Daily Mail article on Argyle

[Antipodean]

If we are being pedantic most council funds come from central government not local tax payers, which is really a top up.

Indeed, Green Flash, although local rate payers (who I think people have in mind) also pay national income and consumption taxes. It's not being pedantic to challenge a myth, as public funds circulate and are not just allocated for local uses. I only raise it because while Simon Hallett in a Daily Mail interview rightly praises a system he benefitted from, it was made possible by nationwide legislation and funding. Of course, if he was really so attached to Plymouth in those days he should have kept the money in the city by going to its only higher education institution at the time, Plymouth Polytechnic!

 

[Antipodean]

I’m sure the rate payers of Exeter will be pleased to know they helped pay for my education.

Yes Kentishgreen, but alas your parents may have contributed to theirs!

 

[Antipodean]

Not correct anymore with the drastic reduction in funding from Central Government since 2010, main reason for cuts especially in non statutory services like leisure over the years.

Sadly true, HC Green. The cost has been shifted from the public to the private. Many people, including Simon Hallett and me, would almost certainly have had very different life trajectories without substantial public support at the time. I like to think that the outcome has been generally beneficial not just for individuals, but for society at large.

 

[Antipodean]

Agree a good article - it portrays PAFC/SH/RL as being a bit different from so many other clubs and all in the right way.

Re Plymouth College I was lucky enough to benefit from 1962-69 - before then I was at Salisbury Road Primary. About 20 places were offered each year and you had to pass the 11 plus and an entrance exam. I think in those days it was seen as an extension of the Grammar School system - so at any one time around 140 kids were at PC rather than DHS or the other Grammar Schools. So I guess the argument was that the cost was in one place or another

Whatever, I have always been very grateful for the opportunity (my Dad died when I was 7 and we lived hand to mouth with my grandmother). Times have changed of course - but I think it was a genuine attempt to widen opportunities for those who wanted to have a go and otherwise couldn't even think about it.

My one regret is that SH was younger than me but somehow has done a little better - but at least he has green blood.

I was just down the road at Holy Cross, jthep! Not too many people made it to grammar school from such primary schools in those days without paying fees. It was hard to pass the exams to get in and quite confronting to make your way through to university while often being intimidated or patronised.

In case people think this is all off topic, this thread is about the Daily Mail article, which was very interested in how Simon Hallett became rich and had the money to take on Plymouth Argyle for reasons of sentiment and fun. He became rich by running a global equity firm, which will have made many decisions that affect people's lives in profound ways, many of them not for the good. People 'do well' in a variety of ways not involving capital accumulation, such as through selfless public service. I'm sure that you have done well in your own terms.

Simon Hallett became successful in private finance on the basis of public investment in him as a child and as a young adult. It is right for him to 'give back' in his later years. PAFC is the thread that has connected so many of us across multiple generations. Money is needed to run it, but the pleasure and pain of supporting Argyle are incalculable!

 

[Swaz]

Nice one Antipodean and if I was a year behind you I probably know you but probably wouldn't recognise you now!! Although at a rugby only school, I got my football fix by playing for Honicknowle in the DJM league on a Saturday afternoon. When the pitches were waterlogged/unplayable mid winter it was off to Home Park. Great memories v Man City League Cup semi final played on a Wednesday afternoon due to the power cuts and the 'friendly' v Santos and Pele, to name just a couple 😊 I did play some rugby at Bonies as well and when bumping into Simon Hallett a couple of years ago I rubbed him up a bit reminding him that Bonies always came out on top v Plymouth College 😉

 

[Antipodean]

Thanks Swaz - I barely recognise myself these days! I played Honicknowle at primary school a few times. I remember happy days of playing football or rugby on Saturday mornings and watching Argyle in the afternoon. Boniface's usually did beat Plymouth College as you say. We did OK for a small school. The highlight was that my contemporaries, Richard Ryan and Mick Graham, both played for England Schoolboys. Richard even captained them. Several of our best rugby players were also our best footballers. I also recall my contemporary Mark Yeels (spelling?) was a very handy footballer and played professionally in North America. And, much later, Mickey Evans and Joe Mason proudly played for Argyle. He didn't go to our school, but I still regret that Trevor Francis went to Birmingham rather than play a couple of seasons with Argyle. It was on his father's advice and I will never quite forgive the old man!

 

[moles40]

Not lack of ambition,lack of money.

Argyle will need massive funding to even compete in the championship,look how many ex Premier league clubs are in the championship, and the teams that get relegated from the premiership get parachute payments on top.

 

[Kentishgreen]

I don’t think so Antipodean. I was 16 before they owned their first house.

 

[Swaz]

Nice one again Antipodean and I was at St Peters Junior school, Whitleigh with Mark Yeeles sister Catherine. Also with the Brimmacombe lads as well who went on to play professionally, one for Argyle. Certainly remember scrum half Richard Ryan and centre Mick Graham and them playing for England schoolboys. I sort of scraped into the 6th form and my happiest memories were captaining the 2nd 15 under the guidance of Keith Maddocks and Pete Merchant playing on a Saturday morning, and then for Honicknowle DJM in the afternoon. I reminded Simon Hallett when I met him that in the '73/'74 season both Bonnies teams 1sts and 2nds beat Plymouth College on the same Saturday and then we all went down The Friary (Barbican) for a jar or 2 😊 See you at Home Park sometime 👍

 

[Antipodean]

I don’t think so Antipodean. I was 16 before they owned their first house.

But they would have paid income and/or consumption tax, Kentishgreen. As I've pointed out, rates are only partly of the funding mix for education.

 

[Antipodean]

Nice one again Antipodean and I was at St Peters Junior school, Whitleigh with Mark Yeeles sister Catherine. Also with the Brimmacombe lads as well who went on to play professionally, one for Argyle. Certainly remember scrum half Richard Ryan and centre Mick Graham and them playing for England schoolboys. I sort of scraped into the 6th form and my happiest memories were captaining the 2nd 15 under the guidance of Keith Maddocks and Pete Merchant playing on a Saturday morning, and then for Honicknowle DJM in the afternoon. I reminded Simon Hallett when I met him that in the '73/'74 season both Bonnies teams 1sts and 2nds beat Plymouth College on the same Saturday and then we all went down The Friary (Barbican) for a jar or 2 😊 See you at Home Park sometime 👍

The Friary - blimey, Swaz. Now you're raising mis-spent slices of youth in the dedicated Bonnies pub. Home Park a fair distance from the Antipodes, but one day post-Covid, I hope.

 

[Welwyn Pilgrim]

Thanks Swaz - I barely recognise myself these days! I played Honicknowle at primary school a few times. I remember happy days of playing football or rugby on Saturday mornings and watching Argyle in the afternoon. Boniface's usually did beat Plymouth College as you say. We did OK for a small school. The highlight was that my contemporaries, Richard Ryan and Mick Graham, both played for England Schoolboys. Richard even captained them. Several of our best rugby players were also our best footballers. I also recall my contemporary Mark Yeels (spelling?) was a very handy footballer and played professionally in North America. And, much later, Mickey Evans and Joe Mason proudly played for Argyle. He didn't go to our school, but I still regret that Trevor Francis went to Birmingham rather than play a couple of seasons with Argyle. It was on his father's advice and I will never quite forgive the old man!

Did Trevor Francis not go to Public Secondary School in Coburg Street? I had it in my mind he did but was gone by the time I got there (1972)

 

[jimsing]

He did, and being a year older than him I was able to play against him when I stayed on an extra year to get better qualified.
Unfortunately I was a centre half and he was a centre forward and he used to score at will, both feet, always gave the goalie no chance. Course, I didn't know he was going to go on to play for England did I?

 

[Antipodean]

He did, and being a year older than him I was able to play against him when I stayed on an extra year to get better qualified.
Unfortunately I was a centre half and he was a centre forward and he used to score at will, both feet, always gave the goalie no chance. Course, I didn't know he was going to go on to play for England did I?

The late lamented Plymouth Public. I don't envy your task of marking him, jimsing. He was scarily good. Argyle could never have held onto him, but I can imagine him scoring a lot of goals at Home Park (just a short walk through Central Park from his old school) and then being bought for a lot of money. It wouldn't have been easy being a 16 year old in Birmingham in those days.

 

[jimsing]

Alan Rogers was also playing out on the wing, so we didn't have much chance of keeping the score down. They played well together but Trevor was just that bit more skilled than anyone else. I always rued the day when Trevor went to Birmingham. As you say, one that got away. He was too good for Argyle but he could have used us as a stepping stone, home town and all that. Although he would have been on Argyle's radar I guess his dad preferred him to get better coaching with a bigger and better club up North. But what could have been, eh?