dubai_phil

Hmmm you sure you're in California? That sounds remarkably like the marketing pitch for Beirut in winter? I once built a snowman in a metre of snow in the middle of a desert in Syria. HTH

Ooooh

Oops blame the early Magners should have been a k not an ! It costs Leeds 1mil quid per home game they have GOT to be joking....

Here at Saint Elland Road... Jeez, how many did we take up? thought it was about 2,000 not 20! Even when you can hear the commentary you wish you hadn't

lol I got the hell outta there yesterday afternoon, us Dubai boys have a shift system for the pre Xmas games - I did Norwich & Eric is up at Elland Road:-) Was a pretty drive up the M3 yesterday morning though felt all Christmassy!

hmm and no alternative commentary from Leeds side. Think there was a lucky escape just there but no idea apart from fans singing he fell over... Anyone try the MB link on the build up thread?

Evening all

The way they're going at the moment, I can see them really struggling to get enough points to be safe. Liverpool that is of course

Had my first crucial txt updates of the day. It's cold There is a pub in Leeds that sells Old Speckled Hen. Don't think he's gonna trouble Motty's career record then. Looking forward to this in a jet lagged sort of way, but facing a crucial pre-match selection problem. Tsing Tao or Strongbow? Probably go for Strongbow & Ice just to wind up the opposition with it being so cold. Oh FYI last year we actually DID have snow just up the road on the mountains.... The pictures of the locals in their dish-dashes and sandals wading through it and all the 4x4's getting stuck was a true ROFL

Hour-by-Hour Forecast View All Hourly Details 10:00 -1° Chance of Precip. 10% Partly Cloudy 11:00 0° Chance of Precip. 10% Partly Cloudy 12:00 1° Chance of Precip. 20% Partly Cloudy 13:00 1° Chance of Precip. 20% Partly Cloudy 14:00 2° Chance of Precip. 20% Partly Cloudy 15:00 2° Chance of Precip. 20% Partly Cloudy 16:00 2° Chance of Precip. 60% Light Snow 17:00 2° Chance of Precip. 60% Light Snow

Was 21C but raining at 4:30 this morning when I landed back here, then had a thunderstorm about 6am, effing flight was "fuller than a binge drinkers' bladder" last night. Badly bruised ribs from the a**hole next to me who decided to spend all the flight stretching his elbows sideways. I won though, made sure he knocked my mini bottle of red wine into his own lap. Sweet Hope EoA doesn't freeze to death up there today. Not sure about the anti-freeze capabilities of Old Speckled Hen. For us southern softies down here, Norwich was ridiculously freezing and it's got a lot cold colder there since. Not easy finding thermals to buy down here. Will they turn on their undersoil heating to give the players warm puddles? Will we get away with playing football like we did against Norwich that ended with looping balls in to the box? or will we learn to get more dangerous crosses in? One & only time I went to Leeds was the LC semi first leg, it was sub zero that night and snow everywhere as well. Tough call, but a repeat of that draw would be a great result, hope I can stay awake until 7pm local time today

Caught a bit of Swann's innings at the airport before flying home. Our tail is becoming like the Aussies, we keep seeming to scrape a hundred or more out of the last few wickets. As I'd been driving around hadn't seen the team until I saw this clip, really cannot understand what they see in Bell. He has the technique but he simply doesn't have the brain for Test Cricket. A number 6 should be a confident ball striker not a bundle of nerves. Think it is a disgrace that a Saints fan should have gone and travelled to the Test when he could have chosen to be at Leeds on Saturday instead

Really enjoyed that, two teams playing good football, lots of positives (and of course some negatives), but a great evening if feckin cold for me having flown in the afternoon before. James made a mistake and was beaten for pace but made up for it with a great defensive header in the first half, WTF was this Papa offside stuff all about? Thought he showed real signs of being able to become a really good player (Work in progress still) Will have more time to read the reports tomorrow darned library has a timer on me! Lol at poor Norwich conceding an equaliser with about 10 seconds to go, lol at their forward who should have been back defending the free kick not rolling around for an oscar and well done on the penalties, Wayne Thomas was never going to miss the body language from the moment he started the walk. Excellent early Christmas Present but FFS install some central heating for me before I come back next time!

Perhaps NC was having a bad day at the office that day, he seems a bit short of managers in the back office lately. Noticed the Echo had a report of the game, cannot believe they got that from here or from listening to Solent

I can sort of see FF's & CN's points, namely that to go all the way we need to have one more gear than of late, but then guys, just think, we could be Liverpool fans... 3 wins in 15 games..... One of my best rules in life is to live for today as tomorrow you may not be around. Would be sad to have spent our best days in years as fans worrying if it all goes t*ts up with injuries. Sure you'll win the told you so rights but you missed feeling happy for a change. Heck today I wore my Saints Waterproof our in the downpour here and round a couple of malls while on business. For the first time since ages I had a touch of pride in my step. If it goes wrong, at least I'll look back and say feck the performances, for a while, for the first time in many years, we were winners, I'll give you credit for being cautious but I'll feel some sorrow for you missing out on our happy place

The word here began with F and ended with eck

I'd prefer to reserve judgement until we have a game or two without Lambert. We've been lucky with injuries/suspensions for the first time in ages this season (barring Murty, and Bart has covered well so far for KD) I just worry that without RL up front holding the ball up we'll have more problems, could be completely wrong. But how we cope without him IMHO will be the key to our chances

Al Faraj struggling for money :smt040 considering he never appears to have had any that MUST be the understatement of the year

Jeez, watched the penalty clip - has that ref been on Strictly Come Dancing? What a load of prancing:-) Thanks for the upload, hope we get a few like that Tuesday night Eric, WTF does RLSGM mean? If you try and say it, it is exactly the same sound that YOU make after 6 Old Speckled Hens! :-)

he he he. Dubai is working to put on a "Soccer 7's" event in March next year along the lines of Rugby 7's weekend. Got chatting last night to some of the organisers who are tied in with local FA and with "the Powers that be".... They are working to quietly "build a sustainable role for the development of football world wide" and are apparently fecking furious that Sultan Bin Trump keeps popping up and making a fool of himself and adding to the "everything about Dubai is cr*p" stuff that the Brit Media love running at the moment. The more vague comment was allegedly something along the lines of "does he really not understand that if he'd done all that stuff to make his "Fame & Fortune" in any other country in the world he'd be banged up for around 20 years by now? Why does he keep drawing attention to himself?" Set us off on a real lolage on the idea of a spread bet as to who would get banged up first - HspendalotR, Storyteller or Sultan Bin Trump. Tee hee

Used to have our European head office in Munich so managed to get across at least once a year for ages. Camping for Oktoberfest? Hmmmmmm. Coach trip to the tourist spots? hmm. Coach trip up the autobahn AFTER 4 days on the bottle? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm There are loads of B&B's down there, early booking on Easyjet/RyanAir, and a really good "metro/subway type train system" to get you around. I've been there 3 times - it snowed one year, rained on another and the third was about 35C.... Most people walk there and stagger back to their hotel/B&B. The memory of the opening ceremony is that it was a bit like watching Morris Dancers and Cart Horses, but was very photogenic. The place itself is all about the tents, the most "touristy" i.e the best for us types is always the HofBrau tent, but some of the small ones like the Schweinehaxe tent or places doing the Dunkel or Dark beers are more for the serious beer taster. But, many of the big tents need you to book a table in advance and can often be closed for access, just when you (and 20,000 others) decide it's time to sing Alice. The most common mistake is getting there about 4pm, quaffing a few Steins before eating, then having a chicken & chips and suddenly you, like everyone else who goes will decide to go on every single Roller Coaster ride at the Fest. It always ends badly (think I'd have learnt at my age) You'll get shredded, you'll eat stuff you aren't used to eating and then queue for the campsite bogs in the morning wondering why your sleeping bag is full of Gingerbread crumbs and where the feck the silly pink pig hat came from hmmm. It's one of the world's great events, and unlikely Blighty, testosterone tends to get left at home when the beer comes out, you'll spend your time grinning stupidly and singing strange songs either Alice or eins zwei suppe.... or something.. Well worth the trip, even for people who don't normally like Lager. (But FFS stay off the Schnapps shots!) Oh, and one VERY big word of warning. For some reason, in Munich a B&B or even a hotel describe a room as TWIN bedded, what they actually mean is that you have a DOUBLE bed with two single quilts on it. Comes as a hell of a shock when you are going to the Fest with work types and find you have to share what is in reality a wide single bed with some bloke from Poland who snores....

Great result again, well done Bart another clean sheet. Thanks EoA for the txt updates. For those interested can I just say that going to an after party where 85% of the ladies present are happy to let it be known that they bat for the other side really is weird, especially when the DJ played I kissed a girl... Really worried about EVER recovering, let alone me being match fit for Tuesday night, jeez what was worse? hoping the 2nd half txt's txt's had some good news or trying to find the defibrillator for the suddenly dodgy ticker after watching them dance to that.....

Booo! Hey this IS work... Get paid in free beer & lunches. Costs them a fortune each year No prob will get my one & only UK mate to txt me.

A400M from Airbus. Shows it isn't only the Brits that can mess things up.... What WAS the problem with the latest Hercs that 400mil each couldn't have solved?

Will be chasing Hot Wet Chicks around the desert this afternoon, followed by having to "watch" the annual (alleged) lesbian golf chick end of season party... Yep (in reality, this means that) Dubai Ladies Masters golf is on and I'm working, it will be hot and it's been p1ssing down all night and is forecast to stay that way all day, but at least we get some free beer at the end of it. So, won't be near any links to the game. That means it will be a big win by an odd goal again where we should have scored 10 and EoA will spend a fortune on texts updating me (PLEASE). COYS