大象传媒

Dan,

Firstly, I usually rate your blogs highly, but this one lacked something for me. Can't quite put my finger on it but there was definitely something missing.

As for SAF for England, not a chance. The man will see out his career at United in my opinion. The only thing he might be tempted by is a stab at the Scottish national job. Nothing else tho.

Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart

It was Alan Sugar, when Chairman at Spurs and going through the legal wranglings with Terry Venables & co who stated that business people turn into 'idiots' when they become football club owners. That was in 1991. What a visionary he is. Looking at Liverpool, Man Utd, etc as well as clubs in the Championship and lower divisions who are now suffering at the hands of their respective boardrooms. League titles are now won in the offices in the stands as opposed to the football pitch.

The FA needs to have much tighter control of club owners and not allow these people to take teams like Pompey to its near extinction.

Lord Sugar has a superb record of getting things wrong. He largely failed at Tottenham, Spurs have done so much better without him. And this man predicted that ipods would be out of fashion by christmas when they came out. useless.

Dan,

Good to see you'll ne at the home of the Owls this Saturday - hope they're charging you a smal fortune for access to the stadium - we need all the help we can get.

I'm sure you'll do a great job of presenting what's happened to us over the last few years. I'm sure many Owls will be watching with a tear in the eye as it becomes more obvious how far we've fallen.

Would be good to get the opinion of Sir Dave Richards. He was our chariman who oversaw the period from when we were successful and in profit up to us being 拢20m in debt. Ever since he left subsequent chairman have been madly treading water to try and keep the club afloat while the tide rises ever higher. Of course, he's now chairman of the Premier League so at least somebody did well out of tenure at the club.

I too like to practice bowling technique when the office is empty, and a friend of mine who works for a well-known organisation that shall remain nameless, has even gone so far as to use masking tape to indicate the stumps on a door in a particularly quiet corridor.

I'll tell you whats missing #1 - there was only 1 mention of food!

And chocolate croissant? Do they not do bacon sarnie's in London?!

I've just realised the irony of people calling for the introduction of rules which stop chairmen of Premier League clubs from running up massive debts when the Chairman of the Premier League itself is guilty of exactly that........

I never thougt i would say this, but i disagree with lord suger (gulp) While i have nothing against the Scots i cant see him been a popular choice as England manager even tho hes the best one in the country! Anyway why? he's got such a good thing at United why leave? I'd put money on that he would take the champions league cup for united over a world cup for england!
Charlie George (from an arsenal fan)

@Luke Giles, I think the only thing missing was the food references (I know a chocolate croissant cropped up, but that's nothing but a mere amuse bouche).

I can't see Ferguson taking on the England job (or indeed any other football related job) once he's left United. He's had his fingers burnt in international waters before, and could do without the stress.

If Olly keeps Blackpool up this year, give it to him. If Blackpool go down, he's still worth a shout. I don't think he'd take any prima donna nonsense out of them...

Charlie Adam

I remember Sheffield Wednesday reaching both finals well as I won the sweepstake at sixth form for the FA Cup final. Andy Lineghan scored the winner in the League Cup if I remember rightly against them.

Its amazing how many former top division clubs of the last 20-25 years are now inhabiting the lower echelons of the Football League, and even non-League with the likes of Luton Town. With the number of them being in financial strife since their 'glory' days, it shows how much maladministration there has been.

#1 maybe the tone feels different following the 'constructive' criticism of I think it was Kevin last week, regarding what he thought, so perhaps Dan has decided to take that on board... or not. Perhaps its the relative lack of food references, being that the only mention is a chocolate croissant? You'd at least want bacon and eggs with a couple of (non-Apprentice made) sausages.

James Max

I also disagree with Alan Sugar.

Suggesting that Mourinho couldn't do his job at Leyton Orient is a bit like saying "Mogul is he? Let's see him down the market and see how many millions he makes".

Someone has a very high opinion of themselves.

@Surreybloke.
Almost. Steve Morrow scored the winner for Arsenal in the League Cup final, before being dropped by Tony Adams after the game and dislocating his shoulder so he couldn't collect his medal.

Linegan scored Arsenals winner in the FA Cup final - in the 120th minute of the replay. And that STILL hurts 17 and a half years later......

Yep I think it must have been the lack of food. I usually feel hungry after reading Dan's blogs, but not the case this week. I didn't even pick up on the Chocolate Croissant reference. Having said that though, I could murder a greasy bacon and egg sandwich right about now.

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine

Rich_Owl,

I thought Steve Morrow fell off a donkey....

#12 I remember Morrow being dropped, what a nightmare for him that was as I think he barely, if ever, played for Arsenal again after that before disappearing into obscurity.

None of those matches were classics but it was a good double to have achieved at the time.

Ruth Badger

#3 Sugar can't have too bad a track record overall though after seeing that house of his in Florida - it didn't look too shabby so I don't think you can really call him a repeated failure as such. He might not have overseen a succesful time at Tottenham, but then who has at that club for many a decade. It wasn't until last season where they finally qualified for the Champions League for this season so hardly unbridled success.

Don Johnson

SAF wont manage England. I do not expect to live to see any Scot take the post! Besides, he has a good thing going at Manchester United, I fully expect that to be his last football job.

I often think Lord Sugar gets things wrong, that definitely being one, though he didn't get rich by getting everything wrong!

I do agree with his Jose comment, I think he is one of the best managers in the world, but see how he does without the best squad in his league.

@afunka.....
In that case, Alan Sugar must be the most successful "useless" businessman on the planet!

This isn't strictly about this blog post, but can you please stop the whole "shaky cam" thing on the football focus forums on the 大象传媒 website. I understand you're trying to make it more informal, but it just doesn't work. It just makes me feel nauseous. When people are down the pub having a chat they don't sit there moving all around like they're sitting on a pile of jelly.

I agree with Lord Sugar on the Leyton Orient comment. If I was as good as Mourinho as managing football clubs, I'd take my local side over and move them through the divisions just like we pretenders do in Football Manager due to not being page a real wage.

Leaving the equivalent of my Newport County in the Prem tasting Champions League football would mean leaving a legacy that would take some beating and I'd guess I wouldn't have to buy many of my own pints in my local pub.

I always thought Sir Alex would make a good England manager, problem is he's not interested in the job!

Did Lord Sugar have any views on the likes of Harry Redknapp? I'm sure they'd be interesting.

"'Special One'? Get him down to Leyton Orient and we'll see how special he really is!"

Mourinho actually seems the type who would do well anywhere. He didn't start at the top and has actually worked his way upwards.

I get the impression that Sugar is so used to people agreeing with him that he has started to believe that he really is right about everything.

Morning Daniel,


Delighted to see the blog as normal. Hopefully you can ignore the social invertebrates from last week's ridiculous comments & keep us all in the food & irreverance to which we have been accustomed!

Lord Sugar ran a very tight ship at Spurs, I can't wait to read about it in his book. Allegedly, he had a specific button on his intercom to his secretary for her to call security to escort an agent from the premises. Wish I had one of them. Don't have a secretary, though.

As a side; I notice this is not the first mention of chocolate croissants. A particular personal favourite?


Tre Azam.

Fabio was a legend before he took the England job, now he鈥檚 an aloof buffoon with comical understanding of the English game. Why would Fergie risk his reputation for a foreign country?

Randy Savage

The British press end up lampooning them all though don't they... remember we've had a turnip and a wally managing England in past years, based on what The Sun tells us. Its more about sensationalism than fact for half the time.

The idea of McClaren managing England after his European experience isn't a completely half-witted one, but its fairly unlikely he would be in a tenable position with the supporters, and possibly even the press after his previous attempt.

There just aren't that many viable English candidates with sufficient Continental experience, and who likes his teams to play in a style conducive to England perhaps punching to or above their weight for a change. Its more than just the manager though, more technical training at a younger age is a prerequisite of England performing how they should be capable of as a nation in the future. Spain and Germany have shown the way, its a question of whether the big wigs feel it wouldn't be beneath them to imitate other nations or not and to then have the wherewithall to push on and get it done.

Bob the Builder

The Owls were very lucky last night.

I think if Jose Mourinho and Leyton Orient boss Russell Slade swapped jobs then I think Mr Mourinho would cope better than Mr Slade - this wasn't the statement Lord Sugar made, but I thought I would say this anyway.

Is a Chocolate Croissant the same as a Pan au Chocolat?

I think this could be my worst post yet.

Thanks,

Ralph Machio.

Re office cricket: we found that the inner cardboard from a roll of brown paper made a perfectly functionable cricket bat, a (admittedly tall) bin good stumps and a small ball shaped stress reliever a great ball. I miss my old office.

I think Alan Sugar was a fish out of water at Spurs in that he wanted to run the club as a proper business at the start of the 'boom' period after Italia 90 when everyone involved in football had stars in their eyes. Maybe thats not what you want in an owner but I would point out that Spurs were 拢20mil in debt (a lot back then believe it or not) when he took over and he turned that round very quickly. Not the most romantic owner perhaps, but he laid some of the foundations that helped make Spurs the very well run club it is now - he was a very easy hate figure compared to the media savvy El-Tel but I know who I'd rather have on the purse strings.

SAF would probably be a great England manager. He knows the players like the back of his hand, commands their respect (or scares the **** out of them) and balances English pace and power with some style in his teams. I can't see the FA ever going for him (as if he does anything it's speak his mind) or him wanting the job (he is probably the second most Scottish man in the world after Big Dunc). From quite an earnest dislike I find I've actually warmed to the old codger over the years.

Glenn Helder.

So ive tied that one, and ive tied that one,

so that means..... OH MY GOD!

DAN DAN!

Grab the sealant dan,

IVE DONE IT AGAIN!!!

28. At 1:06pm on 07 Oct 2010, Willchimp wrote:

Is a Chocolate Croissant the same as a Pan au Chocolat?
------------------------------------------------------------


Goodness me, no.

They are two completely separate moments of delight to have come from France. The only other I can think of being Claude Makelele's M&S model bird. They're all nice warm, too.

Steve McClaren would be very welcome as the next England Coach. Only if he brought a comical English accent, though.



Gilles de Bilde.

Dan,
Aah, Wim Jonk. Yet another foreigner to turn up at Hillsborough and take home a massive pay cheque while contributing little or nothing on the pitch. See also Gilles de Bilde, Klas Ingesson, Patrick Blondeau, Regi Blinker, Petter Rudi, Gerald Sibon......

Nicky Weaver

This blog reeks of publicity stunt - only to promote The Apprentice and SAS's new book. What has he got to do with football? Wheres the in-depth comments and insight? So he doesnt rate Mourinho and doesnt think SAF would take the England job. This is the front-page football blogworthy information?

I thought the 大象传媒 didnt do adverts!

FAO Rich_Owl:


YAAAASSSS!! Got in the Gilles de Bilde name before you!!

The difference between all the names on your list was that they were all supremely talented without effort, the exact opposite of big Gerald. Rotten.

Bit harsh to include Nicky Weaver in your list, I thought.

I would quite like to see Mourinho go to Leyton Orient. They could then move into the Olympic stadium and would end up winning the Premier League with in about 5 years...... fairytale stuff!

SAF has already managed Scotland at a World cup in Mexico 1986 so has never had the desire to become the full time Scottish or English manager.

Used to dislike Sugar until I saw him repeatedly making a fool out of Piers Morgan the other night!

Chocolate Croissant:

We're back to the Bernabeu/Barneyboo debate here, it's called a 'pain au chocolat'. Jeeez...

;)

36. At 1:29pm on 07 Oct 2010, Clartmaster wrote:

Chocolate Croissant:

We're back to the Bernabeu/Barneyboo debate here, it's called a 'pain au chocolat'. Jeeez...
-----------------------------------------------------------


I think you'll find there's 4 "e's" in Jeeeez.

Jeeez....



Karl Power.

it all went wrong for sheff wed when Milburn decided to go their seperate ways and stop making music, the city (well half of it) died with that decision.

milton nunez

SAF has already been asked about the England job and he said NO then and can't see any reason why that would change. Its a poisoned chalice for any manager but especially a Scot: and only give full rein to the tabloids and that section of the English population who never miss an opportunity to indulge their racism.

csomethingood wrote:
This blog reeks of publicity stunt - only to promote The Apprentice and SAS's new book. What has he got to do with football?

Former Chairman of Spurs.........Potential chairman of the FA??

I think you'll find that Spurs are one of the few sensibly-run clubs in the Premier League, thanks mainly to the structures that were put in place by Lord Sugar/SrAlan.


Sir Clive Sinclair

"The football office here at the 大象传媒 is an eerie place this week. The vast majority of staff are working on the Commonwealth Games a few floors down....."

Surely a clear opportunity to perform some 'colleague's-seat-height-adjusting'? I can just picture Garth Crooks giggling away as he instructs you to "do Gary's".

Andy Hinchcliffe

Future chairman of the FA may be pushing it, but his time at spurs was I the end a good thing, agreeing with an earlier post, sugar arrived, sorted out debts and built a great and stable foundation for spurs to be where they are now. If Harry goes to the England post, I say bring young Jol back. Jose needs to prove himself by taking the Carlisle job. Or morecambe town.

Doug Hotspur Hunter.

It was Mr Sugar not me, who suggested he would be a good chairman of the FA, I tend to agree but only if he did the your fired bit to Brooking et al.

A sound blog this week, dan, but I was disappointed that SAS came to you, after your recent jaunts on licence fee money. Please seek out Richard Branson's opinions on football and French pastries on his new outer space mini bus thing post haste....

And, am I the only person on the entire blog to not udnerstand the random name-drop at the end of each post, but to vainly attempt to go along with it anyway in a shameless attempt to fit in?

Steven Seagal

HRH Alan Sugar didn't seem too keen on the idea of being in the FA when asked about it last Saturday as he didn't believe he would get on well with the suit's there.

Alf Tupper

@ 45

i don't understand the whole name drop either

good blog all the same

Dropkick Murphy

If England went from an English manager to SAF directly, then that would be a problem. But the resistance has kind of softened. First it was Sven, from a quiet colourless and neutral country up north. Not much to argue about. Then an Italian with a huge CV. Who cared, as long as the Italian would win it for us. Of course he was going to win it, for sure. I think that the public would be ready for SAF by now. If there are any reservations, then it would be because of his sometimes erratic behaviour, not where he comes from..

Sorry chaps, new to this blog and unsure of all of these mad sign off names. Can someone explain please?

Many thanks

Dwight Shultz

As for Pain au Chocolate vs Choccy croissant - the wikibible says the difference is the shape...




Marco Pierre White

"Lord Sugar says he would be interested in becoming Football Association chairman if given a remit for reform."

One of the many faces of Supreme Overlord Alan Sugar.

see what you've started grimois


Grimois the 1st

What's to understand. Stick a random, obscure name at the bottom of the post, then sit back and hope someone finds it humorous.

If it's that good then you may even be lucky enough to receive a congratulatory post back from someone, commenting on how much it tickled them!

Mr Bun the Baker

Mr Bun the Baker! Ha! Ha!

Love it, Luke!!



Mr White the Milkman.

And the cycle is complete!

blogcritic:

That doesn't work, hang your head in shame.

Bottle is to Milkman is what Bun is to Baker.

You have upset me with the lack of thought you put into that.

I have to agree with Vincent there. The Milkman was not a character from Resevoir Dogs as far as I recall.

Mr Pots the Painter

Sir Alan was bang out of order that day he mocked me with a Spurs shirt in hand.

My colloquial English has improved, yes?

Jurgen Klinsmann

I have to agree with the negative comments about Alan Sugar(as an Irishman, his knighthood means nothing to me, so I refuse to address him as such). He may have made money in business and he may like football, but until he actually succeeds at football management, which he hasn't, he should keep his opinions about the game to himself. His success in business has given Sugar a big head, it's as simple as that. He has become an opinionated bore on many subjects, I wager, because no one is brave enough to tell him to stick to what he knows best. Jose will always be noted in history as a better football man than Sugar. Sugar's vanity and his self regard imagines him to be better than Jose, but no one else thinks that apart from Sugar himself. We'll, at least, he doesn't have me fooled. Sugar is just jealous that someone else is getting attention for something he wishes he could do. Rather than accept that, he rants as if he has the edge over them. Spare me from self regarding, self congratulatory and self adoring rich men. Sugar, you're off the case, sorry, wrong TV show!

How ironic it is that the buffoon Stafford that suggested Palace should be relegated as they were in administration should jump ship and leave Wednesday owing far more money than Palace ever did. What a hypocrite

Good to see some media focus on the mess going on at Hillsborough. Surprised nobody has taken a punt on the club given the amount of smaller outfits that have managed to make inroads in the top flight in recent years.

Orlando Trustfull

Vince, I am indeed full of remorse.

Although, having researched the joke properly (, I now realise it should have been "Mr Pint the Milkman."



Mr Stamp the Postman.

I expected more from the Sugar Lord if Im honest.

I think it was much grander when Gene Wilder was in charge of it all.

Heady days.


Rod the fisherman.

so nobody knows then

bloomin great

Confucius

I'm disgusted that some of these spoof names seem to belittle the efforts of hardworking blue collar workers everywhere.

Bob the Builder

Blogcritic,

We can hang our heads together

Cionstable,

I'm not Catholic but I still call the Pope,Pope Benedict not Joe.


Snuffet the Undertaker

Name this tune

derrr ded derrr ded derr dede dede derr

derrr ded derrr ded derr dede dede derr

derr de le de dele derrrr




Rob the Burglar

Leyton Orient? Give Jose the England job and he'll be found out. England is the giant killer for sure. Sven and Fabio have looked like a clueless kid freezing in the rain on a cold wintery day in the England dugout.. Not sure Jose would look any different..

We pay how much for our TV licence so that you can play ball in your office??

sigh.

#68 - you know he'd probably fancy the challenge. Just imagine if he pulled it off and actually won something. He'd be probably be knighted, statues built in his honour, wembley renamed after him. He'd be seen as a god amongst men in england. He'd love it.

Hey there Dan.

Thanks for the blog, cheers.

Sir Alex for England manager, i'd love to see it happen but i'm afraid it won't. He doesn't want to and that is the bottom line.

Also, it would only be a short term venture for him, our next gaffer must be a long term appointment with a long term plan. Sir Alex showed in 1986, that short term, even he struggled to inspire a talented generation of Scotsmun.

Hello. Wednesday of the Sheffield variety were ruined by bad management and bad foreign signings. Worst thing they ever did was oust Big Ron.

I remember reading Di Canio's book where he mentioned Danny Wilson saying that he had brought in two world class players to help Di Canio at the club...Phil O'Donnel (RIP) and Simon Donnelly were those two players.

I'm afraid that's how bad it got.

The club also mourned the loss of Dave Hisrt for far too long, as Everton did with Joe Parkinson. A world class player and a case of what might have been, but a replacement was never found soon enough on the basis that one day he may come back and it will all be great again.

Little Jimmy Corkhill

#46 Am gutted, I had just decided to use Alf Tupper as my signature when I saw you using it.

Claude Hopper

#69 how much do you get paid to write on this blog while you're at work?

Mr Wick the Candlemaker

Hola Dan

Surely no-one in football divides opinion more than Jose Mourinho. People simply either love or hate him. However you cannot deny his record, the guys seesm to succeed wherever he goes. So in the respect i would love to see him manage England. But why would anyone want a job that gives so much hassle?

p.s. You look just like a lad I play football with, he's good player but doesn't like to part with the ball. I would imagine you are more a team player?

Windy Miller

Why is the 大象传媒 promoting a reality show on a football blog? Oh yeah. Never mind.

Dear Dan,

Please desist from using tabloid style headlines to attract viewers to your blog.

I came here under the premise that Sir Alan Sugar had some insightful comments to make re. SAF and "The Special one".

SAF: He should manage Eng(rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)land.

The Special One: He wouldn't hack it at Leyton Orient.

Is that it?????????????????

BTW, concerning the food angle of your blogs(which I nearly always enjoy).

How about a campaign to bring back Opal Mints(Spacers), Mintolas and especially, THE KING OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, the SPLICER. The biggest mistake in the history of confectionery was to remove the sacred Splicer bar from general consumption. WHY!!!!!!!!!!

One Splicer would last me all day because I nurtured and cherished it. No biting or chewing until bed-time. The only chewy bar or sweet that had the power over me. Pastilles, bah, chewed within about 1 second. Same with Chewitts and the rest.

Peter Lorimer

Sugar is simply a flea market trader who got lucky and then believes that with that money comes intelligence.He is simply bereft of even the slightest whiff of knowledge and that applies to his pitiful Donald Trump feather lite wannabe persona on TV to his clanky,dismissive and frankly appallingly ill informed critiques on everything from football to electronics.He is a national embarrassment.

"But Lord Sugar was insistent - and he doesn't exactly have a record of getting things wrong, does he?"

The fact that not a single one of his 拢100k-a-year hires off the back of a TV show are still employed by him suggests he drops the occasional clanger: arguably he's done so on an annual basis since 'The Apprentice' started.

Sheffield Wednesday will forever remind me of the classic Skinner & Baddiel Fantasy Football League song :-

Andaaaaaaaaaaaaay Sinton, Andy Sinton, Andy Sinton, Andy Siiiiiiiiiiinton, Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaandy Sinton, Andy Sinton, Andy Sintooooooooooooooooooon!

Brilliant!

Andy Sinton

How can anybody in the right frame of mind doubt Mourinho's credentials? Anybody remember porto winning the champions league? (which was on a budget the size of Leyton Orients, compared to other vying for that competition) or him in his fist year in charge at chelsea winning the league? (City are proving that it wasn't just the mega money spent that won chelsea the league) and finally who else predicted that Inter would win the champions league last year?

Tea Time At Harrods:

It鈥檚 amazing how many people who work hard to achieve things, get 鈥榣ucky鈥�, a university education is not necessarily linked to intelligence- Sugar worked hard and used his 鈥渨hiff of knowledge鈥� to locate holes in the market and used his skills effectively.

Also how can he possibly be a TV persona 鈥榳annabe鈥� his show is one of the most popular on television and his comments are reported widely, surely he is a TV persona??

Get over yourself.

'Lord' Sugar really shouldn't be consulted about football. Yes he ran a club for 10 years, but he treated and still does treat Spurs like a business. A football club is not a business, nor a profit making machine, as Hicks and Gillet have found out. Yes the Real Madrids and Barcelonas may make hundreds of millions, but that is nothing, barely 10% of what a small multinational corporation makes. This means that a football club should be run like a football club, with freedom given to the manager. Also, i'm sure The Special One would do fine at Leyton Orient as well!

So Sir Alan knows nothing about the special one. You see, talent to mode a bunch of nearly footballers into a team which scares the pants off your opponents is a mark of a genius. So it doesnt matter who the team is 'The special one ' will always come up trumps. Sir Alan believes in himself as always being right in business, so does The special one in football.

Sorry #72 it was a flash of inspiration!

Haven't read Tough of the Track in a long time!

Professor Pat Pending

#82 Surely a football club in the modern age does need to be run like a business? You need to have financial controls on managers, certainly some anyway, as otherwise you'll have clubs driven into the ground through irresponsible spending on players. Even when a club is run like a business, it can of course still suffer financial problems. Perhaps there is a lot to be said for using the German model that is employed by many clubs there.

You can't just give managers carte blanche to spend what they like - I'm sure the majority of clubs have had at least one manager they can remember who they wouldn't want to be allowed to run riot and spend what they like. Football clubs are going to be emotive quite obviously because of what they mean to their supporters, but you need to be realistic.

If, under Sugar, Tottenham were able to get rid of a 拢24m debt, then were I a supporter of that team, I would be pretty happy at my team not being saddled with that debt.

Elton John

As I'm based in Hamburg, it was good to watch DJ's report on St Pauli, and your follow up above.tho IMO you could have shown a few bars of AC DC Hells Bells being blasted out to greet the teams, and ass FF is on Sat, noted that ther prev evening StP beat Hanover away.

A note of caution for anyone wanting to visit a match, you will need to plan ahead, games can be played Fri,Sat or Sun, and as with most Bundesliga clubs, tickets are usually sold out well in advance.

But then there are plenty of bars,esp as ALL BL games are shown live

Hi Dan, as many have commented already you slipped in that question to Lord Sugar about the prospect of him becoming chairman of the F.A. in very nicely during Footie Focus I must say. Shame he was so reluctant to take it up, perhaps showing the same 'coy' retticance as Sir Alex has for the England job?..but both together would be truely revolutionary.

Did you see Lord Allen showing off his $14k bike to Piers Morgan on his show only last week..explains his cycling enthusiasm - maybe Dicko could borrow it? ;)

Do the Boston Red Sox know there's an historic English club going for only 拢5m..must be a bargain if someone is writing off the debts - the price of an Emiliano Insua. Maybe footie focus could start a fan collection at 拢5 a pop and we'd all get our own St.Pauli?

Lord Edmund Blackadder

#82 I'm afraid I wish all clubs would wake up & realise that they have to be run more like a business. The perfect club (if there ever is one!) will find the perfect balance between a business & a sports club.

Hicks & Gillett, and the Glazer's, are running their clubs in order to make a profit & pay themselves handsomely - I don't wish to see that either.

Hibernian in Scotland are great example of how to run a club - they have developed youth (Gary O'Connor, Kevin Thomson, Scott Brown) & sold them for a profit, which has been re-invested into the club. They now have no debt, an excellent stadium & a state-of-the-art training complex. No mortgages, it is all their own. From now on, pretty much any operating profit they accumulate can go on the playing budget, which is a fantastic situation to be in.

Significantly better situation than Portsmouth, which was run as a toy by a millionaire who got bored (Chelski & City fans beware). Shall we ask their supporters if they are still "living the dream?"

My apologies, nearly forgot to sign off!



Kevin Darling.

Great! So thats his enlightened comment on Mourinho! Thanks Sugar.
One thing that never surprises me with egotistical people like Sugar and Trump, is their utter inability to admit that they are in anyway wrong. if they are out-manoevred in business, it was always in an underhand method, and they'll bleat on about it for years. Being a club owner without any nous doesn't make you loved by the fans! Mourinho has barely made a mistake in his career, and has little to prove, yet sugar feels the need to deride him. Alan Sugar, however, is resposible for producing and backing a string of junk that has filled our highstreet shops over the years. He is the Ratners of computing! But give the man air-time and his self-inflated opinions seem to matter! Fool!

Dan... Dan... Dan... Dan... Dan... Dan... Dan...? Dan...?
...
...
Dan...? Dan...? Dan...?

Alan Partridge

Dan, serious for a second,

actually not that serious,

Do you know Caroline Cheese who does the live text?

If so does anyone call her Bob?

They should.


Bob Carol-Cheese




Oh, and your watch, I like it.


Franklin the Turtle

PS Mintola's are now called Mint Munchies! If you do a search on Google, they'll have some images showing them. They still have the same square shape too. People might remember Munchies, which you can still buy, and were in red packaging (still square) and had biscuit in them.

Willy Wonka

I don't imagine Sir Alex taking on the England job for a few reasons...

1) He's Scottish (quite important point, to him at least)
2) He's approaching 70
3) He has the best job in English football already
4) England has a manager with another 2 well paid years to serve
5) England recently asked Emile Heskey to come out of retirement (I think this point is beautifully indicative of the state of the national team)

Johnny Metgod

Surely I can't be alone in noticing that "Lord Sugar" is the most Drag Queen name ever?

What a tragedy that is happening to Sheffield Wednesday a historic team of English soccer. I remember being at Wembley in 1966 when Everton came from behind to win 3-2, one of the most exciting finals ever. On the way down the M1 from Liverpool one of the best soccer signs ever "Everton for the cup, Wednesday for the middle of the week". Watching from afar the problems facing so many of England`s venerable old clubs is heartbreaking and unless some sanity is injected into the game more teams into administration to follow. It seems that people taking over these clubs, Liverpool, Man Utd etc are only interested in the glory of owning a famous team rather than the history and loyalty of the fans.

Vancouveral

Its all very well to go on about nasty owners only interested in glory, but lets face it - most chairman have always been exactly the same. Most of the current rabid fan abuse about owners is basically barely concealed racism - most clubs have had plenty of bad chairman over the years, its nothing new.

Ask Man City fans how many would like to replace their glory hunting UAE owners for a return to the Peter Swales days...

#92 - Love the Alan Partridge reference.

I'm not an admirer of teams that just have money thrown at them, and subsequently end up
in masses of debt. Clubs should, as mentioned, be run like a business.

It's a shame about Wednesday. They have a great stadium, great fans, but they are perennial underachievers. They need some solid financial footing to push their way up the table.

Glenn Quagmire