Chin Strain

In company law, I wouldn't have thought that employees salaries would be classed as a something that could be added in to a CVA. Yes, they get a vote in a CVA for the amount owed (but that's nothing at the moment). Would any administrator be allowed to tot up their contracts and add it to any other creditors? I also can't work out why it's in Chanarai's interest to keep the club going. He can sit tight and let HMRC wind the club up, and he'll be left with a pile of land. I'd be pretty sure there could be no argument with any request for change of use if there was no football club.

I'm gonna take a punt that he won't be getting in a bullring again. Mind you, with one eye it might make the odds a bit more even, and give the bull a better chance of finishing the job.

That is a great quote...what they need to realise is that it'll be Chanrai's listed building Not sure how that would help them!

I'll go along with this. The guy is 25, has been owned by 6 clubs (if you count Wimbledon and MK Dons as one), and been loaned out to 4 other clubs. I wouldn't like to guess how many managers he's played for but, ultimately, he seems to have a bit of an issue. If we were a one off, you could maybe understand that he maybe just doesn't fit in with us. Maybe he just doesn't fit in with authority in general.

I think I'd be interested in the ones that they had / have on loan from WBA...I wonder when Lampitt and AA are going to try and sell them (even though they don't own them)......?

The bigger problem with selling players will be the size / length of contracts. Apparently 8 players are on £1.1m a month, so £140k a month each....c. £35k a week each. Nobody will pay them anything like that, so Pompey will have to pay up contracts, either in full (they haven't asked for a move), or in part to cover the drop in wages to a new club. If they manage to get themselves a deal at £20k a week elsewhere, even making up the shortfall will cost Pompey £750k for every year of their contract. They're in a unique position where they'd be worse off selling players than keeping them. I do find it staggering that AA says they can pay players this month, but not HMRC. They'll obviously be deducting tax and NI from the players pay......just won't be passing it on. It's an absolute disgrace that they can be so brazen about it.

DOn't know, but it would be bloody funny trying

Unfortunately, he has still cost us £1.3m, no matter how much tax he's paid. Maybe we've adopted the Pompey stance on his tax though - kept it back from HMRC on the basis that there's no way they'd believe we were paying him to play professional football. Offsetting his tax against his take home, would still make his overall cost too much though. Maybe we could make a case for him paying us to be in the squad......

Unlikely, ST holder and go to quite a few aways. BTW, I still think you are deluded if you believe that everything in this world is exactly as it says on the tin. But I can't be arsed with you, it's not worth the effort. It's not a crime to have a different opinion you know.

Lol at the CVA advert just below that article!

That interview makes my blood boil. He's basically chosen to fecking well pay the players and keep the tax and NI, and just admitted that it was the responsibility of the club....the club that he is the CEO for. It's an absolute disgrace. He should be barred from being a company director. He's sticking two fingers up to every decent, honest law abiding person in the country. He's told the FA that they're stuffed because their funding 'fell away' in November. How on Gods earth are they not in admin. The FL have questions that need answers.

OK Dalek, I'm guilty of rising to being called a little twerp. Go on, exterminate me for it. Your opinion would be valid if you had pointed out the same issue with Revolution when he was insulting in his post....or is it just because you happen to share the same opinion? Are you still banging on about us finishing 17th, and messing up the summer window so badly, that we've only got NC and NA to blame for us currently being 2nd (with a game in hand)?

My view is that you were a little precious with the 'correction' of your post - your reaction was an interesting one, based on the fact you know nothing about me. I could assume that you were an arrogant little twerp for refusing to accept that not everyone else has the same opinion as you, and that it would be reasonable to allow other Saints fans the courtesy of sharing a different opinion, without a load of vitriol coming back. I'd be surprised if I was alone in thinking that we've made quite a lot of progress towards promotion since Jos signed in August. That seems to be fact. The rest of the discussion around Hooper is opinion - I'm entitled to mine, and you're entitled to yours. Again, for the record, and for the upteenth time, as you still think I'm convinced we'll sign Hooper...I'm not. I merely think we'll have another go to sign him.....which may, or may not, be successful. I don't think everything in football is black and white, and I do think that people operate with ulterior motives. That's all I have said all the way through this. Some will share that opinion (trousers), some won't (Dalek - who apparently thought we'd finish 17th because we didn't invest in the right calibre of players in the summer, and Hoddle is, was, and will be again, the messiah. Certainly the first part seems flawed at this stage). You have an opinion that the Lee signing is a high risk gamble as he's moving half way across the world and will take time to settle. You have no evidence of this. You've almost certainly never sat down and seen him play, or studied whether he has the personality type to fit into the club, or ability to play in the NPC. If I'm honest, I have no idea if he will settle or not but, for what it's worth I'd give more credence to the homework that the club and manager have done on the player over several months, than to someone who knows about him from Youtube or what he's read. Of course, like you have said, you're entitled to your opinion, and I am entitled to pull you up on it if I think it's wrong. I think you're making a sweeping generalisation with regards to the player. Just an opinion mind, and only time will tell. I do think this transfer window is critically important, and would like to see some quality signings that fit in. I wouldn't want to chance blowing up, but I wouldn't advocate blowing a pile of cash on the wrong player, who may upset the balance on the pitch or in the dressing room (Asprilla at Newcastle in the 90's for example - cost them the title). We may get to the end of the window with NA disappointed with not adding in certain areas. But, overall, I think he and Cortese have delivered on their promises so far, and have earned a little bit of trust from us. Out of interest (and I genuinely am curious, and not trying to score points), but do you get to many games?

They don't care about that. It's about sending a message to the rest of football. £7.6m is small beer to them, and if it drives home the message to other clubs / companies that they pay their tax, and they pay their tax first, it's a loss well worth writing off.

I agree. I think if he could find a mug to pay him a pile of cash up front for the club, he'd take it and get shot of it once and for all. I can't see why he would want to step in as 'owner' again though. That would be madness.

Or a fourth....HMRC are about to issue a WUP. Without doubt his hand has been forced - he's not known for fessing up without reason. Option 1 isn't feasible in my view. Option 2 is a possibility, as is option 3 (the only sensible thing Cala has said is that £1.1m a month for 8 players is mental when income is only £8m a year. Option 4 for me Bob

Ridiculous, isn't it. I'm more embarrassed for the Football LEague as they sit by and let them sign up Etuhu and won't block the re-signing of the two WBA players (if WBA allow them to return). Surely, surely...as Ho has pointed out before.....the football league closely monitor their finances. They must know that HMRC aren't being paid, and that the money due to the tax payer is being used for funding wages. I'm not sure if Pompey actually have to go into admin to suffer a points deduction anyway. Aren't the rules designed to stop a club gaining an unfair competitive advantage? If so, they owe £10.8m to CSI, and they spunked that on players and wages in the summer. Unless they pay up in full, they've gained an unfair competitive advantage - points deduction. Mind you, if the debt is called in, in full, they won't be able to pay, so must surely end up in admin anyway. Good, isn't it!

If they have 'cash flow issues' they must be expecting a bucket of cash from somewhere...I wonder where that is coming from then?

OK, where does it say in either of my posts that I'm convinced that he will sign? I said that I don't think that was the end of the story - i.e. we'll bid again. That's it. I made it clear that didn't mean that we would sign him. Regarding my 'insulting' reply....if someone calls you 'a presumptuous little twerp', it tends to illicit a reaction, don't you think? Have I been proven wrong that we'll bid again? I must have missed the last 10 days if today is 1 Feb. I'm entitled to my opinion that I believe we'll bid again. He's entitled to his opinion that nothing has happened since Jos signed to show we want to get promoted. My particular view on that is that we've spent the 4 and a half months since he signed sat at the top of the table - that's irrefutable, surely? He's entitled to say that the odds are that Lee will take time to settle and is a huge gamble. I don't think there's any evidence to say that this is definitely the case either - it may be, it may not be. It's the same thing...an opinion...and we're all entitled to one of those in a democracy....but not with some posters on this forum apparently.

You really are a jumped up little drama queen aren't you. An internet warrior of the highest order - well done, you're so hard. I have no issue if you have a different opinion - feel free to try and keep a civil tongue in your head though. Show me where I said that this deal would definitely happen, or that I was 'convinced' (please don't put words into my mouth) that it would happen? Oh, I didn't? In the post that you quoted, I actually made it very clear, but I guess you're not too bright and struggled with some of the bigger words. I said that I have a feeling that there's more mileage in this yet. That's all. I think we'll bid again. Tell me, why would Lennon make this public? What's the benefit for him / Celtic? IMO it could be to pressure the board not to sell, or it could be to talk the price up and try to start a bidding war. This may come as a surprise to you, but sometimes people have different motives for doing or saying things, especially in football.

I actually think he'd be more than happy to let the club die so it gave him leverage to use the land for other purposes - it's more valuable with no football club. Even if the club go and play at H&W, they still have a monster wage bill, shortfall in CVA payment and £10.8m to find for CSI (or points deduction). Maybe this is their only real option.

Did I say it will definitely happen? I just don't think that's the end of the bidding. Why do you think that Celtic made it public? Where's the benefit for them? Hooper says he's happy at Celtic on the clubs OS - no great surprise - he probably is. Would he come out and say 'I want to leave' in an OS interview? Probably wouldn't be clever if the deal didn't go through, but it doesn't mean to say he wouldn't consider a move. Football is never that black and white...that's all I'm saying. As for there not being much evidence that he'll deliver on his promise of ensuring we get promoted...really? So, Jos signed in August and you can't see anything else that's happened since? I've corrected your post for you if that helps. In the summer we were an unknown quantity. Nobody was sure how we'd perform, so players maybe were a little more unsure whether to sign - cue everyone jumping on the Leicester bandwagon as their policy surely guaranteed they'd run away with the league...oh... Judge the club on who they actually bring in at the end of January, not when there are 11 days left, or where we actually finish at the end of the season. I would be disappointed if we didn't bolster further, but only time will tell if that was the wrong decision. It's also unrealistic that we'll win every game, or go the whole season without a blip. We've had injuries and suspensions, and won our last 2 games. I would rather we signed a proven striker as an insurance policy, and if Hooper delivered the goals that we needed to get promoted, then he'd be worth a massive outlay. I think if the last 16 months have taught us anything it's that Nigel has earned our trust.

The spears hanging out of the bull seem pretty graphic too. One thing for sure, the bullfighter is still alive....bet the bull isn't. Still, at least he got a bit of satisfaction from the torture.

Agree - I meant the highest possible sale price (he may or may not have made money up until now...didn't they sell players when he was owner last time?)

They won't though, although they'll probably morph into an ipad with a lot of different experiences on one device. The next generation growing up won't want anything that clogs up their lives / homes. Getting on a plane for a two week beach holiday, airlines charging per bag - 8 books or one slim device?