Thursday 26 February 2015

Derwentwater


It's a glorious quality - when a place can conjure joy in one's soul no matter what the weather. Your home can do this; your wife's bed, her legs spread, her eyes wandering slowly and encouragingly over your body till she looks at your penis and says, "inside me now god dammit, what's holding that rod back?"
And Derwentwater can manage this; a beautiful mid-sized Victorian lake, built by the Edwardians in 1675, complete with 5 Islands and, thus, able to accommodate your whole family + guests on your long weekend break.

And the whole lake is effectively a game's room. There are boats; rowing boats; motor boats; wind boats; wind surfing boats (although these are a menace); kayaking boats; canoeing boats; and ferries for those people who want to experience the lake with as many people as possible.

And surrounding the lake is land; and on that land, to the south of the lake, is the glorious town of Keswick; populated, largely, by bed and breakfasts from the 1930s but, also, by some hotels and more modern bed and breakfast establishments (particularly those that serve fishcakes rather than the usual humdrum bacon, egg, potato waffles and sausage).

There are pubs galore in this fabled town - pubs that develop in one's mind images of the countryside - The Dog and Huntsman; The Manure and Footprint; The Pig and Fucker - and they all serve food that wouldn't look out of place in your mother's kitchen; plates filled with frozen peas, frozen carrots, Asda's own frozen cauliflower cheese (with real cheese), frozen pies, and oven chips (all cooked of course, straight from the freezer)

Keswick also has many shops offering Georgian clothes at the half the price of Asda's own Georgian range. I went into a shop that was selling see-through knickers; and so you see, there is titillation to be had too.

Derwentwater has it all. Water!

But travel far from Derwentwater and one may end up stranded in Cockermouth, home of the blowjob brothel, Dick-in-Gob, home of a village idiot named Dick-in-Gob, and home of a local cuisine that is basically a sausage stuck in badly mashed, mash potato, known locally as, Cockermouth Smashed Baked Potato.

Wander into the mountains (which have all been climbed by Englishmen) and you could end up in the Honister pass, known for its Slate...

Oh, I must jump back to Keswick, for a line or two, and mention the pencil museum.

...mine which has some appalling reviews on Tripadvisor; but all mines have appalling reviews on Tripadvisor, presumably because people expect more than a damp cave.

I realise this is no longer about Derwentwater - but what can one write about a lake? I mean, it's just a fucking pond. Occasionally, one will see a jet of the RAF fly over and your girlfriend will yelp and you can comfort her by gently massaging her vul...

Friday 6 February 2015

Taking Appearance Minutes and Quality of Performance into Account When Calculating Footballers Salaries.

Do footballers deserve their huge salaries even when they are not appearing on the pitch?

Let's look at some randomly selected Man Utd players and see how much they have earned for every minute of football they have played so far this season.

Rooney  - £4319
Van Persie - £3482
Herrera - £2936
Young - £2667
Rafael - £2453
Fellaini - £2227
Mata - £2122
Januzaj - £2057
Evans - £2023
Smalling - £1780
Carrick  - £1747
Shaw - £1560
Valencia - £1228
Jones - £1112
De Gea - £870

Wow!  For every minute Wayne Rooney is doing his job he gets paid £4,319!
But ignoring that, look at three of United's bottom 5 earners - Carrick, Valencia and De Gea.  United's best players are the lowest earners simply because they've played more minutes.  Look at Rafael, he's done nothing this season but he's up there in the top 5.

Some could argue United have been worth their money this season; but what about fans of Aston Villa, for example?  One of the most appalling teams ever to disgrace the Premier League, here are some randomly selected Aston Villa players.

Guzan348
nathan Baker420
ron vlaar647
Jores Okore471
Ciaran Clark303
Leandro Bacuna2022
Tom Cleverley436
Ashley Westwood265
Fabian Delph664
Andrea Weimann410
Gabriel Agbonlahor698
Darren Bent20000
Cristian Benteke618

Holy shit - Darren Bent has earned £20,000 for every minute of football he has played this season.  Bacuna has earned more than Carrick, more than Shaw, more than Valencia, more than Jones, and more than twice that of De Gea, and he's been SHIT!
The other players are earning a lot less than United's in general, as one would expect, but are they worth the amount they get paid?  Should Benteke get £618 per minute even though his performances have been low in quality?

I propose footballers should get a basic salary and then bonuses based on appearance and quality of appearance.

And that basic salary should be £25,000 a year - enough on which to live.  But if you ain't playing and you ain't playing in a manner that deserves recompense, then you ain't getting any more.

Appearance bonuses can be linked to what a player might demand for a weekly wage.
Assuming that a footballer could play up to 50 games a season, players would earn the following per minute:

Rooney - 3467
Van Persie - 2889
Herrera - 924
Young - 1364
Rafael  - 693
Fellaini - 924
Mata - 1502
Januzaj - 520
Evans - 751
Smalling - 693
Carrick - 924
Shaw - 578
Valencia - 809
Jones - 578
De Gea - 867

Ignoring player performance, here's what the United players have earned so far, this year, on the new appearance bonus system.

Basic Salary +

Rooney - 5778922
Van Persie - 4977556
Mata - 2208267
De Gea - 1794000
Young - 1448096
Valencia - 1106560
Carrick - 1015964
Fellaini - 796871
Jones - 623422
Herrera - 604587
Evans - 579107
Smalling - 560907
Shaw - 444311
Rafael - 406987
januzaj - 273000

Some of these salaries are still huge but you can immediately see that those players who have played more games have jumped closer to the top whilst players like Rafael have plummeted to the bottom.

But what about taking into account quality of performance too?

Based on performance (using performance statistics) here's what United's players should have earned so far this year.

Rooney - 7763034
Van Persie - 6786067
Mata - 2186184
De Gea  - 1584700
Valencia - 947953
Young - 873685
Carrick  - 650217
Fellaini - 594997
Jones - 324180
Herrera - 300278
Evans - 229712
Smalling - 205666
Rafael - 120739
Januzaj - 34580

As you can see - the best players are still earning the big bucks, but those who are not playing or under-performing are taking a decent hit in their wages - they're still big earners but it's less grotesque than it used to be when they were getting paid for either not doing their jobs or not doing their jobs well.

But what about Aston Villa.  After a miserable season, what do their players deserve from their performances?
Guzan468832
nathan Baker9694
ron vlaar68735
Jores Okore73791
Ciaran Clark96864
Leandro Bacuna2571
Tom Cleverley305252
Ashley Westwood140344
Fabian Delph159083
Andrea Weimann323060
Gabriel Agbonlahor618735
Darren Bent0
Cristian Benteke141353

Look at that!  Bent has nought but a basic salary.  Bacuna has earned £2,571 in total whereas before he was earning almost that a minute.  Under the new system, he has earned 1% of what he would have earned on his current salary.  Unfortunate for him, but that's what you get when you're a bit shit and don't deserve your vast fortune.

Some players have done quite well out of the new pay system but not many.  Here is a list of percentages of pay under the new system compared to current salary.

Rooney108
Van persie113
Herrera016
Young031
Rafael008
fellaini031
Mata070
Januzaj003
Evans015
Smalling014
Carrick034
Shaw014
Valencia056
Jones027
De Gea088

As you can see, Rooney and Van Persie have earned more than they would have done.  De Gea and Mata are doing pretty well too.  But all the other players have lost money, whether due to lack of appearances or lack of quality in performance.

And Aston Villa?  Oh dear - Only Guzan emerges with any credit.

Guzan065
nathan Baker004
ron vlaar011
Jores Okore015
Ciaran Clark027
Leandro Bacuna001
Tom Cleverley042
Ashley Westwood039
Fabian Delph022
Andrea Weimann054
Gabriel Agbonlahor052
Darren Bent000
Cristian Benteke020