It's ridiculous. They spend a year slating Sterling, saying he's over priced and then after starting the season well all of a sudden he's amazing and Pep is a genius for the change in form. Son comes back, plays even better than Sterling and he's ignored like it's just a run of form that will soon end. I'd take our whole back 4(Rose should be back this week) over theirs and it's a toss up between Lloris and Bravo, as well as Sterling v Son. City are susceptible to pressure, their defence isn't that great, it's just that no one has really done that so far because their attack is so strong. If we can be a bit more clinical than we have lately then we have every chance. It wasn't that long ago we tore that same defence(-Stones) to shreds at WHL.
He is earning more now than he's ever done before. He and Gray have been based in Qatar for several years now doing the PL coverage over there.
De Bruyne, Aguero, Itchy Nachos and possibly Gundogan are the only players I'd take from their ridiculously expensive squad. The rest are an odd mixture of has-beens, mercenaries and overhyped prima donnas.
Wot no Allardyce comments yet? Obviously big Sam has a lot to answer for. However on the hack side of things, there seem to be two issues. Firstly this is an entrapment setup deal, so the "crime" only exists because the Telegraph invented it. Sure big Sam would have no doubt fallen for it had it been real, but nevertheless it is an invented crime. Secondly the Telegraph were presumably in charge of when this story was released. If so, why not release it at the time, which I understand was a week after he was appointed? A few days before he picks the squad for his first home match is not great timing, so why now? As an aside, there are many "reputable" institutions that make a lot of money out of giving advice on tax avoidance so the people who can most afford to pay tax don't have to. There is rarely a public outcry about such things, and continual reference to tax avoidance is ok but tax evasion is bad (they both sound bad to me!) Isn't Sam kind of giving rules avoidance advice? In which case why the moral outrage at football that doesn't seem to be leveled often enough at the tax avoidance issue? Interested to hear if he's actually giving rules evasion advice.
Tax avoidance and tax evasion are totally different things. I have to avoid tax as I pay 30% in the DRC. If I had to pay another 50% on part of my salary and another 42% on most, I would not have much left. Do I have to take advice from a tax accountant, i.e. how many days I can spend in the UK and how many times I can visit. It's not all favourable you know, my mother is about to die and I want to come home for the funeral, that will be my last allowable visit this tax year so I won't be able to return home until April 6th.
Fat Sam on tax : http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/blackburn_rovers/8884101.stm Is/was he not aware most footballers operate as PSCs ( "personal service companies" ) so the club avoids employer tax, and the player can use dividends as a means of avoiding NICs ??
In the letter of the law, yes. In the spirit of the law, the former (especially when practised on an industrial scale) can be difficult to distinguish from the latter.
Someone has it in for him, that much is obvious. This has been set-up to get him to say something stupid and he's obliged them. Stroke his ego, buy him a couple of drinks and he's bared his arse for the world. Is there more? There often is in these stories. What was the point of this? Did they do it for a reason or just because they could? Love him or hate him, is this good for English football? There were precious few options available to the FA this summer - FFS Steve Bruce was spoken to! That is the last, desperate act of drowning men. So, what comes after Steve Bruce?
It would be far better all round if in the event that one pays tax in another country, one could pay the difference in the UK, rather than paying twice. It would catch the rich who play the system and allow normal people like me to contribute a bit, but not get ripped off.
Whenever I have an overseas gig, I always try to sort out the reciprocal tax landscape so I can meet both local and UK requirements (usually for pension contributions in the case of the latter) . So much so that on occasion I have taken UK tax for convenience etc when I could have lessened my tax bill by being fully taxed as local.
Sorry to hear that. Noted that a lot of people need tax advice advice such as yourself. Obviously my views are tainted by the handful of parasites that earn fortunes and don't seem to pay their fair share, no offence intended.
Allardyce has been a marked man since his Bolton days, when his son got caught. He should've realised that journalists were going to be trying this stuff. It's one thing to do it at medium-sized domestic clubs, but the national side made him a big scalp. I've no sympathy for him, but the nature of this essentially rules Redknapp out. The FA won't risk anyone that's not completely squeaky clean. Who does that leave? An inexperienced Howe, perhaps?
They took El Tel, when there was much muttering about his financial conduct. So much so that did he not say he was resigning after Euro 96 to deal with said claims. Never heard anything after that (the alleged wrongdoings - perhaps those hacks with the agenda were only interested in forcing the resignation - so held off revealing their "facts" etc) ...
I should've said that they won't risk it now. 20 years is a long time in football, so I thought they'd be more careful now, anyway. Having been burned by Allardyce, they can't risk it happening again, surely?
I very much doubt that it will be Harry. I think Sam has to go but please God don't let it be Steve Bruce! Slaven Bilic should be available soon?