dubai_phil

You'd think, now that we are the Man City of L1, that we could afford to buy matching socks for all the players

lol that takes me to an ebay page for a prosthetic leg. Could be useful as a spare for one of those sex robots sometime in the future, but not really much help right at the moment

Here's the truth about money. Use a company name to raise loans. Buy a club and then milk it dry by forcing it to give you cheap loans and consulting fees. Jeez, I know some got on Rupert's back for being paid a couple of million in salaries over a period of time, but this story really is dirty. If I was a manc I would REALLY be ****ed off http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/6969666/Manchester-United-owners-take-23m-out-of-club.html

Oh tell me about it. Running a multi-national and needing to take clients to our factories in Ireland on a regular basis meant having to get a UK visa before being able to get an Irish one. The amount of effort and work involved and TIME for the businessmen concerned, who, at the end of the day only wanted to spend money in the country was enormous. Of course, if they'd wanted to simply turn up and claim the dole, well then, that was far easier to arrange....

+1 This is clearly in AP's thinking. Midweek games for about 6 weeks in a row, the team was already looking "stale" Think we'll be ok if plans work out, but we're not the only ones who will have trouble, PL is running out of spare days as well, and players like Rooney are being run into the ground at the moment. Not good for our WC chances at the end of the season

Meanwhile Al Faraj hasn't made it to the UK yet. Knowing the system quite well down here, a Saudi National will have to apply for a visa. In a as I remember it all for my staff fashion... They will have to prove their reason for travel, if he intends to "work" in the UK then he will have to go through a very long process of registering in Sheffield and applying under the "Talented Migrant Scheme" If he is doing general business deals or visiting as a tourist he will have to get a no objection letter from his employer or sponsor. He will have to get a letter of invitation from the credible UK business he is visiting. He will also have to show his tickets and accomodation vouchers, and he will have to show that he has personal funds to cover the cost of the trip. Finally, he will have to show that he holds major funds/interests/commitments in his country of residence so that the possibility of him arriving in the UK and "doing a runner" to become an illegal immigrant/asylum seeker is minimal Now, in that whole list, based upon some of what we have seen and heard of late, am I the ONLY one who thinks that he may have failed to meet some of those criteria? Credible UK business Proof of funds Not likely to be an asylum seeker scam etc tee hee

Precisely. In which case it's bound to happen, after all, everyone knows that once you appoint one administrator/lawyer in a hospital you get a thousand. You don't have nurses anymore, just admins & lawyers:D

In the "compensation culture" however, use the current "If you clear your path you could be liable" warning. So by NOT doing something you are NOT liable for a claim for compensation. Therefore if you choose NOT to drink to such excess that you end up in hospital you don't pay anything. However the Hospital SHOULD be able to sue/claim compensation if you have CHOSEN to be negligent, OR against someone who CHOSE to spike a persons drinks. In the same way IF you choose to go skiing, break a leg and do NOT have insurance to cover medical bills, then they SHOULD be able to sue you. It was your choice. Not that it bothers us here, but why should (for example) a Pensioner have a tax bill that includes costs for people who are simply unbelievably thick or arrogant? As for the OP, encouraging taxes in ANYWAY is fraught with danger. So CAMRA get the tax on beers over 5%, how long before some "minority anti alcohol naziesque lobby group" do a "global warming" statistics presentation that shows lower strength beer is more dangerous becuase you drink more by volume and it is a bigger health risk and should also be taxed more heavily than say Red Wine which is good for you?

Ah well, so that's all sorted then. PFC are meeting Dave Richards. The man who (IF press stories at the time are to be believed) is as allegedly guilty as any in the whole sorry mess for recommending Sultan Al Fahim in the first place. Hell, if I was going to that meeting I think it would be all about - OK Richards sort this out, give us money or we blow the story BIG time

Well, if YOU had to live in Iceland all year round wouldn't YOU be bladdered all the time. There's only so many trips to Blue Lagoon, Whale Watching you can do before you realise there's nothing left there after their bank nutters raped the place of all their savings

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/globalwarming/6965342/Big-freeze-could-signal-global-warming-pause.html See, I TOLD you the Ice Age is coming. These global warming freaks will still be telling us off for flying to Aviemore for some summer Glacier Skiing

And therein is THE definitive comment about why Mark Fry was "not well liked" during his tenure as Administrator. Simply because what you say is "so bleedin obvious" that he also knew that and used every trick in his book to try and get HIS hands on some of that "incremental budget" that he would have believed ANY bidder would have had. That was his job and why it all took so long.

hahahaha Not that 18 people will make much difference....

Delldays makes a valid point. He is right to question it. If I can use a "once upon a time metaphor" I can draw some comparisons as to how the spending can be justified. Firstly, as others have said, ML paid around 14mil for the club. IF for a moment you ignore the old debts, the capital value of the club in the CCC was around 30 mil (ie our share value). So, spending say 2 or 3 million on top of the 14mil gives ML a GUIDE value - he's almost doubled his mmoney (on paper) when we reach the CCC) The business plan that ML & NC would have worked to would expected our average attendance to be around 15/16,000 this year. It has been higher, running at say an average of 24,000 will bring in enough to cover that outlay without any cash needing to be put in. But in the once upon a time land, some careful research showed that in order to reach the PL, establish a club and then move to challenge for a Europa League spot could need a cash investment of in best case about 150mil and in the worst case of 200mil. Now with increased revenues, and avoiding banana skins, the actual TV money & commercial income (& prize money) IF the Europa League was reached on target would actually come VERY close to covering that outlay. Sure it assumed you didn't buy too many Uttaka's but it could be done. The TRICK however is that the investment HAD to be made before each season, NOT as in a Lowe type model IF it was earnt. So buy the club at the time 30mil, cover the debts, 30 mil. Invest in the team to get out the CCC 10/15mil. Invest in the team to SURVIVE in season 1 in the PL 30mil. Invest in the team to challenge for a top half place 40mil. Now this wasn't total guesswork, it followed the trends of the clubs that did get up. So, the key element of such a business plan is that the "owner" didn't need to let Saggy chops take charge, but he (it/they) did need to put the seed capital in place each year. The PL investment isn't that outrageous when you consider the sums from TV and from prize money & merchandising. So the relevance to the current spending spree? AP & NC said they would wait until January. They can see we have a chance to push for the play-offs, but we are doing it by buying 2 or 3 players. That seems to follow everything they have said. IF we pull it off this season, ML will have doubled his capital value (potentially) and no doubt NC will be on a nice fat bonus cheque. If we DON't make it, the quality we are buying will stand us in good stead for next year, I'm sure NC & ML have a provision of another 2/3 mil. They'll not make so much paper potential profit but they'll still be quids in. As CBF says, running a TIGHT ship is SO much easier when you have the capital

Reading this type of stuff http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1242012/Portsmouth-waiting-owner-Ali-Al-Faraj-face.html I'd say D was way too simplistic. More likely to be Z

Yep, not 'arf. Also the ex CEO of my old Multi-National. After the 3rd (and finally successful) coup attempt, he was described as "probably the Worst CEO in American Corporate History" The good Lord gave us two ears and one mouth which even "Driven" CEO's should use in that ratio. Unfortunately, too many (including our previous incumbents) seem to believe that having "Vision" & "Drive" means talking out their a*se and that this negates the need to use their ears properly. Hopefully, from what Hypo and others who have met him have said, NC doesn't fit that bill.

Gotta say she's a looker......... Well, compared to many at Rock Bottom anyway. Only US$7,000 and a monthly service charge, reckon someone should get round to Unit 1 pdq and give them an upgrade

I believe it was in his business plan so as he's followed that pretty well so far I'm sure it has remained in his vision. How many directors do we have at the moment? He probably will be happy for the help

And the overdraft facility was "allegedly" unexpectedly "reduced" about a day after an alleged friend of another director had an alleged meeting with Roger Fry who then allegedly left and got a nice new alleged job. Which is why we leave that whole sorry mess alone and look FORWARDS now. The only person that mess belongs to now is a publisher once FF gets all the jigsaw puzzle pieces together. Ponty has posted the wisest words of the year so far "it doesn't really matter a sh** now"

Gotta do this. Been bugging me all day A follow on to the snippet this morning that Sheikh Mo was supposed to be saving the skates.... It clearly has some mileage.. It would allegedly give them a full set, 3 out of 3 skint Arabs... We can't find it down here as it was severely banned and people got shot for emailing it around (allegedly) but there was a legendary cartoon in the Times Newspaper around 2nd Dec - 4 wives & 56 kids to support with his begging bowl outside the Burj Newnamethisweek... I don't like the look of the sound of all these stories emanating, they smell a funny colour

Not that it counts for much as a coach, but IMHO James could benefit from spending a few hours with MLT on his crossing/kicking technique (and NO not a hark bark to SCW days) The games I have seen, I just think his balls into the box would be so much more effective with a flatter faster trajectory on them. He's a damned good squad player. We now seem to be buying quality so eventually others currently in the team will also fit into that role as they get replaced. This season due to injuries we've needed him, he isn't likely to be player of the season but he won't be last in the vote either. he's just a Telfer in disguise, all squads need them

Strange.... The first 30 seconds is brilliant. It shows the skates coming out on to the pitch and taking the hand of each of the mascots, until the last one is some Ginger kid who's bigger than the player - it is Sooooooo ghey and another Pompey lol If you search this bit in You Tube that may find it no idea why it doesn't work, sorry Comedy Football 2009 - (part 1/2) - Funny, humor and bizarre soccer from 2009 by tvgolo.com

Ah the days of the Empire.... I once flew on a Dan Air Comet to Venice. They were bad but TBH they made today's Gulf Air look wonderful:-) Meanwhile, where's our man at Southampton International when we need him? Surely he could have let us know if it was a scheduled or chartered? How many were on board? Did Saga make it? (hahahaha). Somebody somewhere must have the passenger list hidden in a computer? FFS if we can find out about Rupe's interviewing Wotte several months before he came back we can find out who got on a plane last night:D Hmmm where is Eric? Is he still snowed in his cul-de-sac oop north? surely he could hack in somehow?

Perhaps a final word. Successful businessmen have "That Edge" It also means that they will make whatever decision they need to for their OWN interests. Always. The secret of "Corporate" Success is to ensure that their OWN interests and that of their company/investments co-incide. No matter how nice, professional, aggressive or successful ML & NC are, we as fans should never forget that it is in OUR interests to ensure that the health of the club moves forwards so that there is NEVER a case where their OWN interests and those of the club deviate. It is not an opinion of the people or personalities, it is simply experience of working for these types of people. One day that interest may separate. But hopefully not for 20 years or so until after we've won the Champions League

Yep, about right. October or December