dubai_phil

Quick question - did the club reduce the prices when the VAT was reduced? Being over here didn't spot it at the time, obviously that 2.5% would make such a huge difference (thanks Gordon good one that!)

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/4242005/How-can-AC-Milan-spend-100m-on-Kaka-in-a-recession.html Way too sensible an article for TMS but then Man C are a bunch of muppets so ho hum AVERAGE wage 1.1 mil a year in the PL and Ronaldo's motor was only TWO DAYS old

Bl**dy mods starting the same thread 3 minutes after me! Still off to bed happy who knows how it will end up but they have given them a scare - FA Cup is only on Al Jazeera here so have to pay extra for it on the satellite or go to the pub..... If it ain't Saints it ain't worth the taxi fare

no but saw the score just now from the Southend game lol

OK it won't last but it made my evening

The second best thread on here right now - finally an outpouring of cynicism at an over paid non performer. I have 4 final words to say on the subject Cheerio Cheerio Cheerio.... please

As EoA would say - DP has more... Back in 2002 a crazy Saints supporting mate (PS) & I planned our trip to Japan WC with military precision. We got a special ticket on Cathay (All Asia Pass) that cost 90 quid so we stayed in Hong Kong most of the time it was SO much cheaper and fun!) and commuted up to the matches never staying more than 2 nights in Japan for all the group games... They allowed us to take our cameras into the grounds and for the Eng v Argentina game I've always been a decent but not manic obsessive photographer and was taking pictures of people as much as sites - anyway we found ourselves in the Argie end - oops - where Beck's scored the penalty. Anyway Sven brought on Bridgey for Owen towards the end & I spotted the socreboard saying OUT Owen, IN Bridge - took the photo (quite hard technically from the opposite side of a dark indoors stadium!).... When we got home I made up a proper album that showed the whole "being a fan" at the WC thing. Made a set for my mate who of course showed it to his best buddy Terry Travel Club Marshall. He loved it and passed it up to Staplewood where Bridgey saw it. Next thing I know he's grabbed it and taken it to Villa Park where England were playing Portugal. back comes a really nice note asking if I could send him 5 copies of the scoreboard photo and 4 copies of Beckham taking the penalty - I was so wowed I thought nothing of it - even though it cost me about 50 quid for developing and Courier... Anyway turned out that he siged the socreboard copies for me and my mate (and I'm sure Terry got one) and kept the others for himself and his folks. the SAD thing is he gave the penalty photos to Becks who signed them... and they never made it back to Terry. But the thing was at the time he was knocked out to get something like that and to bother to send a note back all this way showed that even though he went on to greater earnings, when he WAS here he was as nice a bloke as many of the old guys. Oh and the party AFTER that game in Sapporro is something I will NEVER forget, the Dubai Saints flag earnt me more beers than I could drink and like all the England fans that night I reckon I signed more autographs for the Japanese fans than I have signed cheques - and like all the rest of the boys - one photo one beer was the cry, the dozy b*ggers bought them as well! (Remind me to tell EoA about the swapping shirts with Jap fans story as well one day!) That one ain't for publication either!

Global WARMING - you're having a larf! For the first time in 15 years down here I had to switch my a/c setting to HEAT. I was frozen! been wearing a fleece (yep the Purple useless Xmas pressie one) in the late afternoons and what is REALLY bad I even have to wear LONG trousers to keep warm on the golf course at the moment. Do Gooders & Nimby's - yep IMHO they are worse than global warming, tyrekickers at SMS and DMG's goals to shots ratio, sad thing is the Nimby's have made it down here of late... Meanwhile on topic this recession has a long way to go yet, get that cash out the bank and under the mattress or buy Gold, I have to say that the concept of only surviving this season may not be as stupid as it sounds as a lot of clubs will have a lot of problems in the next few months.... Unless you are Man City of course, even Man U have HOW MUCH debt??

I think you & I both commented back in pre-season about the whole working with the ball thing.... Is it REALLY only pure co-incidence that our best ever season in the PL came the year WGS had the players running up and down sand dunes until they vomitted, and then made them do more? Somehow time to dust off the sports science equipment Oh I forgot, nobody left at the club who knows how to use it all.....

lol at the GM & WC arguments about which is more fooked UK or France... chill guys you're both gonna muddle through.... Mind you down here - ouch I mean things are SO bad and SO wrong here right now I just spent the last 30 minutes mopping up the floors downstairs after a FLASH FLOOD - FFS this is a DESERT and I'm fighting the FLODD waters!!?? If I wanted to do that I'd move to Tewkesbury/ Guys out in the street pushing a taxi that's stuck in the middle - lol!

The dear old boys at the EU have a lot to answer for with the whole Bosman ruling... The concept was right, the cause was just, just nobody realised the effect on the whole wage structures. It was unfair on the majority of players back then, it's unfair on the amjority of clubs these days Too many things wrong with football and finance in general for them to ever get put right so you either go with the flow and hope or you find a sugar daddy. One day somebody will break the mould (sic) but will be fun watching (the likes of) Liverpool trying to re finance the loans that H&G took out to buy them and them dump on their necks - $280 mil O/D anyone - ouch

Stow that - it's cheaper to airmiles to Switzerland than go there and rent all the clobber then get run over by the crazy locals who can't see 'cos that headress thing blows into their eyes on the way down!

I totally agree with your logic. But I try to see the other side From the club's side I would ask - Are there other players out there who would fit into this team and do a better job than Euell has done in his career so far? IMHO the answer would be yes. So it seems obvious to all of us that he is on crazy money in these crazy times and so we cannot see anyone wanting to pay him the same money even on a loan, so UNFORTUNATELY the only option is to make the player so unhappy that he says "sod it" and decides to leave on his own accord and give up his high earnings in order to "simply play football" It's not just a football thing it's pretty much in there in the how to get rid of somebody you don't like hand book. Do I feel sorry for him? No. Is it unfair? No Why? because I don't feel we have had value for money since he came in. IF we still had money to burn then I'd think it horrific, but right now in my book his staying stops us signing a couple of decent players that would fit into the system - like a RB and a wise lump of a forward (Note I say based on what he;s done so far not what MAY happen)

oh yeah - lol - the latter two made such a massive impact I completely forgot about them... Expect another central striker type on loan then

:yawinkle: lol met a local footie fan this week - said he never knew Saints were actually a better team than Chelsea, THEY had all 11 players and still lost 3-0, we managed that with only 10! Oh if only it was all that simple!

Lots of speculation on Newsnow that Wotton off to Sheff Wed. So if my maths is right that means Saga & Saeijis in Cork Pearce & Wotton out - leaves room for one more loanee with a broken foot

Mind you with Jose likely to be there no more than 2 full seasons (1 if Man C come running with 15mil a year, no doubt young GB would enjoy spending 3 years of his no doubt lucrative contract attending fashion shows and shopping as he wouldn't get many games when a new man came in after his performances for Spuds of late! hang on how do you sign up!??!!

Sorry to interupt the pizzing competition, but out of interest am I the only one who's noticed that actually there haven't been THAT many transfer deals concluded yet? http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature/index?id=599010&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos3&cc=4716 So as we aren't actually half-way through yet perhaps time to keep the I'm always more right than everyone else stuff on the bench so that it has a bit more impact at the right time. personally, I'm in the we ain't got a a say in matters anyway camp, some bloke in Reading at Barclays will decide what and who we keep or sell. after all, if Man C need 100 mil off Abu Dhabi for a pile of kaka then Abu Dhabi just need to tell Barclays to reduce the overdrafts of ALL of their football accounts - that gets the cash AND screws the competition.... Now THAT's a more fun conspiracy theory to while away the waiting time until the window shuts!

100 million. One mis-timed tackle away from being worth zero. PR & marketing is one thing, making sane business decisions is another... 100 mil for a defence would be a better investment for them And good OP GM, what you say about us applies to just about every consumer or business anywhere in the world. Even down here, consumers are having their Credit Card limits halved, (even IF they can't afford to repay them) bank loans have become impossible to obtain or are even being called in, total insanity to announce you want to spend that much money on a footballer

Ah so now we know what SB's problem is

My mum bought me a nice Purple Fleece from Edinburgh Woolen Mill. Exactly what I need here in the desert I might wear it as protection from the mad Tortoises when I start getting them to mate

Wasn't there a rumour that we had TWO Dutch players training/on trial over Christmas? We signed one and so maybe.....

It sort of is starting to rebound a bit, instead of everyone going "wow that Man City Brand is really impressive and making Abu Dhabi respected around the world" they are getting the reaction - "what a bunch of f**wits let's get down there and rip them off as well".. Difficult game using football as a brand, we here in Dubai just find it wrong to spend money and not create something sustainable in the current climate

In fairness to DMG, MLT wasn't the best striker in the prem in his first full 6 months in the team.... The PROBLEM with DMG is that he has not had a lot of experience of playing week in and week out, he has stints on loan but he has not had the full pressure of being expected to be "The Man" every week. That takes TIME and experience. We can argue that previous managers should have given him more playing time to get that experience but the two facts really are that he is still learning and that learning will breed calmness and confidence, and the second fact, more importantly, he hasn't had another "wise old head" around him to help carry the load. It IS fair to say that it is too much to expect him to score the goals that will keep us up all on his own considering this, but then it is not actually HIS fault that the club put an "apprentice" into that position. As far as his ability goes, the forum thought KJ was a joke player in his first season, so on our track record I suppose that means DMG is likely to become as good as KJ... But probably not while he is with us