Panda

Exactly Euro... Reading through this thread it is surprising how many have not grasped what the retained list is despite others trying to tell them! We had 43 pros in the squad. Several contracts have now come to an end and 15 have not been retained (ie their contacts have not been renewed) so, if the 3 offered a new contract take them plus the 2 lads offered pro terms for the first time then we have potentially a squad of 30. Of the 30 there are some senior players who clearly have no future - Forecast, Molyneux, Pulis, Holmes. As they are all under contract the cannot be released therefore have not be 'retained'. However what we do not know is how many of these have been told that they can leave on a free transfer if they can find a club! If they all went we would have just 26 pros but a massive saving on the wage bill which can be redirected to new blood. AP has said he is building a squad to go straight through the Championship and none of the players released, despite how much some of you like some of them, would be up to that. They are either at the end of their careers, have little or no experience and are unlikely to get any, or are just not good enough. What is interesting is that, by my reckoning, apart from the odd sub appearance 10 of the 26 have no first team experience so we have just 16 'first teamers': Davis; Harding; Puncheon; Jaidi; Lambert; Wooton; Fonte; Hammond; Barnard; Mills; Schniederlin; Lallana; Bialkowski; Gobbern; Seabourne and Connolly. That assumes Bart and DC accept new contracts. That is a pretty impressive list for League 1 but it clearly is not deep enough to cover injuries and suspensions. However, that 16 includes Wooton and Gobbern. There is no doubt that the money saved on the wage bill by the clear out will enable us to bring in another 5 or 6 players, some on frees from higher divisions, some on a free. How ever you look at it, there is a lot still to be done during the summer and making judgements purely on the 'retained' list is very premature. I do hope that helps some of those struggling to understand the 'retained list' to get a grip of what is going on. Thank you.

Yes, far too simple! This is a very complex situation and it does not seem to be going the way we in Southampton would like ... there is a lot of clutching of straws going on here.

Chris Baird is suspended and cannot play tonight. Has been a regular in the first team this season however and seems to be doing OK for himself now.

Get a hearing aid! She has been singing since Tuesday.

The assist for the goal came from Richard Lambert

I am a layman too but two things are, I think, established: 1. There is no LEGAL definition of a football debt 2. Football debts are not secured The PL and FL have defined a rule that says unless 'football debts' are paid then you cannot play as we will withdraw your 'Golden Share'. The PL and FL have defined 'footballs debts' and have chosen to exclude unpaid PAYE and NHI on players salaries. The PL and FL would have to change their rule to include this before they could insist on the unpaid tax and insurance being cleared. Should they do this - YES Have they done this - NO Will they do this - UNLIKELY I don't think there is any mileage in this at all and is best left to HMRC to sort out!

Thanks Corps. For what it's worth, I have supported Saints for 55 years and have always been 'anti-Pompey' because that's what we do isn't it! But I feel for your true fans. Having nearly lost my club a year ago I would not wish oblivion on you. Of course you enjoyed your time in the sun but none of you knew what was really going on and despite what some say on here, if Pompey go under we will lose something that makes football what it is. We can hardly have a fierce rivalry with Bournemouth can we?

Corps, do we know who is paying this new chief exec? It can't be the club can it as they have no money as it is? And what is he doing if AA is running the show? And why did he take the job, he obviously new the mess he was taking on? There is something quite fishy about it all and I just can't get my head around it.

... but they are 'toast' surely?

The argument is meaningless surely as we would have been relegated anyway and so the -10 would have been carried over to the following season in any event. It was Barclay's who put us into administration not Rupert Lowe. To say RL should have done so voluntarily before the deadline is stupid; until the day Barclay's bounced that cheque he had no idea it was about to happen. What would we have all said if he put us in to administration and Barclay's had responded with - Why? I am no lover of what RL did to the club but I still think we should be fair rather than just blame him for everything regardless, and with the wisdom of hindsight too.

Just a quickie! We are one year in to the 5 year plan so now its where do we want to be in four years. We are still in Div 3 (old money) so I would settle for 4 years time being our first back in the Prem! I may lack ambition according to some but, being pragmatic, could we hope for more? And why build a new 40k seater stadium when our current one is 32k and expandable. If Soton is to become the regional centre for top class football in central southern England it will need to be bigger and more accessible.

No clean sheets again tonight then?

Barnard, Connolly and Waigo on - does that mean we have an attacking formation now?

But those six will play. They will renounce their contractual entitlements to enable them to play. They have to to add to their value on the transfer market as they will all be looking for new clubs at the end of the season. They have nothing to lose by not revoking those clauses that mean new contracts and financial bonuses. They either do not play in the final and lose out or revoke their contractual entitlements and play - what would you do? P****y are not, despite everyone's claims, toast. Despite the speculation they soldier on and there is something eerily worrying about the appointment of a new chief executive who used to work for the FA. The man is not stupid so what does he know that we don't? All the predictions of those ITK on this thread have so far been proved totally wrong and I, for one, am not going to bet on them becoming 'toast' - who knows what they are up to behind those closed doors!

AG is bound to say that being relegated today is grossly unfair as they didn't even play. These things should be decided on the pitch and as P****y were not on a pitch today it just isn't fair. They didn't even lose today so how can they be relegated? It's just not fair. And to be relegated the day before an important cup semifinal too, how fair is that? If they are playing in the cup it's not fair for other to play in the league and cause relegation for P****y! It's just not fair! CHEATS

Alan Ball!

Yes I think you are. For the rest of us the last five years have been unbearable. We have watched on as the team we love has slipped down and down and down to almost non-existent. Today that decline came to an end, it marked the turning point. OK, it may only be a paint pot to you but it was a symbol of victory over five years of adversity. We may still have a long way to go to get back to the top (well near it anyway) but at least we have stopped going down. Any real Saints would care that we won today and will look forward with anticipation. But you? You are on the other side of the world and perhaps have not fully appreciated quite what it has been like here recently. So please care, be glad, and be patient for the recovery has started and today confirmed that.

If every team maintains it current form from the last 6 games over the reaming 9 or so games the final table looks like this: 1 Norwich 99 2 Millwall 92 3 Leeds 83 4 Charlton 82 5 Swindon 79 6 Bristol R 74 7 Colchester 72 8 Huddersfield 72 9 Southampton 71 10 MK Dons 67 11 Brighton 64 12 Carlisle 63 13 Yeovil 56 14 Brentford 55 15 Oldham 53 16 Walsall 53 17 Gillingham 52 18 Tranmere 51 19 Hartlepool 49 20 Leyton Orient 48 21 Exeter 46 22 Southend 44 23 Wycombe 41 24 Stockport 30 Of course it won't finish like that but really, on current form it is Colchester that are collapsing and Bristol Rovers who are flying. If we finish one win away (ie 3pts from the play-offs) I will be both surprised, pleased (considering how far off the pace we have been all season thanks to the -10) and yet gutted that one of those games that got away (Brighton, Tranmere, etc) will have cost us our place. The Bristol Rovers game is a real 6 pointer! That actually could be the make or break of our league season.

Has he not already had a call from the government? Her Majesties pleasure could await when HMRC take an even greater look into the financial structures of football, especially where Mr Storrie and PCFC are concerned. Remind me, when is he due in court again?

"The only other question in this is whether anyone has got the parachute money secured against their debt. I think this is the key question which will give a big clue as to whether they'll actually get any buyer. From the minutes of the administrators meeting with the fans, it seems as though the administrators haven't got a clue." Only relegated teams get a 'parachute' payment. Until they are formally relegated (ie last day of the season) they will not be entitled to a parachute payment. Although they will certainly be relegated I cannot see how they can possibly secure a lone against future parachute payments as this would mean they would have to ensure they lost enough games to make relegation a certainity and that would involve match fixing! Mind you, this is Portsmouth we are talking about so ...

Why don't you ask them to let you share it?

I think you should stick to cleaning windows as being a football supporter is obviously not good for you! Vallium anyone?

And your reaction to the win at Norwich and the results 5 goal results against Walsall and Huddersfield was? Some supporter you are! You have to take the good AND the bad. Today was disappointing but NOT pathetic.

The prospects of the play-offs for this year were over weeks ago. After three good games in four we are back to wrist slashing again. For goodness sake, this is football; if it was clear cut and we beat everyone we play then what would be the point? You win some, you lose some. Last week we won two scoring five in each, today we lost. That's football and if you can't take it find another interest.