude they can have a different life and probably even better one than back home and they will enjoy it. But equally, many people simply don't do change and expect it to be the same. Open mind is the key, it is NOT for everyone. For every EoA or D_P you'll find someone who had a nightmare and has run home with their tail between their legs losing everything.

Stunning area. Lonely Planet before you go You need to get out and into Phang Nga bay, best way to do it (but totally non PC or Elf & Safety minded) is to find a fisherman who will take you for the day in a long-tailed boat. Failing that then you do the tours - prefer the speedboat to the whole Sea Kayak mass production trips. Eat a Lot & have a massage a day minimum. Hotel Spa's can be a rip off but the little shops will put the two of you side by side to avoid any "issues" Rent a taxi for a day for about 30/40 quid and have your own private tour, do Elephant Safaris, Snorkelling/Diving and just Chill

Many of our lot will tell you we did. But it was more subtle and fluid than that more of a 4-2-2-1-1 One of the strikers was playing "on the shoulder" of the CB's with the other dropping into space - often out wide (Shearer used to do something similar) The "wide men" weren't line hugging wingers but cut inside and made the extra attacker turning it into almost a 4-3-3 at times So unlike many "less intellgent" formations you are right tos ay we set up in 4-4-2 but the wide men & strikers were far more fluid Lallana is of course a CB. He isn't a true winger, being right footed playing on the left he is more often seen cutting inside into the corner of the box than looking to beat a player on the outside, likewise Guly on the right is more an old fashioned "Inside Forward" who plays out wide and has (batter) tracking back skills and engine Source? - repeated Dave Merrington comments on the radio & a couple of live matches I saw

Yep. HTH. The only bit that really varies from place to place is the quality of any "community" life and whether you can (for example) buy Heinz Baked Beans, Old Speckled Hen (or an equivalent), Proper Tea or Bacon and how you get around the town

This England team brought nothing into the tournament apart from their egos. While they were in it, they added nothing of memorable value to it. Now they go home and the only moment they have given us of entertainment came from pundit Scott Gibbs on our Showtime coverage.... Dan Cole in the scrum? Cheryl Cole would have been better. Risible, glad they are out because, like the Soccer Team, they were an embarrassment and not worth the waste of 2 hours of house cleaning, cooking or even toe nail clipping time on a weekend.

Morning all. Yup, I'm back. Simple list? Loneliest place on the planet to live Full of "tranisent" people who arrive and think they have made it, thus ensuring that everywhere you go you are surrounded by arrogant c*cks who care about nothing apart from themselves You'll be expected to work 9-7, 5 days a week and in many case expected to do 6 or 7 days a week. You WILL work on Sundays and at Easter and in many cases on Christmas Day. THAT comes as one hell of a shock to many people If you work for a "locally" owned firm you can expect to get screwed on your salary and bonus You will be a racial minority and will have no rights, so you either get with the programme or you will have nothing but trouble. It is NOT just the "poor Asian Labouring classes" that get ripped off/abused by local employers Your disposable income will not be what you think it is, from 300 quid electric bills a month to 250 quid mobile bills, to the never ending fees that you get charged NOBODY respects anyone else so if you live in an apartment it will be noisy & often miserable. In this respect it is FAR worse than the UK You will NOT go down the pub to chat with your mates, the beer is 8 quid a pint and any bar worth going to will have some moron DJ playing 80's music or Hip Hop/RnB at full volume or will have a live band a 1.99 packet of Iceland Bacon will cost you 8 quid. You will always be one stupid mistake away from being kicked out and losing everything, crashing your car into the wrong person, losing your temper in public. There is NO support structure. Nothing. You have a bad day at work & get fired, you are on the plane out of here. You don't like your job or your boss, tough, they OWN you. Once you get away from that It will give you the chance to have a once in a life-time moment on average every couple of months You will soon stop looking out the window in the morning to check the weather You will eventually get past the Blingers and meet REAL friends and will find that they will be from every corner of the world and your "Horizons" will be "broadened" Because nobody gives a damn about anyone except themselves and there is no politics, you will soon discover that you have conversation that are NOT about "Other people" or "Celebs". The News will no longer depress you, and you will have never heard of the contestants on Celebrity Big Brother If you have kids they will be able to go out on their own at night by taxi to the cinema from the age of about 11. You will not have to worry about Drugs/Gang/Weirdo culture. They will be educated by underpaid teachers with no political leanings and will (at Uni age) be far advanced in terms of Emotional Intelligence than their Brit equivalents You will learn to go out on the p1ss and drink at half the speed of the Brits so that you still have your wits about you when you go home or you could get deported. On balance? The Daily Mail (et al) pumped Dubai up during it's feeding frenzy of you MUST buy into the lifestyle phase, and now pumps down the value of being here. It was all bollix in the boom and it's all bollix now. It is an Alien country with an Alien culture to the average Brit. The best description? It is a City with no Soul. You will miss So much more of Britain than you could ever imagine. BUT if you get past that and come and live here and understand that this place in NOT reality and life is NOT about Bling, then you will prosper at work and will see one hell of a lot of the world. Oh, and anything less than 60 grand a year tax free inc allowances & assistance with schooling? Forget it, you'll be broke all the time, or stuck in doors wishing you had UK Daytime TV to watch at night. Oh, and did someone mention it gets Hot? Seriously. From May - September you will live indoors, anywhere up to the 50C & humidity up to 90%. It IS miserable, you can fry egss on the steering wheel of your car and you will be permanetly wet with sweat all day and surrounded by the great unwashed and excessive Garlic eaters Would I rather be here or UK? Give me a thatched cottage in the New Forest ANYDAY of the week, but then as very few of us can afford that... This City has been fantastic to me & my kids, and getting the job here in '93 was my winning lottery ticket in life. There have been MANY days/weeks I have regretted that move, but many months and years where I have thanked the Big Man upstairs You'll get a PM on what to look for in the offer of the job

RIP Steve, great job keeping the Wintel/MS monopoly on it's metal and changing the face of entertainment Was all over the media here in US this morning. Nice line by Obama as a tribute about most of the world learning the news on one of his products. Never used Apple stuff, probably never will, but he did help change the world of technology

NO That cannot be true The troll told me off when I suggested that there may have been a lack of Due Dilligence by CSI when they bought the club. He's always right. Sorry just cannot accept that a Journo may also type something that the troll can abuse

I worry about you Hammy sometimes. How long is Mrs H away in Greece?

A good a second thread on the interview We all love it btw

Sting. Who is 60 today. FFS Sting is SIXTY! Ouch we are getting old peeps