Minsk

I also visited both of these islands (and Ascension) in 1982, shortly after the Falkland War. (We actually ferried a number of civilians between the islands on our frigate.) They are indeed very interesting islands. One fact that I recall - at the time, 1982, there were 7 females for every male living on St Helena. I don't know if that is still the case or (if it is) if that had any influence on Andy moving there.

Thank you for coming out with this apology, being one of a few on here who participated in the Falklands and lost friends there, it is duly accepted. Excellent post Wes!!!

Thanks for this response. Sorry I didn't reply sooner, I have had a couple of very busy days. 1. Of course everyone is entitled to an opinion, and any forum would be derelict if those opinions didn't vary. I am still, however, amazed that a supporter of any team could be 'annoyed' at the signing a highly rated, very talented, young player. I understand your stance that the £12m could been used elsewhere, and the fact it wasn't is what 'annoyed you', but there is NO evidence that the signing of Ramirez came at the exclusion of any other signings. In fact, quite the opposite, as we still signed other players and had bids in for yet more. I certainly feel that Clyne and Yoshi are good enough; as for Gazza, I have no idea - and I feel that no one on here really does. I do think that we are still a CB and a LB light in defence and, absolutely, I would have liked us to sign another, more experienced, goalkeeper - but I don't think we are short of such players because of the money spent on Ramirez. What's more, should anything happen to Kelvin we would be permitted to bring in an emergency loan; so that area doesn't overly worry me. In the meantime Gazza is gaining valuable experience just being in the match-day squad; something he wouldn't have had if we had signed yet another, more experienced, 'keeper. 3. nothing to add here 4. I think the manager has enough to deal with in coaching the squad, choosing tactics, who plays where, etc. So having a committee to help choose new recruits and to bring them onboard is a good thing IMO. Of course, the manager should have the final say as to exactly who is brought in and who isn't but he shouldn't do everything with regard to signing them. Ans, as previously stated, I am also disappointed we didn't sign sign a few more players to strengthen the squad, but I am t enraged by the fact. 5. It would seem I was not alone in interpreting your OP the way I did; most other posters did as well. So, to answer could the 12m have been better spent elsewhere? Maybe, but we will never truly know. As I mentioned earlier, that 12m was certainly not the only money we had to spend - which kind of makes this question null and void. I certainly do feel we needed to buy someone capable of opening up solid defences. Maybe if Gaston had arrived sooner the Wigan result would have been different. If that had happened I doubt you would have created this thread. All if's. but's and maybe's - which is all we can answer your OP with given none of us know exactly who we bid for and why those we wanted but didn't get didn't come. To answer this another way, would I have preferred we buy 6 x 2m players? No. That was the Lowe way - buy lots of ordinary players. What about 2 x 6m players? Depends on they would have been and if they gave value for money and significantly improved the team. We did bid 6m for Phillips, on top of the Ramirez purchase; which again goes to prove that our signing him did not stop us going for others. Would Phillips and Ince have been a big improvement over (for example) Lallana and Puncheon? I don't think so. Will Ramirez be a big improvement? We will have to wait and see. I am certain though, that if United hadn't bought RVP we would have beaten them. That is what a top quality player can deliver. For top quality you need to pay big bucks. Is Ramirez that quality? That's to be seen..... and is not what was asked in your OP. Something for another thread, another day. P.S. Condolences for your loss.

I would just like to point out that I have not received a pm from Syd, and nor do I expect to! In fact, I don't even think my pm's are working at the moment as I have not yet renewed my membership (I am still considering whether or not to bother doing so when I am over in the UK in a couple of week's time). Anyway, thanks to GLT and Wes for asking Syd to answer the questions posed - I didn't want to waste 1 of my 3 posts a day repeating myself. So, as there was no answer I can only presume he cannot answer those questions which, as Wes pointed out, totally blows his OP out of the water. It does always amaze me when people say they want to DISCUSS a certain point but when someone shows their original opinion to be flawed they ignore that particular post and just ***** at others who posts are easier to argue against - or just to whine about!! St Lard is one of the worst culprits for this, or at least he was this time last year. Alpine also has a habit of ignoring certain facts that fly in the face of his latest whine. Still, each to their own I guess.............

I thought you only had to name players who are OVER 21; as opposed to not needing to name those UNDER 21. If my understanding is correct it would mean that Ramirez and Mayuka would be classed as extras and not in the 25. Therefore freeing up another 2 places.

I agree, but I will indulge the OP anyway. Another typical Alpine exaggeration, where were these 'hissy fits' on this thread at the time you posted this? And now to answer the OP: 1. I am amazed that any Saints fan could have felt 'annoyed' over the signing of such a highly rated player. 2. Yes, there were, and still are, other areas that needed attention. In particular goalkeeper and defence. However, we did sign two goalkeepers (admittedly one was for the development squad), an England U21 international RB and a full Japanese international CB. So we didn't exactly ignore those areas. 3. You state we ignored those areas in favour of 'unknown' strikers and attacking midfielders. I presume you mean 'unknown to you' as I had certainly heard of all our signings before they were recruited. In fact, I am sure the majority of posters on here had heard of Ramirez (the prime 'annoyance' of yours) and Mayuka before they were linked with us. 4. Why do people still think that the signing of any and all new players at football clubs, and particularly at Saints, is all down to the manager? That sort of thing went out of the window many years ago at most clubs. It has been widely stated that Saints have a committee for the recruitment of new players. I am sure Adkins does have a high degree of say in that committee but it is not all down to him to identify players, negotiate with them and their agents and hen to get them to sign on the dotted line. This does not mean anyone is a Cortese signing either; it is a group effort. And, in any case, Adkins clearly admitted, on a number of occasions, that he wanted to bring in 2 CBs; it is also pretty clear that he would have also liked to bring in a new LB, so any criticism of him 'not buying enough defenders' is well off IMO. 5. I have kept the most pertinent answer to your post until last......... Where has anybody said that Ramirez was signed at the expense of signing other possible options, especially in other positions (i.e. CB and LB). How do you collate, and justify, our signing of a fantastic young creative attacking player as being the reason we didn't sign any other defenders apart from the full international CB and the U21 international RB? Please find me a statement from Adkins or Cortese that says this is so. Also, please give me a list of all the players we asked about or negotiated with and the reasons as to why these deals didn't come off, particularly indicating those that were scratched solely because of the funds being used to purchase Gaston!

I have been thinking long and hard about what prediction to make for this match - I think the pressure of being joint top of the prediction league after a massive 3 games is getting to me. Before the season started I was certain that we would get a hammering in this match, and especially so when they signed RVP. However, I have watched both of their matches live (we have about 5 prem matches on every weekend here) and, to be honest, United have shown nothing special thus far. Against Everton they very poor, certainly until going behind; then Fulham gave them a good run for their money last weekend (although RVP's goal was class). Today the same Fulham were completely outplayed by Wet Spam, who were themselves given a lesson last week by Swansea. It's a funny old game. Then I keep remembering back to all those other home ties against United - 3-1 (grey shirts); 6-3 (one of the best matches I have EVER attended); 1-0 (last minute header by BT). In fact, that last ne was the last time y missus and I watched a Saints/ManUre match together in a pub - something we intend to repeat tomorrow..... So, the more I think about it the more chance I feel Saints have of getting something from the game. Or maybe it will be a draw..................... Right now, who knows whether we will win, lose or draw? I certainly don't think it will be a spanking though, but can I get back to you this time tomorrow???? As for my prediction this week....................................................... I still haven't decided yet.............................

No one will have to be left out of the 25 man squad to accommodate him. Only players 22 and over are required to be named in the 25. We can use as many players as we want who are 21 or younger. Hence why he is 21 and NOT 24! Ans, not just aimed at Alps..... I honestly can't see any reason why any Saints fan would be moaning about signing such a player. He IMPROVES the SQUAD. YES, IT IS A SQUAD GAME - NOT JUST ABOUT THE BEST 11. We needed a forward with skill and pace, now we have got one!!!!! And yes, I know, we also need to improve the defence. Adkins and the entire coaching staff know this too. Adkins has constantly been saying he wants to bring in 2 new CBs and we have been linked with a number of LBs. I will be amazed of we do not sign at least one CB and a LB in the next 2 days. Good grief, we either have an awful lot of WUMs or an awful lot of idiots on here.... OR BOTH!!!

Agree, he was excellent. In contrast, certainly until Everton scored, United were very poor. Also, I couldn't help but think during the match that if for our first match of the season we had played Morgan at CB and Guly at RB (ala Carrick and Valencia for Utd last night) this site would have been in melt-down. Looking at them it makes our options for defence seem fantastic! (I still want to see at least one CB come in before the end of the month though.)

Saved a penalty, made half a dozen excellent saves, and yet was poor!!! (rolly eyed thingy) We really do have some people/trolls on here with an agenda. There are the anti-Kelvin brigade - the anti-Guly goons - the Cortese is the son of Satan lunatics - the Adkins and his backroom staff will underestimate the opposition be found out to be totally inexperienced and incompetent at this level idiots (or was that last season?) - etc, etc. Now, I have always been far more of a reader than poster on here but have always been a fully paid up member. This year I didn't realise it was payment time until too late. I am now seriously considering not bothering to pay up as if I am restricted to only 3 posts per day maybe I won't waste so much of my time on here - reading such prejudiced bollix based purely on pre-determined beliefs about certain players and not on how they actually perform!!!!!

This is a very good point. As is the fact that the PST bid included plans to use the pp's going forward and that they said they would only pay those former players a maximum of £2m, a quarter of the deals already agreed with them. I honestly don't see how the trust's plan can possibly go ahead. It will have to be considerably amended, and they just don't have the money to do that. Do the FL still need assurances that a club can fulfil all fixtures during the coming season before they are allowed to start it? If so, I don't see how this can be done for them. On the bright side, for them, at least the PST have an entire year to get the phoenix club ready before it needs to play a competitive match!!

That's how I read it. The bank account that has just had said pp's paid into. lol

The YOUNG guy? No idea, sorry. P.S. Thanks for the feedback.

I am pretty damn sure that the result of this match will in no way effect the signing, or lack of, any additional players. I am pretty sure that Adkins and Cortese would have sat down after promotion and discussed what was required for us squad wise this coming season. Someone like our chairman would not say, "I'll get you a few of the players you have asked for but will then decide whether you get any more or not depending on the performance against Wolves'. And if you seriously think otherwise then I'll have a little bet with you, for charity, if you like. You seem to think that should we win we will not sign any new players. So here is the offer: if we win and don't sign any more players by the end of the transfer window I will send a cheque for £100 to Granty to pay to the charity of your choice. If we win and DO sign someone else you do likewise for the charity of my choice. Wanna go for it?

I used to go to the swimming club (along with my brother and sister) in the early 70's. A special coach was laid on from Eastleigh. I didn't go to the Lido (unfortunately) but spent most of my summer holidays in the outdoor pool at Bishopstoke - until it was closed. There is an excellent outdoor pool here in Minsk, filled with mineral water, that I go to quite a bit in the summer. They have a couple of bars, have a BBQ constantly on the go and the scenery is fantastic (if you get my drift). In fact, I may go tomorrow as it is forecast for a hot 33 degrees in the shade here.

Aaaarrrggghhhhh!!!!! I've been away from here for 4 weeks - 28 days - left the day after the CVA proposal, which I thought had a 28 day cooling off period and therefore Chinny had to decide on or before the 23rd whether he was going to go ahead or not? Or did I misunderstand that? Anyway, I've only got 61 pages to read to catch up with all the fun and laughter......................

I am also hoping this was the reason for their wanting an amendment.

Baker Tilly are legally bound to recoup as much of the debt for CVA1 as possible. Therefore, if they are given the choice of 2% or nothing then they HAVE to vote for 2%. Now, what is wrong IMO is that the actual creditors voted for the original 20% but had no say what-so-ever about this 2% of their 20% - AND THAT IS THE REASON WHY I THINK THEY SHOULD SUFFER A POINTS DEDUCTION FOR THE FAILURE OF CVA1. Yes, it could be argued that CVA1 is still going to be serviced, but how is it VOLUNTARILY so?

Interesting user name. Do you like monkeys and chickens?

I think sfc4prem was just having a little dig at Lard about his anti-Adkins stance of the previous 18 months.

I know this, you know this, Rallyboy knows this, just about every single person who has read even a fraction of this thread knows this, but the vast, vast, majority of Skate supporters will deny it and say that the adminstarations were the same until the cods come home!!!

But the cooling off period is there for a reason. i.e. if the top earners don't leave Chinny pulls out of the deal. So, the FL bow to his wishes and allow him to sign 5 or 6 players, no one leaves and Chinny withdraws the CVA. Nice one. Not to mention, of course, how does he intend the wages of new players to be paid when current wages are still being deferred? It will be insanity if the FL agree to this.

Petrol is almost 50p a litre here.

The drive is easily do-able. I stopped just outside of Berlin when I drove to Warsaw. Just pulled into a hotel off of the Berlin ring-road - so didn't even have to deviate away from my planned route into a town to look for somewhere. The worst part of the drive was the roads in Poland, but I believe they have improved a lot over the few years since I did it. Wizz are a fairly decent company to fly with. I have often used them from Warsaw and Vilnius to/from Luton.

Exactly what I expect to happen.