dubai_phil

:smt046 Remember the news paper article in Saudi? Fahim reckons he's MADE 6 million out of his one month there.... As for Mirage, if he didn't have billions in the first place, who's going to give HIM personal debt.. They probably got most of it on their credit cards at 23%pa

Think this is not an exploitative issue, more the identification of something that would be a valuable "any other business" issue at the bottom of any Board Meeting. Obviously, the critical function is "The First Team", we had far too long forgetting that we are a football club first and foremost. The businessman who knows everything all the time is Rupert Lowe. Mere humans listen to sensible suggestions and ideas and see how they can be put into effect. Nobody expects the club to divert funds or resources right now otherwise we'd end up like Poopey with 630 employees! NC has been in the job of running a football club for mere months, he and others may not even have thought of it, but somebody with a eye to history can note things that are important and send a note to the secretary to send a card and flowers. It is an easy way to start

Rhetorical? who me? I thought he was in gone with the wind. Signings? well Trousers, was thinking more along the lines of anything that was signed by someone who could have been so rushed as to forget a small piece of paperwork. Idle speculation that's all.

May not be a virus. Regular Av software deals with about 12 common threats, there can be up to 320 out there. It could be spyware, organised crime makes a great deal of money capturing what you type including Credit card info. Recent E-Crime conference mentioned all sorts of ways of getting you onto a mailing list. delete it

Wouldn't it be really funny if, in all the hype, Sultan Bin Trump forgot to actually pay a technical quid to Gaydamark to buy the actual shares in the club. That would mean he couldn't have actually been voted as Chairman for his week of fame. Which would mean that anything he signed while he was chairman wouldn't be valid. Also out of interest would be interesting to know which bank accounts the sale of players went into.

hmmm off to read the Echo site now after that

FF I got slammed by a few who didn't read my post through about the fact that we should place all our history into a "museum" so that we can inherit, understand and learn from our past but focus on our future. Museums have Curators. The "Curator" should have the function of being the point of contact for any correspondence or support at funerals or special needs. While I fully understand and support the business logic that the current first team is more important when it comes to funds than our "museum" I still think that a "curator" or guardian of our history is important, for a year or two it needs simply someone to watch over it and ask or arrange for example just one or two of the younger players to attend a funeral to learn about the history they are becoming a part of. In some ways it should also be a council function, after all, the club and the City are synonymous, but our fans groups are a touch more worried about their committees than in results and liasons. Perhaps to get off the ground the curator needs to be a volunteer, simply keeping track of old records, paper work and documents, but as we grow and get further up the pyramid, this should be a critical function and financed part of the club. From the people we know, you are unfortunately one of a few that could take this on, but I think it is important that somebody gets in touch with the club and does something. After all one day it could be a major sponsorship opportunity once the recession ends.

The race is obviously THE main event, but there's a lot of interesting behind the scenes stuff - showing how different it all is from Silverstone... Just for background if you're interested. http://www.timeoutabudhabi.com/knowledge/news

Oh dear, so what the boys are trying to say is that they've been using the Arabs to buy time until the Israelis got their act together.. You should never upset a local is Rule 2 down here, don't think Mr Story teller quite understands the 6ft deep hole he could be digging for himself. Swine flu is really nasty this winter. May be good business but would be really stupid

Think the key point is, how badly DID we want to be rescued? In reality as I keep mentioning, a "leveraged buy out" was very easy to do before the whole Lehman thing. Hell even I could have done it without upsetting the divorce lawyers! Now, at that TIME, such an act would have been "heroic" as all the 3 Musketeers would have been gone in a flash and the club would have been "saved". Of course, the reality would have been that come the crash, since I had no more than the dirhams down the back of the sofa, we would have been left theoretically with a club saddled with 30 mil of debt on top of the debt we already had - ie totally screwed and still with the horrors of admin to come. Hedge Funds have taken a pounding as we know, and leveraged buy-outs have been shown up as a nightmare by Liverpool. So, how do we REALLY feel, and what would we prefer? A few months ago CCC mediocrity was dreamland, today, right now? I think we are probably happier than could ever have been possible considering the ride we took to get here. Finally we have a team playing football and getting results that will go places. Hell it's League 1 but I've had a bigger grin on my face after a game for the last few weeks than at any time in the CCC. Sure it's ML & NC's train set right now, but I feel a part of it again and I feel we will look to improve each transfer window rather than survive. Wonder if Coventry fans do?

Jack? That's worrying

Nice to read Eric's finally getting some. Chillax guys it was me. I took ages arranging my trip to a conference in the US, could have flown direct, but no, made sure I flew via Blighty so I could get down for the Brizzle game. I was there that night and obviously haven't been since. So you want the run to continue, just send beer so I don't want to leave here for a few more months, Auto promotion - no problemo. So I know my place now, no more SMS and making sure EoA gets home after his quiet nights out with the toys. sorry boys

Not the last month, more the last 6 months... The track has been fine for some time and a great deal of the main infrastructure, while not all complete, are at least safe from the public and ok for it to go ahead. But they even Wednesday they were still realising "things they had been trying to get contractors to reduce their prices for" did actually need to be on site BEFORE the race. An example was the fanzone on the corniche - people and some of the acts turned up to find - "almost nothing" - why? Because one team organising and one team "spending money to get it built" didn't communicate and they had never bothered to answer the increasingly frantic calls from the contractors about getting access to build the approach path to get the staging built on the beach - result day one, screams of anger that the stages weren't built because trucks were stuck in the sand and the reply - "We tried to tell you answer your damned phones!".... Another rumour was the F1 Ball needed 2,000sqm of flooring laid, they were still arguing about the price from the only available source 3 days after it was supposed to be laid and that as they had "forgotten" to order it in the first place. Luckily people down here understand this and know it will happen. But in reality, planning things "holistically" has never been a strong point down here, but the show always goes on, and always looks good. Not heard good reports of the Beyonce gig down there last night from anyone except her most die hard fans - site was fine but seems to have got a bit of a meh.... Jamiroquai tonight

Which brings us neatly back to something I said needed to be done a few months back and was greeted with a hail of bullets... The story must be written But, it is an incredibly difficult task to be able to sit and listen to all the "spins" and be neutral in order to produce something that tells us about our recent history objectively and allows our past to be placed where it belongs - which is in the musuem so we can look back fondly or unhappily and so we can take future generations there to see it as we move to a new future. I would not be at all surprised in the current climate of "Kiss & Tell" in England to see Rupert, My Story coming onto the market next year. That wouldn't work as it just one side and even IF we found out all the ways that hands were tied, we'd STILL argue as to whether the decisions taken were the best ones. One point to note though, once again, a poster started off goading others, but the wiser old heads than me, have carefully pulled this debate back into something of value and interest

US$ 400 for a ticket for the weekend. Nobody I know is bothering Watching at home with Arabic commentary. They've made a whole big thing about it with fanzones and free music and stuff on the main beach along with stuff happening each evening. But boy was a lot of behind the scenes stuff lastminute.com breweries and large consumption is an oft used phrase for many of the local outsourced "event organisers". 1 parking space per 3 tickets, so have to park & ride from about 20kms away They even forgot about laying a Dance Floor for the F1 Ball tonight until the very last moment - all the chicks in frocks doing the Quickstep on sand... still got sorted Will be all right on the night though and no doubt spectacular

I just wish to point out that Mr EoA is referring to the possibility of interaction with OTHER patrons of any said hostileries that we may visit. I am firmly unavailable despite what nasty Trousers thinks DP stands for

Starting to get worried, we're gonna be somewhat busy between now and Christmas with waves of visitors coming down. OK so we need to start a standard operating procedure manual for visiting fans. 1) Collect Zubrowka Vodka x 1 at Heathrow Duty Free 2) Collect 6 pack of Old Speckled Hen or 6X (at above) or in local off licence for packing into suitcase 3) Collect Case Tsing Tao from Dubai Duty Free 4) Bring Nurofen (but not the highly illegal Nurofen Plus) Bring something to wash the blue Bullfrog stains off your tongue, and practice a party piece as you WILL get stitched up to sing at Rock Bottom on a Friday night. Oh, and practice your air guitar routines for Freebird with Rosie at the Seaview. Seems about right. If it gets any busier we may need to start working shifts and recall some of the travelling local Saints fans to cope with demand. Got 6 bloomin house guests now for the Rugby 7's, running out of things to get them to bring with them!

Easy Click START at bottom left of your screen Select Run at bottom right of the columns that pop up In the little box type C:format\s HTH :cool: OK ok it was a joke please don't try this at home!

I was making sure you stayed on subject - the worm hole you can open with a simple concept is very dangerous. Especially as most Muslims have very similar values to most Christians and there are nutters extremists and warpists of views in every version of every religion, not just on forums

Let's keep this stuff of the forum. You can never win any discussion going down this road when you only understand half of the story. And Mods, perhaps we could suggest that if a poster is losing ground on an argument pushing a thread in the direction that got Brighton into trouble (accidentally or otherwise) shows a lack of care. From a Christian perspective, (which is why you should not have gone down that route either LTC) what was it that happened to the Money Lenders in The Temple?

Madonna's cameo was completely pointless probably part of her fee for doing the song... Berry is fit, but her acting in that film was terrible wasn't thinking of her acting so much, more her "from the shoulders down", the whole coming out the sea bit - wasn't Ursula but a fair effort - if only ... if it wasn't for the Will Smith pineapple shaped bit above the shoulders that seems accentuated in the movie.... Rosamund Pike works but somehow seems to look like your sister/daughter Ho hum Casino Royale tomorrow, the post Bourne Identity era begins

The forum match was but a stepping stone on your road to greatness oh mighty Hamster Today your own thread, tomorrow - The World sh*t must stop watching Bond

OK, Die Another Day this evening - which brought up a new contender for a new title... Worst "nearly" Bond Girl - and the award goes to Madonna Halle Berry was very good in the movie, just not convinced she is a "oh yes please" compared to the others mentioned on here

That is fair, but remembering the Ron Davies thread, how many of the Top 50 Saints players of all time have fallen on hard times, may like to come to a game but may no longer have the chance. Or the volunteers, those who gave their time for free or those that sold the old lottery tickets for donkeys years who may now be retired and not able to come, the early organisers of the coaches we went on. I am not denying that LM & others DESERVE to be at SMS, I just believe strongly that as they can afford a ticket when many others who helped to build and sustain the club cannot, I don't believe that it is right. Have a whip round for the old helpers and heroes count me in, but for a millionaire businessman? Hmm no, sorry I don't think the principle is right, irrespective of the people involved

:smt046 Ok look everyone, can we stop this whole thing now. I mean the whole story was totally unbelievable but now THIS article has come out.... ...."The Jewish Chronicle quotes Property developer Kushnir flatly denied that he is about to loan money to Portsmouth. He said: “I’ve no connection to the club. These are stupid rumours.” Well that HAS put me in a great mood for tonight's Bond movie