dubai_phil

And would expect that more than one of that lot got a nice pay rise this year as well..... (But not Euell - he'll never need one!)

I'll be at home watching from behind the sofa... 1st game, Sky curse, Ashes Cricket.... Also because the only other sado-masicist pub visiting fan in Dubai is oop north drinking Real Ale 'til he droops (again)

Think you're starting to see why I have been ROFL'ing for the past few weeks! ;):smt040:cool:

Right For those cheap buggers away from home that really only want the commentary then seems it's Radio Solent online. IF you have area restrictions OR like us suntanned/skibum types the solution is to get your mum or a mate to install Skype. Then on match day give them a call and get them to put their radio next to the PC mike. That way you can also set up conf calls to other sad skint mates and can txt away to your hearts content... Allegedly I'll still subscribe, but it is a useful trick, especially when the old Saintstv commentary used to crash, and can be a larf easing the pain to be on here and Skyping with your mates or telling your mum that YES you are eating plenty of vegetables and eating fruit and washing behind your ears while we are 3-0 down on a wet afternoon. IF you have a proxy server like we do then WHILE YOU ARE IN THE UK ERIC you can mail yourself the exe file to install Skype, once installed it works fine and by-passes the proxy

You know what... I'd take MJ & us over Sultan Bin Trump ANY day of the week. At least with MJ we know he had no money of his own, whereas SBT keeps trying to pretend.... But seriously Had a late Latte with a senior local businessman last night, his reaction - oh HIM, hahahahaha - oh sorry you not Portsmouth supporter are you? As he wiped the Latte from his face he said "Oh that is lucky then", hahahahaha..... They MAY get PL football, this season, but then again they may not make it past the next few weeks, remember, WE nearly didn't make it to Saturday, and it's Ramadan soon, so if things don't happen in the next 3 weeks, then the transfer window will have been and gone and they will have their Academy team out there every week until January. I'm sure it won't really be THAT bad.........

Think I am right in saying that there is a difference between "attendance figures" and the number of people actually in the ground. If we have a really bad run, it is quite possible to have an attendance figure of 11k (ie all the ST's) and yet have only 2k in the stadium. Don't believe it wil happen for a moment, but from the club's point of view an ST is a seat sold for the game and recorded in the figures. I would EXEPECT that ML's planned break-even figure is around 16k with an annual wage bill of around 5mil. So the higher ST renewal helps that, yet the costs of Saga Rasiak & Thomas reduces the ability to pay salaries and run a tight ship. Still believe that little movement will happen with transfers until nearer the end of the window and not until at least ONE of those 3 goes away which SHOULD free up around 3 slots in the squad.

Would it be appropriate yet for me to start to get ready to say TOLD YOU SO? :smt040

Hooray! Now all we need is a picture with numbers on it and the good days really WOULD be back again

Bolox, that'll teach me to be so damned optimistic - 180 heck that would have been something.... Odds on next 3 Aussies all getting a ton? harumph. (Oh not whingeing, the last Ashes in England was all about only one or maybe two specific sessions of cricket. We just had one of our worst sessions up to lunch to make up for the great one at Lords) But who to bring in at the Oval? Is the last test in an Ashes series the right time to bringing in new batsmen? Who else Shah? Key? Ho hum at least can watch Saints on telly tomorrow Oh

Somehow after all the hype and excitement, we win a toss it was better to lose and I'm having nightmares about being all out for around 180 and then the clouds lift and they go and score 600 or so... think it happened a few times before Sri Lanka or someone? How Strauss wasn't out first ball.... bad start, back to earth, this is England of course... And suddenly where's the batting order depth. Damn

Which is not a bad effort. But we're on telly and will still likely have more in the ground than some televised PL games last season......

Bit of a historical re-write there though. IF you look into detail at the history and the accounts post relegation, the old PL regime ATTEMPTED to reduce the wage costs. (At great displeasure to the fans). That then resulted in the (messed up) hostile takeover. During THAT period, the Directors of the club spent around 7million on NEW players in a GAMBLE to get back into the PL. That 7mil was the parachute payment, which is designed to help while the relegated team cuts their costs. HOWEVER, that 7mil came with a HIDDEN cancer - ludicrous wages. Our eventual admin came about not because we spent that 7mil, but because we spent it on players on extremely high wages "The PL quality player argument" who were on 3 to 4 year contracts. As a result, our COSTS last season were around 20million, while our INCOME was around 10 million. Who's fault was THAT? It wasn't the long term debt that crushed us, it was the OpEx, HUGE difference. Our fall from grace WAS burdened by the high costs of the stadium, however it was the decisions of ALL the post relegation "Officers of the Company" that led to the atrocious financial management in the past two seasons. Now, I am happy to concede that the financial impropriety got us a play-off game, but the key point is that a CCC side can expect to have a revenue of between 10 and 15 million in an average season, so ANYONE who allows a WAGE bill of around 12mil MUST be held accountable for those decisions. Would Wilde, Dullbloke, Hone, Hoos and even Crouch have been So gung ho with money in that time IF they had run the risk of losing control of their OWN businesses or even going to jail? O f course not. Would Lowe even have come back, no of course not (Oh how we wish though!). The fans (all of us) demanded that we spent that money, as the ONLY riposte was ever about PR and Spin, NOBODY could believe the admin would happen and many thought we would be better off with it (which we eventually were) The point is that WE got a penalty that WE deserved under the rules. We will suffer for another year, fair enough, but the OTHER clubs, like Bournemouth, Luton, Chester? Why should they KEEP getting hit and MORE importantly, WHY should their hangers on (eg Mostyn) STILL be allowed to be involved? That is wrong and the penalty system is unbalanced. As for the Skates - you go into admin then the likes of Storrie WHO sanctioned the spending and the borrowing can stay there and not get any punishment - wrong (Oh and BTW that rant was NOT a pro/anti one but an all of them one!)

Dear Pilchards I would love to enter your competition, but as I am still in the midst of litigation with British Airways regarding the damage to my knees which occurred during a free upgrade to a Concorde flight to New York as a result of the table smashing into me I would like to refrain from partaking As a result the official result will obviously be exactly as below Official player of the year? Davis How many penalties in the league will Davis save? 3 Most goals we will score in a league match? 4 Our final league position? 7th What round of the F A Cup we will reach? 2nd (see how I managed to name drop there again?) :-)

The taxi down to the pub or the watch at home alone decision Tough call Especially as I'm in the Ponty first game of the season televised game jinx At least at home I can switch to the cricket...... (I can get away with that as Trousers is limited to 3 posts a day....)

Let's list some of those who should have been banned from being a Director of ANY UK based company for 5 years..

INVIGILATE, INFOOKINVIGILATE??? Stuff that, they're already booked as "inspired" subs for my home team

There is a much simpler and more equitable solution. Any club falling into financial problems does so because of incompetent LEADERSHIP. It is those people who should be punished. It requires work with the Government to make it an offence to over reach ones financial capacity in football. The Directors should be 1) Banned from holding ANY Director level appointment for a minimum of five years, and 2) owner/shareholders who allowed it to continue should be stripped of their shares and the equity held in trust for a period of 3 years and then re-sold with the proceeds going to the CLUB The FANS of Leeds & Portsmouth benefitted from football above their level of financial input, BUT did WE really see any benefits? Did Stockport or Chester or Luton? No. If the penalties apply to those who caused the pain they would think twice

:smt078 [-( :toimonster: :snipe: Think that covers it

Jeez your Dad wasn't THAT bloke who used to sit on the Bench seats under the west stand was he.?.... Now THAT was a moaner But nothing like the ex wife...

But an awful lot of them want free NHS & Social Security Meanwhile, for arguments sake, I notice a couple of points 1) The OS hasn't made any mention that we are looking to sign Jaidi 2) The OS hasn't made any comments about the fact that he has applied for a work permit. Think this thread is just Post Traumatic lack of takeover thread Syndrome

Lol at you lot (again) Every damned National Paper has been running this "immigration is out of control" stuff for ages, making it much harder for people from outside the EU to stay in the country even IF they have vaild reasons to be there in terms of work or marriage. The same "public opinion" cheers the spin from the Government when they announce they are tightening the rules (causing problems for MANY genuine immigrants) and then Whoosh - didn't see that one coming relax, he will get in on appeal, he is an experienced International Captain being brought into the club to help with the footballing development of our Academy kids by bringing leadership skills and reliability. He'll walk the appeal process. Having him for Saturday is irrelevant, it's our first game of a new season AND it's on Sky, we all know what the result will be in reality, we were just hoping.

Love the negativity about Jaidi in case he is trying to get a few dollars more... How many of us have never tried to negotiate a discount, ask for a raise, try to squeeze an extra few quid out of a new prospective employer? Damned mercenaries the lot of us as well :-)

Here's a more interesting angle that someone may be able to find out. What percentage of students at Southampton UNI are from within 20 miles of the City? from my recollection of student days, while the quality of education was a critical decision making factor in where to attend, the DESIRE to get as FAR away from home as POSSIBLE was also prevalent. Perhaps a better system would be to offer subsidised Regional Coach services BACK to Saints games for the actual students who've gone off to Cardiff, Manchester, Oxford, Durham et al (and of course the other exiles could use the same service) This thread is also symptomatic of "The British Disease" where it seems that every "grouping" demands something for nothing.... what next concessions for those who lost overtime income due to Swine Flu? I was a Saints supporting student, my middle son was a Saints supporting student. We were always broke, YET we found a way to PLAN our lives and our expenditure in order to get to SOME matches over the course of a season. The damned match ticket was probably the CHEAPEST part of the whole trip

lol it had crossed my mind that if there were ANY pubs selling Real Ale between you and the ground you'd never make it! Still, Hopfest here in Dubai next weekend, allegedly we MAY even get some real beer this year - oh and send Granty a cheque for a fiver while you're in the UK, can abuse you more than 3 times a day!

This is the crux of what I think will be an interesting couple of months. Lowe tried (and failed) to build a club that was self financing and stable. In reality that was a sensible plan, however as we all know, football post CL has lost all sense of reality. So when YOU try to be sensible and everyone plays by different rules milking rich people, you come off worst. Today, football really is at a crossroads, despite the Sky money, Liverpool & Man U are up to their necks in leveraged debt, secure but in the current climate with little short term chance of repaying the debt. Chelsea are under orders from Abramovich to become self sustaining and Arsenal (like us) mortgaged much of their medium term future to build their stadium. Outside of those you have Man City, they are not a football club anymore, they are simply a marketing budget, the longer the ridicule continues the more concerned their backers will become that their global branding idea is met with distaste and derision rather than praise. Villa have a wealthy owner but they aren't going mad, and "Arry is doing his thing at Spuds.... I've said that the Swiss business model is for careful planned growth. In many ways that is no different from the core concept that Lowe had. Fortunately, the new regime have brought wisdom with them rather than Dictatorships. I really don't see our guys spending millions, and I don't understand our fans expecting them to either. Football is a "business" that is at extreme risk at the moment, the loss of Setanta and you lot all cutting back on unwanted expenses in the recession means that Sky won't have competition OR the cash when the NEXT round of auctions comes along. It's pretty clear that much of football believes that they got a good wad this time around and that by the time the next auction comes around the gravy train will have eased through the recession and they can carry on living in cloud cuckoo land. That MAY well happen. I'm really HAPPY that we have people who are SENSIBLE at this time of major risks. The risk that the money bubble may burst The risk that the 10 point deduction won't be overhauled in time to get promotion this season The risk that the delays in the admin process do not give the new players time to gel into a team The risk that our over-exposed left over youngsters will be able to compete in L1 They have clearly stated what they will do, IF we are in with a shout in 3-4 months then they CAN use the January window to strengthen the team, but why oh why would they risk everything on ANOTHER insane gamble.. You know - 900k a year in wages and bonuses and fees for another Jason Euell...... When by the end of the season, one or more PL clubs COULD have gone to the wall and the whole game could change dramatically. IMHO football will just carry on living in cloud cuckoo land and probably, unlike Iceland and "many" of you lot with credit cards and negative equity, they'll probably come out of it as snug, smug and profligate as when they went into it. I do HOPE not though, while it is great to have the ability to sit at a Bar-Beer in Bangkok watching Hull play Stoke, in reality it just washes past as eye candy in the way much of the interminable Basketball, Bass Fishing, MTV hourly repeats and Cooking progammes do