Travelling away is a good bonding experience, where is irrelevant to this. We are playing SK and German/Dutch teams which is good experience for all. They are training in a very warm environment, whether europe or asia doesn't matter it is good for them. Its a lot better than games against spuds in southern Ireland. MON has experience of playing there with Aston Villa and obviously believes in the benefits of the experience .... in MON we trust! With regard to marketing, this is not our first contact with SK. Quinn and Bruce had made several visits and that part of Asia has always been seen as an opportunity. Ellis is a sound international businessman and if he sees an opportunity like this he will support it, can't see him backing a pointless trip. If we win it £2m bonus, sounds good to me.
We are taking a team that we can take though. (its not all youngans) Those in the euros are having an extra week at at all clubs, Liverpool did not take Gerrard or Carrol today to the USA but they are going there next week to meet up with them, we have give ours the same time off, but the competition is over on Sunday, so pointless them traveling for 1-2 days. I have already explained about sess and Ji why they are not going, but all the rest are, Catts, Campbell, Brown etc are not kids. So answer me a question comm, what would we get playing a friendly competition in Germany/Holland that we would not get in SK, I cant think of anything at all, especially as we are playing a German and a Holland team in South Korea. Different continents, do you really think Sony would be as dominant if they were just in Asia, no they have Europe and North America as well, same as countless asian companies, Microsoft have America and Europe (they havnt done so good in asia though) so why cant an asian company invest in Africa, thats like saying an English company cant invest in America, what you said just doesnt make any sense at all im afraid. Invest in Africa wont be someone going to a firm like Nissan and saying, donate £20mil to Africa/Ghana and you will get great publicity. it will be them going to Nissan and saying build a factory over there, build your new car as long as it doesnt effect the Sunderland plant, give people jobs, better quality of life, and thats the Investing in Africa part, and we will get a cut of that as it was us that got them there.
if we gain a few fans in korea , its all money in the bank for the club. Any publicity is good publicity as the saying goes. At least we will be playing decent competition in the run up to the season and maybe for a changre we will have a good start and get some points on the board . Giving the young players a chance to gain ecxperience can never be a bad thing The football will be on Korean telly so if we win it we will be remembered. It will give the players competitive games and get them up and runnig before the season starts. Where the negatives ?
I see this as a fantastic marketing opportunity for the club to expand its horizons and give the S Korean fanatical football fans an alternative to the usual suspects AND its the club national hero Ji plays for. We have been woeful in our history at attracting new money and building profile and thanks to Ellis Shorts business contacts and the under-estimated influence of having a former well respected Foreign Secretary as Vice Chairman has opened new doors and new possible avenues for investment. If this trip does nothing else but enable the Samsung SOL or the Kia SOL or similar and a pot full of loot then its worthwhile. Its also great for the team to be able knit together in a foreign country on an exciting week in a totally new environment and lets the young lads showcase whether they can make the step up. Dont under-estimate to power of foreign investment from a multi billion dollar cash rich investor/company.
Hopefully. Im going to watch it all. got to be better than last years friendly, and with not a lot of luck, more profitable.
I Have A Stream.... much searching the internet but i found one... not sure its going to work though http://www.justin.tv/kimchi_tv
and this one claims they have the site under "upcoming matchs" but has no link a of now.... but if we are getting desperate http://livefooty.doctor-serv.com/
poor old commachio! Do you really know better than the people who have the responsibility for SAFC's future? Maybe doom and gloom is your natural position. Cheer up son!
