The Cat

Can't find a link for it, but this is in today's Observer: "The property tycoon Rob Lloyd is still working on a bid to buy Portsmouth and will be in London tomorrow to continue negotiations. However AA has told Observer Sport that lloyd's plans to finance the takeover - and beat Hong Kong businessman Balram Chainrai, who is working on a sale-and-purchase buyout - depend on raising future revenues, including a stockmarket flotation of the club. Following Pompey's high court victory on Thursday over HMRC, AA criticised some of the first team squad who he said were "holding the club to ransom" as he attempts to bring the wage bill under control. Regarding Lloyd's interest in buying the club for a still unknown purchaser, AA said: "no one can fault Rob Lloyd's efforts. He is still a potential buyer and he's made differing proposals to us, but at the moment they are not really acceptable proposals. Most are based on future revenues - he is interested in a flotation of the club. On the situation with the club's playing staff and wages he said: "The club is effectively being held to ransom by some players. They are behaving like schoolchildren" "

Well, it never hurt Nintendo's sales by having the Wii regularly go out of stock. If you have a desirable product people will wait until they can buy it. The kit being out of stock isn't a problem apart to impatient people. When they come back into stock the club can repromote the shirt and everyone who wanted one will buy one. They will also have the bonus of being able to control stock levels which means not being left with swathes of old kit come the end of the season that has to be sold at less of a profit.

Enjoyed the tannoy announcement about the lost kid. "He's in the clubhouse if you want him, if you don't that's where he'll stay"

Oh, and all the people that have a go at Nick should remember what he and other fans did to get rid of Askham and to expose the dodgy and underhand takeover by Lowe. The old SISA, for all their faults, also helped secure the land for St Mary's. That's why you need fans groups, or people that care about their club more than your average pop-along-to-home-games-and-lap-up-the-official-website type of supporter.

Can't see how it could be an admin error. No member of ticket office staff would just randomly refund a season ticket without being told to do so. I'd imagine the process gone through to refund a ticket means the member of staff needs to access the customers details through the database, check the name against it, enter their debit card details and process the transaction. It's pretty difficult to do all of this in error. For someone like Nick who, despite huge disagreements with those involved, has been in close contact with the previous owners and board members of the club going back over 20 years it must be strange to have new owners who seem to hold little regard for the traditional club/fan relationships. Even when we were battling through hard times, Saints have always had a dialogue between the board and fans groups and representatives. OK, the club probably didn't take much of this dialogue on board, but at least it existed. Maybe it's a romanticism, but I like the idea of a club being rooted in it's community. I like it to be open and welcoming, to maintain strong links with the locals and fans groups. Even faceless multinational corporations use focus groups to improve their products to keep their customers happy. From examples I've read on here it seems our new owners are somewhat struggling with their communication with the fans. Whether this is a cultural thing, something they just don't understand having not run football clubs before, or just the way they want to do it, I don't know. Maybe in time this will improve. Having worked for a number of companies from shop floor levels through to head offices, I've always kept customer communication levels high. Honestly, to reply to Nick, or to SRS/DBD's queries and problems shouldn't take longer than a day or two. Even to just fob people off with a thanks but no thanks is surely better than ignoring them.

True. When Saints win, the shop I work in always sells out of the Echo on a Monday. When Saints lose that's rarely the case.

Jizz

Hope not, if they lose direction slightly they'll be landing on my house.

He's too good for league 1, which is why I hope this is true.

Good signing. Got a Palace supporting mate so I've seen him play a fair few times and always thought he was decent, and that was in the league above. His versatility is such a bonus. Could easily fill in for Hammond in midfield, or on the right if needed. Having 4 very good full backs for this league will make such a difference to the team. This should allow us to attack the flanks more and get crosses in from behind the oppositions defensive line. Crucially for me our right side with Richardson and/or Butterfield will now be a lot more solid and give more balance to the team. They are also much stronger and have better awareness than Otsemobor which will allow whoever is playing on the right (Puncheon?) to have more freedom.

He was ok at Havant. Liked to burst forward from midfield with the ball. His shooting was a bit wayward though.

Decent game. Good to see the passing ethic in the team. The centre backs were playing it short, and there was little aimless hoofing. Despite their goals coming from passes played right through the middle of our defence I thought Racine played well. Holder-Spooner was our best player and scored a good goal cutting back from the left edge of the box after controlling a cross with his back to goal and shooting hard and low into the corner. Pulis went off after about 40 mins. Possibly got kicked in the head but maybe that was wishful thinking. We were a very quiet team throughout. All the voices I could hear were from Havant. We could do with being more vocal on the pitch.

Aw shucks, I was going to take my giant foam hand from the JPT final.

Also a fair bit of experience up front. According to their player profiles Liam Sewell was born in 1900. http://www.havantandwaterlooville.net/stats/player.asp?p=267

19.45 kick off. I might pop along as I'm east of Southampton anyway. They've got a fair bit of experience in midfield - Ian Selley and Sammy Igoe, although I'm sure Pulis will play them off the park

Yeah, that was more like it. Cav was in tears on the podium. Good to see Thomas up near the front again. Looked like he was leading out Boasson Hagen. Sky have signed some superb riders for their first season and have been right up their in every stage which is commendable seeing as they didn't pick a proper sprinter. Can't wait for the mountains to see how Thomas copes. People have been tipping him as having the chance for a podium spot in the future - far cry from a few years back when (I think) he finished second from last! But then to be fair he was only about 12.

Are you his pimp?

Walsall away last season proves this. They just didn't have a clue how to defend against him.

A few pages back someone asked about moving your seat when renewing. It is possible. I even moved my seat from Block 33 to 36 and paid £65 less.

Not content with supporting the most corrupt club in the country, this Pompey fan goes one further and also follows the most corrupt team in the world cup. Look out for his flag tonight. Bizarre. Truly bizarre. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/14/world-cup-2010-north-korea

Renewed our tickets but moved to the Kingsland corner as it's cheaper.

Bloody is as well. I had that.

Are any bookies offering odds on relegation from the Championship next season yet? Had a look but can only find promotion or outright winner odds. It's got to be worth a punt as they way it looks now they'll either start with a big point deficit, or with a squad that would struggle in the Conference South. Or maybe even both.

Not very happy about this. Prices are ok, but lack of installment plan and the booking fees are a joke. Hopefully the club will review some of these decisions. I'll be joining the list of people emailing David Luker with their views.

125 random season ticket holders should get their tickets for £125. Draw made after the final date to buy one passes. (Presumably after the first home game of the season)