Another Drive4show 'Anything goes' thread

[dynamark]

First topic message reminder :

Hi folks not been around much lately due to new job and no access at work.
Digs I would avoid franchises and any long term property commitments connected to the business.
I very nearly bought into a coffee shop /café a few years ago and in the end it was the hours and time involved which put me off but the lad who bought it is flying .He will be open this morning and doing good business.Anything like that is all about position of course.One of the best businesses I have seen is a café bar in Bristol on the hill up to the Clifton area .opens at seven in the morning and closes at two in the morning.Change of menu and prices late afternoon and lighting /music for the evening trade.
Seen a few things in my new job with a large housing association providing social housing for the unwashed,unemployed,unfit,mentally ill,etc.One surprise is that they have properties and areas where only set religious groups are allowed to live.They call it 'creating communities'?
Hope all are well.

[super_realist]

Yeah, looks like they've done it on 10080 minutes in a week.
Which would equate to £29 a minute.

Good for him, least he isn't a bell-end and seems quite humble and grounded.

[MustPuttBetter]

He won't be working 37.5 hours per week that's for damn sure

[mystiroakey]

Based on what though mystic, a 40 hour week or his actual hours or hours in a week, lots of differentials

I wouldn't bother sticking in hours worked though Wolf..

It will just confuse things..

Its impossible to quantify how many hours bale works(I would argue his job is 24/7- having to keep in shape, having to be a spokesman of football etc)- others may argue he only works in training or matches). I am sure its just a simple calc. It would also be impossible for me to work out how many hours i work so . Just the simple calc is all thats needed realistically. As you say too many differentials.

[MustPuttBetter]

BTW arsenal had the top possesion stat last year at 58.2 %

2nd was man u with 58%

Interesting as Man Utd were not the least goals conceded
Sad to admit this but i'm currently reading a book called 'The Numbers Game' about statistics in football and how they completely disprove many of our most common beliefs about the game. If anyone's seen Moneyball it's by the same guys who the premise of that film is about

Some interesting stuff, if you're a bit sad like me

[mystiroakey]

I loved Moneyball. I am a stat geek and it was very interesting.

[MustPuttBetter]

I am not a stat geek so some of it needs reading twice! but the evaluations of the stats and how this translates to the game are very insightful and sometimes surprising

Do you know that it takes on average 9 shots to score. This is the same for every level of football all over the world and for teams that play wildly contrasting styles. Doesn't change

[super_realist]

THat's an interesting stat, and confusing why when a player misses he reacts as if he should score every chance.
THey should shrug it off and smile, rather than react like they've just bottled it.

[mystiroakey]

amazing stat and it could tell us that the quality of defenders(inc keeper) and attackers are very similar in all levels of the game.

It is very good symmetry!

[MustPuttBetter]

Indeed
Another interesting one (and then i'll stop) is that teams on average score 1 goal from a corner every 20 games. There is no correlation whatsoever between winning more corners and winning the game. Given the increased risk of conceding from your own corner when your centre backs are generally out of position, the book suggests that corners are essentially worthless as an attacking weapon.

Maybe sides like Barca who just see them as a way of retaining possession by taking short corners a lot of the time have it right!

[mystiroakey]

Don't stop on my account!

another interesting one and is highlighting the benefit of possession.

Its so easy for us public and the media to have a go at managers and teams who don't buy or play what we think they should. Without understanding their philosophies and reasoning behind them(and as you have highlighted statistical evidence can be backed up)

This is what annoys me about England.. Most teams get picked from what our media and public want!

[super_realist]

Exactly Oakey, for generations England players are picked on who they are rather than what they contribute to a team or at the expense of a lesser known player who might fit better.

[MustPuttBetter]

Ha, have a look at the book Mysti, you'd enjoy it

Apparently Roberto Martinez is big into these stats. It did get me wondering how many managers are using statistical analysis like this but keeping it quiet. A lot of the things Barca do - that are considered to have changed the way we look at the game - are statistically successful tactics. Could be coincidence but i wonder if Guardiola is a bit of a ground breaker in terms of this sort of thing. Who knows

[mystiroakey]

Yeah I may check it out.

[super_realist]

Sam Allardyce was big into it at Newcastle, Blackburn and West Ham, and they're all rubbish, maybe not as rubbish as they would be without it though.

[beninho]

I love stats aswell. Probably why i love cricket.

But was going to mention Big Sam and his thing for stats, though he just ignored them and decided to lump it up to the big man up top and win the knock downs.

[MustPuttBetter]

Sam Allardyce was big into it at Newcastle, Blackburn and West Ham, and they're all rubbish, maybe not as rubbish as they would be without it though.

Ha ha good point!!

[Roller_Coaster]

Wasn't that "direct" approach based on the stat that most goals are scored in something stupid like 4 touches in the transition from defence to attack?

Wasn't necessarily just bump n run, as passes through the channels were the intended ideal for wide men to run on to to feed in to onrushing players.

Did turn into boot, big man's head, scramble, kick at goal pretty often though.

[SmithersJones]

I started reading Soccernomics, similar sort of thing by the sounds. If you think it's supply & demand, think again. There's an example in the book from when Sven bought Vieri. There was no negotiation, the chairman just paid the E50m asking price.

[super_realist]

Still supply and demand though. Vieri was a limited commodity and his high price was used to deter those who couldn't afford him.

I don't negotiate the price of Jaffa Cakes, but their supply is dependent on the demand from consumers to buy them. (plus Sven was the emporers new clothes of managers)

[MustPuttBetter]

I never pay more than a pound for a Jaffa cake

[navyblueshorts]

Exactly Oakey, for generations England players are picked on who they are rather than what they contribute to a team or at the expense of a lesser known player who might fit better.

Sure I heard Jack Charlton some time ago talking about being picked by Ramsey and asking him why on Earth he was picked when he thought there were plenty of better players around. Ramsey apparently replied something along the lines of he wasn't interested in picking the most talented individual players but the best team. Wonder if the '66 win etc were a co-incidence?

[super_realist]

I remember a quote from Ramsay when Hurst left the training ground after a match and said "See you next time" to which Ramsey replied in his Parker like voice "Perhaps Geoffrey, perhaps".

[kwinigolfer]

nbs,
The England team from 1966 thru the 1970 World Cup was terrific - some role players, yes, but everyone knew their job and prima donnas lasted about 90 minutes. Fell apart as Banks got injured and Bobbys Moore and Charlton neared the end of the line.

Can't understand why this generation of England managers can't focus better on Team players - too many of them don't seem to know their role and been like that for a long while now.

[navyblueshorts]

Kwini

Quite. For me, I'd much rather a team player in a position than a talented, but work-shy/dumb make-weight.


On Bobby Charlton, remember some journo asking him a number of years back about how he hit those thunder bolts in the corners so often and did he have any particular things he did when practicing or when he shot in a match. Seem to recall Charlton answering "Yes. Aim at the centre of the goal and hit it hard.". Some of the modern players could learn from that given the number of times they do well to hit Row Z, let alone the goal and they're paid how much?

[beninho]

To be fair, from what i have seen, old football was rubbish.

[kwinigolfer]

'Course, given some of the Managers England have endured recently, perhaps they didn't understand how to create a team themselves. Ramsey wasn't the most popular manager either until he started winning - dumping Jimmy Greaves before the World Cup was one of his most difficult decisions, yet it was probably the catalyst for 1966 and all that.

But the footballing IQ of some recent England squad members is just about subterranean.

ben,
That's what some guys will be saying about early 21st century football in thirty years - and as far as England are concerned, they'd be right.
1966-era football may not have been as athletic and somewhat slower, but still a thrilling spectacle.

[MustPuttBetter]

Navy, I've heard that quote from Charlton. He said 'aim at the centre and hit it hard. If I don't know where it's going the keeper definitely doesn't!'

Can't argue with that

[kwinigolfer]

"Aim at the centre and hit it hard" was also Geoff Hurst's penalty-taking philosophy. And he did.

[Davie]

'Course, given some of the Managers England have endured recently, perhaps they didn't understand how to create a team themselves.

The only one I can think of in recent years (not so recent now) was Taylor. The others just didn't have the raw material

SGE was much vilified for a lot of his England career but he actually has one of the best records of recent years

Just be thankful we never got Redknapp

[mystiroakey]

Venables was a class act and his England had an identity.

[MustPuttBetter]

Hoddle I genuinely think could have won either the World Cup or Euros were it not for his Eileen problem. Such a shame

[pedro]

Don't forget that Bale must work at weekends and at night! Anyway, I'd still do it for, say, 100k a week.

[super_realist]

Don't forget that Bale must work at weekends and at night! Anyway, I'd still do it for, say, 100k a week.

Oh, the inconvenience of first class travel, top hotels and having to work in the evenings and weekends.


It's not the sporting profession I'd choose, but they've got it very easy in comparison to many other sports.

[mystiroakey]

top hotels that you can't eat certain foods in or drink certain drinks or smoke cigars or order in extramarital.. Its kind of like torture imo!!


And if they ever do indulge its all over the papers and they will get a rollicking off there bosses, wifey , fans, population!! Not the life i would choose!!

Contrast that to your average golfer !!! That are ultimately self employed and the majority of the media or general population don't care about what you do if they even know who you are!!(unless you are woods off course)

Is there a better job on this planet than a touring golf pro?

[super_realist]

It's a good question Oakey.

Golf however is very uncool although even the ugliest of golfers like Dufner get hot birds.

If I had the choice I think I'd be a tennis pro.

[mystiroakey]

Tennis pro is a good shout. Again self employed- never relying on anyone else if you don't need to(However realistically many will have agents that act like mothers/fathers or bosses). It fits in with your athletics ethics..

I disagree that golf is uncool. But anyway. The fact that your golf career is as long as you want it to be and you don't have to specifically do anything to remain in shape for the game is very tempting!!

Golf all the way for me..

[super_realist]

Golf have agents and management getting in the way too. Just look at McIlroy.
Pro Golfers are unbelievably dreary people too on the whole. Actually most sportsmen are aren't they?

I'd rather be a sportsman than a musician or an actor though.

[mystiroakey]

Acting is as tough a job as it gets SR!

from the lowest to the highest.

Soap stars earn on average less than bankers and yet there workload is very high and they are in the public eye- therefore cannot live a normal existence- at the highest end just look at what Daniel Day lewis does to get into his roles even before filming!!

Many musicians have to tour constantly as well as well as write, rehearse and appease the female fans . Its a high workload!

[McLaren]

Can you think of anything worse than having to spend 25-30 weeks a year at a pro golfing event? It is one of the most soul sucking experiences you can imagine.

Pro footballer probably can't be topped. Every day you are finished by lunchtime, you rarely have to spend time away from home and can afford to travel anywhere in the world when you do get a day or so off.

[super_realist]

Yeah, but Mac, you'd be a footballer, the sun reading white van man of the athletic world. Everything you despise.

[mystiroakey]

I can't agree mac. No way!

Soul sucking to play the best courses in the world week in week out! and then after rounds you can drink and eat and do what the heck you want and you don't have to turn up to events if you don't want to. You have no true employer like football players- yes you will get into trouble if you don't cancel your place the week before but thats all!

[McLaren]

Do you think I care about being despised?

[super_realist]

Can't really imagine Mac in a room roasting a couple of vacuous bimbo's.

Probably be back home with a cardboard cutout of Carrick and trawling "specialist internet sites" for someone looking like Adam Scott.

[McLaren]

I wish my porn habits were as respectable as that super.


Without admitting the subject matter is it safe to assume most people look at porn which you could never admit to looking at?

[super_realist]

What does your "girlfriend" think of your habit?

[mystiroakey]

Are you talking about porn or types of porn mac?

[McLaren]

types of porn

[super_realist]

let me guess. Men getting handjobs from men, but these are strictly not gay?

[mystiroakey]

Let your imagination run SR.

Mac seems like the trans type tbh.

[Bob_the_Job]

types of porn

Well if it's good enough for our ELECTED officials...

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