rallyboy

Pompey's now a tarnished brand and most sensible fans must be ashamed of what's been done in their club's name. The problem is, can their fans distance themselves from the management that stole from charities yet support the management that brought in O'Hara etc via illegal paperwork? The cast that has guided the club back to wembley are the same ones that stole from charities so it's going to be difficult to be selective when taking a moral stand. It might be nice if the overpaid players cleared the charity debts immediately, I have no doubt that if this had happened at St Marys a year ago someone like Leon Crouch would have stepped in before it even hit the press. Then again even in financial meltdown we showed a bit of class - Rupert was an idiot but he was a gentleman. Sort of. We might have crashed but it wasn't ugly.

I think they might be chuckling to cover their obvious relief - having started the season aiming for a top ten finish two divisions above, along with us tipped for relegation because of the penalty, they suddenly found themselves staring down the barrel of a possible league fixture against us as soon as this August... We knew it was a long shot, but they pooped their little pants at the prospect so tonight they will party like it's 1999 - which is funny because they were in administration then as well - it's like Spurs with the cup years, if the year starts with a 19 or 20, Pompey are likely to be in a financial crisis. Sadly I fear we will replace them a year from now without the chance of a derby, unless the authorities have a good look at the books in the next few weeks and we might see them next season after all. Or Salisbury might.

I just read through the entire list of creditors, it's ridiculous (if vaguely accurate). I see £500K owed to Spurs for O'Hara - will that be the fee from January when he was brought back in illegally? 'No transfers, just loanees, oh your accounts look healthy, help yourself, see you at Wembley.' Cheats. But what about the schools, colleges and charities, the small companies that suffer with cashflow problems, how could they do that to these people? It must be time to pull the plug, the farce has gone on long enough. Let them have their farewell party, a final outing for the Storrie banners, finish the league programme and pull the shutters down. Grant can continue to spout rubbish, his reputation is shot to bits - perving around industrial estates, an appalling league record, and when in front of a microphone he displays the judgement of a deluded clown. AA can treat everyone like idiots and spin more lies, and the big two pulling the strings can waltz off with the property deal that they have always wanted - like none of us know what's been going on for nine months! Let's face it, there isn't anything left to launder so they might as well call it a day, the corpse is drained - some of the stars of this little soap will be beyond the law, others will get away with it, and hopefully several will do time. Time to call it a day.

trouble is you won't have just one, there will be a family. It's you or them, reclaim your house by executing every last one! Several traps, keep them primed after you have any success, after a week you might find that the body count slows down. Every few years we get them here, it normally takes five or six kills before you can enjoy sleep without hearing little paws creeping around the loft, it's not for the faint-hearted, go do it to them before they do it to your stereo. You may want to wear body armour and smear mud on your face to get into that Rambo role as well, I wear a tea towel tied around my head and hold the bodies aloft to warn off the others. or you might have the only loner mouse in the area and he will skuttle away of his own accord....

my goodness, 490 pages in and they've managed to hit a new low. We knew the club had raped local businesses and now we find out that they steal from terminally-ill children. Surely this must be rock bottom? Plucky old Pompey, the fairytale club with the greatest supporters in thw world. Suddenly some of the few look classy compared with their club.

The only asset in the business is an ability to generate TV money, that looks like it's about to leave the building. This development would make it more likely that they could start next season without penalties BUT as they have already waved goodbye to incoming transfer money it would leave the business with no income of any significance. Matchday revenue would cover debt repayments and half a small wagebill - and that's it. That sort of thing doesn't bother fans because they can't see it, until they find themselves in another relegation battle, but they wouldn't be able to compete with the likes of Bournemouth and Rochdale on wages and transfer fees. Presumably AA could now be looking for an owner to pay £10-20M for a club with football debt accounted for, but creditor debt restructured, court cases pending, and no revenue for two years. Those initially cheaper deals start to attract the chancer consortium element and you end up with more nutters trying to make a quick buck or local businessen trying to save the name. They desperately need structure, facilities, academy etc, and that costs - I see them limping along for several seasons. And if you then think 'they will get lucky with some players and a good manager and bounce back' - ask yourself, who would go there, and also agree to be paid less than they could get everywhere else? And we all know they deserve more points penalties but if the authorities let them start on 0 and asset-strip the business instead, it could be more damaging.

AA is now defiantly telling the few that he will fight the European ban! It's him and the prossie-botherer on the battlements of Fortress Fratton, valiantly fighting for justice for plucky Pompey.....mmmmm. The authorities have said quite specifically that they 'won't consider an application'. AA says they have not been banned because they haven't even asked - he says they are still putting an application together - the type of application they have told him they won't even look at. He must be a bit simple. Or paid by the hour, filling his days with pointless tasks as the meter ticks along at an astonishing rate.

I believe that if they don't pay the football debt they don't start next season....? And AA commented under his breath yesterday that he doesn't recognise the football creditor ruling, if he sticks to that then they will be looking for a new type of business to be involved in come August. He has got himself into a bit of a pickle!

you have to give it to GM on that one, nicely done. At last the rest of football has caught up with us, yesterday was a breathrough in outing the criminality and cheating down the road. Did anyone hear the Danny Kelly comment about 36-37,000 Pompey fans trying to get into Fratton every game? Some education still needed there. As for Hearn, Collymore and Talksport - normally we wouldn't give any of you the time of day but this morning I salute you, along with SSN who accused AA of irregularities in his documents - welcome to our world. And if as AA says he hasn't needed to borrow from Chanrai, what is he using to run the club? Shirt buttons or advanced parachute payments?

SSN reported that the creditor list published by AA is inaccurate and that there are people on that list who have already been paid. Also Terry the builder says he's had no contact at all even though he should have had legally, and he's owed £54K. Azougy reckons the debt has leapt £40M in a few months. Is AA making it up as he goes along?

interesting figures, this is the first time I've seen all the dirty detail laid this bare and I reckon most Pompey fans will be horrified if they look at it... So in January 2011 they are due to pay about £2.4M in historic transfer fees, that'll be easy for a championship club to find! Future transfer income has all gone to keep the debt to £105M, so if AA is now using parachute payments to meet running costs there will be no future income of any significance at all for at least two years. And in the current period they were due to pay clubs over £10M between Jan and May - that in addition to the general running costs. I also note that the delayed payments to clubs are costing a fortune in interest. I don't see Campbell's debt on there? Though they still owe Crouch and Johnson! If AA has managed the figures to squeeze the taxman below 25% the taxman only needs to lean on one or two creditors or seek their 'support' - he could make them an offer they can't refuse, they are a powerful agency and as a business you want to keep on the right side of them. Presumably the increasing monthly tax debt and some dodgy loan deals are to be added to that document as time goes on. And if I was a small business owed £2K by anyone and was offered 20p in the £, I would rather see them liquidated that get back £10 a month for the next few years - no question, If I could damage any company that had cheated me I would. So whatever AA thinks, that CVA isn't going to sign itself.

for anyone who wasn't there it was no surprise to me when Lloyd returned to the dugout, he was clearly out of form and out of touch, something a manager wouldn't say in a radio interview, either James underperformed or our bench misjudged his fitness. Pardew has to control the passion but there was a long queue of people who wanted to run on at the end and ask the ref why he was so incredibly poor. He gave us two ridiculous free kicks in the second half when players fell over yet he gave us nothing in the first half and his use of cards was all over the place. The defender who charged straight into the back of Barnard leading with his arm didn't warrant a chat but his mate who was walking slowly off to be subbed was booked. And he obviously hadn't read the memo that the tackle from behind was outlawed a while back, he let several go without even giving a foul. We didn't win because we didn't score, our players and the ref are two factors that led to that and making reference to the official was valid on this occasion, imo. Moaning about officials every week is as pointless as a Pompey home game but this guy was awful and we suffered more than they did from his inability to referee.

how high does the debt have to be before EVERYONE accepts that they are trading insolvently and in clear and serious breach of company law and football authority regulations? How high is AA's final bill going to be at this slow and expensive pace he's going? And how different are these legally-binding figures being officially confirmed now from the Vantis report ones, the figures officially confirmed to the Prem as an appeal, or the ones officially presented to the court? Storrie stated that in admin the club owed £25M plus the two big loans. Unless he was lying and misleading the court and the authorities for the club's gain, AA has allowed the debt to increase by £44M at the rate of nearly £3M a week. If he's trying to cook up a trick for the CVA I think he may have gone too far because with this latest figure the business is dead in the water. Put the cat out, lock the gate and hand the keys to the nearest creditor.

HMRC hasn't given it up yet, they're playing a waiting game and at the last court appearance didn't they reserve the right to re-challenge aspects of the administration? Beware of a taxman who is worryingly silent, he may well have a plan - and let's remember he's turned down an offer of 99p in the pound before. Either way a new owner will still have to fund the football debts, a significant proportion of the tax, and a restructure of the big two debts will create massive overheads for a Championship club. Despite no sign of a forensic look at the accounts or any explanation for several missing millions, AA has managed to get all of the new investors and consortiums into an orderly queue so he can satisfy the creditors without delay, he's close to securing an unblemished CVA and confirming European football for next season. He must be very good to have managed all this. I am starting to wonder if every time he and Grant open their mouths it isn't just spin and rubbish coming out to placate dim people.

yes I'm sure all the businesses owed money will be quite happy to surrender huge chunks of their own cash whilst watching the club bank cup money and parachute payments. AA doesn't even know who is offering what or what is actually owed to whom without the forensic work so he's plucking ideas and fantasy figures out of the air. He's going into a game of poker with a hand of shlte and desperately talking up his chances. Me not fooled - much hassle ahead.

I don't see this as a news story, with his previous activity and the current financial statements we all knew that AA was happy to sign anything. Anyway, the people who are now criticising were queuing up with me to have their photos taken with Mark Fry when we were on the verge of oblivion, I still have his signed tie framed in my office. Gathering autographs and memorabilia of insolvency practioners doesn't make you a looney.

a beating at home today and a tug at work tomorrow - just how Avram likes it.

if we are talking sensibly to Corp for a mo, for me the worst cheating was not the overspending or the insolvent trading but specifically the misleading of the Prem in January when false accounts were presented to force open the transfer window and bring back in O'Hara and Quincy - players who were brought in to strengthen an already overpaid squad. Having an unregistered player on the bench didn't help in the cup game either. Also around that time there were a couple of players who miraculously bought out their club contracts elsewhere and became free agents before joining. It was obvious what had gone on and at a time when any troubled business would have been cutting costs and a football club in trouble would have been clearing as many players as possible, the Pompey wage bill increased. There was no attempt to address debt and even the redundancies were a sham - 23 fulltime and 60 part time was it? These have not been the actions of a business trying to save money - this is the first time that a football club in this state hasn't tried to save itself and has gambled other people's money on everything. If you put these issues alongside pervy Grant continually talking rubbish, you are inviting people to launch scathing attacks - and this is the place to find them. A good way to move forward would be for the few to drop the arrogant stance and accept reality, and for the club's representatives to stop bleating about being hard done by and to cut out all the twaddle about 'what goes on off the pitch is irrelevant'. It's very clear that the club misled the authorities to gain competitive advantage. It is also clear that financial skullduggery has been going on for years, the tax situation should be enough to shame any sensible supporter. As for your new hero, Grant is either a liar or an idiot - he had no idea there were financial problems, he knew nothing about points penalties or contracts or much at all, but he knew that the 250K fans are the best, the whole community needs the club, except maybe those whose local businesses have been royally shafted. As long as the prossy-botherer continues to spout drivel, the dislike of what many now accept as a cheating club will grow - and his league record is hilarious so we support the campaign to get him knighted or whatever. If Grant and more of the remaining Pompey fans tried some humble pie and stopped denying the obvious truth, there might even be some who would move somewhere towards sympathy....but as long as we have to put up with these ridiculous versions of events, the cries of 'cheats' will gather volume.

to clarify the great news they've had this week - 'they will be allowed to play in Europe' (if they meet the criteria which includes exiting admin trouble-free and filing accounts) 'they will get four years of increased parachute payments' (if the FL turkeys go mental and vote for Christmas) These two gems have pushed the defiant 'we will get the points penalty overturned' back into the shadows. Put that together with 150 of the best fans in the world seeing their glorious team grab a 0-0 draw at their twinned football town and you have a fantastic week, and we may still have court proceedings today to add to the frivolity.

Harry's teams do look unbalanced when he starts with unfit strikers, but luckily he seems to have got it right tonight. I wonder what odds you would have got on a Spurs defeat at the weekend? Some bookies will have taken a hit, possibly the same ones that had to pay out when he rejoined Pompey all of sudden with only two or three people in the loop. Gambling on sport is a funny old business. Poor old Pompey, only enough players for four subs, I do hope some make a recovery in time for Wembley, that's a proper fairytale that is, plucky underdogs battling against the odds with only £20M of taxpayers money to help fund the cup run. Sorry kids you can't have the new hospital wing, Utaka needs his illegal image rights paid into an offshore account.

the few never really grasped that 'investing' in wages wasn't good use of the income, it was Sky money pouring straight through the club and out of football. This was so obvious I can't see how anyone thought this lunatic business plan could take them anywhere other than bankruptcy. And that's not with hindsight, they bought their way out of the championship, big wages, no tax paid, and the train crash has stumbled on since then - it just happened to run over Cardiff en route. Now we just need a reality check about this ridiculous talk of a European campaign and to see them putting out their strongest team against Wigan in respect to the other clubs down the bottom. If Grant rests players again (forget AA, it's pervy's decision to pick his own team or walk away from the job) it will be another clear breach of Prem rules to add to the lengthy list.

my mother-in-law was so pleased for them when they won the cup - so we brought that conversation to an abrupt halt and it never restarted. As for fans not being responsible for what their clubs do, with our recent history, if Pardew started paying inflated transfer fees and crazy wages there would be alarm bells ringing and mutterings around St Marys. We want success but not through risky business practice - and that can be debated but anyone who has seen their club close to oblivion doesn't want a repeat. If ML stated that he would be bankrolling a risky Prem push and he had put a longterm structure in place then I would be assured, but no intelligent fan would see a player like Crouch tempted from Liverpool with doubled wages and think that was normal or good business. It would be the equivalent of Rovers asking a million for Ricky and us giving them two. Pompey fans have been naive, ignoring the crimes and enjoying the ride. Now they have to do the time, and for vocally supporting Storrie through all the criminality without protest? They were tainted and implicated by that. No set of fans has ever stood by and let someone damage their club in such a manner - chanting his name as he raped the coffers.... Unbelievable.

I love some of Frankie's stuff, I was also a great fan of Bill Hicks who made you wince sometimes when he got close to the mark. I like it when it's funny, clever, offensive and constructive. IMO this time Boyle has got it so wrong. No clever point, no alternative view behind the observation, just an attack on someone because they look different and have a short life expectancy - and also he was ignorant on the subject, a cardinal sin for a comedian. So we ended up with nothing clever, nothing funny, just misguided and badly presented abuse - a lazy set that must have been knocked together at the last minute. Is he now looking for the Sun audience who don't need quality behind the gag? I thought it was a really poor routine in many ways, does that make me a member of the PC brigade trying to stifle free speech? God no, I love it when people push the limits but I just want some quality in the comedy.

We can now spread the word to football fans far and wide - a victory for Pompey is a victory for taxpayers everywhere as it's their money that is financing the cup run. And that is how they can claim such a big fanbase, anyone with a NI number has a share in their success. I still think they are in big trouble but I have to partially defend Nick on the registrar issue - a Pompey fan who is also an insolvency practioner told me a few weeks back that he was staggered when they survived the first day. He stated that the taxman's legal team 'dropped the ball' and it was very clear that they should have been wound up with the evidence available. But like last weekend's win over Spurs, that is now ancient history. I too feel the balance is shifting and a second cup final starts to make the risks look worth it, though a hammering would change that. I wonder if Spurs fans are pleased that their taxes financed their own cup exit, they didn't want that new hospital wing anyway, they would much rather pay Utaka's illegal image rights.

let's have a quick reality check - the Prem has some awful teams in it this season yet they have still managed to get themselves relegated on merit, and supplied laughs aplenty along the way. Had you offered me that as an option in August I would have had your arm off. So I shall sleep well on that thought - night night. Zzzzzzz