Tucker
Shitehawk
- Jul 15, 2013
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Could be they have break clauses in their contracts. The money would have been a big draw, but I bet players still wanted assurances they could leave if they didn’t like the lifestyle out there.
Saudi League chat.
- Thread starter McFlash
- Start date
BorjeSpurs
Well-Known Member
- Jun 29, 2007
- 3,302
- 18,579
It is underrated how many ex-players have been humbled by taking on coaching jobs. I look forward to see if players such as Terry, Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard take down the arrogance a bit when they eventually end up in the pundit chair.
neilp
Well-Known Member
- Jul 9, 2007
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Even if the poor chap now has to pay tax on his earnings, he still picks up £560,000 every week that he’s been there, so I’m not feeling sorry for him.
McFlash
In the corner, eating crayons.
- Oct 19, 2005
- 12,985
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- Thread starter
- #144
Yeah I didn't mention that because I didn't want it to appear too biased against the whole middle eastern thing.
Can't say I'd love it over there, no matter how much I got paid and not just because of the whole human rights thing, also because I'm a raging alcoholic!
Trent Crimm
Well-Known Member
- Jun 8, 2021
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But but but. Grow the game, snifff
tommo84
Proud to be loud
- Aug 15, 2005
- 6,228
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Hasn’t happened with Neville, and he was much worse in his coaching stint than any of those mentioned. It’s a discussion for another thread but I do feel like the level of punditry on tv is hurt by not having anyone who has truly succeeded as a manager.
Tucker
Shitehawk
- Jul 15, 2013
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The difference between Neville and the likes of Lampard and Gerrard is that he does his homework when it comes to punditry. He’s not always 100% on his knowledge, but generally he’s informative and clued up more than your average punter. Him and Carragher do actually give insightful analysis when given the chance. When appearing as pundits Lampard and Gerrard have a track record of speaking in nothing but cliches and provide little more than inane waffle to fill the 5 minutes of non advert broadcasting that Sky legally need to show at halftime.
It beggars belief that anyone would see either of them talk about football and think they’d make good managers. For guys that generally worked their bollocks off when they were players they come across as people who can’t be arsed to put the effort in to have knowledge on what they’re talking about. I suspect that a lot of pros like them get to retirement and think because they’ve been wildly successful as players that there isn’t anything else they can learn about the game. The truth is though they’ve got a very limited experience having only really known the top end of the game with teams that had vast resources and quality players.
Put them in a relegation dogfight, or ask them to take a collection of average players up a level and they don’t have any real experience of it.
Trent Crimm
Well-Known Member
- Jun 8, 2021
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His researcher does his homework.
Dirty Ewok
Well-Known Member
- Aug 29, 2012
- 9,073
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I think this is a much bigger factor than many people realize.
It is so much different in Saudi than most of them would expect.
Welcome to a "Western Compound", the housing and amenities are fairly nice in the compound. But outside of the compound....
Want a drink? - nope, sorry no alcohol available (i'm sure that the clubs ensured that the players had a 'contact' who could smuggle booze across the causeway to drink at home, but can't go out and drink)
Want to go out for an evening?.....no clubs or bars in country. 1 (ONE) movie theatre in country and the government decides what gets shown.
Forget about doing anything on a Friday before 5pm, everything is closed.
Want to do something during one of the 5 prayer times a day.....welp, sorry but everything is closed and the religious police don't like you even standing around idly.
Are you single?.....well, HUGE fucking mistake going to Saudi. You don't get to mingle with women.
Got a wife?.....goes without saying that Saudi will probably not be her cup of tea.
So you get paid a ransom to play football in empty stadiums for a league that is barely shown anywhere and no one fucking cares about. In your (considerable) downtime your options are basically.....lounge around your house, go to the compound community center, maybe golf, go to the mall or go to a restaurant (no wine or booze). Your wife/girlfriend is going to be wildly restricted in what she can do. Everything closes down several times a day....and on top of all that....Its hotter than the fucking sun.
I do wonder if the Western players actually live across the causeway in Bahrain and get driven/chopper across daily for practice etc. As Bahrain is at least a bit more lenient (you can get a drink!), but it would be like living in giant mall.
I imagine someone like Henderson must feel like he landed on the fucking moon going to live over there.
Tucker
Shitehawk
- Jul 15, 2013
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If it was the work of researchers, then the other pundits would sound well informed too. They don’t.
Tucker
Shitehawk
- Jul 15, 2013
- 31,532
- 147,606
More fool them for taking the blood money.
neilp
Well-Known Member
- Jul 9, 2007
- 3,393
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Hopefully all this news will persuade others not to follow the money and it will slowly fade away.
Frozen_Waffles
Well-Known Member
- Jan 26, 2005
- 3,784
- 9,630
Well this is it, how many players have actually been sold from Saudi clubs back to Europe?
Haven't heard of any so far (not really been keeping track though), and I can't imagine any club (nation) willing to let a 30 million pound asset returning to the PL on the cheap. He may want to return to the PL, but I don't think he'll be allowed.
FibreOpticJesus
Well-Known Member
- Aug 14, 2005
- 2,835
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Plus the tax the players will have to pay to the Saudi’s for not staying two years! Although maybe the players agents factored this in when they did the deal.
Danny1
Well-Known Member
- Dec 6, 2006
- 5,688
- 17,568
They must be so surprised at these ‘unknown’ facts about living in Saudi Arabia, despite thousands and thousands of people doing it in the past and present who put up with the horrible conditions to earn good money to send home.
Honestly, as a general bunch footballers really are a stupid breed. Here is a fact, the reason you are getting paid so much is because it comes with some ‘bad’, that’s not just limited to football. I could go over there and earn a massive salary and live in a compound 7 days a week with nothing to do but hop on a flight to Bahrain for a laugh.
Honestly, as a general bunch footballers really are a stupid breed. Here is a fact, the reason you are getting paid so much is because it comes with some ‘bad’, that’s not just limited to football. I could go over there and earn a massive salary and live in a compound 7 days a week with nothing to do but hop on a flight to Bahrain for a laugh.
Were so in love with the cash they were offered they thought of nothing else ? None of what they are apparently complaining about comes as a surprise to everyone else.
