hutch

I think the loan was before the WUP, but the (second) charge was registered after.

I wish I had the talent. I keep having visions of "The Blews Brothers". Jake "Saggychops" Blews & Elwood "Stories" Blews. In their "too small" black suits & thin black ties, unneccessary shades and pork-pie hats. Being whacked by "The Penguin" from the PL and chased by the "The Good Ole Boys" from HMRC (in their mobile caravan). And all the local businessmen from Portsmouth, chasing them in their (police) cars.

Unless, as I understand it, they are liquidated. In which case the players become free agents. Correct me if I'm wrong.

And we've got more posts on the 'Pompey Takeover Saga" thread than their average gate. Statistics, eh?

I think "disbarred" would be more accurate than "former", but otherwise agree.

Can we not have a gallery on here somewhere, where we can "hang" some of the wonderful work done by some of our talented members. Today's "Poopey" by Crab Lungs is worthy, as is the recent "Lambert & Barnard" cigarette packet. There are others, but I can't remember them offhand.

We would not have had nearly £3m to spend with Lowe in charge.

I'm sure the gate revenue is up. Every cup game (and the TV revenue and prize money) is a bonus.

True, but after liquidation, when the scraps are being shared out.

Unless you know the true relationship between Falcondrone & Portpin (if there is one), you don't know that. It doesn't.

Reading these boards, you could get the impression that we're throwing money around. "We're the Man City of league 1" I actually think we're being conservative and prudent. Mellis & Trottman left and had to be replaced. Murty, Jaidi, Perry & Connelly are coming to the end of their careers, and have to be replaced. We brought in 4 on fees - Fonte, Seaborne, Barnard & Puncheon. All bought cheap, in a depressed market. I believe all 4 will be worth considerably more in the future, so that is good investment. As long as the squad wages are covered by the income, and I believe that they are (or thereabouts), then no problem. We will lose some of the current squad members in the summer. Would we be any better off, playing-wise, with Ward & Stock (or Danns) instead of Seaborne & Puncheon? Who knows. We got our fingers burned once. No need to do it again, just look down the road. I'm happy with things the way they are.

I was going to post a flippant comment about Stoke, with their cultural background, agreeing to pay part of the fee for Begovic in pots, after learning that there is a shortage of pots at Fratton Park, particularly among its owners. But in the light of the Grauniad article (if it's true), particularly the second charge that Portpin have registered on 7th January, it is now all over for PFC, so that would be in bad taste. There is absolutely no chance of them getting their hands on any of the cash. It will either be diverted by the PL to pay other clubs, and perhaps the VAT portion of the incoming fees directly to HMRC, or grabbed by Chanrai. If the charge is what Conn says it is (and he quotes the date it was registered and even quotes from the content, so it seems likely), it's game over. They'll either go into liquidation very soon, probably next week, or if they're very lucky administration before that. Unless an exiled Israeli-Russian arms dealer has a quiet word in the ear of a Hong Kong businessman. I believe that the real truth, although we will never know it, lies in the true beneficial ownership of Falcondrone, which is coincidentally (another one?) registered in the same jurisdiction as Portpin. All just IMHO, of course.

The second charge appears to have been registered on 7th January (2010, presumably). As this post-dates the issue of the WU petition (on 23rd December 2009, I think), I imagine that there is a very real prospect that it can be set-aside by any duly appointed liquidator. It does, however, explain why Chanrai described the £7m TV money which was withheld by the PL as "his" money.

And Storrie's planning to show him round Parkhurst later this year.

PES, there is a difference. Saints gambled and lost. But that gamble was to get back to the PL, and all the "money from the Sky" that goes with it. If we had succeeded it would have been a great bet. Pompey, on the other hand, could never sustain the debt, as a going concern, no matter what happened.

Not sure if I can believe that (the Grauniad article, not PEDG). AFAIK HMRC no longer has preferred creditor status, so it wouldn't be lawful to divert money to them in preference to all the other creditors, would it? Casts doubt in my mind on the credibility of the whole article.

I had my first ever job interview with Brazier in 1974. Barstewards turned me down. RIP nevertheless.

More Grants. The more you drink the better it tastes. On a similar topic, my nipper (he's 10) was on his way back here recently with SWMBO, and he won 2 litre bottles of Bells in a promo at Heathrow. And they gave them to him. I'm still drinking them.

Lest we forget, Poops are banned from signing anybody on permanent deals during the window. The "loan" window is still open. So they can still do loan deals, in or out. The ONLY interest was how much money they got in from permanent deals out. And the answer is not enough.

IIRC the draw for tickets for the first round of games was today. Anybody heard anything?

AFAIK loans can still be done for another month. I'm sure, in fact certain, that somebody will correct me on here if I'm wrong. And, IIRC, Pards stated on Solent recently (after the Millwall game I think) that 10 squad members would have to find themselves new clubs in the summer, or words to that effect. Saga's gone, so make that 9.

SSA - let me know if you ever want an MD that wants to be an Engineer.

Careful

In perspective, I expect that Utaka's wages alone would pay for almost our entire squad. That is one of the reasons why they are so completely fücked. And we're collecting a lot more gate revenue than them.

Spend too much time in Senegal. Off to Dakar again on Wednesday.