buctootim

You're both right though. The tv companies are buying a spectacle that they can sell to their audiences as hugely important events generating massive passion. That would be massively undermined by half empty stadium or library silence. Why bother to pay to watch and cheer in China if the locals cant be arsed to turn and watch when its happening two miles away. Hence the carefully placed mics picking up what little noise there is.

Some people carry dodgy DNA sequences in their genome which can cause genetic abnormalities in their children. For couples wanting to have a child its now become technically possible to replace those sections with the DNA of another, third, person to create a healthy embryo. Any child borne would be made up of the DNA of three people I genuinely don't know how I feel about this. My brain says logically that its just a technical fix for a technical problem. Instinctively though I don't like it. It 'feels' wrong and could have unintended social and biological consequences. Thoughts? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23079276

http://www.pwc.co.uk/assets/pdf/ukmanufacturing-300309.pdf

Own up Bazza, you have no idea about the current education system. Your missus is pregnant with your first born so don't have kids in school, you don't work in a school, but you do read the hand wringing press.

Even if the fees were closer in amount I think Erazo is far more proven (established international in a FIFA ranked top 10 team) so less of a risk than Wanyama who has only ever shone at a lower level and for a short period of time. When you factor in the huge difference in transfer fee and the money related spat with his agents it becomes no contest imo. Thats not to say he wont prove to be worth the pricetag eventually but its mighty risk as a lot of his value is in potential which may or may not materialise. NB also we clearly light in quality at the back, if not numbers. Fonte and Jos are marginal at this level. Yoshida is okay, Forren unproven. By contrast midfield is already our strongest area.

Brilliant insight from you as always........ Just to simplify things so they're easier to grasp. Both are players Saints are interested in. As a potential transfer to Saints I think that Erazo is a better move than Wanyama. Is that okay now?

Maybe they've got Saints bar staff selling the tickets.

Agents make money by moving players on. Better a reduced fee than no fee if he stays.

Id be far happier with this guy than Wanyama, and at about 20% of the cost.

Ironically Anheuser Busch have done to Kriek with Belle Vue what they did to Budvar with Budweiser - produce a nasty poor quality version. Belle Vue is sweet and nothing like good Kriek.

Spot on as always Vectis. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/9269293.stm http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jan/27/notts-county-hmrc-debt

I wonder if he got a free go on Ruby the Heartbreaker.

To some extent we've made a rod for own backs. Until a year ago no-one would be expecting mega money from Saints. Now we have set the precedent of paying one £12m player £70,000pw why shouldn't another £12m player in Wanyama expect the same deal.

A lot of it is for show. Has anything really changed if we refuse to pay the agent upfront but instead agree to pay the player more, who then pays his agent?

...

To be fair to him, I think thats what Cortese is trying to do. Whether it actually means less in paid out to agents, or simply the deal is restructured to hide the agents cut is a moot point.

Ive said all along I thought it was the wrong signing at the wrong price and at wages which risked upsetting the squad harmony.

http://www.insidefutbol.com/2012/08/17/they-will-pay-me-so-much-money-liverpool-target-gaston-ramirez-set-for-southampton/67264/ http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/9879668.Saints__agree_record_fee_for_Ramirez_/ http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/tottenham-target-gaston-ramirez-turns-1260256

Like Ramirez you mean, the £12m player on £70,000pw for four years who came to Saints instead of Spurs because Spurs wouldn't meet his wage demands

Some cities are no surprise but Luanda in Angola and Juba in South Sudan in the top five well above places like Copenhagen and Geneva, how come?

Its also down to the fact that we have explored near space and humans aren't much good for longer journeys to places like Mars. Unmanned rockets cope far better with long journeys and extreme tempratures. Technically it is isn't that difficult to go to the moon, but there is little to be gained and the costs are high. The Apollo programme was estimated to have cost $85bn, around $630bn at today's prices. Public opinion wouldn't wear it to that again.

My experience too. The US seems to be slipping into the same disease as the UK had in the 1970s, too process oriented, hierachical and not outcome focussed enough. My US colleagues seem to 'do' a lot but what they achieve is less clear. I like them as a people though, still much more upbeat and genuinely nice than many English people who mistake being snidey for humorous irreverence.

or lived near him. Would be nice of we signed a British player

You've got to bear in mind that the US is huge. If you are in the mid west it can be almost 1,500 miles just to the US coast let alone abroad. How many Brits know about the internal politics or geography of Poland, Austria or Sweden? Just read Old Nicks post, sorry for repetition.