dubai_phil

The GOOD thing is how successrful those envelopes proved to be on the big night The BAD thing is it means I didn't have enough left to dig Pinnacle out of their hole.... Oh, well, when put that way Hooray! Thank fook for that! Now off to cook Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pud and an evening of watching House on DVD

I know it's Ashes time but like you say, do SO many people have to keep proving the bl**dy Aussies right........ Whingeing Poms - you really notice it when you move away and get away from the doom and gloom of the media and the news, but glad to see many on here are fighting back!

Totally agree with all of that except the due to the power and swerve of the shot... part. You know full darned well that it wasn't the power and the swerve, it was merely the fact that the shot was so slow, the rotation of the earth caused the ball to curl back onto the inside of the post when in reality it was heading for the edge of the penalty area :cool: Oh and Nick - think that magazine you mentioned is called "Do you know who I am" down here. Has Sultan Bin Trump on it's front cover every week.

Thought we were talking about Jaidi, not Delgado Oh Back to the drawing board then

Or perhaps one was commenting that their playing staff don't have enough brains to actually DAJFU

Yup - with abuse you can respond, defensively or aggressively or even turn the other cheek. With "feigned" sympathy you sort of have to find yourself responding with an equally insincere oh yeah thanks, hope you get out the mess type of response OR a stuff you I don't need your sympathy Cherry type reaction which leads to beers getting spilled and all that

Don't panic - I can help. Have managed to put together a rescue package for you using my extensive facebook skills. Needs help from the councli but the money is secure (d) against the Guildhall & HMS Victory, the money men have been put together by MJ, and we have a highly experienced and available Chairman from Gloucestershire ready to come in and put you back on track. Just let me know Stories (sic) email address and the deal can be done today

Yes it is completely WRONG to FEEL sympathy. Revenge is a dish best served cold. The correct reaction is to FEIGN sympathy with that insincere look in your eyes when you meet with a skatemate and say.. "I worry for your club, the south coast needs two strong teams, it isn't right that an idiot chairman can run them into the ground and then delay/scupper or mess up the takeover process. It must be awful for you having to lose your best players and be so worried about the future. Chin up I am sure something will come along" Then turn your back and giggle and grin.... BUT remember that whole condescending fake SINCERE look is the critical part fookers did it to me for the past 5 years - let them eat cake

Don't think ex PL players would fit into L1 unless they are the few with wise old heads on their shoulders (CMFG/Sheringham/Merson types) We didn't have a great deal of luck with "PL Quality" players in the CCC TBH I'd much rather have really good L1 players who can act as leaders on the pitch to bring the youngsters on

Good point but should read - since 2002 when Killer got injured HOW many years worth of pre-seasons have we begged for CB's to be signed? and we got Powell & Thomas

My take on this is really analytical as much as factual. His PR says wealth of around US$500mil. Now a large amount of that will be linked to equity and property, NOT cash. The Abu Dhabi property market has held up much better than Dubai where values have fallen by >50% The issue really as I see it is that Hydra is Abu Dhabi, so his "backers" have already been "tapped up" to buy Man City. Not knowing so much about family politics down there, my guess is that he will find it difficult to find any local wealthy family groups who want to enter into a competition with His Excellency who has made Man City a major project. That leaves him looking at Dubai. They have two issues with regard to Football. 1) They have no spare money 2) They see no sense in doing a Man City in competition with the big boss. (OK that second one is something you guys will have to take on trust, they DID have a very interesting concept of how they would like to do something) The Skate deal simply doesn't fit - Dubai won't compete in a big balls game with the President, and the Skates don't offer the type of long term build infrastructure and generic growth that Dubai really does. In the UK, it would take about 2 seconds to find 20 million people who would be happy to take on Gordon Brown in any sort of venture. But down here, no that won't happen. So he has around 300mil pounds in assets, debts down the road are still what 30mil? they will need to spend 30mil on new players JUST to try and stay competitive, THEN he has to fund the stadium somehow... 20% of his net wealth and possible relegation? with MORE to come???? Hmm compared to us that would be Markus investing 540million into Saints! Think MJ would have been more believable than Sultan Bin Trump

I love it when a plan comes together

bit off topic but hey Experience has shown that there are two critical issues when dealing with Gulf Nationals in any type of business. They only deal with people that they trust and they will never pay unless they need something else from you. (This makes it easy to do biz WHEN you know this BTW) Face is also incredibly important, ideas must always be theirs (bit like Rupert then) Within that context you then look at the way that these countries evolved since 1967 in Government, business etc, and it has been about famillies and gaining agencies for overseas vendors. The true wealth and true businessmen have become massive operations - Al Futtaims, Al Majids, Al Rostamani's, Al Habtoors here in Dubai. At the next level are those who have made their money recently. Some are exceptional businessmen and have worked tirelessly to build up empires making them into the multi-millionaire brackets, but there have also been a lot of "politician types" who built their money through their contacts and friends, most especially during the past 5/6 years from the date that property sales were allowed. Much of that money has disappeared as it was asset based, not cash The point is with Fahim is that he is not a "conglomerate" and that he is not well thought of for his time at Hydra and especially not liked for his "Donald Trump" wannabe attitude. That is not how they do things. Fahim's money is recent, not historical, the Government of Dubai would love to get into English Football but are fully aware that while they have a debt of 120% of GDP they have no CASH to pay suppliers let alone do any crazy Abu Dhabi type deals, so they won't bail him out. likewise any of the families (possibly with the exception of the Al Habtoors) would not want to fly in the face of the new "Sheikh Mo austerity programme" - ie taking great care now in the public persona of Dubai Inc. (eg sort out PFC or Sonapur Labour camp..) And then ask WHY Fahim was so quickly shoved out the way with the whole Man City thing.... He MAY (in a Pinnacle sort of way) get lucky and find a benefactor at the last minute, but he sure as heck doesn't have the 80-100 million the Skates need in his own bank account... LBO at best, even I know how to do those, but then I know what would happen in this climate if I did it...

Nah, that's just normal mate, happens where ever I go. When you're such a legend in the world of sport as I am, you just have to get used to the whole Paparazzi thing. That week Saints TV, Glasto - BBC, down here, Timeout & Hello magazine (hell I even made the back of the same page as Angelina Jolie - whoo hoo!) Some of us have either got that whole total modesty thing or you ain't..... You see a normal Brit, used to watching Telly everyday telling you that the world is carp, the country is carp and the Swine Flu is deadly and we're all gonna die next week would have come back and said something like - yeah, I felt sorry for the Away Team boys who put in so much effort. But, of course, as a highly tuned cricketer, the only comment still is - look in the scorebook mate, look in the book Oh, BTW, as part of my new guru role, I can offer a special early adopter discount when you attend my first - "How to get over it" seminar from 2nd to 4th December 2009. Event to be held at the Exiles Egg chaser ground. Can't give too much away (trade secrets and all that) but it involves copious amounts of sunshine, beer, curry, air hostesses and (remaining PC) for the other halves and (Stephen Fry thread) bowlers off the wrong foot, fit blokes in tight shorts. Accomodation is one bottle of Chateau Neuf du Pape & a case of Tsing Tao, book early to avoid having to sleep on the floor!

I'm gonna have to give up this saving the world by being Green thing and switch my career to some kind of "guru" role... maybe grow a fake Mike Myers beard and wear a Pashmina or something. Life is soooo easy when you adopt the don't give a carp attitude -just do it - according to nickh even the rules of footie no longer apply to you! IF we are allowed to do this again, a couple of ideas though 1) We plan for two games - after all, experience over potential any day of the week! If the old crew can't make it (Fos1's elixir of yoof runs out for example) then the newbies can join in, but with the PR plants on here doing such an awesome job of letting everyone know how magical it was I reckon we'll get Toomer there working up his stamina ready for the big day;) 2) We SHOULD offer to pay a "pitch darkness" insurance so that the lights can be switched on for the second half if needed! (That way nickh would actually to be able to see the ref's signals - it's always difficult for us old 'uns in semi darkness, the eyes just don't work so well) 3) Maybe with the new wave of optimism for some we should sell season tickets for the fans? Oh BTW Hammie - what happened to the You Tube for our equaliser and winner? My fans down here are waiting and bugging me to death!

Intent is what you do at Glastonbury. In Football you take care and time to make the correct decisions. Hell even Man Ure seem to have sold more than they bought so far

Oops sorry, jet lag, thought this was a thread about pre-match entertainment, Bolton would have been a big improvement on Osman, for about 5 minutes. Jaidi - big lump CB, bring him on

Michael Bolton stood on my bread roll at a corporate dinner thing while singing that big hit of his couple of years back

Good appointment, wise decision by Markus to place someone he trusts in the seat of power. Those who quipped about his banker predecessor have failed to note one critical difference, these guys listen to people and THINK before acting. yeah makes it slower for some, but I posted on the day of the takeover, the Swiss are about slow steady efficient growth, not creative risk taking. They will succeed, after all, ABB, Lindt, Liebherr, Rolex et al weren't built in 4 weeks chill gang, we're in a marathon not another stupid egg and spoon race

Well, from the clips I have seen, Hamster's cunning part in the overall plan to ruin nickh's life worked a treat - that whole don't put the ball into row z routine in the build up to their second goal was perfect. Surprised nobody spotted that we got that tactic from the Lancashire defence of last season. Must stop all this dieting though, my darned made to measure bestest interview suit trousers don't keep my shirt tucked in these days... Never mind, only 3 months 'til I get back to collect my copy. until then You Tube it is!

Wow, I got the email to say Paypal had swiped the cash before I even got onto here, heck, that was sooooo cool and unstressful. But maybe I didn't want to renew, maybe I was in therapy trying to give up coming on here. Maybe PAYPAL HAS RUINED MY LIFE AGAIN. What to do? After I sue nickh for libel, who should I then sue first - Paypal for not causing me any hassle or TSW for a continuing bad habit and maybe even PTSD?

Wow, that's pretty emphatic then...... Say hi to Grammy for me

Meh Is it on Telly? If so I'll be in the pub watching the game without Eric (he got a sick note -he's coming over to catch swine flu) so we'll concede a goal within the time it takes me to say phew hopefully we won't concede a goal within the first oh bugger If not then I reckon it will be 45 minutes of "oh, so nothing's changed then" as we naively play ourselves into a 0-2 half-time deficit Then suddenly we'll remember that things HAVE changed and it will be emotive edge of the seat stuff and we'll come back to either 2-2 or a lucky deflection/dodgy ref decision will see it ending 2-3 C'mon gang, this is Saints, sure new era and all that but we're bound to have a reminder before we really move on!

Dear Lord, that is shattering news. Having read your postings as one of the wise and regular contributors over many years to many forums I'm stunned and wish you all the best. I have no idea what else to say except something from a good friend of mine who does help people in these difficult times so I can only say don't you DARE try and take the easy option of giving up. Keep fighting.

+us down here. Probably the only foreign language film I have watched where I didn't actually notice the subtitles as it just grabbed you from the off