dubai_phil

Wes, I made this point some time ago. Namely that a boycott of the stadium hurts ourselves as much as it would hurt Lowe. What is needed is a protest INSIDE the stadium that is simple, clear and effective, YET does not in ANYWAY damage the support of the fans for the team. In fact the best way to do this is actually with a FULL stadium. Simple ideas - 1) The red card/white handkerchief. This approach worked, it was one of the moments that helped to convince those upstairs that Branfoot HAD to go 2) Simply when the teams line up for the toin coss before kick off, every fan in the ground turns their back on the Directors box and yet SINGS OWTS as loud as they have EVER done in their lives (and of course, turn around when the game starts) The club needs money right now or we lose even more players, just not turning up works in a way but simply hastens the inevitable fire sale. But a SIMPLE visual IN STADIUM protest like that and expecially at a televised game will get FAR more media coverage.

Valid points, but the problem at this moment for all of them is the domino effect from LIVERPOOL. many points on here about size of fanbase and income are also valid, but if you read the Telegraph article the key point is that they have 1) Profits of 30mil a year and interest payments of 30mil a year - that is INCLUDING all their current income sources - tv, attendances and merchandising 2) Their BANK LOANS are due for renewal very soon. Anybody tried talking to their bank manager lately? Liverpools' advisors have already gone bust So will Liverpool have to pay back 350 million quid in January? It is a source of concern, after that who knows what will happen to future tv rights sales value? What would actually happen to football IF that happened? Gordon Brown can't bail one out and not all the rest........ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/liverpool/3444844/Credit-crunch-could-force-Liverpool-to-sell-Fernando-Torres-and-Steven-Gerrard-Football.html

The Liverpool issue is clear, their loans have to be refinanced in a market where nobody wants to lend money. bear in mind they have to spend 30mil a year on interest which with Anfield at it's current capacity is their annual profit, so where does their transfer budget come from next year? IF they can get some banks to agree to re-finance (but probably at higher interest) then they have an issue that interest could exceed profits - sell Torres to pay the bank!!! wow would make Lowe look like a saint in comparison. IF they cannot re-finance then they have to reduce debt in January - as per the article - ouch goodbye Gerrard & Torres..... Where then would the mess end? Man U have longer term secured debts at the moment, but that is not to say that their bankers will not have some problems and could want money back to pay off other creditors? Where are JP Morgan these days? That one is far more stable than the Liverpool mess. DIC may still come to the rescue but they have their own problems right now, so yes I was being light hearted but.

Top info Red no 7 thx. It somewhat knocks the wind out of GM's sails with his attack on Lowe last week for setting a fixed term interest rate of 8.something% on our mortgage. I had heard the interest rate was high, but how stupid does that look now with rates where they are? Good grief, if we actually DO survive the next few months, we may actually pass an in admin Liverpool & Mancs as we come back up from L1.....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/liverpool/3444844/Credit-crunch-could-force-Liverpool-to-sell-Fernando-Torres-and-Steven-Gerrard-Football.html Same story here. They have to pay 30mil in interest alone which is their annual profits. It is just plain wrong that the 'old" financial system allowed somebody to borrow all that money to take over a business and then dump the debt onto the business they bought.

Did we need two threads on this?

21 His stock broking business will without any shadow of a doubt one day be discovered to be the first to short sell everything, dream up the financial investment scheme of sub-prime paper, and of course be responsible for Afghanistan and Iraq decending into chaos. In years to come he will also be seen as the major funding contributor to Obama which allowed him to inadvertently turn the US into the Socialist American Republic.

According to the article, 50 football league clubs are not paying their tax bills on time in order to provide cash-flow. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/3443142/Football-League-clubs-owe-50million-in-unpaid-taxes--Football.html Now I advocate survival as the only viable plan, but if this many clubs have money problems, and all of them hope for the sale of a few "stars" to fill up the piggy bank in January, what if nobody actually has any money to spend by then... ouch

Within the article there is an interesting line that could mean many things "if we had let Harry get on with the job he could have put Southampton back in the Premier League and I believe that. " But I pointed out at the start of the thread, this is simply water on buring oil, and a story that will continue to run and run.................. yawn

The people in the Council that came up with this ruling should be taken to a home for the criminally insane. Here in Muslim land, any dealing with any organisation, be they Government, Banks, Phone Company etc requires you by LAW to state your Nationality. The only answer for us that they accept is for us to state we are BRITISH, and that we hold a BRITISH passport. The name on the passport is United Kingdom of Great Britain etc. Do you get that councillors - UNITED KINGDOM OF. It is YOU who are being non-PC. I suggest that the council members take a vacation to Riyadh for a week then to here to understand how stop being morons

Wow the swear filter turns the Human league's greatest hit's first line into something different.. You were working as a waitress in a ****tail bar, when I ******* you

Yep, busy week at work next week, but if we can, we'll likely be down there to see her come in, reckon we'll crack a Bullfrog across her bows to welcome her properly in a Dubai sort of way at some point soon. It's sad that she'll no longer be sailing, but then how many of us ever actually could afford a way to travel on her? So at least this way we can still see her even if they plan to remove her funnel and replace it with a ****tail bar or something. Much better idea than allowing the hulk to burn, half sink and then rust in some far off harbour. (Mind you with the lack of local health & safety laws down here, wouldn't put it past some undertrained painter to leave his blow-torch running and set fire to her)

She's busy with celebs sorting out the next level of Lowe's vision - reality tv football......... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/everton/3419109/Are-Everton-about-to-get-Simon-Cowells-X-Factor-treatment--Football.html Much tabloid excitement was generated over the weekend by the news that Sir Philip Green, the high street tycoon, had hosted a private dinner at a London restaurant for Simon Cowell and Amanda Staveley, the city golden girl responsible for facilitating the recent takeover of Manchester City. What price an X Factor-financed swoop on Goodison? It would certainly bring new direction for the club. Imagine what a bit of Cowell's production values about the place might do. Sir Philip, you're at the wrong place you and Simon would be PERFECT at SMS, you'd fit right in with Lowe's strategy, we can get to vote for Alps or LS on the left wing on Saturday.. Oh and Amanda darling, next time you pop over here to meet one of your chappies, give me a shout, have an idea for you about a footie club takeover deal.

mind you, young Ramsey & Wilshire for half a season may be slightly more entertaining to watch than Jermaine Wright... Just a shame we're not getting those sorts in....

Burn the witch... or with editorial http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3440984/Guy-camera-captures-what-its-like-to-be-burned-to-death-on-a-bonfire.html actually quite poignant and well done Next up, list those who you wish had had the camera strapped to their head.......

I wish Wenger would stop giving Rupert ideas, we all know he can get away with it because of the fact that they are just a teeny weeny bit better than ours.... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/arsenal/3438998/Arsenals-Carling-Cup-squad-for-Wigan-clash-includes-thirteen-teenagers-Football.html Arsenal's squad to face Wigan, at the Emirates Stadium in tonight's Carling Cup fourth round, includes no fewer than 13 teenagers. tonight's squad's age average is just over 18.

hahahahahahahaha and if that doesn't work there's always LLS...:smt048

Couple of points that get forgotten. 1) When you come here to Muslim land - you are a guest, they have their rules, you follow them and each group RESPECTS the other. You want it to be like UK - fine, off you go 2) The extremists are people that extreme countries like Saudi Arabi and Yemen deemed to be TOO radical and who were kicked out. Of course they applied for asylum and welfare benefits in...... Strange in a PC way, the fact that UK houses these people causes MORE offence to true Muslims than could ever be offended if they were simply kicked out and treated like the preachers of hatred they are. One radical religious Saudi paper suggested somethinlg along the lines that as these "types" advocate a return to the Stone Age with the clerics as the ruling class perhaps the UK could give them some spare mud huts on a remote Island and let them get on with it

You know what this is CRIMINALLY INSANE.... Here we are in a Muslim country and guess what? Yep, all the main shopping malls have Christmas Decorations, Trees and EVEN FATHER CHRISTMAS FFS. The people here SHARE each other's "special days". Those rules are made up by morons who have NEVER actually travelled to see 1) how stupid the world oustide the UK thinks they are and 2) to see how Muslims actually share Christmas and we "infidels" share Eid. utter botox

Originally Posted by Michael Wilde Dear All Just to let you all know the last paragraph on the BBC site is incorrect. Jack will be signing on the morning of the Wolves game but NOT in front of the fans. Jack has been watched by Matt Crocker and Mark Wotte and he has also been involved in training sessions with Jan Poortvliet and Dave Hockaday. Our coaching team believe he has potential but this depends upon how Jack does over the coming months. He has had 2 trial matches at Southampton and has impressed on both occasions. He is not being brought in as a first team squad member although if he realises his potential he could be considered in the future. Kind regards to all Michael Wilde Phew, for a moment I thought Mike had retained LLS as his PR guru..... In fact the process as laid out above is exactly how the system works. A friend of mine has a youngster (no not old enough yet) who could be a prospect for the academy. It seems our process is actually more detailed and professional than that at a "Premier League" club who also looked at his nipper but decided to take on some older 14 year olds for their first team next year.

I just did a lovely open letter to Mikey about PR and marketing and blo*dy innernet crashed, will have another go after restocked the beer glass

This is a really difficult call as Frank's Cousin has said. The one thing I have learnt is that no matter how messy we think things are, we honestly don't have a clue, (but I AM convincd things are FAR worse than even the most pessimistic on here believes) Leon is not the answer, sorry LS, but if he was SO damned perfect then two things could have happened, firstly he would have mounted his takeover in such a way as to NOT antagonise the other two into eventual retaliation, and secondly he would have solved the problems sooner. I don't buy the "oh but he loaned Saga & Rasiak cr*p" to show he was the great cost cutter - sure but he signed Davies on a salary we could not afford and his staff cost cutting amounted to PROMOTING two people. My allegiance is simple, all 3 together or all 3 go. At the moment the financial mess and the morale around the club are adding to the horrors of the great gamble on the pitch. And all we are seeing yet again for the umpteenth time is the endless postings on here of the divided factions expecting everyone to come round to their argument. Will SaintRichmond acknowledge that a nasty bstd like Lowe was needed to cut costs? no of course not. Would Scooby ever acknowledge that Lowe would work better in a team with somebody next to him who understand human beings? no of course not. So why do we even bother to keep typing?

Which by a strange co-incidence is remarkably close to the overdraft figure at the moment. Or is remarkably close to the figure needed to bring the OD back into the pre-set limit guesstimated at the start of the season and the amount of money we should spend on players to make us a safe side this season ready to push on for the playoffs next year. Which is IMHO why it is daft to expect Leon or Salz to pay that much to buy the entire club when it could be of so much more use internally

IMHO I think you actually hit a very large nail on the head here. No matter WHO is in charge, even a zillionaire, their FIRST job has to be to make the club suited for the CCC in terms of it's operating costs. Only when that is done would it be possible to class any money put in as an INVESTMENT to IMPROVE the club. Now like it or not, even the Lowe haters understand that our salary structure was wrong, (and before the pro Rasiak/Saga/SJ crew moan, i ask is 460k a year allegedly for Thomas a good use of our salary budget?) So, what you have is the world's worst job - the hatchet man - the fall guy. Let him take all the sh*t, let him get the costs down, and then finally when it is at a level that is sustainable, bingo, in march the rescuers. Salz & Crouch have good business & PR sense, they don't want to be the ones reviled by all and sundry, they want to be the heroes, so the point being, that we still need to firefight for another 6 weeks or so and then ah ha - plan B - the cavalry. So obvious in many ways

OK I can accept the following 1) a weekly meeting between "the board" and the football management 2) a review of what is happening on the pitch and explanations for performances (or lack of) and the plans to improve 3) a discussion of the ability and readiness of players for different levels for (example the board would need to know if we need loan cover or should send a kid out to develop) 4) a discussion of the playing budget with regards to income None of these would be out of place in any business and certainly not in most football clubs. I have RESERVATIONS that the "board representative" is not i) an experienced ex manager/player/qualified coach, but it doesn't stop other clubs having these types of meetings (like a Kenyon or a Dein) I am prepared to accept that these meetings could become heated when things are not going well on the playing side. I am also prepared to accept that different people (fans and managers) would interpret these types of discussions differently. I am prepared to accept involvement by "the board representative" with discussions on player acquisition vs budgets (ie JP may want to sign Ronaldinho but someone may have to tell him to get real) I am prepared to accept the board setting up an overall strategy and plan and setting goalposts and monitoring performance BUT, what I am NOT prepared to accept is ANY input from a non-football expert into the specifics of the day to day operations of the footballing side. OK if a Jermaine Wright or Ricardo Fuller was playing cr*p, then most of us would ask if their mum couldn't do a better job, but they MUST accept and support their employee (ie the Managers') opinion BECAUSE HE IS THE EXPERT. And what I am starting to see is more and more evidence that this involvement is MORE than "DIRECTING and REVIEWING" and is close to full on interference. That IMHO is untenable, poor man-management and wrong. Explanation time SLH please