The Kraken

A couple of friends of mine have recently got back from their second stint working in Ghana; they went through Original Volunteers (http://www.originalvolunteers.co.uk). They can't speak highly enough about it, and I'm very tempted to do something similar myself. They did 3 weeks over Xmas & New Year and similar a couple of months back (though got delayed getting back with the volcanic ash thing so stayed for a couple of weeks longer than planned). Have a look through the website, they offer placements all over the world in a variety of different roles. My friends were based around a children's school and did anything from teaching to helping to build a new block of the school to managing a local football competition! The site says that the average amount of time to spend there is 3 weeks, but there's no real limit on duration of stay. Hats off if you go for it.

Who knows; perhaps the kick to the car also made a dent that had to be dealt with. Its a very high price, I'm not denying that at all. If she had to bear the brunt of the costs then I'm sure she could have got a wing mirror re-done and dents knocked out for 100 - 200 maximum. However, once you start using the main dealers and they know they have an insurance company to fall back on for payment, they go the whole hog often by replacing whole parts or body kit that are only very slightly damaged. I had a similar incident a few years back, with someone reversing into the back of my rear wheel arch. Went to go through insurance but the recommended garage they sent me to wanted £1500 to replace a whole load of the body, when there was only superficial damage to a small area. I ended up settling with guy who crashed into me so he didn't lose his no-claims and got a good body-shop I know to do the repairs for £75. Main dealership repairs are just a complete rip-off when it's an insurance-covered deal. Anyway, quite what this has to do with the OP I'm not sure!!

Actually, they really are, especially if you go through the main dealership to do it. The mirror of my old BMW got knocked off a while back; just to replace the plastic mirror cover through the dealers would have cost £130 as they were only sold in matt black and had to be sprayed to suit the colour of the car. Of course I just bought the matt black one for £25 and can of spray paint. But if the whole wing mirror gets replaced, including all the internal wiring and mechanics etc, I imagine the main dealership would charge an absolute fortune for that.

The club "made a mistake"? You pompous idiot. They took a few days to respond about a request for something free, and then responded with a kind gift? Yet according to you they made a mistake. You are an idiot. And a thread title change of "no longer disappointed with saints" shows you up again for being a fool. The club owe nothing at all, they have no obligation to fulfill any request for help from any charity, no matter how lazy and impersonal this one clearly was in its approach. Despite the negative comments on this thread about the actual charity, I'm glad it has benefitted from the club. But you seem to have taken it an an expectation, rather than a gift. Shame on you.

Being as Hooters have been running for decades in the most litigation-happy country in the world without being on the wrong end of any previous substantial lawsuits in this regard, I'd suggest they're probably quite safe.

"CUT COSTS AND WE'LL FILL ST. MARY'S SAYS FANS' CHIEF" screams the Echo headline. And who is this "Fans' chief"? Perry McMillan. Who apparently is now from the Southampton Independent Supporters Trust. I'm getting sick of these gobsh1te nobodies hiding behind a meaningless and defunct organisation just to get their pathetic regular fix of publicity. I'm sick to the back teeth of sad numpties like Illingsworth and McMillan regularly appearing in the media claiming to speak for the fans. As a fan I really don't need a complete crackpot to verbalise what I'm thinking. And our new pal Jason McFeat now seems fully intent on crashing the party of idiots, clarifying his views as those of The Saints trust. I could just about abide these morons if the views they offered were solely their own personal views, and clarified as such. But when they hide behind a false title and claim to speak for a large cross-section of the fans, there becomes a big problem. Choice quotes from today's article: Perry McMillan: "Football fans connect with the club by going to support the team. That's the connection we are looking for from the owner and chairman to make here." Jason McFeat "From a Trust point of view, we hope season tickets remain the same price. If they keep them at the same price then the fans will buy them." Now, McFeat in particular. Did he canvass the Saints Trust membership to get a common consensus on this? I very much doubt it. These people really need to find something else to do other than their sad fixation on seeing their name in print. And the Echo needs to get off their lazy arses, realise these empty shirts are a complete sham, and find a much better way of articulating the views of the fans without resorting to the lowest common denominator each time.

She looks like she's neglected to fit a saddle....

I think the season ticket prices and new kit information need to come out REALLY quick, just to give the same old faces a new topic to argue about. This one has surely run its course and seems doomed to go back and forth over and over and over again. Truly, we get it; some people would have preferred to see NC nip the press rumours in the bud and publicly deny them, which could have put the story to sleep before it got into full panic mode. Others are more than happy for NC to act in his own way, confident that he's doing the very best in the interests of the club in tandem with the manager. Subject to various other shades of gray, I'm not sure what there still is to discuss EDIT: I of course realise that by adding to this thread I am subsequently continuing the redundant discussion; therefore clearly I am the idiot. Carry on....

Indeed. Think about what your sister is doing; she's asking the club to go out of their way and donate something to her for free. Bombarding a potential dead-end with email is really not the way to do this type of thing, as its completely faceless, quite lazy and frankly a bit rude. Sometimes clubs will respond favourably to an email, others will not, and really if they do choose to not oblige in her request then they should certianly not be berated on an internet forum for that. Particularly when you don't even know if the emails are getting through. As Ohio has said, the club have helped out a huge number of charities in the past and I'm sure will continue to do so in the future. And its always best to start these things with a phone call, shows more initiative and committment.

Rather than send email after email, not receive a single response (which kind of hints that the mails are not getting through to the right person), why not actually give the club a call (or better still drop in there) and find out who the actual person to ask about this would be?

I'm as happy to laugh at Pompey as the next man, but isn't that the point of the adminisitration process? Administration is designed to rescue an insolvent company and is the one step before liquidation of the company. In Pompey's case they simply cannot continue to survive with that type of debt around their neck, therefore its only logical that the purpose of administration is to reduce the debt to a practical level, otherwise they'll simply be wound up. There are many dodgy things going on with that club, but their only realistic choice for survival is to drastically reduce the debt. I don't particularly agree with the fact that they could potentially pay back only 20% (or less) of what they owe without any real and proper penalty being imposed, but that's another argument altogether.

Being as these lot seem to be based somewhere in Asia, and I live in Highfield, then no, I don't work for them! As I recall, mine took about 7-10 days to arrive.

Despite failing to win a new contract, Simon Gillett found a cunning new way to stay at the club....

Unite members outside the court sang "we are the champions" after the verdict was announced. Says it all about how short-sighted and blinkered these idiots are.

That reminds me of Sheffield United's badge.

From that site... "What is BA doing that's provocative? Unite and BA were close to a deal that could have been recommended to crew which would have brought down costs and allowed BA to restructure its business. But while Unite negotiated in good faith to come to an agreement that both sides could live with, BA carried on a campaign of bullying and victimisation against cabin crew. BA is taking disciplinary action against more than 50 crew members who have been suspended on spurious charges arising from the dispute. Seven crew have already been dismissed. Thousands of cabin crew and their families have had long-established travel arrangements removed. BA won't listen to their cabin crew staff or to their Unite representatives in order to settle this dispute. Staff are unable to speak out for fear of being victimized or sacked if they do. There has to be a better way." What an utterly, utterly pathetic reason for going on strike for such a huge amount of time. Unite have had their noses severely put out of joint by BA's insistence on being managed properly and not taken for a ride any longer by the union in an effort to stem the bleeding of their massive losses. Yes Unite, there is a "better way". Advise your members to get back to work. The public are not behind you in this dispute any more and can see through your ridiculous PR spin. If these 50 crew members who've been suspended suffer unfair dismissal then the courts will back that up, and they will receive more than adequate compensation. This just seems like yet another excuse for these militant hardliners to stamp their feet in an attempt to wreak further havoc on the general public. Far too keen to have a fight than get things resolved.

My mate got exactly that a couple of months ago, and it was perfect. Home shirt with name and number, looked flawless to him. No problems with the sizing either. We're yet to work out whether the shirts are fakes, replicas, or seconds. They come with all the proper labels, official manufacturer badges and what not, and the quality of material is definitely that of the proper shirts. So to all intents and purposes they look like the real thing. None of the shirts I have are in any way damaged or imperfect, all the stitching etc looks fine. I've had my four for a couple of years now and I wear one at least once a week to play footy, after all that use they have all washed up fine, no shrinking or anything. If you buy 3 or 4 at a time then the postage costs come down and you're only really paying £10 or £15 a shirt. So even if it is just a really good quality fake that you're getting, it's really not a lot of money to spend. And especially if, like me, you only use them to play football in anyway.

Not really surprised Surman didn't make it at Wolves, although admittedly his injury did him no favours. Just never thought he was quite good enough for the Prem; not strong enough for a central midfielder and not quick enough for a left winger. Still would make a good Championship player though, so it would be a bit of a coup if he did return, but I'd expect him to set his sights higher than us unfortunately. Plus his wages would be Prem level.

I've had 4 shirts off these lot in the past: http://www.bornprosper.com/cart/default.asp I use them all for playing 5-a-side, they look and feel exactly like the genuine article and after many, many washes are still pretty much good as new. Cheaper than your site too. Some of my friends have bought shirts from there too, all with excellent results. I guess there's always a risk with these types of sites, but between me and my friends we've probably bought over 30 shirts from these lot, and all have been fine. Great value too.

I'd much rather they just went into open population of a UK prison, to be fair.

Good news that the work-shy fops have to actually do what they're being paid for. However, this is just going delay matters and the cynical Unite leaders will now be planning a summer of chaos, so yet more innocent passengers are punished for the stupidity and downright pig-headedness of this archaic organisation. Just get a grip and get back to work, and be grateful that you're already grossly overpaid and still employed.

You could ask the same about SISA too; a supporters organisation which, it seems, is impossible to join (not that you'd actually WANT to stand alongside that bunch of imbeciles anyway).

The Echo did actually run a double page spread on it prior to NC's comments; one page with an interview with SISA chairman (Mick O'Callaghan I think) and one with "Saints Trust chairman" Nick Illingsworth. The SISA guy came out largely in favour of AP and said it would be madness to sack him (perhaps a rare semblance of sense from SISA at last), whereas Illingsworth was more constrained and suggested that AP had had an "OK" season. There's two sides to it. Firstly, neither said that they were speaking on behalf of their (defunct) organisations and only expressed personal views. However, when it's knowingly dressed up that the paper are speaking to you only because of the your title, its disingenuous at best to not point out that your organisation doesn't actually exist any more. Its even worse to continue to prattle on quite happily giving quote after quote living under the banner of a dead organisation, just to carry on getting your ridiculous fix of publicity. I've said before, the Echo are complicit in this and it is either poor or lazy journalism that they don't clarify the situation, or actually find someone worthwhile to interview. But the ultimate fault lies with Illingsworth et al and their pathetic need for attention and to be seen as some form of uber-fan.

The Saints Trust are clearly just an avenue for one or two very sad individuals to use a false title in a rather sorry effort of self importance and notoriety. It is either very poor or very lazy journalism on behalf of the Echo to carry on using these idiots for regular soundbites. I do agree somewhat with SRS's campaign against the Trust though. While most people on this board are aware that they are a defunct organisation, many people who read the Echo and get to hear the ramblings of Illingsworth, Perry McMillan, Mike O'Callaghan etc won't be aware that they are just individuals hiding behind the name of an organisation that doesn't exist and perhaps believe they are a formal mouthpiece for the views of the fans, which is clearly very wrong. Until the Echo get off their arses and actually start asking some questions of these fools (asking whether the Saints Trust/SISA actually exist would be a good start) we will continue seeing these publicity whores get their desired 5 minutes of attention.

Really? Reminded me of this....