Argyle in for Alan Smith?

Lord Biro wrote:

Here's a quote from a national dresspaper when Smith signed for Notts County.

Quote :

Alan Smith says he signed for Notts County without knowing how much money he would be paid, revealing: 'I don't even care!

Now, if true, that actually makes me like the guy, and just maybe makes the whole money/tightwad Brent argument redundant in this case.
Smith is obviously a multi millionaire, and doesn't need to work again, to quote Luggy.  And from other quotes back then, he almost seems like a soul looking to belong to something and enjoy the last year or two of his career, maybe in a Nalis sort of way, along with some coaching. So, maybe this is actually quite a shrewd judgement of Derek Adams. I just think it might be. How's that for positivity ?
Despite the squatting banker, I'm always up for new relationships being struck in life that benefit all concerned in equal measure. So, I'll give this a big  How else do you gather together a bunch of souls to create something worthwhile ?

But Throbber on the farm says that he's against signing him for some reason or other. 

Hugh Watt wrote:

Lord Biro wrote:

Here's a quote from a national dresspaper when Smith signed for Notts County.

Quote :

Alan Smith says he signed for Notts County without knowing how much money he would be paid, revealing: 'I don't even care!

Now, if true, that actually makes me like the guy, and just maybe makes the whole money/tightwad Brent argument redundant in this case.
Smith is obviously a multi millionaire, and doesn't need to work again, to quote Luggy.  And from other quotes back then, he almost seems like a soul looking to belong to something and enjoy the last year or two of his career, maybe in a Nalis sort of way, along with some coaching. So, maybe this is actually quite a shrewd judgement of Derek Adams. I just think it might be. How's that for positivity ?
Despite the squatting banker, I'm always up for new relationships being struck in life that benefit all concerned in equal measure. So, I'll give this a big  How else do you gather together a bunch of souls to create something worthwhile ?

But Throbber on the farm says that he's against signing him for some reason or other. 

Smiffy from Sussex don't fancy Smiffy from Yorkshire. That reason alone would get me leaning strongly in favour of welcoming the latter to Argyle.

Welcome Alan

Is he still on Pasoti bleating , Hugh ?

Everything I've read in the last hour makes me think an Adams Smith ( get the pun ? ) get together might be a good one for several different reasons over and above the eleven on the pitch come match day. It has a hope, at least, of building something interesting. It feels right. Pity about the Royal William thing though. There's some strange taste out there

He wasnt a bad striker from what i remember either

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Lord Biro wrote:

Is he still on Pasoti bleating , Hugh ?

Everything I've read in the last hour makes me think an Adams Smith ( get the pun ? ) get together might be a good one for several different reasons over and above the eleven on the pitch come match day. It has a hope, at least, of building something interesting. It feels right. Pity about the Royal William thing though. There's some strange taste out there

I'm ever so slightly perplexed at your apparent dislike of the RWY LB. As a Stonehouse bhey (posh end ) who regularly frequents the yard, and from what I can deduce of your political leanings I can only assume that you are miffed about the lack of affordable housing or something along those lines. Frankly from what it was 10 years ago to what it is now is just fantastic for the area and the city IMO. Of course it does attract some pretentious types occasionally but they've got to go somewhere. For a long time Stonehouse has been one of the most deprived areas in England with more than it's fair share of crime, poverty and council housing, FFS don't begrudge us a little bit of luxury.

Asti,  I know Stonehouse better than you can ever imagine I do.
My Royal William thing is a cultural issue as well as political. It is, without a doubt, a modern day urban castle, harping back 500 years, taking advantage of the big walls and big limestone blocks that implied the power of the navy. The old WALLED Hospital site is just the same without the view and associated bistros. Only the old St Dunstans site has made a good fist out of being inclusive in a proper Stonehouse sense. Wantage gardens and the Hong Kong residents, social housing for disabled citizens, might not be a Royal William thang, but they sure as heck reflect the Stonehouse community far better than the urban splash climbers and fallers.
These regenerations of fine old buildings are a good thing, no doubt, but do absolutely nothing for the health of Stonehouse and it's extremely poor inhabitants. Gentrification helps none of those without decent income and education, and never has. We all know that, unless you're giving Stonehouse the old trickle down theory thing.
I suppose that makes me an extremist. Lock me up.

Edited to add
In fact, I seem to remember you or someone else going on about the inappropriate parking that now is the thing in North Road West going down to the old Hospital site. Well, some people, mainly the people that live there, think that parking has stopped people whizzing down that street at 60mph without a care in the world for poor people's children or pets, trying to get to their castle 20 seconds quicker in their horseless carriage.

Love the Royal William yard.

As for Alan smith. Mufc ok !!!!

You're a Devonport sort, Dane, not Stonehouse.

While we're on the subject, a few years ago the club had properties on the Barbican where a lot of new signings would stay after first signing. I wonder if they now have anything in the William Yard? That would make sense, especially if they could show Smith a nice pad in the Clarence building which has its own dedicated parking slots.

The only drawback the William Yard has is its lack of outside private space. There was once a private residents walled garden at the rear of Residence2, adjacent to the Guardhouse. Went to a few bbq's down there a couple of years ago. I assume that will stop with the re-development of that building.

The yard is full of corporate owned property. It makes all sort of accounting sense.
I predict there will never be a residents community in actual day to day terms there, apart from lobbying for financial gain. Such a sad indictment of modern investment living. I think I would rather live in deepest darkest Okehampton and consort with the neighbourly farmers and their wonderful 18th century viewpoint.

Lord Biro wrote:

Asti,  I know Stonehouse better than you can ever imagine I do.
My Royal William thing is a cultural issue as well as political. It is, without a doubt, a modern day urban castle, harping back 500 years, taking advantage of the big walls and big limestone blocks that implied the power of the navy.

Just like your previous incarnation, is there nothing that you don't know about.

Private money, with tax breaks no doubt, have turned this white elephant of an eyesore into a success. Why is profit akin to the sign of the devil.

What would you have done with it?

And by the way, Stonehouse (particularly the east side of Durnford Street) has a thriving community where everyone knows each other.

I'll talk to you about Stonehouse Rollo. I've worked at the Stonehouse arena, now becomming social housing, All Saints, and two other community projects over the years. I've also lived in St Peters ward, half of my last 30 years. I was not born in Stonehouse, thank heaven, given the deprivation then.
What is your Stonehouse connection ? A bit of background might go a little way to us having a decent conversation about the area.
Oh, and by the way, the Royal William Yard was never an eyesore to the people of Stonehouse. They could never see it. It was howvere, through the gate, a place of employment for many of them, but no longer

Have many good friends in and around the east side. Frequent the pubs some weekends and use Devils Point 3 or 4 times a week(weather dependant) in the summer. I love it down there as do my friends. As an aside, Urban Splash gave all residents a 10% discount card to use in the RWY. It still applies and is appreciated by the locals.

I'm not actually a big fan of RWY but recognise its value to the city's employment figures.

Oh and I never claimed to know about Stonehouse, unlike you.

I'll ask again, what would you have done with the RWY.

Honesty at last, it's you that's the Stonehouse tourist, drinkin' eatin' and a fishin' once in a blue moon, waxing lyrical about what is good for the area, with knowing diddly.
Use the garages, the small cafes, the spars in the area, and ask what they think. Or, here's a thing, live in Stonehouse, like I have. Pop into the Clarence, the Melbourne, the Noplace, the Dog House and become a regular to understand the area. A bit difficult to have a Butchers now outside the gates. What does that tell you about the gated community ?
I would have bust open more of the threatening walls, similar to the total removal of the dockyard walls around the Devonport Crown up to the Forum, that have done Devonport proud......ish. The UK has always made a good job of rich street right next to poor streets, so the William Yard would have been no different to the normal mix outside and across the UK. It would have been mixed housing in my plan, end of. But, the decision was to make it yet another totally upwardly mobile working class ghetto, with associated coffee appreciation. How beastly. How sterile. How empty. How utterly devoid of REAL culture. It needed proper civic planning, not some free for all private developer profit opportunity. They're doing a slightly better job at the Mount Wise Cricket club and environs. It's a little more mixed.

As for Durnford St in particular, I know little of it apart from staying with a girl friend there for a year, and the barracks that a friend spent 3 months changing their windows. I cycle down it quickly, it's a cold street, guns at one end, a portcullis at the other. The PDSA have gone. and moved out to Derriford. What a joke that is. Now the poor have to cart their moggys all the way out there, to Stapes land.

A confused piece.

You talk of Stonehouse and then mentions all of the pubs in North Road West!

I use my local pubs as well, you know. Greenbank area
since you ask.

Didn't realise that overstepping boundaries for a pint was a crime.

Look up the town of Stonehouse, and look at the map. St Peters is firmly in Stonehouse. And, also, the Dog House is Union Street, not North Road. You started the Stonehouse thing, of which the William yard is a part. I responded.
I didn't know you were a pub person, and I thought Greenbank was a dry area, or are we going to have another misunderstanding.
I didn't realise politics was a crime on ATD, but you seem to think so. Keep on at me, and I'll up the anti if you so wish. It'll go nowhere, and bore the nike pants off folk.

If you exclude the old Royal Naval hospital site, then as a general rule, there is a quite specific North/South divide with the middle ground being Union St. South of that there has been multi-million pound development, particularly Millbay and the RWY. By contrast, the area around King St is still one of the most deprived and run down areas in England. But that shouldn't be used as a stick to beat the Yard with. Asking someone who lives in King St what they think of the RWY is totally different to asking a home owner in Durnford St. You'll probably get indifference from the first, followed by uber positivity from the latter.

On a map they may fall under the same geographic Stonehouse umbrella, but they are worlds apart in every other way. I have friends who live both in the RWY as well as long term residents not far from the gates. You won't find many around there bemoaning what RWY had done for the whole area. Indeed, ask a resident around the southern end of Durnford St where they live, and you're more likely to get a reply of "Firestone Bay" than "Stonehouse".

You're right of course czarky, it's two distinct areas, with the odd military enclave hoovering up any development money and worthwhile resources while the rest just rots. New migrants now preen their feathers on the old shabby shoreline
Large parts of the "bad bit" are a conservation area now, where the council expect landlords to pay top dollar to keep their houses looking original. Ain't going to happen.   The irony was ever thus.  Even Wyndham Square is falling down, with old pubs being used as run down charidee halfway houses.  I'm no longer a fan of any of it.

Hugh Watt wrote:

Lord Biro wrote:

Here's a quote from a national dresspaper when Smith signed for Notts County.

Quote :

Alan Smith says he signed for Notts County without knowing how much money he would be paid, revealing: 'I don't even care!

Now, if true, that actually makes me like the guy, and just maybe makes the whole money/tightwad Brent argument redundant in this case.
Smith is obviously a multi millionaire, and doesn't need to work again, to quote Luggy.  And from other quotes back then, he almost seems like a soul looking to belong to something and enjoy the last year or two of his career, maybe in a Nalis sort of way, along with some coaching. So, maybe this is actually quite a shrewd judgement of Derek Adams. I just think it might be. How's that for positivity ?
Despite the squatting banker, I'm always up for new relationships being struck in life that benefit all concerned in equal measure. So, I'll give this a big  How else do you gather together a bunch of souls to create something worthwhile ?

But Throbber on the farm says that he's against signing him for some reason or other. 

'Throbber'...............

Czarcasm wrote:

If you exclude the old Royal Naval hospital site, then as a general rule, there is a quite specific North/South divide with the middle ground being Union St. South of that there has been multi-million pound development, particularly Millbay and the RWY. By contrast, the area around King St is still one of the most deprived and run down areas in England. But that shouldn't be used as a stick to beat the Yard with. Asking someone who lives in King St what they think of the RWY is totally different to asking a home owner in Durnford St. You'll probably get indifference from the first, followed by uber positivity from the latter.

On a map they may fall under the same geographic Stonehouse umbrella, but they are worlds apart in every other way. I have friends who live both in the RWY as well as long term residents not far from the gates. You won't find many around there bemoaning what RWY had done for the whole area. Indeed, ask a resident around the southern end of Durnford St where they live, and you're more likely to get a reply of "Firestone Bay" than "Stonehouse".

Excuse my ignorance but where is Stonehouse, I always thought it was Southside of Union Street but I guess its west of Western approach, south of north hill west and East of Stonehouse Bridge, is that right?

Hugh Watt wrote:

Czarcasm wrote:

If you exclude the old Royal Naval hospital site, then as a general rule, there is a quite specific North/South divide with the middle ground being Union St. South of that there has been multi-million pound development, particularly Millbay and the RWY. By contrast, the area around King St is still one of the most deprived and run down areas in England. But that shouldn't be used as a stick to beat the Yard with. Asking someone who lives in King St what they think of the RWY is totally different to asking a home owner in Durnford St. You'll probably get indifference from the first, followed by uber positivity from the latter.

On a map they may fall under the same geographic Stonehouse umbrella, but they are worlds apart in every other way. I have friends who live both in the RWY as well as long term residents not far from the gates. You won't find many around there bemoaning what RWY had done for the whole area. Indeed, ask a resident around the southern end of Durnford St where they live, and you're more likely to get a reply of "Firestone Bay" than "Stonehouse".

Excuse my ignorance but where is Stonehouse, I always thought it was Southside of Union Street but I guess its west of Western approach, south of north hill west and East of Stonehouse Bridge, is that right?

Yep, pretty much bang on Hugh.

My heart is instinctively with Lord Biro on this, in the sense that developments like RWY mainly benefit those who already have means and any benefit to the local community are on a trickle-down basis. From there, I guess it just depends where you stand on things. Personally, I'd have at least like to have seen the developer tied to some kind of mixed housing commitment.

On a sample of one, the people I know of who moved in there were relocating from the south-east to hoover up property in the local area, send their kids to a cheaper private school, whilst maintaining a holiday home in the capital. Pretty certain they are the types who don't like paying tax either. If they are typical, I'm not sure how their presence in 'higher Plymouth' benefits the local economy or community.

On a different note, it's laughable that RWY is held up as some kind of beacon of sophistication in the city. It has a Prezzo, FFS. One might say it's all rather village. I'm sure the Pasoti doyens love it.