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AreYouRob'n

Listed below are comments made by AreYouRob'n between Friday, 12th December 2008 and Sunday, 21st June 2009.

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Twists and turns of breakaway row emerge 5:11pm on 21 Jun 2009 Re: Comment 7. Loads of circuits are available, mostly those dumped by wee Bernie because the owners wouldn't stump up millions for the privilege of hosting. Indianapolis, Spa, Magny Cours, Budapest, Adelaide, Silverstone (don't agree they won't take a gamble because no guarantees Bernie will give it back anyway). They can go to Jerez in Spain, Montreal? South America - maybe Argentina or another Brazilian circuit. Basically there are plenty of circuits available around the planet, more than there should be because Bernie has taken the cash and sent F1 to places like Turkey and Dubai where there is neither a tradition nor much support. If FOTA are serious and keep their nerve they can shred both the FIA and Bernie. Good ridance.
Executive rewards, for what? 2:38pm on 09 Jun 2009 To run a large company requires leadership, that is all. The nuts and bolts are taken care of by the staff. We seem to arrived at a point where we have allowed the senior positions of our largest companies to be dominated by leaders who use money to gauge their importance. Yet not all leaders do. Despite frequent derision the very large public sector organisations are run by capable leaders, the largest charities are likewise run by excellent senior executives. Their motivations might be power, paternalism, making a difference or a strange combination of all three but they work for about 5% of a FTSE 100 package. There is no reason why these skilled administrators cannot make money for shareholders and may, indeed, make more with a longer term outlook not solely motivated by their annual bonus.
Barry gets England talking 6:13pm on 03 Jun 2009 93: "IF Hughes gets the right players and make them gel. That is not guaranteed - look at Real Madrid and the galactico project."

Never really agreed with the idea the Galactico project was a failure. Zidane and Figo both won the Champions League and turned Real into the richest club in the world. Problem was it wasn't seen through and the players were allowed to grow old rather than be replaced with new, younger stars. Real now have the funds to buy further superstars as well as a half decent defence.

Madrid have had a pretty poor time in the Champions League over the last three or four years but have still picked up La Liga last year and finished second to an awesome Barca this year. They aren't eactly a million miles from being very competitive again.
Barry gets England talking 4:52pm on 03 Jun 2009 If City chuck enough money at the problem then they will qualify for Champions League at the end of the coming season or next, probably at the expense of Liverpool or Arsenal who are the most vulnerable to a club with City's resources. I don't know how much it will take but total spending of about £200m would probably be enough. It cost Abramovich about £600m to buy the title and the Glazers about the same although they bought a club complete with players rather than a club and adding the players. Just making 4th will be a lot less. Spending the money well and buying a team not just individuals might influence how much it costs but not the central premise that a deep wallet buys success.

Villa and Everton have no chance now and to be honest I doubt Spurs do either. Newcastle of course are in the wrong division. This season jsut past, with Arsenal severely constrained by property speculation, was the best opportunity for a different team to gatecrash the top 4 through old fashioned team building. With City it is now 5 into 4 and the pattern of the best players from Everton and Villa being hoovered up will continue. Not just because the rich clubs covert the players but because weakening potential rivals before they have a chance to seriously challenge is good business. This may also start to happen to Spurs who cannot compete on wages with any of the top 4 and City.

Barry has gone to one of five clubs that might deliver his ambition and he's getting a fortune to do so. Sound decision on his part if you ask me and I doubt sacrificing the UEFA Cup or Europa League or whatever for a season played any part in his decision at all. Frankly the days when it was the more challenging competition to win are long gone. Unfortunately I am old enough to remember those days when it was jammed with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th best teams from all the big leagues
F1 battle lines are drawn 5:46pm on 13 May 2009 I haven't had time to read all the posts so apologies for repetition if that is necessary. Why aren't our politicians wading into this? Hi-tech motorsport is a hugely successful industry in this country and employs thousands of brilliant engineers. Quite obviously if budgets are cut at Renault, McClaren etc this will result in redundancies. Even Ferrari utilise UK based expertise - indeed it was the decision to do so in the late 90s that coinicided with Schumies world titles. We should be screaming from the roof tops or facilitating alternatives with Ferrari, Renault etc - perhaps at Silverstone! This is not just about whether F1 is better or worse as a result but is about supporting a successful industry in this country.
Strauss's nearly-men have work to do 2:18pm on 11 Mar 2009 Can't agree with the criticism of Stauss over the declaration. Half and hour earlier would only have won the game if the Windies had still collapsed. As they would be chasing less than 3 an over a focus on winning rather than a draw would have taken over. I think it was the acceptance of the later that got them into trouble. Lets face it, a Captain who declared giving the opposition 70+ overs to score 210 would be crucified.
The real issue is converting winning opportunities. Twice this series England were on the cusp of winning and twice failed to achieve it. Thinking back to our last decent series - Ashes 2005 - that series was decided with the late dismissal of Lee to win second test when it looked as though the combination of he and Warne would see Aussies through. Compare that to the failure to dismiss 10th wicket partnership in third test here. Series and the standing of teams are decided by such things. If Lee had brought the Aussies home the 2005 Ashes would have been a stroll for them. Instead....
So we can't convert winning positions, perhaps because our bowling remains average. Might have taken more wickets than the Windies but I still doubt our capability to take the 15 wickets a match that brings the winning line into sight on a regular enough basis.
Finally, very depressing to watch the Aussies win in South Africa. Not jsut the win but the manner of it. Agressive, smart, brave. how come it takes us years to rebuild while they can do it between back to back series?! Sheffield Shield I expect.
The narrative of the new political era 5:31pm on 21 Jan 2009 Perhaps the balance between rhetoric and policy is important or perhaps not. Obama reminds me of something for the most part missing from politics for decades and something that any business will tell you is critical; the ability to inspire. Work harder for less pay? Inspirational managers can pull that off. Solutions not as easy to find as you hoped? A good boss will motivate you through the rough patch. And so on. Obama has a rare ability to inspire and like a good manager his people will put up with more for him because of how he makes them feel. Whether he can overcome the problems of the middle-east, climate change or the economy I don't know, but he will certainly make people feel more secure and less scared than circumstances suggest they should be. Surely one of the roles of any leader?
No carping about Kaka coup 5:47pm on 16 Jan 2009 A number of people are saying the fee is twice that paid for Zidane. It is for Man City but it isn't for Milan. Zidane was about 70 million Euros and one hundred million quid is about 110 million Euros.

Might seem pedantic but that is the view on this from Milan. The sum is still massive but it is not as disproportionate as it seems from the UK.
Dreamy darts at the Lakeside 5:45pm on 12 Jan 2009 It's a shame darts got divorced but the BDO was a truly shambolic organisation in the early 90s. It had comprehensively failed to recognise that looking after its stars was key to generating the revenue to run a decent national darts association. It allowed sponsorship to drift away (snooker had the same problem) by presuming the gravy train would never end. Not surprisingly the players rebelled against the blazers and set up on their own. The PDC was inevitable so long as the BDO focused on pub players. In snooker it was a close run thing but the players stayed put.

The best darts player in the world throws in the PDC and has done from the start. To that extent the BDO event is the subordinate competition. I don't understand why the longer history of the BDO event is really significant. It started in 1978 not 1878 for heavens sake and the PDC is only fourteen years younger..

However apart from it being preposterous to suggest the BDO have enough quality to stage a world championship the split does work quite well.

The BDO develop players through their system and then when, or if, they are good enough they go and play in the PDC. I like Hankey and Wolfie but both would get creamed in the PDC and only poor players have ever crossed back. The PDC operates like a top division into which you can be promoted if you are good enough.

The BDO always wanted to concentrate on the amateurs and it still does while the PDC doesn't want to be burdened with running the grass routes of the game.

So the status quo probably works for darts - just not at World Championship time.
Another Black Friday 09:23am on 12 Dec 2008 So the news continues to be bad from business. Fortunately the news from the political arena is better. A debate has started about how best to deal with the economy. The first, encouraging sign that future decisions will be based on winning an argument rather than blind panic and herd mentality. Germany has broken ranks with the prevailing keynesian approach, the Senate has chucked out the auto-industry's pleas for subsidy. Out of argument will rise better solutions, although not painless ones.

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