Dolly Potter MD

1. "The Sopranos" 2. "The Shield" 3. "Entourage", and "Dead Wood", a toss-up between these two. Like the top 3 film thread, it's a tough call coming up with a definitive three. "True Blood", "Rome", and "Twin Peaks" are/were all good as well. "Fawlty Towers" re:comedy.

This. Seriously will never ever trust the bloke. He wants to make a statement of intent? Accept a reasonable offer for the club, cut your losses and accept failure to win us over. Oh aye and take your fucking SD ads with you too. I used to think Shepherd Offshore and Cameron Hall took the piss but it's nowt compared to this clown's outfit. This. In reality though, and this is testament to the man's character. The man is a reckless gambler who has refused to underwrite his own losses as well. This is a pretty recent story. After England lost to the Croats in the European Cup qualifier he/SD tried weasel out of a contract by refusing to accept delivery [and thus not pay, i think it was Umbro - i can't remember if it was them, or Adidas after they bought out Umbro] of a bulk sized amount of replica shirts. Over 10 000 were to go Lillywhites alone. He simply got in early [before his competition did], ordered a massive quantity in bulk at a bulk/cut-price deal before England actually qualified. Basically it was his intention to saturate the market while savagely undercutting the oppositon. His problem was [and he is a gambler] the fact they he failed to carry out due diligence, re: ordering up before the qualifiers had run their ourse. The gamble blew up in his face, and he was determined to not to bear any financial losses relating to his flawed judgment/gamble in this instance. He refused to take delivery [as mentioned] and Umbro threatened to sue for breach of contract, for which they had an iron clad case. Ashley [shite Direct] reluctantly took delivery, but still had the cheek to demand credit notes for each unit/replica that were to be eventually unsold. The point being when in comes the ramifications of his poor business related decisions [where poor judgement is involved, thanks to a lack of due diligence] and the idea of accepting responsibility & accepting a financial loss [reluctantly taking a blow on the chin like a man of honour] doesn't compute where this man involved. I dunno you'd characterise that as a 'failure to do due diligence' like. That's just a commercial gamble. FWIW I imagine he doesn't ever do due diligence in his acquisitions. He probably can't see the benefit given the cost involved in doing due diligence checks only to be warned against a purchase. It wouldn't appeal to the gambler in him at all and tbf by and large the acquisitions he's made (I suspect without dd or with only the most cursory of checks) have made him an absolute fortune. We are obviously the noteable exception. He made his fortune through stockpiling of cheap brands during an economic boom period, and paraded them in what amounted to a market stall masquerading itself as a reputable alternative to classier establishments like JJB, and of course resorting to other unethical business practices. Fair play to him re: the piece placed in bold. As previously pointed out, and we are not are notable exception in his track record [via the scenario/case stated]. Where 'commercial gambles' are concerned there's risk involved, from the top end of end of town right down the mum & dad investor dabbling in the sharemarket. At all levels on the playing field they're betting on fluctuating markets, taking a shot based on a hunch where potential losses can be mimimised with a degree of due diligence as per the post above. When you're betting & playing with largescale amounts of money [where there is a 49% shareholding attributed to other parties, as Ashley's was a only a majority shareholder at the time] some degree of due diligence was warranted, a play-it-safe policy of some sort. It's all good & well to ride the highs, but the man is hesistant to cop a loss on the chin [by attempting to rip off his supplier - in effect forcing them to subsidise his poor judgement, and his company's paper loss]. By holding his early AGM's in a storage warehouse, away from the major metro centres & an hour away from any type of public transport, the man wasn't even brave enough to face up to the potential wrath of his shareholders in the wake of the company's drop in value & subequent failed gambles. This man has little regard to facing up to one's failings, even acting with a hint of transparency and being held accountable to the everyday punter. As inferred in the earlier post this is a man without honour, and acts with blatant disregard to facing any type of, or accepting accountability. He won't [as he should] admitt to his spectacular failings as the club's owner & primary string-puller, and hence not force any potential buyer of the club to subsidise his paper loss & poor judgment by slapping down a ridicilous figure re: his asking price. As another poster intimated, 'accept a reasonable bid & walk away'. On a different level playing field, and it relates to the football management caper. Once again it is a question of honour, argument holds water. Even Gullit knew when to walk away [on the back of a series of decisions, which apply to the transfer market and how footballers were/or were not treated with respect losing the support of dressing room in the process - decisions by which managers live & die by] at his own expense. For that Gullit deserves respect.

Notable exclusions, as top 3 lists are tough: "No Country For Old Men", "There Will Be Blood" & "Blade Runner" No Country saw the introduction of modern day film's coolest & most chilling villain, while There Will Be Blood lays host to the most ruthless bugger seen in recent times.

1. Scarface 2. Godfather 1 & 2, with a leaning toward Part 2. 3. Apocalypse Now Redux.

"Pollock": starring and directed by Ed Harris. 4 out of 5.

This. Seriously will never ever trust the bloke. He wants to make a statement of intent? Accept a reasonable offer for the club, cut your losses and accept failure to win us over. Oh aye and take your fucking SD ads with you too. I used to think Shepherd Offshore and Cameron Hall took the piss but it's nowt compared to this clown's outfit. This. In reality though, and this is testament to the man's character. The man is a reckless gambler who has refused to underwrite his own losses as well. This is a pretty recent story. After England lost to the Croats in the European Cup qualifier he/SD tried weasel out of a contract by refusing to accept delivery [and thus not pay, i think it was Umbro - i can't remember if it was them, or Adidas after they bought out Umbro] of a bulk sized amount of replica shirts. Over 10 000 were to go Lillywhites alone. He simply got in early [before his competition did], ordered a massive quantity in bulk at a bulk/cut-price deal before England actually qualified. Basically it was his intention to saturate the market while savagely undercutting the oppositon. His problem was [and he is a gambler] the fact they he failed to carry out due diligence, re: ordering up before the qualifiers had run their ourse. The gamble blew up in his face, and he was determined to not to bear any financial losses relating to his flawed judgment/gamble in this instance. He refused to take delivery [as mentioned] and Umbro threatened to sue for breach of contract, for which they had an iron clad case. Ashley [shite Direct] reluctantly took delivery, but still had the cheek to demand credit notes for each unit/replica that were to be eventually unsold. The point being when in comes the ramifications of his poor business related decisions [where poor judgement is involved, thanks to a lack of due diligence] and the idea of accepting responsibility & accepting a financial loss [reluctantly taking a blow on the chin like a man of honour] doesn't compute where this man involved.

It's come around full circle. We're once again Spurs' feeder club.

Current: Ozil. Retired: Cruyff, Van Basten & Gullit........ and Valderrama, couldn't & wouldn't tackle most of the time, brilliant playmaker [and close control] though.

Do they need to sell, due to financial constraints?....... as was the case when Forest offloaded Jenas [their most influential outfielder at the time] to us for a hefty sum. Potential price & ramifications of destabilizing their midfield [by offloading Taarabt] is too high. There's enough games for them to drop into the play-off spots, and play-off football is a bit like a lottery or cup football, where a season's worth of form can be effectively cast out the window. Just ask Paul Hart, whose Forest outfit were playing the best football in championship for most of the season [01/02] before falling shot in the play-offs, and Jenas [different type of player of course] was the midfield rock up until the point when he was sold. A peanut bid [of lets say 2m or thereabouts] won't be enough to seal this deal.

Liverpool are trying to sign Eljero Elia - an outstanding man-beating winger, with quicksilver like pace. Probably the top 'winger' prospect in Europe imo. Way out of our league & price-range. A shame he's going to end up at Liverpool, he'd be devastating under Ferguson/at Man Utd.

Fair comment Noelie. Kadar could have played, we know Perch isn't good enough, maybe Pardew will see it too. The real problem is, as you insinuate, we are badly short on cover for Enrique which is a disgrace tbh, even Keegan said when he was manager that he wanted competition for Enrique. I'm guessing Perch was played over Kadar because he's quicker and agaiunst Lennon that would be important. He didn't have a bad game by his own standards. Pace [catch-up/recovery speed] counts for little if the FB allows too much of a cushion/creative space between himself and the attacker, particularly if the delivery/final ball equals that of the running & dribbling ability - and Lennon's end product has greatly improved over the last two seasons. A pertinant point considering the amount of central options Spurs [and other top-of-the-table outfits] had at their disposal ie. the blokes who cash in on the outstanding wide play of Lennon & Bale. It's why Perch is such a liability at this higher level of competition. Even a hatchet-type challenge early on to give his opposite number to think about would suffice - Griffin was great for that. Surely Kadar offers more, on both counts - both in terms of physical presence and a suffocating pattern of defensive play.

A shocker this one - it should come with a warning disclaimer. I recall it pulled down in many countries - a very upfront & brutal awareness campaign. The lass in question only just passed away. My cousin has been modelling for a couple of years now as she was spotted in a shopping centre, handed a business card & signed-up by a pretty major agency in a shopping centre, and she is petite as well although nothing like the pic. She probably gets that from my mother, who was formerly a ballet dancer - ironically another international jetsetter. edit: my niece.

Most mental pic I've ever seen. You see when the wave hit, you seen it go in to the shore, and you thought well fuckin hell just stand in front of it, it's not that bad, then you hear 300,000 deed. I can't be the only one who thought how did that kill 300,000 at the time. I mean you see them surfers in Australia riding bigger waves than that. When you saw the devastation though you realised how bad it was. The resort I stayed in in Thailand was descimated, we would've been fucked because we were never away from the beach and the beach bar. I would love to know what happened to that bloke. Was about this time at year as well wasn't it? RIP the 300,000 can't believe it's 4 years ago. It's a bloody surreal isn't it. His fate was probably that of many, washed back out into the ocean when the tide [or fast flowing river to put it better] sucked a copius amount of the living and the dead back out there, to eventually become shark biscuits for ocean predators & scavengers. There was a prediction at the time that something like 100k lost their lives in this manner, many whose remains were never recovered. The lore of the land [especially along the coastal fringes] amongst the Indo locals is 'you see the tide level drop out suddenly, you run for higher ground, or at the very least climb a tree'. If the tree snaps you've at least got something to hold onto for dear life. It's what i was i told when surfing Lagundri Bay, Nias. Nias was also hit, although not to the same extent as some of the other islands & coastal areas. It's superficial to talk about this in context of the human tragedy, but the force of quake itself [and the lifting of the seismic plates] actually permanently lifted a bucketload of the reefs from their previous levels, by a matter of feet. It's affected the shape of many world class reef breaks [including Nias], but most importantly their consistency. These days alot of them need a bigger swell [and higher tide] before they start working & playing up to their old form & magnificence. A mate of mine was on a chartered surf trip through the Mentawai Islands, roughly about a month after the disaster. He witnessed floating & bloated cadavers regularly drifting by their vessel - every half hour or so. Many were missing limbs, fully and partially chewed off by sharks etc.

Their new captain [Clarke] is hopelessly out of form, and has been for some time. He was known for prodigious technique & footwork - he just seems to stab at everything just outside his off-stump nowadays. Watson [with his poor conversion rate, 50's - big 100's] is as culpable as any batsman in their line-up. They seemingly cannot build an innings around this bloke, unlike Cook/Strouss & Trott who are both pillars of strength and can stay the distance. Going back a few years their combination of Langer & Hayden at the top of the order was their equivalent of Greenidge & Haynes. In Hayden you had that flaying & free-flowing bully with a great eye & technique to see out the new ball [aka. Greenidge], while Langer very much like Haynes - the little streetfighter who could stay out their for three sessions and them some. They've lost that much needed balance at the top of the attack.

5m + resale value = 'Good Business', using a soundbite from Ashley's other spin-doctor [Mort]. Ashley has the tremendous support offered towards the lad [from the terraces, before & after the injury] to thank for this. We love our flair players, and they likewise warm to the support. An optimistic side in me hopes that the lad has fallen under the same spell. But now for a dose of realism. It will only be a matter of time before the lad realizes this is no longer the same club [with a sizeable gap in the way of ambition] watched by the next generation of French players, when a trademark player like Ginola graced the shirt. It was the club's repute & level of ambition [with a top manager on the books which delivered Robert here [when a move to Barca was in the offering], and Wenger offered a personal reccomendation to the lad. It's a starkly different picture now. Realism, and a move away for sake of career progression & personal ambition, will eventually kick in as it did re Milner, Zoggy & Bassong, and a loyal club stalwart in Given. At least [if there's truth to the story] Ashley hasn't attempted to stuff another club on a transfer fee, given that HBA's injury effectively vetoed the current appearance-based deal, and opened up another route of signing ie. lower fee, possible Webster move in the summer as HBA is eligible to do so come Summer. Perhaps there's a new-found alertness [a conscience maybe] as to how we're perceived in the transfer market. This is moot though if the story turns out to be rubbish.

This ironically was a quality [or character trait] which many a supporter were drawn towards, during the early phase of his reign. A 'breath of fresh air' was the common catchphrase.

Were you expecting something along the lines of the Bourne films?

Lone man about to be swallowed by the Boxing Day Tsunami. Hard to find a close-up shot, as the footage was originally taken off a camcorder, and later circulated among the networks. Probably for the better though. It's the facelessness of the image which makes it all the more poignant. I remember seeing this on the news, in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami and it's the one image which sticks in my mind [where the thought of 'poor bastard' enters], much like the Falling Man shot re: 9/11.

He buys failing companies cheap so he can stick their logo on his cheap tat. While this acquisition policy is ingenious, its irrelevant to nufc. ........ and he's no stranger to intentionally & systematically facilitating a company's demise either, by acting as an agent saboteur via his influence in the boardroom/strength of shareholding ie. blocking financial lifelines/rescue packages. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets...acks-board.html They've held out bravely for some time now, but it would appear as if Black's days are numbered. The new chairman of the FA is also the chairman of Blacks' BoD. Good to see that Ashley now has a friendly face inside the FA. A feeling of ill-toward dating back to the article i posted. Ashley has strain of consistency, when it comes to burning bridges as far pushing 2nd parties into a corner, to save a few quid. Our transfer policy, or our dealings with potential selling clubs has followed suit. There's a sly way in which the club goes about it's business these days, and our previous reputation for being a professionally behaved wheeler & dealer has become muddied, but that's another discussion. I I'm sure the FA will offer some type of token support next time the club officially whinges about refereeing standards etc. sarcastic pun intended. Discounting the whole Southern & influenced power base of the FA for one moment, and this belies Bernstein's demeanour of that of a very diplomatic operator, but it will be tougher to find someone [in a position of power within the FA] who has more reason to roll down the 'fuck-off' shutter when dealing with the Toon.

"The American" 4.5 out of 5. Minimalist in the way of plot, and it gives you nothing in the way origins of it's main protaginists - a bit like The Hurt Locker. But it more than makes for in the way of execution, performances & suspense.

He's a much better actor now he's older. Good director too. This and Gone Baby Gone were both very good imo. As a filmmaker he seems interested in the Boston Ethos as well, stories which incorporate Boston's tough neighbourhoods/Irish Catholic roots. My only criticism of The Town is that it underplayed, or underutilised the FBI or police angle - perhaps there's a director's cut. That could punch it to another level, alongside 'Heat' in the modern-day cops & robbers genre.

"Buried" 3.5 out of 5.

Divided loyalty [with the scales tipped towards Spurs] in the directors' box re:Ashley. Cut shots to Ashley should make interesting viewing [as they were two years ago at WHL, when they turned us over].

I've always rated Eboue. As an overlapping fullback [who can hit the bylines & cut it back low into the heart of the box] he'd compliment Barton's guile & playmaking qualities.