hutch

Not sure about 5 or 6, but the concensus certainly is minimum 3 - a right back, central midfielder and either Papa or Antonio back. I still feel one of them will come back - neither have signed anywhere else yet. Having both of them was a luxury. The right quality right back and central midfielder aren't easy to find and tempt to Saints. I haven't been disappointed that we "missed" any of the frees that our competitors have signed so far. But even if we take longer than we want to get what we need, I'm still confident that we'll have 15 more points on the board after 10 games than we did last season. 88 points would have got us automatic promotion. I'm sure our leaders have a long term strategy, building for and through the Championship. Whenever our new signings arrive they will fit into that strategy, not make the number up. We tried that.

On a Health & Safety note, you should ask her to stop winking at you. There's a lot of lamp posts out there.

Does it attract enough money to buy a new camera?

And the clubs with an embargo like yourselves have to wait until the smaller clubs have signed all the dergs

Can the Mods really dish out driving bans? Or has this thread wandered a bit?

The figures I've seen offered are: Boateng £3.3m Belhadj £2.5m Utaka £2.0m That's £7.8m, so halfway to the target. Luckily, there's no firesale, so if they can manage to hang on to those 3, that will only be half of next season's total wages budget accounted for. Oh, and I wonder who they'll sell to raise the other half of the target.

I had a SatNav like that once.

Therapeutic distraction

And so far this month: 'If clubs think that because Portsmouth are in administration we will accept any old offer, then they are mistaken. There will be no fire sale here and players will only be sold if we receive offers that meet our valuation.’ 3 June 2010 Pompey are set to cash in on John Utaka to kick-start their summer fundraising. Pompey paid a whopping £7m to Rennes for his services in 2007 but he has failed to live up to that price tag, scoring seven times in 65 appearances. ‘John is a talented striker and, on his day, he is a class act.’ 5 June 2010 HMRC said it will turn down the offer by Pompey administrators of 20p for every pound owed. Speaking before the HMRC's announcement, Andronikou said he was hoping to meet the taxman over the next few days in a bid to get them to agree to the CVA. 'Irrespective, we have had a phenomenal dialogue with them.’ 7 June 2010 'The two main ones we are looking to sell are Belhadj and Boateng … We are still waiting for someone to come up with a decent offer and it's about trying to get to them to that level.’ 9 June 2010 No manager, no owner, no CVA, no money - but for Pompey, the recruitment drive for players continues unhindered. A registration embargo is also still in place and will remain so until the CVA is granted at the very least. Andronikou said: 'The show must go on next season and we have got to bring in new players … 'In fact, not having a manager so far has not really impeded us at all. Peter Storrie is also helping us with his list of contacts’ … 'Of course, we are not looking to pay for players.’ 9 June 2010 'Our embargo target is July 1, subject to the Football League's approval, of course. The Football League have told us to get the CVA and then we will talk about getting it removed. In the meantime, those players out of contract are effectively free agents.’ 10 June 2010 Just 15 players are presently contracted to the Blues for life in the Championship next term. Of that total of 15, four are up for sale, with both Pompey and the players desperate for a parting of the ways. In addition, another five have been attracting interest from other clubs across the globe. Andrew Andronikou believes it won't be until July 1 before the transfer ban is removed by the Football League. 10 June 2010 The administrator met with HMRC, which has put in a £35m claim, on Tuesday to persuade them to vote in favour. He said: 'They're sitting on the fence. They said they will let me know their position on Monday.’ 10 June 2010 'I've been on the phone to these people late into the night and at weekends for six weeks. I'm very angry that they have been so alarmed as to pull out on the back of this spurious proposal by Griffins.' Mr Andronikou would not name the potential buyers. 10 June 2010 Mr Andronikou said: 'My focus now is to find the club a buyer. Next week I will be talking to the Ukrainians and updating them on the situation. I'm focusing on three people at the moment and I'll be talking with them.’ 18 June 2010 ‘I feel we have been fair. It's their decision to take, but in the intervening period we will continue our dialogue with HMRC and try to steer them away from making such an appeal.’ 18 June 2010 'Steve is very much the manager we wanted and we are delighted to have got him. We have given him a three-year contract simply because we need to bring some stability to the place. 'Now the players know who their manager will be and we can continue moving forwards. The presence of Steve will also allow us to bring in loans. Now other clubs know who will be working with their players.’ 21 June 2010 Nigeria's early elimination has boosted Pompey's chances of cashing in on John Utaka. Andronikou now has the opportunity to push the wantaway former Rennes man through the Fratton Park exit … 'I am sure the manager would want him to stay here but we have got to be realistic.’ 24 June 2010 Pompey's registration embargo will remain until at least July 15. Andronikou, right, said: 'We had a meeting with the Football League on Tuesday where they reiterated their position. Basically, the embargo will remain in place until clarification.’ At present, Andrew Andronikou claims he is talking to three interested parties, with Balram Chainrai's Portpin in the background. 24 June 2010

In order to lighten up the atmosphere a bit after England's dismal performance in SA, I've complied some quotes from our favourite sitcom, "Andy in the News". These are all (selective) direct quotes from Pompey's favourite online newspaper. ‘We've been at the club a week and we've covered a lot of ground, it's about time we announced what is going to happen.’ It is thought Mr Andronikou, who is an experienced handler of football club takeovers, may no longer need Mr Storrie's expertise now there are a reported 12 interested parties looking to buy Pompey. 8 March 2010 ‘Mr Chainrai categorically denies that he's interested in buying the club back.’ 25 March 2010 The club's administrator Andrew Andronikou has told The News he is confident Pompey will be battling it out in the Europa League next season … Andronikou said: 'Hopefully they will back us. It is a difficult position but I am confident, if I wasn't confident we wouldn't be applying for it’ 15 April 2010 Andronikou has told The News he confident of having a CVA in place and coming out of administration by the end of May or first week in June. 20 April 2010 Pompey fans have reacted with anger and confusion after the scale of the club's debts was revealed to be £119m. The club's administrator Andrew Andronikou arrived at the figure while drawing up Pompey's accounts ahead of an important meeting with creditors, set for May 6. Previously, Mr Andronikou said the club's debts were much lower – around £70m 21 April 2010 Suggestions have been made that Andronikou may have exaggerated the scale of the club's debts to make it easier to get creditors to quickly agree to accepting a deal for a lot less cash than they are owed. But the administrator has denied these claims. He said: 'Not at all’ 22 April 2010 Two months ago, Pompey's debts were pitched to be around £80m by accounting firm Vantis when it provided the High Court with a statement of affairs … And the fact it has now rocketed to £119m has left the administrator facing allegations he has exaggerated the scale of the club's debts … the club owes 26 players £1.86m in unpaid bonuses and appearance fees written in to their contracts. 'The only greyness is what your florist or baker is owed, which is pretty immaterial in the grand scheme of things… there's a point at which you say "it owes all this money, does it really matter whether it owes, £60m, £70m or £80m?" 23 April 2010 Reports suggest the administrators will offer unsecured creditors 23p back for every pound owed. But Mr Andronikou refused to confirm those reports. 'That's for me and the other administrators to know,' he said. 'We want to get back the most money for all creditors’ 23 April 2010 'Players' liabilities go up and up,' he said. 'When we win the FA Cup they will go up and up again and when we get in to Europe, despite what people are saying, they will go up again’ 23 April 2010 'We have got a right to play in Europe, we have earnt the right, so we will make an application next week as planned’ 23 April 2010 'We are in the business of playing football and need a playing squad’ 28 April 2010 'Despite recent press reports, the club has not been rejected from entry into next season's UEFA Europa League … an application has not yet been submitted and has not therefore been considered or rejected’ 29 April 2010 'We've had it confirmed today by Lucius Peart, the head of operations at Pompey, that the season ticket money will be ring-fenced so cannot be touched.’ One fan said at the meeting: 'Pompey are a bunch of fraudsters and thieves. They're not going to get my money.’ 30 April 2010 Mr Andronikou said: 'The group has been around for nearly as long as I have. I suppose just apply common sense. If nothing tangible has happened in two months, you start to have doubts about whether the offer is real or they have the ability to take it forward.’ But he added he had the power to refuse an offer if it was not in the interests of the club or creditors 3 May 2010 Mr Andronikou confirmed that he still sees Mr Chainrai as his 'Plan B' option should a buyer for the club not be found. 7 May 2010 'There are 11 players out of contract at the end of the season. A Championship team's budget for players should be between £8-10m and that translates to a mixture of earners between £5-10,000. In the Championship that should be enough – the players can take it or leave it.’ 7 May 2010 Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs hit Pompey with a last-minute debt claim for an additional £18m, increasing the club's debts to a whopping £138.6m. Administrator Andrew Andronikou said HMRC submitted the claim on Wednesday morning. He said he would be investigating whether HMRC was really owed the extra cash. Carl Faulds … alleged 'double counting' had taken place over former owner Sacha Gaydamak's debt and that he isn't owed £30m. In response, Mr Andronikou said: 'All the claims will be reviewed. 'We are professionals and we'll be asking the same questions.' Then, addressing Mr Faulds, Mr Andronikou said: 'I do hope you are not questioning the integrity of this process. 7 May 2010 'There are lots of outside parties consistently trying to bring down the club, I am sorry to say. I wish these people would leave the club alone. We are currently involved in negotiations with players out of contract and those who are still under contract.’ 17 May 2010 ‘David James is definitely one we want to keep. I want him to stay at this club, 100 per cent … Two weeks ago we met with his agent, Colin Gordon, and said we wanted David to stay … The player himself was interested … He has been offered a contract informally and we are looking to move it on in the next few days.’ 17 May 2010 Mr Andronikou said: 'We are hoping to finalise the CVA as early as Friday - if not, Monday. Mr Andronikou's optimism came as he yesterday submitted an application for Pompey to play in the Europa League. 19 May 2010 'We have got to accept that players will be going, revenue needs to be raised to continue taking us forward. We are looking to make £15m from selling four to six players. That is our aim.’ 20 May 2010 On Avram Grant … 'If there was no interest in him he would stay, I know that 100 per cent. It would not be a problem. But he is in demand and you have got to be realistic. His stock value is very high and understandably so. You could not ask him to do any more for this club than he has done. Those clubs talked about were bound to interest him. Even so, I was talking to him on a day-by-day basis and he was still making up his mind. It was a huge decision for him and in the end he went back to Israel to think about it. Over there he probably reflected on life and thought about whether he feels he could stay on and take the club back up 21 May 2010 'The coaching staff have had full autonomy and made the decisions over who they would like to keep at this club.’ 24 May 2010 THE FA have insisted they will not overturn their decision to refuse Pompey admittance into Europe. An FA spokesman said: 'Portsmouth did not meet the strict March 1 deadline.’ 27 May 2010 He said: 'Our coaches are going nowhere. Then again, that may be famous last words. I suppose making sure nobody takes them away from us is probably my next problem. I have not heard they are thinking of moving’ 28 May 2010 And Andronikou has promised there will be no cut-price bargains. He said: 'We are not selling hundreds of players, maybe three, four or five. But we do not have to sell anyone on the cheap and there will be no stupid offers accepted.’ He added: 'All our players have attracted considerable interest in one form or another. If we can get four players out and make £20m-plus that would be ideal.’ 28 May 2010 Andrew Andronikou is desperate to raise £15m through player sales this summer. Andrnikou believes, selling off Boateng, Belhadj, Utaka and Nugent during the next fortnight could effectively ensure ex-trainee Wilson remains at Fratton Park. 31 May 2010

On reflection this morning, I would like to thank Germany for putting me out of the misery of having to watch England play any more in this tournament. Maybe now I'll be able to sit back and enjoy some of the quality football that is being played by some of the other teams.

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Personally, I don't see anything wrong with that. It's the opposite of what happens now, with the foreign players stripping huge amounts of money out of the English game and filling slots in the top PL teams.

Reminds me of when I was at school. As long as they have bike sheds in the prisons, they'll be OK.

Getting promoted to the PL isn't about status, it's about money. Loads and loads of it, to squander away into foreign player's (and owner's) overseas bank accounts. £48m to Pompey (and others) as a bonus for getting relegated is just obscene. When the income is fairly and evenly distributed throughout the leagues, English football will start to get back on an even keel.

Chile just got one back. I just got home from Jo'burg airport. I saw the New Zealand and the Italy teams arriving to catch their planes home. I felt sorry for the Kiwis. I didn't feel the same about the Italians. And I noticed the Iberia plane still parked up cold and dark on the apron. Maybe waiting to see if they're going to take a few extra passengers tonight?

They don't seem to be able to grasp the point that the embargo is there to prevent them from signing up or re-signing players they either can't afford to pay, or can afford to pay but only if they don't pay their taxes and everybody else they owe money to. But then it was always thus down that way. I almost agreed with the post that Ginge quoted earlier, until I got to the last paragraph: The consequences would not bear thinking about? I for one (as they seem to like to say down there for some reason) get quite a lot of pleasure from thinking about the consequences.

Another "let's make sure we don't lose" selection. A bit late for that IMO.

Personally I don't have a problem with the odd skate coming on here and defending their clubs honour against some of the shiť we sling at them. But 2 skates coming on here to slag off Saints, and then congratulate each other on what a good job they're doing?

Really worried about tonight. Have to go out to a family celebration dinner and the restaurant does not have a tv. So I reorganised it to start 30 minutes after the final whistle. If Carlsberg could do family celebration dinners. [it's Mrs. Hutch's 50th, and I've got to go to the airport at 4am tomorrow, so let's not go too mad this afternoon boys]

An interesting (for us) take on the usual suspects in the DSTV Supersport studio from the FL blog here: http://www.football-league.co.uk/page/WorldCupBlog/0,,10794~2070130,00.html

So the Hosts are out. I know I'm a bit biased, but I don't think they disgraced themselves. A couple of class touches short of going through. They very nearly beat Mehico when they hit the post in the second half. They performed better than many, me included, expected. They put France out. If they'd done a "North Korea" last night France would still have gone through. Well done Bafana Bafana.

I've had a quick look through. A few things strike me: HMRC are still on the Creditor's Committee 9 months to winding-up is not cast in stone .. "or such further period as creditors may allow" Payment of the first installment from player sales is only "anticipated" The CVA relies on HMRC losing the "football creditor's rule" challenge If (when) AA reduces the actual amount to be paid to creditors, the windfall will go to the paymaster, not the other creditors The actual amount of UNSECURED creditor claims is £162m. AA has "accepted" £131m They owe money to approximately 47 current or former players Those players are claiming £46m. AA has "accepted" £29m They owe English clubs £8.7m They owe foreign (French) clubs £6.4m Chainrai (Portpin) is not the owner, although he clearly tugs the chain The Fake Sheikh (10%) and Al Mirage (Falcondrone) (90%) are the owners That smell hasn't gone away

I think the most important thing Lampard said in the follow up interview was that they hadn't read the reports in the press "back home". Thank **** for that. Lampard does do a good interview. Pity he can't play football as well as he can talk.

In reality it's the good old HMRC that will sort out the problems which beset English football. Clubs can accept any stupid offer from any skint club at the moment, because they know that the "rules" mean that they will get paid in full, whatever happens. When the football creditor's rule disappears, clubs will have to assess offers on their merits, and only accept offers from clubs that they think can, and will, pay. Transfer fees will inevitably decline. So far as wages go, clubs will no longer be able to spend "recklessly" above their means, relying on being bailed out by the admin process if it goes belly up. The League(s) will have to accept that they have absolutely no control over whether football debts get paid in full or not, so will have to be prepared to either kick clubs out of existence, or impose automatic relegations/massive points deductions to make sure that clubs are not tempted to do it. At the moment clubs can even go into administration and not be relegated (Palace this year). The League would not accept this if Palace's football debts were not paid in full, and they wouldn't be unless all it's other debts were paid in full as well. It will take a few years, but it will happen.