Also wonder if Gerrard gets sacked whether he will hsve to pay back tax. I reckon he is just waiting to be sacked
Rather tempting thoughThis league will disappear as quickly as it arrived. The high profile signings were all part of their sportswashing attempt to bring them the World Cup Finals and tourists.
I wouldn't go there on holiday if they paid me £700k a week.
I had the misfortune to go there for work in the 90s. It was a sales trip that was scheduled for 2 weeks. The team of 5 got all we needed in 5 days and flew back. One of the things that completely disgusted me was a few of the guys we were working with asked if we would like to go to the beheading on the Saturday as if it was a sightseeing must do thing never to be missed. We all turned it down.This league will disappear as quickly as it arrived. The high profile signings were all part of their sportswashing attempt to bring them the World Cup Finals and tourists.
I wouldn't go there on holiday if they paid me £700k a week.
Apparently Benzema wants out this January
My Dad worked out there in Dhahran for 7 years or so. BAe contract. Great money, funded their retirement to France. But absolute shithole.I had the misfortune to go there for work in the 90s. It was a sales trip that was scheduled for 2 weeks. The team of 5 got all we needed in 5 days and flew back. One of the things that completely disgusted me was a few of the guys we were working with asked if we would like to go to the beheading on the Saturday as if it was a sightseeing must do thing never to be missed. We all turned it down.
The BA flight on the way back the stewardess was serving us bottles of champagne as the wheels left the runway.
We never submitted a tender as we all agreed we would never be able to get a team to stay out there for the duration of the proposed contract.
Henderson should have done a stay there before agreeing to his contract.
I assume things have improved there, but glad I never have to go back there even for one day.
My Dad lived on a US air base, they used to make their own homebrew.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.
Doesn’t sound a pleasant place for Saudi’s either to be fair.My Dad worked out there in Dhahran for 7 years or so. BAe contract. Great money, funded their retirement to France. But absolute shithole.
Entirely from my Dad's observations, 20 years ago now: Women are treat like cattle. The town square had a chopping block in the middle for cutting off hands and heads, and there was a pit for putting women in and stoning them if they went out of line. They aren't allowed to drink or mingle so all the lads race around in flash cars, smoking like chimneys. They're all gay as well, because they're sexually frustrated so basically turn to each other, which just highlights the further hypocrisy of their anti-gay laws. The date is literally 1400 or something there, because the Islam calendar started after the Roman calendar, and it feels like its the middle ages.
Different cultures and all that, fine... but it is not a pleasant place for westerners by the sounds of it.
Yeah but they won't admit that.Doesn’t sound a pleasant place for Saudi’s either to be fair.
I thought there would be downfall and all the players leave but I thought it would be longer than 6 months.
Edit - Nevermind