dubai_phil

IMHO, yesterday's game was all about finding the "other 3 places" in the squad. Darren Bent or Emile Heskey? Does Adam Johnson go or SWP? Joe Cole? Tom Huddlestone? Warnock or Baines? Which of the keepers? 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 and it's derivatives Trouble is the team selection didn't really LOOK like it was trying out the fringe players and it is hard to see the point of the game from all the media (and Alpine's) reports. As far as I can see there is only ONE thing that we can take from these two warm-up games, we have been awful and have won them both. I'll happily take that all the way to winning the final.... But of course the team on the pitch yesterday playing the way they did yesterday would likely get turned over by New Zealand let alone Saints, so let's hope it was just "done to make sure Alps stayed grumpy"

It is sad and very noticeable when I come back how pubs have changed over the years. Used to go to the Wig & Quill in Salisbury for their 6X on my trips back, new landlord came in, business wasn't as good as his business plan had needed, he cut back, stopped cleaning out the pipes and caring for the beer, result - it tasted sh1t - stopped going. Discovered the most reliable pint of 6X was the Old Ale House. Now when I tell people I'm in town & will be there I get the reply - I'm not going there it's way too expensive, or Christ you must be flush... The point is that the bar serves realiable real ale of the type I want to drink, and yet some people are so fixated over the price of the beer that (ie my sister) even had a flaming row with me over it. You're an idiot, you should go to Deacons where it's cheaper, they do Real Ale...... Yes, they do, but I don't WANT a pint of GFB/Summer Lightning, I want a pint of 6X or Courage Best. This mindset persists and yet the ridiculous thing is that the price difference is around 25p a pint. Now I know that "25p can be a lot of money" but it is like saying, well meat is expensive you should eat Baked Beans 'cos it's cheaper. The argument should be "Do you serve the product I want at the price I want to pay?" or "Do I want to pour the cheapest product down my throat". To be a SUCCESSFUL pub, you have to decide what your run-rate clientele is going to be. 3-30 for London Pride & probably Caviar & Foie Gras in a Village Pub sounds to me like somebody trying to prove they don't really have a small willie. It is just daft. But a Real Pub choosing to serve ok beer and have a good atsmophere for locals - such as Deacons - will always do well, as will a real Pub choosing to serve "Premium Ales". At the end of the day for us, ANY pint of beer that doesn't cost us 5.50 is a fecking bargain. (Oh and yes, the smoking ban DOES kill pubs. It isn't "PC" to say - Pubs in Towns/Cities where people have a choice SHOULD be allowed to choose whether to allow smoking or not - non-smokers will still have plentty of choice, but we have seen the evidence here as many of the previously busy bars in Jumeira Group Hotels simply died when they introduced a smoking ban.)

Had to travel from here to a conference in Vegas. BA had a deal, book to New york in Biz class and get one leg upgraded to Concorde. I had a choice to fly Dubai-Heathrow-JFK-LA-Vegas which went Bizclass-Concorde-economy-economy or biz class to LA - no brainer, although I was wrecked by the time I finally got there with all the stop overs but that moment when they hit the gas on the runway was simply awesome.... Although it was weird having to bend backwards into a sort of reverse S-shape to have a pee in the loo and I am sure I still have damage to my knees from when the table smacked down into it, damn that thing was as small as a Flybe thingy. Also weird was having their Brunch on a Friday, Full English with Foie Gras... not quite what I had expected! About 3 weeks later they announced her withdrawal from service, a classic lesson of why IF the opportunity comes up to do something special it should be taken. I am so glad I did it, I have the boarding pass framed and on the wall (naff I know) but it was something truly special that I had thought was always out of reach for us mere p1ssheads.

That moment once every 5 years or so when you actualy hit a Driver properly and it zings off some 300 yards down the middle of the fairway. Girls with a proper figure (ie no beer gut) Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pud, Roast Parsnips & a Chateau Nuef Du Pape Holidays Flying when the seat next to you is empty One particularly entertaining bar in Thailand (That the GF likes as well) The feeling when Saints win again Bacon Sandwiches Driving a car on an empty country road at night with decent Rock Music playing Ravi's Curries (Or The Asia in Salisbury when back) 6X ESB London Pride Courage Best Greene King IPA A Pint of REAL Guinness in Dublin (or Galway) Being a global Superstar Dubai in Winter, England in Summer Paatchi Chocolates Live Bands here in Dubai ('cos my mate builds the stadiums & I get freebie tickets at the front) Dubai Rugby 7's Test Matches at Lords Glastonbury (Boo couldn't get a ticket this year) Darling Harbour in Sydney The GF wearing only a Saints shirt.... Sitting down with a new Lee Child/Jack Reacher book Oh and of course Zubrowca Vodka & Apple Juice The Band in The Seaview But THE best of all The colours of the English Countryside at this time of year, DAMN I miss that and it was so beautiful last weekend

But seriously... As a warm up game, would our 1st XI have beaten England today? By all reports they were awful, one on one we'd get murdered, BUT as others have said, with England playing it as a training game and wanting to avoid injury would we have beaten them? IMHO in the circumstances today - yes I think we would. In the other 99 games in mid season? No, we'd have got walloped. Seabourne V Rooney in a normal game? 'aving a larf Meanwhile, for those who DO support England our form inthe warm up games is good news. Teams who win the WC are normally awful in the build-up and struggle to get through the group stages. Still not putting any money on them though.

Unlike my opposite number I refuse to clutch at straws and blame an excess of hair colour for the result. We were carp Meanwhile anymore pictures? Cannot get my Proxy Server busting software working ATM so have to rely on the pics you guys stick on here

Look on the bright side then, at least you'll be able to watch us all the way to the final...... Hmmm oh well maybe not, have to start cheering on The Magic Kingdom or something

He tries hard to cover it up, but in fact that was nickh's problem - he's so myopic he thought the 5-a-side pitch that ran up to the centre circle was the technical area. He just won't admit he should have been wearing those sunglasses all through the game (Speaking of which, where is the photo of the ref at the end?) :cool:

That bloke that presents Bargain Hunt. Anyone who appears in Hello or OK magazine The entire British Population that then wants to read about anyone who has appeared in Hello or OK magazine in all the news media And ANYONE who thought that appearing on Big Brother was a wise thing for them to do And in local terms - Lebanese Wannabes - the ones who would simply die if they had to fly home from here in economy class or didn't own a BMW or found that the local Chill Out lounge had run out of Johnnie Walker Blue label or Grey Goose Oh and again, locally Eastern Asian golfers - Golf has RULES and ETIQUETTE you feckers, it should NOT take you 7 hours to play 9 holes of fecking golf, get out the fecking way

+1 On the sentiment not if construction sentence of. (You been on the Cooking Sherry already?)

Oh and it is Abaya and some of these are pretty Hot if you know what I mean http://www.google.ae/images?rlz=1T4SMSN_enAE371AE371&q=abaya+designs+2010&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=kjsCTOenH8n24AaFiNnLDg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDcQsAQwAw

Dubai has a TV station? feck me, learn something every day. Don't tell me I don't need a Satellite dish either to get it. Anyway, why would we want some second rate singing contest. MBC4 shows us Pop Idol.... Which is why I just switched to Al Jazeera for the WC & L1 coverage

Interesting Emirates are now showing availability on flights and they have dropped from 2,000 quid down to a massive bargain 1,000 quid Even look like they have airmiles available. Wonder if they have overcooked their prices - lol Still too high for me to justify at the moment but still time to decide if I will do the Slovenia game or just let the tickets turn to dust

Not sure which is worse, the whole Eurovision Song contest as a TV programme or the fact you lot ran to 4 pages yakking about it. Perfectly sums up "The Whingeing Poms" as the Aussies like to put it. Eurovision is Nirvana as it gives the entire TV watching country something to moan about collectively for 3 hours What would life be like without it for you all?

Hmm gonna have words with the GF about that.....

How on earth did he ever get a job on TV let alone Football?? :mad: Abouot 9 years ago Orbit won the local rights to the PL and they used ESPN to show the games. PK's, Offence, Deeefence, GK's - I realise he is trying to explain things to a nation of mongs when it comes to "Soccer" but still

Ah, the one night of the year I am truly grateful I live in Asia.. Enjoy the voting

Uh no, in fact I have been fulsome in my praise for their performance. I believe the phrase "they thrashed us in the first half" would be an understatement. Thought we may still be able to get back into it but we decided to perform a bout of one touch micro passing between 3 players being challenged by 6 attackers and woosh that was the 4th goal and game over. But running on the pitch? hmmm even the Lino felt he should have got a red for that and was trying to get at the ref to tell him, unfortunately the ref was breaking up (another) scrap involving Influenced.Com

Pretty much up there alongside Rule 1. In football, a manager is not allowed to enter the field of play to pass instructions to his team, and pretty closely followed by A Manager is not allowed to interfere with play by pulling the shirt of a player trying to take a throw-in. Both of which should have been Red Card offences LONG before the Moaning One incident. Otherwise, pretty sound performances all round

Ah ha, another convert to the "mess is too big to be allowed to fail" theory. Still think it could be even worse than that

Watching the lumps fly out of certain players' ankles I think the event should be better viewed as the opportunity to kick the sh1t out of someone from the forum that you have disagreed with in the past year. Pilgrims turning up at holy places tend to dress and act respetcfully. Shame nickh forgot about the act respectful part and desecrated the hallowed ground in such a pathetic manner

Matty's goal against Arsenal, cried like a loon and found it really tough to keep the emotions in check when I was lucky enough to meet him at the London Saints party after the game. Abide with me in '76 as well as at Cardiff, and the National Anthem at Wembley for the JPT, seemed every single one of us knew what that moment REALLY meant, we had survived and we were on the way back, and strangely it all happened again at the end when they played "The Saints are Coming" hair standing up on back of neck as well at the symbolism. And the daftest one, half-way down Cader Idris in Wales in '76 on a school trip when we managed to get radio reception and find out we were winning the SF against Palace, (Although that could have been for one of our group jumping up and falling into the lake)

Well it WOULD be funny if it was true

Better be REAL fecking Ale. And yes a good shout, instead of our player sponsorship fivers would be a good use of our funds - but I'd still pay for the awesome privilege of standing on the hallowed turf. Shame the players will all likely all be away on their hols (having sewn up the League title 8 weeks previously) as it would make a good night. Mind you next year I think I'll ditch the AP Red Socks, they didn't seem to work very well, couldn't get them off in time to ram one into nick's gob to shut him up

Just one question for Granty. Are the rumours really true? Is the late arrival standing on the left next to RedArmy79 REALLY 19Canteen? If so that boy has a lot of issues