The Doc ,is he over the Hill?

Tonite another derby game come a coming.Manchester derby,of course all knows which team i am rooting for. To tell you the truth ever since the overcommercialisation of the game i cant find a great emotional chord with the mancunian Reds as i did when i was first really falling in love with them in the late 70"s.Actually it is not cool at that time for someone to support United,the team is in doldrums,relegated to the second division(after that back heeled goal by Dennis "the king" Law got United relegated,who was playing for the manchester blues then). But to me the team that Docherty the Doc build and fashioned was the epitome of the Manchester United spirit.A team of great attacking flair and my great hero then was the wing genius Gordon Hill. Wow to see him searing down the left flank and popping up crosses for Stuart pearson was a great sight. The team also has Stevie Coppell,the captain Martin Buchan as i remembered in the side. That's the real United,still having great support and the fans causing great "havoc" as they visited the small club ground ,you can see the smirk of a Liverpudlian fan then.How we hated Liverpool. The Doc? What a character,this is the guy that announced a summer after being promoted and finally winning the FA cup against Liverpool(ha ha) that he was in love with the physiotherapist wife. Hence then he got the sack and was over the Hill since then in his football management journey and so was my hero then Gordon(who wouldn't tackle) Hill!!!

Phuket...or is it myamar/Bangla?

Am now in Miri,trying to catch a 2 pm flight back kuching but flight apparently full and overbooked,so have 4 hours to "burn" before my 6 pm flight.At the business lounge at least can hook up to the internet. Has indeed been a hectic week for me,flew to Kl last Wednesday,spent few days (as usual) meeting up with people.Then me and the family took an air asia flight to Phuket for a short 3 nites holidays. First time in Phuket, a real wonderful place to relax and do a bit of 'worthless' shopping. We came in on a Sunday, then loitered around the various shopping markets at Patong beach area and what struck me was that all the shops were manned by either Bangladeshis,Myanmarese or Nepalese. Where were the Thais? Honestly i dont understand this curious phenomena ,Thailand as i perceived is quite an overpopulated country and surely there must be ample hands willing to ply their trade at souvenir shops or markets.The usual junk ended as my shopping haulage ,T-shirts(which i know i will not wear later!!!), cheap DVDs(bought a Benny Hill collection) and the usual little trinkets. Monday though was more exciting as we went on a cruise to Phi Phi island, it was a full day programme ,did a bit of amateur snorkeling,had a good lunch at the island and again a bunch of T-shirts landed as unnecessary possession.Phuket is indeed a wonderful place as i imagined ,clean and has nice beaches to savour.Tuesday we planned to take a Tut tut ride to a tourist gems centre and henceforth to witness the sunset at Cape Promthep.Thankfully no urge by the significant other to buy these overpriced "trinkets" but the awful thing though was our Tut tut driver abandoned us at that place and didnt even bother to collect his dues and left me reminiscing what was the sunset would have been like at Cape Promthep.The gems centre true to Thai hospitality kindly offered us a free ride back to the hotel.At Phuket airport on Wednesday i cant help noticing long queues of foreign tourists at the domestic counters. Lo!! Bangkok airport was closed that day as was informed being invaded by demonstrators, ha this was the answer to my earlier curiosity .My friend when i text him on the influx of Nepalese in Phuket,as he said the Thais possibly too busy demonstrating against the government.Of course it"s not true but then i cant help pondering on the ironic ring to that explanation.
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James Bond and Anwar

Came back from KL yesterday after attending some business meetings and staying back for the MOGSC (Malaysian Oil & Gas Services Companies association) dinner. My oh my they had James Bond as their dinner theme ,it started off well but fritter a bit with guest artistes not as captivating as Ramli Sarip(just an old man being biased!!)>Talking about James Bond few days earlier has chance to bring my son Faizul to watch the latest edition,Quantum Of Solace.Not too bad the plane chase scene was a bit hilarious though but then give me a Daniel Craig movie anytime. From Kl yesterday took an earlier flight than my scheduled one at 12 noon and as i rushed (as the last passenger on board) and settled down with my books, cuppa of tea a man sitting across fidgeting annoyingly with his hand phone and i thought to myself this must a senior civil servant dari Malaya. Only when we were to disembark and he put on his specs that the man was none other than Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Honestly this is an unbelievable confession i have never met him in flesh before(pardon the pun),i greeted him immediately,he looks like a decent father. Other prominent politicians i have met..even Pak Lah i actually ate nasi ayam on same table with him when he came visiting UK students way back in 1980. I will not divulge in politics but Anwar must be one of the most recognisable face in Malaysia and i didn't recognise him!!! Shame on you Zuraimi. Well i said to myself he"s no James Bond so cant help not recognising him. When i alighted from the plane i met a MAS staff whom i knew and i told him that i was not aware am sitting an aisle across Datuk Anwar and he quipped(by his exact words).."Boss, mun(kalau) Alex Ferguson baru kita kenal" Sigh that has been my destiny always related to football.

hartlepool adventure

received some updates on the boys that are now in Hartlepool doing their training stint.Seems to be well taken care of by the club,thanks Russ and Chris Turner for accomodating them. They were housed in an apartment owned by the football club,the weather a bit cold was informed but then how many Sarawakians or even Malaysians has this kind of opportunity?

A decent Malaysian and othr stories ......

Has been a hectic few days not only with the workload but attending few of those social functions.has the opportunity to attend the dinner do with raja Nazrin delivering a keynote speech on integrity and the role of the Rajahs vis a vis the government and the rakyat.Even though delivered in a monotonous but deliberate and assured tone i was impressed with the substance of his speech. Relating back to the times of the Melaka sultanate and the words of wisdom imparted by the bendahara to the sultan.i am of one who believes in the mantra that HISTORY is always the best judge of one's contributions. Leaders of today are mere holders of trust for future generations. Say no more cos am no politician maybe in future postings of the blog !!Last nite attended the SCCI dinner ie Sarawak Chamber Commerce dinner ,Nik and Daniel band was on show as well, love his baritone voice ,this Daniel Shukri(incidentally my second cousin) quite enjoyable the duck dish was delicious i always be like a man possessed if ever i come across a duck dish during any dinners cos at home duck and lamb are taboos my wife hates them. Read the borneo post as usual interested to read anything related to sarawak football, while happy to see that FAS seems to be making the right moves with R alberts being taken in as coach, am not amused with the statement regarding Sarawak FC by the presnt spokesman of FAS(no names mentioned please). Those who read my earlier posts in this blog regarding Sarawak FC will certainly understand that it is not meant to be a separate entity starting from scratch but a joint collaboration of "separate' management of senior team by state government,FAS and private sector. Now they are coming up with another proposal (read...separate entity) seems same formula like what i propose but with some different flavour,less i talk the better it is. will only reserve judgement when season is at its mid way only then we can see true leadership and capacity to manage as the team will certainly suffer its share of losses and ups and downs.

thanks to a dog!!!

Was in Kl yesterday attending our OSFAM exco meeting being the president. As usual sneek out to buy 2 books, "The world is curved" a tour d'force of trying to explain the intricacies of the present global financial systems and understanding posible reasons for the financial debacle due to the sub prime loans problems. Learn such mouthful word as "securitisation"(being the major blame for the debacle) has just finished reading 2 chapters and have also learned that the author in late 80's was interviewed by the smartest man in the world(according to Lyndon Johnson) Mr Lee Kuan Yew and he dared to stand up to that Singaporean icon. The other book i bought is on the history of manchester United. More interesting hmm and wow if i were to read what the author relate Mannchester United would not be in existent if not because of a dog named Major. You see at that time Man U original name was Newton Heath owned by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway company social club.Funds were at its lowest ebb and if no monies were sought Club has to close down ,man. So the captain of the day a guy named Holt decided to go for a charity drive with his dog,Major. It was a disaster fund raising campaign(reminiscent of theSarawak team ) and to add misery he lost his dog. To cut the story short a certain rich magnate Davies was also looking for a dog for his daughter and through a series of fortunate events they both met at same moment when trying to claim the missing dog.A deal was struck!!! Holt will part with his dog if Davies help out his bereaved team Newton Heath(man U). Thus start a new beginning of the club under the ownership and leadership of Mr davies which include moving to a new place in the Trafford(read Old Trafford) area. I am just on the 2nd chapter as well.No bets needed which book i will finish first!!! So to all man u fans give a yam seng and salute to MaJOR THE DOG!!!

Movies..movies

i confessed to some obsessions to the point of being passionate....football,coffee,movies and books.
Football everyone knows my famous or infamous forays with the sarawak team last season,well only a man of such idiosyncrocies as what i had will do all that but no regrets. Movies i want to write a bit more,just finished watching the movie "across the universe" a string of beatles songs wow great the scouser (liverpudlian) accent of Jude the main character is great to hear,the songs i can relate to and i found myself humming away to some of the tunes to my daughter's sabrina disconcertation. My all time favourite movie? it has still be "doctor Zhivago" a poignant love story tale with the russian revolution as its background,Omar Sharif as dashing as he can ever be.Hmm let me try to list down my all time 10 favourite movies;
1.0 Dr zhivago,2.0 East is east( a funny story of a mixed muslim pakistani family living in salford manchester) 3.0 Terminator(believe it or not but i think this is a real cult movie for me) 4.0 Layercake( a Daniel Craig (aka james bond) gangster thriller with a great twist in the tale) 5.0 Grease( a reminder of those late 70s era when John Travolta is the man) 6.0 Om shakti Om( ha,a hindustani with sharukh khan in his real element) 7.0 gladiator( Russel Crowe epic with a human touch) 8.0 serependity( Kate Beckinsale love story movie ) 9.0 P Ramlee Ali Baba bujang lapok(the apek song routine was hilarious) 10.0 Pirates of the carribean(my fav actor johnny depp at his best) ..well watching movies is a great stress reliever what's more with a nice cuppa coffee as your companion. Pity that i ve yet to watch a recent malay movie that catches my eye but man laksa is not that bad.