TR EMERITUS

Soccernet, 8 February 2010 John Terry's life maybe in turmoil off the pitch but the disgraced England captain remains as inspirational as ever in a Chelsea shirt as the Blues put an end to Arsenal's remaining title dreams with a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge. Stripped of the England captaincy 48 hours earlier and the subject of more lurid headlines about his private life, Terry responded in a typically defiant manner as two first-half goals from Didier Drogba put Chelsea back on top of the Premier League. It was perhaps inevitable that Drogba's first goal in the eighth minute arrived courtesy of a glancing header from Terry. Taunted by Arsenal fans throughout for his affair with French lingerie model Vanessa Perroncel, the former girlfriend of Terry's one-time team-mate Wayne Bridge, the Chelsea captain produced a commanding performance at the heart of defence. The victory restored Chelsea's two-point lead over Manchester United at the top of the table and, more significantly, increased the gap over third-placed Arsenal to nine. The outcome was never in doubt once Chelsea's other talismanic figure had put them in front with a simple volley at the far post. Drogba's 21st goal of the season was the perfect start for Carlo Ancelotti's side and with their confidence sufficiently rocked, Arsenal failed to respond before the Ivory Coast striker added his second. When Arsenal did manage to get past the imposing Terry, they were woefully wasteful with Andrey Arshavin the main culprit. In the 20th minute, A delightful chip from Cesc Fabregas found the Russian unmarked inside the penalty area, but he volleyed straight at Petr Cech. Two minutes later Arsenal were handed a lesson in textbook finishing which was to ultimately leave their title dreams in tatters once more. Chelsea thought they had put Wenger's side out of the race when they defeated the Gunners 3-0 at the Emirates last November. But Chelsea's poor form in December, coupled with a resurgent Arsenal during the same month, all but wiped out an 11-point advantage. However, Arsenal's remaining title chances were dealt a killer blow by Drogba's 22nd of the season in the 22nd minute. Lampard was given the freedom of Stamford Bridge to run 30-yards before supplying the Ivory Coast striker with a simple pass. The Arsenal defence continued to back-pedal and that was the invitation Drogba required to cut inside from the right and fire a left-foot volley beyond Manuel Almunia. Chelsea could have increased their advantage, but Ashley Cole was denied by Alumunia after Lampard's incisive pass had put him clear on goal in the 31st minute. Arsenal were a different side in the second-half, but the task was just too much for them. Chelsea defended too deep and that allowed Arsenal to press forward in numbers. Terry was forced to play much of the second period with his thigh heavily strapped after a muscle injury, but there was little chance of him deserting his post. Theo Walcott should have done better when clean through, but got caught in two minds and before he could get his shot away, Chelsea's defence cleared the danger. Cech, who had preserved Chelsea's lead in the first-half, was in outstanding form and pulled off another great save to keep out a goalbound Fabregas free-kick. But as Arsenal overstretched themselves, Chelsea looked for a third. Michael Ballack was close with an angled drive that flashed beyond the far post on the hour, but Cech rescued Chelsea again 11 minutes from time by whipping the ball off the toes of Arsenal substitute Nicklas Bendtner. Arsenal enjoyed plenty of possession but the final ball was poor and Chelsea, led by the unruffled Terry, were tigerish to the end. Drogba should have completed a fine hat-trick, but his 83rd-minute free-kick from 20-yards cannoned back off the crossbar. In the end, it was of little consequence, leaving Terry to enjoy a brief moment of elation in front of his adoring fans as Chelsea climbed back to the summit. - Soccernet  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent According to a Straits Times report today, Resort World Sentosa (RWS) will be hiring 150 card dealers in Taiwan who are expected to be paid around $1,800 monthly. The advertisement was posted on Taiwan's 1111 Job Bank website. RWS spokesman Robin Goh told the Straits Times that RWS remained "highly committed" to hiring locals as its priority which includes both citizens and PRs. About 70 per cent of the nearly 7,000 staff on RWS's payroll are locals. The quoted figure is irrelevant as it does not give an exact breakdown of the percentage of Singapore citizens. Foreign workers can be fast-tracked to become Singapore PRs within a year under the Landed-residence scheme which allows them up to two years to secure a job in Singapore as well as the "in-principal" PR scheme for Hong Kongers and Taiwanese, granting them PRs before they even set foot on Singapore. Mr Goh pointed out that it was "a challenge to recruit locals with certain skill-sets such as those needed for the running of a casino and a world-class theme park" and "locals might also shun some jobs," repeating an often said argument by PAP leaders on why Singapore still needs large number of foreign workers. "As a result, foreign talent and workers have been hired to complement our staff strength and to help facilitate the transfer of knowledge and skills to our local hires," he added. It is not known what special knowledge and skills a card dealer requires. With an attractive monthly salary of $1,800, Singaporeans are unlikely to shun it. Mr Goh did not explain why RWS has to go all the way to Taiwan to recruit foreigners to fill the job vacancies when he can easily fill them with Singaporeans (not locals). Besides Taiwanese, RWS has also been actively recruiting Malaysians and Filipinos to man its casino in Singapore. Philipines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said in April last year that RWS will open about 5,000 new jobs for Filipinos. She had sent a delegation to Singapore to explore possible job opportunities for migrant Filipino and they went to discuss available slots for Filipino workers such as workers for hotels, casinos and performers with Tan Hee Teck, CEO of RWS. (read report here) Coincidentally, HDB had allocated two entire blocks of rental flats in Toa Payoh to house foreign workers of RWS while some homeless Singaporeans have to sleep in make-shift tents in parks. The nationality of these workers is not known. The ruling party has come under increasing public criticism for its lax labor policies on foreign workers. Despite widespread frustration, resentment and anger on the ground, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said last week that the government will not reverse its "foreign talent" policy. In fact, the number of foreigners may actually increase in the next few years. For the sake of clarity and transparency, RWS should reveal the exact numbers of Singapore citizens on its payroll for Singaporeans to judge for themselves if it is really committed to hiring Singaporeans. (not locals which includes PRs).  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Three days ago, we put up an advertisement of a 5-room HDB flat in Marine Parade selling for an eye-popping S$990,000. Now we have another 5-room flat in Telok Blangah asking for S$999,000, $9,000 more than the earlier flat: From the photos above, the flat appears to be situated in an older part of Telok Blangah and is at least 30 years old which means that it has at most 60 - 70 years left on its lease since all HDB flats are 99-year old properties. The exorbitant prices asked by some property agents is a sign that the red-hot public housing market has got completely out of control. The prices of resale flats increased by 8.2 per cent in 2009 when Singapore was mired in recession with Cash-Over-Valuation (COVs) doubling from $12,000 to $24,000 in the last three months: The sky-rocketing prices are fueled largely by limited number of flats built between the years 2006 – 2008 coupled with the large influx of foreigners into Singapore during the same period of time. Only 3,183 new flats were built in 2008 when there were over 90,000 PRs and 20,000 new citizens in the same year: [Source: HDB Financial Report 2008/2009] The resale market is popped up artificially by PRs and new citizens. According to Mr Mohamad Ismail, CEO of real estate agency Propnex, about 20 per cent of the buyers of resale flats are PRs. ERA and C&H quote their figures at 40 and 50 per cent respectively. Despite widespread concerns, worries and frustration among Singaporeans at the rising prices of HDB flats, the ruling party continues to insist that they are "affordable". Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said lately that there is nothing his administration can do to control the prices of resale flats as they are set between the buyer and the seller themselves. HDB has promised to increase the supply of new flats, but they will not be ready until a few years later. In the meantime, home buyers will have to put up with the astronomical prices asked for by sellers and agents.  Read More →