dubai_phil

I can definitely confirm IT. No idea about transfers but IT - yeah know lots about that, Microsoft, Google etc. And anyway it was Hoegaarten last night, a bored buddy invited me out for a few Ales at the Belgain beer Cafe where 1) they showed some clips of our goals on the telly 2) A Geordie fan was lamenting that they had got the wrong Southampton Manager 3) Best comment of the year about us... You're top of the NpC? Sheeet, I thought I was reading the paper upside down

Not what I said, (or meant to say) The template is younger players who will be able to play in the PL. OBVIOUSLY not THIS season. Cork is an example, 750k for a player who at this point appears to have all the attributes to be a PL regular. Remember NC is 1) A businessman 2) Is convinced we will play in the PL next season or the one after. So would he want to "pre-spend" all of our year one money in a bid to stay up also considering those "New PL" players would be on 3 or 4 year contracts and we could go straight back down again? Anyone can see that buying 6 or 7 players of PL quality to stay up in the 1st year would cost 40 or 50mil (with wages & Agents fees) so buy those now worth a punt that SHOULD make the step up. It ain't rocket science, In fact it is exactly what our Academy does look for those who will be ready in 2 3 or 5 years (Jack Stephens is an example). Would Harding be up to PL standard? Nope, many on here aren't convinced he's NpC, but Fox - yeah maybe. If he isn't we'd get our money back selling him back down to NpC. Now this is a Template. I'm not saying it is the right way to go - we already saw what "Taking The eye off the Ball" did once before, (utter disaster) I think it is risky, but we've bought 3 players so far who COULD make that step up, so empirical evidence indcates this, hence why Gorkss may not have fit the template.

But both those clubs need to have a percentage of "English" qualified or Academy players, I recall reading somewhere that we don't. We already have (one of) the highest percentages in NpC so we do NOT have to buy English. It helps with team spirit etc but we could find a foreigner.

Pilchards - you've been climbing trees again haven't you you daft old bugger. Meanwhile. My thoughts. Korkss. Not surprised we did not buy him. We have a PLAN to get to the PL inside 2 years. Gorkss has done that BUT hasn't been taken into the PL. So if we DO go up we would be a PL team needing a new CB - that'll cost us 5-10mil. Add to that we seem to have a template of buying players in the early 20's who look to have what it takes to make that step up in class. Korkss was late 20's. Sure HCDAJFU but two out of 3 bits in the template didn't fit so not surprised we went shopping elsewhere. HOWEVER as a "freebie" in exchange for Puncheon - the deal made some sense. Fontaine - seemed to fit the template Left Side pacey ball playing CB. Recovering from Ankle Surgery. As we have seen with previous Sick Notes, Ankles can be VERY difficult to recover from. Agent and player will no doubt have said yes it is all fine. Brizzle would no doubt have been doing the same. We go after him and find out he is not up to it. Then we see leaks saying maybe it wasn't Ankle. Maybe he was mentally not someone to fit the team dynamic. Maybe the players didn't like him? Who knows. Then to see all the innernet warriors - lol. They're all assuming that because they have FM Manager they know all the other options out there BUT at the same time believe that the club's scouting team are sitting around playing cards & drinking coffee at Staplewood instead of having dossiers on hundreds of players to investigate. There are MONTHS to go to find the RIGHT player to fit the template, either as a permanent signing now or as a loan with an option to buy in January. FFS we are top of the fecking League, a new signing won't be playing Saturday anyway they HAVE to fit into the style of play and they would need more than ONE training session to be able to do that. Then there is an International Break, we have two weeks before they could be in the side. Chill. Just because Innernet Warriors are the centre of their own universe doesn't mean everyone else in the world is in-competent. Stop worrying, the Management have proven themselves to be pretty fecking competent, THEY KNOW they need one. Just maybe show a little hope that they aren't like you sittinga round drinking coffee & typing on here and are actually out there doing their job?

How have medicals changed? We no longer have someone inside the doctors' surgery to tell us all the details of who's coming & what happened. Who was it? Pechy, Saint Peach? someone like that? Guess his Dad lost the gig

Interesting. DT article today about pressure being brought on Spuds to stay in Haringey & not to pursue challenge to OLPC about Olympic Park. Nothing new there (or the fact they seem to have won their appeal to appeal.) BUT Read on down the article and woosh - allegations of Phone Hacking, Data protection Act breaches & general NI style tactics. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/tottenham-hotspur/8719097/Tottenham-consider-dropping-Olympic-Stadium-challenge-after-talks-with-Government-and-Boris-Johnson.html Could face Criminal Charges no less. Nothing to do with him of course but good old 'arry, never too far from another storm.

Thanks Ron. Again interesting

Oh and here is one worrying snippet from CNN. The Libyan Army had over 20,000 Shoulder Launched SAM missiles. Now they have none, and the rebels have only accounted for "some". Hmm

There was a lolage interview yesterday from the Compound on Sky News, some young "Freedom Fighter" had walked into the main building & found himself in The Colonel's bedroom and walked out wearing his Hat, with his big Bling Chain of Office & his Mace. Was a good spot & the lad was actually quite eloquent about the whole thing. Good spot by the Sky crew and also amazing that they (& Beeb & CNN et al) should be in the thick of it so rapidly. Not sure I'd have wanted to be there like that. Now to see if anyone learnt anything from Iraq. What's the rebuild plan people?

That can only be done if he goes out on a 1 month loan which is then extended. Pretty certain you cannot recall during the initial loan period. He'll get games and game time, pretty sure NA & his team know what he needs better than us.

David, it's the Carling Cup FFS. In these early rounds it probably costs us money to even play in it. Absolutely no point in risking our first choice players when we have the possibility of pushing for a prize worth 60million quid. Winning it last year REALLY helped Brum didn't it. Keep the squad players match fit motivate them by telling them they are fighting for a place on the bench or even in the starting line up and leave them to it. That will benefit the first team on league days AND come Jan/Feb if still in it then some first teamers can help them out as we get closer to Wembley. But the idea of losing a first teamer to some stupid tackle is simply not worth it. Same with the FA Cup. Mundane games are for match fitness. Glamour games still make changes.

Think that is unlikely. I noticed only recently that Martin is Right Footed. NA likes to have his CB's playing on their "stronger side" hence this shopping for a Left Footed CB. That would make Martin more of an understudy for Fonte this season with Seaborne being the cover for "The new guy" which looks to be Fontaine. That then leaves Jaidi as the man we turn to when up against a lump up front. Attention to detail by NA, I quite like that none of this playing out of position malarky

Would rather have Owen. Far less Injury Prone.

On a word. Possibly. None of us know who the backroom staff spoke to "in those desperate days". We all assume that Lowe was single (or is that simple) minded and never sought any outside investment or a sale of the club. But then as the saying goes. To assume makes an ass out of u and me. Possibly is a far more realistic idea than believing a Banker came up with the idea from scratch. (Although) it (the basic concept) has appeared in the prospectus of other "buy outs" including the Bryan Robson/Thailand TV fiasco

Again, good post by Token. Let's just all agree that Lowe was a really poor implementer & communicator and.. Reading that re-inforces two things... 1) I still think it is really important to UNDERSTAND the mistakes that were made, because mistakes are how people learn to improve and the CORE idea here is "similar" to what we tried (and failed) to do before. Not gonna debate why NC is being much more successful at it because that could fill a whole new 100 page thread. 2) It really is eerily similar to what went before (and what Arsenal & Mancs try to do) so we really SHOULD learn from mistakes (ie FFS sign another CB Nige, don't be a Wenger!). Wonder who gave that idea/plan to NC? I don't believe for one minute that he sat in his bank, called Marcus and said "I have a revolutionary idea to run a football club..." Is it from Les Read? Was it from AP? Was it POSSIBLY from someone who used to be at the club before? Who else stayed on after the Dutchies went? (And one name everyone has forgotten who did come in with NC in the rescue was............? Could it have been his idea? )

You answered your own question. Shows you don't understand Severance Payments. Yelland & Neil Resigned. They quit. Coulson (like Pardew) received a Settlement UK & EU Employment Legislation makes it extremely difficult legally to fire anybody for anything. "Coulson had resigned from NI precisely because of the trial that sent Mulcaire and Goodman to jail on his watch."... Yeah right. Perhaps "a better choice of words" would be that Couslon Was resigned. Pardew was resigned, hell even our Dutch joke "Was Resigned" Settlements that payout for years are about Redundancy, playing clever politics or doing something that is so awful it amounts to Gros Misconduct BUT was under the "Awareness & Tacit Approval" of Management so that the employee would win ANY (EU) Employment Tribunal hearing. Again change the words - that Settlement was Hush Money. Legal yes, moral no. And no BTF it would not have been cash flow it was what he negotiated. I had to "Was resigned" a guy down here for an incredibly "major" breach of UAE law let alone local employment law. Under our Employment Law I had the right (actually a legal obligation) to "deport" him and he had the right to NO notice period (Gross Misconduct). He was also liable to a 10 year Jail Sentence and a fine of around 10 grand. However our Multi National "know it all lawyers" had imposed EU contracts on everyone. The laws he had broken (and their subsequent Jail terms down here) were not deemed to be "Grounds for Dismissal for Gross Misconduct" in Europe. Anyway, he had to "get out of town fast" which he did, then promptly turned up in EU & "filed an appeal" with EU HR and of course he got a big lump sum, his medical insurance was retained up to the point the prepayment had expired) AND he received 6 months salary paid each month. It's about the negotiation & the Circumstances. NI are part of an MNC - they would have had similar rules. (What did he do? Simples, the Company introduced VoIP phones which are illegal down here, so we had to have a specific internal process that meant they couldn't use that facility in the office. It was sent to all emplyees who signed their agreement. He used VoIP twice and was warned about future conduct. He brought a client to the office (from the Local Police IT Department FFS) and showed him the technology, and set up a VoIP conference call. next day, visit from the Police threatening to close down the office and put 30 people out of work. No brainer had to show the dosumentation to the police they then say - he is in the wrong and he must be arrested. As we say down here, leave the keys in the ignition at the airport car park)

Morally I have no issue with what you say. Completely correct. Unfortunately having had to drag myself through Civil Law decades ago as part of my education I learnt way back then that Civil Law & Common Sense are mutually exclusive. If you have an NDA then in MANY cases you cannot say that you have an NDA. Coulson was answering a direct question in what amounts to "a Legal Entity similar to a Court of Law". Sorry, his answer was right IN THAT environment. (A SIMILAR issue has arisen in the past weeks about the Law Firm (Harbottle) who were asked to examine the emails from NI. They made a very clearly worded statement. The Murdochs then used the FACT that there had been a review as the basis of their defence with the Select Committee. In HINDSIGHT, Murdoch Junior used an incorrect definition of the limits of that review and the law firm went into PR overdrive and we discovered the documents had redactions etc, and the Murdochs may be in even more poo over it. They (like Tom Watson) used the wrong words. So there IS one undeniable FACT here and it is one I posted before the Murdochs appeared - A Select Committee is "A bunch of Amateurs" asking questions in a legal environment, NOT "Lawyers". The person to beat the crap out of is actually Tom Watson. He asked the right question but used the wrong words. So my point again - this is yet more evidence of incompetence at all levels of "Our Leadership" and part of a trail, it ain't the one thing to get all steamed up about. This solution to this entire debacle is about the use of Words in the right context who said what and when, Don't worry, there'll be LOADS more rope to hang people with to come.

Interesting post thanks. ANYTHING that gets ENGLISH kids learning first has to be welcomed. There have been so many articles of late about how kids soccer is "limited" by over zealous parents and the cries of Get rid of it being a part in the demise of the National Team and a reason why so few English players actually make the step up to the PL

Yeah think we all know that, especially after that whole Exeter City & Michael Jackson thing. But what do you think of Bendtner?

Legally correct. Sorry BTF. the monies from NI were NOT income, they were the legal equivalent of "An out of Court Settlement". HMRC would class them as income for tax, but Tom Watson used the wrong words. Coulson was NOT receiving INCOME. It may be hard for the pitchfork brigade to understand but that is Civil Law unfortunately

The point is still valid. As BTF is showing, she has "outrage" and "questions" which are very valid. BUt she hasn't indicated that she has any experience of being in a senior position and receiving a "Settlement". So again, LEGALLY Coulson could not say anything (even IF asked). Now look at "Party Bigwigs" and ask how many of them are career Politicos as opposed to Senior Employees in other fields. They quite simply may not even have THOUGHT to ask a question that could not be legally answered. (Memories of Sir Humphrey there!) Is this a stick to beat up Cameron with? Actually it may NOT be because there is a legal defence. We already KNOW that the whole appointment was as UP says elsewhere on the forum a clusterf\/ck of the highest proportion and this is just more of the same. Asking the same question keeps getting the same answer. Nothing new here move along. You cannot be accused of lying or being economical with the truth IF you are legally bound not to say something. It will come down to the words used - I expect his lawyers gave him the right briefing. He hasn't lied he hasn't been economical and the bigwigs haven't been incompetent. Their defence is sound. They have all just simply been MORALLY WRONG (yet again)

Although Vidic can't seem to get into the Manc side at the moment.... sort of

He also won a raft of LMA awards and was mentioned in the Press AT THE TIME as one of the best young managers outside the Premiership. Other choices at the time included the likes of Alain Perrin and uh uh uh.... Sorry about the timeline UP but like you said substitute Wigley for Sturrock and that then makes total sense

Of course, it all fits now. Bendtner & Owen up front. Why didn't we see that coming? Now to sign Puyol at CB and we're sorted

And there it is... Doh how simple. SCW & Lowe talking about the grand plan a year before he joins the club. Conflict between Team Management & SCW after he joins the club ('Arry) - old school manager.... So you know you are going to be revolutionary, you know what you will do in a year's time so you need.... A pliable Team manager not an old school... Hence Sturrock and NOT a better more available manager Hence our implosion. The damage was done in the year BEFORE SCW joined. And once Rupert had made the desperate gamble of bringing 'Arry in we were always going to be doomed as the grand plan was never going to work. That will be my take on it until we see anything different