yorkiesaint

LOL at all those who think that if you can't get info on something through google then it can't be happening.

Yes, branfoot has to be in there.

Come on, every one of those guys knows how he could have avoided those sentences, if only they'd engaged their brains like the other 30,000 in the stadium. and we shouldn't judge the length of individual sentences until it is clear what they are. They are not going down for throwing a coin, they are going down for going to a match with the intent of causing trouble, and then getting caught in the act. The pre-meditation is the central point.

But if he's going to cost £750k then the money might better be spent on somebody even better.

hypo, I will give you my take on this. Yes, I believe that Cortese and Leibherr are in it for the profit, after all the club is a business. The brief for Pardew this season was to make the playoffs, but not to get promotion. Why? This is to make sure the interest of fans is maintained to the end, putting paying bums on seats, convincing them the dream was alive. Promotion itself was actually unimportant. We have to be realistic and realise that whenever Cortese, Pardew and the players speak to the media it is all carefully choreographed to be positive and to keep fans coming. This is why managers are often so bullish after poor games (remember Burley?). This is why Pardew was up there towards the end of the season sayign we still have a chance, when the reality was that it needed a miracle. Leibherr is an investor, and is waiting for his return, and I'm sure wouldn't have parted with any cash unless Cortese had a clear business plan which stated how much he would get back and in what time frame. Does any of this matter? I don't know, and I guess pompey and leicester fans would take different views right now. the bottom line is that we love football and we'll keep on paying, even if there is a £3 booking fee! Every club is run this way, so I don't see why it should suddenly be an issue now.

I had the same thoughts as docker-p. NC's statement is not the type you expect from someone used to dealing with the media and speculation. He appears to fall into the trap of being drawn into the debate, rather than rising above it. I was very surprised by the content. If he has points to make to the echo or individuals then he should be making them in private. All he has to say to the fans is that he and AP are going to be working hard over the summer to ensure everything is right for next season. 'Needs media training' should go on his annual performance appraisal IMO.

I think what it all shows is that Cortese doesn't have a thick skin when it comes to the media, and that idle gossip gets to him. A more mature response would be to rise above it a bit more and not get involved in responding to the actions of speculating individuals. A more generic 'Pardew is our man', planning now for next season statement would have been more appropriate. It all makes me worry a bit how he will cope when **** starts hitting the fan, as it inevitably will at some point. All IMO obviously..

i think spurs turned one of the biggest profits in the premier league last year, a cool £25m, so talk of redknapp bankrupting them is wide of the mark.

no more than 71 points for me. A win and a draw in the last 6 games will seal it for huddersfield. There is a chance to overtake colchester though.

So anyone actually own up to booing cortese then? It seems to me that if the boos were loud enough to be audible on tv, and they really were for cortese then some on here must have been among the boo-ers. Or did anyone boo for another reason at the same time?

obstruction is an indirect freekick in any case.

I agree, had the ref not given it noone would be talking about it.

I think Seabourne left a foot in, which he had previously placed there somewhat mischieviously. I'm not saying it should necessarliy be a penaltly, but no footballer should go into a game and assume all decisions are going to be spot on. By leaving his foot in he increased the chance of giving away a penalty, whether it was a foul or not, which as we have seen is irrelevant.

I don't think it is quite so cut and dry. It looks to me like Seabourne deliberately plants his right leg there so that when he moves he will trip. It is quite a cynical move at best.

St Landrew, do you really think we'll end up with a goal difference of +54?

I guess the thing is that at one stage we were 8 or 9 points off the playoffs with most of the season still to go. This reasonably raised expectations that we had a good chance of going up this season. Then all of a sudden we are 17 points off the playoffs, getting literally bogged down by crap teams that deliberately ruin their pitch ahead of our games. This bad run coincided with the loss of good players to injury, and with the time available preseason we were always going to struggle if we lost a few first team players. There are some plus points: we have played 2 less home games than most teams ahead of us. with lambert and barnard on form the necessary hoof ball play away from home has two to drop to. I'm sure yesterday was the team AP had in mind when he signed the jan players, so he deserves credit for this.

Lol at the people that think there's something unique about the saints pompey derby. you need to get out more- perhaps spend some time more than 5 miles from where you were born.

I thought the same, enough chances to win the game by a mile, and a corner that dropped 2 or 3 yards from the goal line that wasn't claimed. You can't blame pardew for being a bit frustrated.

I agree with this, I think pardew has to convince cortese he will get automatic promotion next year, or he will go.

I'm sure Cortese can give pardew as many warnings as he likes in private. A public warning is not for pardew's benefit, but is a message for the fans- we can still make the playoffs, I am leaning on pardew to improve, so don't stop coming to the show.

i thought we had stripes in the '80s, just fat ones.

This just a continuing war with the echo. A driect response to the echo article in the express. Cortese fights back by doing an early morning tea run and feeding the story to the express, along with some hook about a new shirt. It is all very cynical in my view, and dangerous to mess with the press. I fear one day it will come to haunt him..

We are playing 4 5 1 because our midfielders aren't good enough to play 4 4 2, and we need 5 to do the job of 4. We desperately need better midfielders so we can unleash the combinations of front men we have, lambert and connolly or lambert and barnard.

I', interested in whose leaking these stories to SSN. Is it some kind of gambit to force through the opuncheon deal?.

So so far we have in: Gillet (loan expired) Barnard (Southend) Seabourne (Exeter) Fonte (Palace) Out: Trottman (loan expired) Mellis (loan expired) Patterson (Southend) Saganowski (random greeks) One in, one out as promised. If there are more comings there must be more goings...