Wes Tender

Colinjb, you're wasting your time trying to out argue Turkish. He isn't capable of being pursuaded to change his point of view once he has made up his mind that a situation is how he wants it to be, or how he wants to see it. You might as well go and position yourself in front of the nearest wall and bang your head against it. As you rightly say, any counter arguments you might put forward are only twisted, ignored, or thrown back at you sprinkled with petty insults. Better to give up trying, as it really is a futile exercise against the master-debator.

He did a decent enough job at turning us around, but it also needs to be remembered that we had more money available for our manager than any other club in those divisions to achieve it. Adkins managed to get a small, unfashionable club like Sc*nthorpe promoted from that position with a shoestring budget, not once, but twice. Thanks to Pardew for his contribution towards our phoenix like rise, but that is all water under the bridge now. Mention is made in the media of the poll where fans voted 80% in favour of Pardew staying, but if there was a poll now, Pardew or Adkins, I have no doubt that Pardew wouldn't register a very high percentage.

He's covering his arse in case we somehow manage to give them a good hiding. Then in the post match interview, he will claim that he played a major part in getting us to where we are today. If Lambert scores, he will claim that he spotted his potential to play a role in the Premiership and that his faith in him was vindicated.

Suewhistle, I suspect that it is easier to understand some of your Italian students when they speak English. Which people do they spurt out when they chat with you, Sue?

Brilliant effort! Exactly how it ought to have been

Lots of water under the bridge since his departure, so this is just raking over old coals, to mix my metaphors. *Yawn*

Oh, Alan Pardew, he used to be a Saint, we've got Adkins now.

How lovely that Bournemouth striker Wes Thomas, who forged a decent enough goal-scoring partnership with Izale McLeod, has been reunited with Appy at Blackpool. The Skates could really have done with him at the moment, as since he went back to Bournemouth, their goals just dried up all of a sudden.

So quite recently really. But still very surprising when you discount the ST holders from the figures. It is suggestive that contrary to their own beliefs that they have solid support, that apart from the ST holders, most of those who have attended "since their decline" have only gone very occasionally rather than regularly.

No, the Red-brick Universities are a distinctly more recent establishment compared to the old/ancient universities. Perhaps because I'm probably a lot older than you, we have a different perspective of what is old or not. The Polytechnics tend to be known as plate-glass universities if I'm not mistaken. And what delicious irony, you pulling me up for leaving out the hyphen in Red-brick (although it is not alway used) and then leaving it out yourself at the start of your post!

Is Joe Jordan going with him? If so, they might turn it around.

Is this a teacher who is English, or one who teaches English? And does he teach English Comprehension or is he just a teacher in a Comprehensive School? I also smell fish.

You're all over the place. Where did I correct any spelling mistakes of yours? If you look back, you'll see that it wasn't me. I accept that on here somebody's lack of spelling prowess isn't conclusive proof that their views are necessarily less valid than others. But what points of debate do you believe you have opened on this thread, exactly? I don't see much to get the intellectual juices flowing. Start us off with something with a bit more depth than just finding Adkin's bookish chirpiness annoying, suggesting and then retracting the opinion that from time to time he ought to name and shame players who do not perform well and admit when we are sh*te. You could also expound your views on whether his academic background is of any value as a football club manager, or whether it ought to have been obtained at a Red-brick University or an old establishment Uni.

Quote Micah Hall: Well, 200,000 of the quarter of a million Skate fans who were celebrating on Southsea Common after their FA Cup win, have actually attended matches in person at some time or another since then. Bearing in mind that there is a capacity of below 20,000 and that a reasonable proportion of matchday attendees are season ticket holders, it's a bloody good thing that all of these other fans don't decide to turn up all at once. Especially as it might have been expected that they would show solidarity now that Chinny has been sidelined and money through the turnstiles is vital to the Trust's prospects of success. Their catchment area is indeed awesome, is it, regardless of competition from us since our rise back to the top flight and Brighton being in the division above them with a new and larger stadium? Look, Micah, I applaud what you have done by opening the can of worms that is the Skates' ownership by charlatans and crooks these past few years, but don't spoil it suggesting that your fan support is something it is not, both in the attendance stakes, or in terms of their intelligence.

Well, I took this as a sarcastic reply when you responded to a post about Adkins' academic background:- Perhaps you just have an unfortunate way of expressing yourself, which gives the wrong impression.

Exactly my immediate thoughts, given that he suddenly appeared very recently and also based on what he has posted in the short time he's been on here.

I'm anticipating the one of Ferguson to feature one of his trademark postures. It will either be of him pointedly looking at his watch, or poised for the verbal assault on his players, teacup in hand, apoplectic rage registering on his face.

Well, it appears that Adkins' chirpy personality gets on your tits. Good. Promotions in successive years from the third division is really quite a rare occurrence, so he must be doing something right. It might be because he's a good communicator, using his skills gained from his knowledge of sports psychology, or perhaps he's just good at all the other stuff that makes a good manager like tactical nous, good judgment, etc. Yes, it is more important that he is liked because he gets results, but a bonus if he is a likeable character too. Most Saints fans believe him to be a decent and likeable man. If you've just joined the forum earlier this month and quite a proportion of your posts so far are just criticism of Adkins because you dislike his positive chirpiness, then there might just be suspicions that you are only here on a wind-up. It is evident from your lack of knowledge about his academic background that you don't even know a lot about Adkins.

I remain to be convinced that RDM would be an improvement on Adkins. All very well lauding him as the manager of the team that won the Champions League, but he did it with Abramovich's money and with the players that that money bought. Debateable as to whether RDM would have fared better at Southampton with the squad that Adkins had here, or indeed whether conversely Adkins would have done better at Chelsea than RDM. All hypothetical conjecture.

Have I ever said that I didn't?

No. As usual you make 5 out of two plus two.

So who is the realistic one? The person who doesn't accept everything he reads without knowing both sides of it, or the one who is prepared to blindly accept what he reads without question or analysis? And in case it had not occurred to you, this is an internet forum where by definition people come and express their opinions. You can conclude that I am arguing for the sake of it and call it trolling if you wish. But isn't it easy to dismiss anybody who disagrees with you as being a troll? Regarding payment of bills, I would imagine that there was some reason the club had for withholding that last installment. Nobody on here knows the ins and outs of it, but some are quite happy to draw their own conclusions that the club must have acted on a whim. I'm happy for you that your morality dictates that you settle all of your bills promptly, regardless of whether you have any qualms about whether the service/product received was in any way unsatisfactory or did not measure up to expectation. My experience in business tells me that astute and reasonable businessmen do often quibble over invoices if the product or service was not as contracted/advertised/sampled. I am indebted to you for your remarkable insight that players are not available through Argos and Amazon.

So no defence to your claim that the club acted soley on a whim then? And no evidence that the club will not pay the money now that the court has instructed them to do so. The earlier case was an adjudication, not as I understand it, a court case.

:lol: Who says satire is dead?

I don't really understand how people like you can make snap judgements about the decision making of some and the subsequent comments about it by others, without any real grasp of all of the facts. And if you're going to harangue others for having an opinion you disagree with, at least make some effort to engage your brain first. Two things that can be challenged in one short sentence. Well done. Firstly you state that the club didn't pay on a whim. They obviously got out of bed that morning and thought shall I pay that company for the work they did? Nah, I don't feel like it. Secondly, I don't recall the club refusing to pay the bill now that the court has instructed them to do so. Perhaps you know something that none of the rest do. Could you enlighten us how you know this?