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BroadstairsR

Italy next.

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Italy now eh?

Interesting choice and, as far as these pre-season Cook''s Tours go, not too far. Is it all inclusive?

One always hopes that there''s some other agenda planned when club''s take to the air for a few friendly games but this never seems to be the case.

I questioned last pre-season when the entire City squad were trailed around the USA for no obvious reason, but assumed some extra-curricular advantage was in the pipeline. Nothing of any note materialised though, not even a Kai Kamara Mark II , sponsorship by Disneyland or an appearance on Letterman.

These jaunts must be incredibly expensive as well as being tiresome and tiring for the players. They also provide ample opportunities for misbehaviour.


I must be missing something here though because I note that the West Ham squad are off to New Zealand shortly (yes, New Zealand those islands south of Oz that the other Cook discovered) so something must be there to be gained to counteract the fact that long hauls (with a fuel stop) are tiring both physically and mentally and would therefore seem to be the last thing a group of young footballers need pre-season.

Italy seems a reasonable choice, I suppose, even though I doubt if they''ll return with Fabio Quagliarella on-board ..... the best player never to have played for Norwich City.

 

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I agree, New Zealand really is way too far to go.
The main reason for these things though is to get the players away from family distractions for a while, and its often more about team bonding, than just being about the football.
But they probably need to keep a close eye on Lafferty[;)]

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Why do clubs go on pre-season tours of the US, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan etc?

One reason - money.

They will be paid large sums of money to play friendlies that will sell out stadiums at inflated prices. They will also hope to generate a few fans in far flung places that will buy shirts and merch etc.

There is no advantage to players to travel so far, in fact it can only disrupt preperations and fitness. Hope Norwich never travel further than Italy or Germany again.

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[quote user="Ice Cold Pineapple Soda"]1. The purpose is to increase product awareness. 2. New Zealand is not south of Australia.[/quote]

 

1. Please explain in a lot more detail. It sounds very interesting. Can you elaborate?

2. See map.

 

Finally if you want to petty pick in what is a slightly light-hearted posting then in future pick on the right piece of mis-information.

 

Abel Tasman was the first European to land on NZ,  not Cook, for what it''s worth.

 

There''s always one. Always one.

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Hohum, well if we are going to be pedantic Broadstairs your map isn''t straight (i.e. on a N/S E/W axis).

Easy mistake to make but New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia

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[quote user="BigFish"]Hohum, well if we are going to be pedantic Broadstairs your map isn''t straight (i.e. on a N/S E/W axis). Easy mistake to make but New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia[/quote]

 

Ha,ha.

 

 It was the New Zealand Tourist Board map though.

 

But I always rely on Sanson-Flansteed when travelling, not Mercator so there''s the problem.

 

I suppose we can settle for south-east though. Still a bit of a silly slog.

 

Does Lowestoft still remain the most easterly point of the UK on a straight map then?

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[quote user="Ice Cold Pineapple Soda"]1. See what Bethnal wrote. 2. You might want to borrow a compass. Your map proves what I said. Australia is west of NZ.[/quote]

 

Well your a barrel of laughs.

And would going to New Zealand make a team much money? 

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If nobody else is going there, it might make that team a favorite there. Either way, the Prem benefits with more direct exposure that creates a lot of interest.

If they paddle south from Adelaide, though, they will be playing for penguins. No money in that.

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As a footballer, especially a Premiership footballer it''s really not that stressful going abroad on a team trip.

Take our trip to the States, we flew every single player over there first class.

Wake up, pull on your Aviva tracksuit, whack 14 pairs of Calvin Kleins in a rucksack, jump in your 13 plate Range Rover, head over to Colney, jump on the VIP coach, head to Heathrow, get guided to Airport security, bypass the queues, get checked into the VIP departure lounge, board the plane, sprawl out on your bed like seat, get a foot massage of a nice little Thai lady, arrive in America, get guided to the VIP coach, head to your 5 star hotel, eat some 5 star food, get told to go to bed with some complimentary sleeping tablets, spend the rest of the week living like a king courtesy of NCFC.

It''s like being a 5 year old with Millionaire parents.

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[quote user="BroadstairsR"]

[quote user="BigFish"]Hohum, well if we are going to be pedantic Broadstairs your map isn''t straight (i.e. on a N/S E/W axis). Easy mistake to make but New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia[/quote]

 

Ha,ha.

 

 It was the New Zealand Tourist Board map though.

 

But I always rely on Sanson-Flansteed when travelling, not Mercator so there''s the problem.

 

I suppose we can settle for south-east though. Still a bit of a silly slog.

 

Does Lowestoft still remain the most easterly point of the UK on a straight map then?

[/quote]

 

[;)] Nicely taken Mr Broadstairs............there is a few on here that learn from you [:D]

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.....and yes Lowestoft is the most easterly settlement in England while strangley Norwich is more northerly than Birmingham

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[quote user="STAN"]As a footballer, especially a Premiership footballer it''s really not that stressful going abroad on a team trip. Take our trip to the States, we flew every single player over there first class. Wake up, pull on your Aviva tracksuit, whack 14 pairs of Calvin Kleins in a rucksack, jump in your 13 plate Range Rover, head over to Colney, jump on the VIP coach, head to Heathrow, get guided to Airport security, bypass the queues, get checked into the VIP departure lounge, board the plane, sprawl out on your bed like seat, get a foot massage of a nice little Thai lady, arrive in America, get guided to the VIP coach, head to your 5 star hotel, eat some 5 star food, get told to go to bed with some complimentary sleeping tablets, spend the rest of the week living like a king courtesy of NCFC. It''s like being a 5 year old with Millionaire parents.[/quote]

 

I''ve had the "pleasure" of working as a media memeber on a large Premier League team''s tour of Asia once. There is nothing plesant about it, yes we all get to fly first class, but it doesn''t matter how much money you throw at it you still need to be on that plane, and many, many others in a short period of time.

 

My and many others, experience of tours are things such as; players vomiting on planes from travel sickness, players needing massages in the isles of planes due to cramping up having to sit still for so long, players eating naff airplane food, often loaded with salt and sugars (even the food in first class is crappy), training being cancelled due to high temps, thunder storms, flooding etc etc, players sleeping in airport lounges when waiting for connections/cancellations, playing on artificial pitches resulting in injuries, players falling out massively due to being in close proximity to each other for days on end and many other problems.

 

From the outside these things look like lovely, luxury trips but they are usually fairly awful and the players arrive back from them generally exhausted, jet lagged and in worse physical condition than when they left.

 

Most managers/players do not want to go on these trips but they are forced on the club by sponsers etc.

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And now an awful twist to this debate.

 

Apparently Newcastle F. C. are going to New Zealand as well (I suspect there may be a tournament of some sort then) and some of their supporters were on the Malaysian aircraft which was shot down yesterday.

 

Tragic indeed.

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Do some of the air routes illustrated pass over Ukrainian airspace?

 

Several airlines have refused to fly there after yesterday''s disaster/murder.

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[quote user="Ice Cold Pineapple Soda"]But Bethnal, morty says they go on these tours to be away from family and to bond.

morty is always correct.

Ergo, your personal experience must be a false memory.[/quote]Go play in the traffic Houston.

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