dvaughanwilliams

That is what the rules say. I wonder what would happen in the event of another club making an offer of a contract? Given that the players are only signed on a 1 month or 'non-contract' I can't imagine that Portsmouth would be in any position to contest the transfer of the registration if the player's contract had expired. It will be interesting to see the outcome if this situation arises.

Problem with that theory is that any of the players are free to leave, for no fee, even outside the transfer window. If any of their players start playing well consistently, another club will offer them the stability of an actual contract for a reasonable period and the player will walk away. At which point it will be a lot more difficult to pick up replacements.

What really annoys me is the fact that they haven't even named a full bench. The kids that played on Tuesday night have been superseded by empty seats. Presumably so they can continue to whine to the FL to get further dispensation for further signings. And now they're 1-0 up.

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/9878938.Pompey_boss_Appleton_goes_on_signing_spree_ahead_of_Cherries_clash/ Comments so far are surprisingly split between sympathy and condemnation. Not a large sample yet though.

Contains this shocking new revelation:

Not really surprising. Bompey were held under a very tight embargo and were forced to play their youth side and, as mentioned earlier, the FL wouldn't even allow them to sign Steve Lovell who was prepared to play for free. Their GK coach came out of retirement just to sit on the bench, it was considered unlikely that he would be able to play, it was just for show. I really can't believe how leniently they're being treated and yet they continue to moan about being put upon by the authorities or have ludicrous conspiracy theories about Birch being sent to liquidate them out of spite. I'm in disbelief that they're being allowed to make these signings.

I hope the people betting on Bompey thrashing Pompey didn't put too much money on it. In good news, you can get much better odds on that outcome today... http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-1/portsmouth-v-bournemouth/winner

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19284581 So the trialists who were brought in in the expectation of a £4m pa budget are being signed, while the club remains in admin. Other players have been forced out of the club and had to give up their contractual obligations to allow them to sign all these new players. I feel sick.

Very good points. Given the ejection of the old players, their outgoings have clearly gone down a lot. The wages of the former youth team are probably significantly less than Chainrai's budget of £1.5m. The difficulty is knowing about the income, no new kit to sell, fewer ticket sales at lower prices etc. Football cashflow is also notoriously 'lumpy' so there may be short term problems with suppliers not advancing credit. However, it seems a reasonable assumption that the club can continue running at break even, unless they start getting more players. The question then becomes, how long can TB reasonably continue to run the club in administration? I can see this dragging on for weeks, if not months.

If the FL board allow them to sign players with no owner in place it will be a massive injustice, even on non-contract terms. I can't believe that someone appears to have been briefing the Snooze that it's a realistic possibility. All this talk of optimism is madness. The trust takeover, with all of its problems would take a minimum of 6 weeks to go through, if at all. Birch has to pretty certain that the Trust can complete, otherwise his obligation to creditors means he has to liquidate.

This bloke seems to have misunderstood. He seems to think that shareholders will get refunded after the purchase of the club with only £2.50 at risk. The £2.50 only applies if the trust doesn't buy the club or if you pull out of buying the full share. Once bought, the shares will be unlisted and virtually untradable with a value of a few quid, at best.

As I understand it, it is the most recent installment of the PPs. Not sure if the £11m is net of this amount or not.

If there's £3m in cash, then liquidation looks like a decent deal for Chainrai. Will get £1.2m + the proceeds of any sales of assets. Almost certainly more than the £2.75m offered by the trust.

Interesting:

Genuinely can't tell if this is another wind up or not.

He sued Gaydamak Sr and won £17m in damages. Soon after he lent one of their owners, can't remember if it was Al-Fahim or Al-Faraj, a similar amount of money, secured on the assets of the club. Probably no connection between the 2 events though.

Naughty.

I laughed at this obvious wind up until I saw this:

Err, really? "Yay, we're on the brink of liquidation!' It's not a word used often on this thread, but I think they may be deluded.

The fee will be the first thing deducted from the proceeds of liquidation. Chinny gets the rest.

Attention Rubberneckers: Snooze webchat at 1pm. http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/webchats

I think that's highly unlikely. This is too much of a nuclear option to be a negotiating position. Given the problems with the PST bid: renegotiating the compromise agreements, Chinny agreeing to take £2.75m for his secured charge, getting the pledges paid, meeting the FL conditions; I can't see the match going ahead on Saturday. Break out the toast.

Bompey haven't been able to score against a League 2 side over nearly 120 minutes. Can't see it being a big scoreline.

Solent are trying to talk up the team and calling it 'a good performance'. A 3-0 drubbing by a team in the league below, who they described as playing hoofball poorly and being 'dire'. That's 'a good performance'!!! It sounded like the kind of thing we had to suffer in the Championship relegation season: patches of decent play, ruined by naivety in important areas that get punished ruthlessly. If they have to play with this team for too many games they'll be mired in a relegation fight before Christmas.

I was just thinking that some people may have been over optimistic by putting bets on big scorelines. Shows what I know Plymouth 3-0 up.