rallyboy

Interesting article! If it looks like financial irregularities, smells like financial irregularities and wears a teeshirt that says 'I'm a financial irregularity', the chances are, it is. Penalties could follow - and not the sort of ones you have after extra time. Next step could be for AA to dump Storrie. Then it will be the battle between him and Tanya as to who can get the best deal from the police on 'assisting with enquiries'. Despite her shrewd resignation my money is on Storrie - a master political mover who can convince people of all kinds of things. He will move quickly to cover his tracks and hopefully incriminate others. Then AA could be too busy sorting out discrepancies to find a buyer. The thread needed a new lease of life - this could be it.

I too resent the cheating element but I'm looking forward to watching Bale crossing and Crouchie nodding past a flapping James. In that single moment the door will slam shut on their season, the silence will only be broken by the sound of chains and padlocks locking them out of the Premier League for a generation. One minute Grant will be dreaming of a cup final reunion with Chelsea, the next he will be staring down the barrel of a long and dark reality. He might even need to relax by splashing out on a used model down at Horton Heath - but that's only if he needs a secondhand car.

so is Chanrai putting in a real £15M to upgrade his initial imaginary donation into a £30M debt? If so he's kindly loaning back some of the money he recently trousered out of the backdoor. Either way that is one debt-heavy, asset-free, cash-gobbling machine that AA's trying to sell - mainly to people off here if a few posts are to be believed. AA still looks like a clueless balding man who's pretending he isn't balding, or clueless - he's got that Steve McLaren comb-forward thing going on, it doesn't fool anyone mate. Bearing in mind we thought this comedy show was over six months ago, we shouldn't begrudge them some breathing space from the taxman, he will be back with more gags shortly.

the spin continues. Andrew Andronikou told a packed press conference at Fratton Park that 23 full-time staff have left the club. But the bulk of employees made redundant - 62 - were part-time staff. So 85 staff made redundant? No, 23 made redundant and some part-timers axed too, from the imaginary 600, or is it 320?... Why do they continue to mislead the court, the taxman, their staff, fans and the media? There has been no great cull or cost cutting, just some light pruning that will make no dent in the £4M wagebill - the gravy train chugs on - and continues to crash. And AA seems to be the only one who thinks the taxman has backed down......

Avram Grant is an idiot who would do well to keep his trousers and his mouth zipped. He took the worst job in football as an odd favour in a vague middle east peace accord and immediately acted surprised that there were financial issues. He then managed to drag their reputation even lower through his hobbies. He's bigging himself up to the fans when they win, and hiding when they lose. He doesn't grasp that by fielding that team the club is cheating, and he blames everyone else for their plight. He then rather oddly announces that last Saturday was 'a great day in history'...not for fair play and the sport it wasn't. What's more his league record is appalling! - Adams and Hart must be amused by his self-proclaimed hero status. While I have great sympathy with their office staff who are today being chucked out on the street, Grant doesn't deserve to get paid. And if a valid expose on money-laundering hits the streets before Monday that would be the end of the road, no court could let them continue.

They are playing outside of FA rules, outside of Premier rules and now they don't meet the criteria for Uefa. They're not actually a football club anymore, they're just a company that has football in the name.

Grant arrogantly announced after they cheated their way through at the weekend, 'our spirit can't be broken!' Big words but the facts tell a different story - whoops, there go another three points. I wonder how he got on with his theatrical bowing to the fans tonight, or is the craggy-faced prossie-botherer getting selective about when he does that? He has evolved from shrewd coach to fan-pleasing yes man who is either stupid or desperate for work. I look forward to him blaming the authorities again, it's not fair etc. Well done Brum, another nail in the coffin. Poor crowd, rubbish display, taxman waiting in the wings, justice around the corner.

training at Silverlake? They might give them a tenner if they weigh the ground in. Interesting points from that meeting - AA isn't aware that the tax debt was last seen to be £18M, a figure used in the court papers, he even has it below the £12M commonly quoted - so has he paid off £8M on the quiet or is he just a bit vague about stuff? 'Jacobs effectively working for free'....?? What does that mean? The Prem says they will discuss advancing cash once they have completed business with the taxman...that means, 'if you manage to clear that huge debt we will then help you with football debts'. Vital point - he says the arms dealer's £30M claim is rock solid and not a debt to be dismissed as Storrie and many fans have attempted to do, that's a big stumbling block to a deal. He still seems clueless, there are questions on there that would have been first on the list to get answered, yet he doesn't know. I await the great staff cull with interest - the obvious thing to have done three weeks ago was offload all 'contracted' loanees, all big earners, cancel flights, and to make serious cuts to running costs. But tomorrow I expect to see a distraught tea lady and a couple of stewards hanging up their hi-viz jackets thus saving a couple of hundred pounds - the amount that Utaka earns in about 20mins.

I was thinking that the taxman had a list of 10-20 clubs who owe shedloads but it seems from that HMRC interview that Pompey is by far football's main offender. That's not a good position to be in, there's safety in numbers. If my club was the one who stood out from the crowd and deliberately took the p=ss out of the taxman I would have concerns for the future. But AA was right, Saturday was 'a fantastic day for all the creditors' - not quite as good as the day when you eventually pay their effing bills, but 'fantastic' nevertheless. Has the Hong Kong loan shark fallen in love with the club yet?

The beast is terminally wounded yet they're still looking for little plasters. If they're lobbying for an emergency discounted version of parachute money advanced to creditors via the league, then they are in a worse state that I thought. That would just get them to the summer and their main future revenue stream would be dry, causing immediate decline and chasing off investors. It works for me!

An observer might suggest that it appears that they are 'pretending to be in administration' to limp away from the winding up order and towards the modest sanctuary of another Sky payment, with a masterplan of hopping back out of this suspended state when the points penalty drops on the mat. Why else would the administrator not be slashing costs like an axeman? He is clearly confident of his own position (even though others aren't), he needs to turn the business around, yet all loan players are still happily trousering cash and the club is carrying on regardless, overpaid Storrie is still there (?!!!!) - when will the authorities appreciate that behind all the spin and the 'poor old plucky Pompey' campaign they are still making no effort to address debt. Shameful. It's good to see the rest of football is now waking up to the cheating aspect.

Manager Avram Grant* admitted: “There are some great moments in *history and this was one of them. Yes, I will always remember where I was when that mighty Birmingham City side of 2010went out of the cup. Pompey midfielder Jamie O’Hara said: “The fans are fantastic. “They have a bit of magic about them. What you mean they can tell your fortune? We all can Jamie, and it doesn't have a happy ending this season.

I would be just as interested in the downfall of any club that cheated us out of the cup with unregistered players and loanees that were agreed through false accounts sent to the Premier League. The fact that those of us to the east have had to put up with vitriol and abuse for a while now just adds to the interest as they sink. The mammoth thread in the lounge is a sound analysis of business criminality, a regular reflection on Pompey posters' arrogant boasts of super stadiums and the imminent arrival of Maradona at Fratton, all wrapped up with the occasional bit of abuse thrown in for good measure. A nice mix. Ted's looking east and waving them goodbye, and so am I.

and the Eon man of the match is the blind linesman who gets a free trip to Horton Heath on Avram's expense account - an astonishing mistake to make at that level of the game. Beyond belief that he couldn't see the ball over the line.....you could see it was in on the telly, from the wrong angle, and without a replay. Anyway we're taking 44,000 to a Wembley final, and we have got there fairly. Bring on the taxman, sort out that dirty cheating club that brings the whole game into disrepute.

Do we know if the Few are going to play registered players in the cup tomorrow? Any late loanees added to the wagebill today? Any all-of-a-sudden' free agents mysteriously paid up their own contracts with other clubs this week? Anyway Soooooper, super Kev, super Kevin Phillips. If that little monkey pops up tomorrow with a 96th minute winner it would nail their season good and proper. Mmmm, let's all remember the Nathan Dyer moment............get in there! Sshhhhh! Nice.

mack rill has returned to an interesting point a couple of us highlighted a few dozen pages back. A court order on the back up of a cooked up case could be the only way of freeing up frozen accounts - thus allowing a couple of international criminals to split let's say, just as an example plucked out of the air, £17M? They have the back up of doing a joint property development should their money-laundering vehicle of choice lose a wheel or two. The only thing that might go wrong is if that vehicle didn't deliver the amounts agreed and it all got out of their control. The paper trail would be quite simple to follow I would have thought. The taxman has been quiet this week......maybe he's busy.

Storrie could present Cash in the Attic.

Did I hear someone mention in passing the other night that there was still the distinct possibility that they might be going down with no money in the bank? I don't know if anyone else heard that rumour.

he does come across as a clueless chancer. I know that administrators are double glazing salesmen in smarter suits but he doesn't do their cause any good by spouting rubbish. The penalty is written clearly in black and white. The future income can be included as 'possible future income' but you can't say, 'I'm on £50K a year so I want £1M now', like a six year old with no grasp of how finance works. He needs to sound positive as a salesman, but there is no hint at the reality of the situation, then again it isn't his football club so he doesn't care if it all goes pop. He can just walk away from the wreckage and leave the police to finish the job. Interesting that he agrees with a few of us on here about the club valuation - £30-40M now and the same again to restructure debt. That confirms that there is no get rich quick opportunity for an investor, just a long haul of hassle and poverty.

the media are only getting Pompey's twisted version of events hence the lack of balance. Many on here immediately suggested the admin wasn't legal, their own adminsitrator was happy, yet the taxman and the court are leaning towards this thread's understanding of the situation. Their 'experts' are struggling to satisfy the court, and the taxman is dangerously quiet. He's having a good look around the accounts, and they must be full of little gems.... This latest news that the FA is holding back their cup money could be significant. It suggests the authorities are not comfortable to put money in either, maybe they now suspect money-laundering?...Who'd have thought it?! - other than all of the people involved in posting nearly 20,000 times on here. I don't believe the Fratton hype, they're not out of the woods yet, they're actually heading into the dark bit....where the mad axeman lives....

I blame the press as well, they keep printing the league table and the facts from court cases, it's disgraceful, they're scaring off all the potential buyers. Nasty press, vindictive taxman, unsupportive Premier League, unhelpful FA - it's a vendetta against the superb owners and management of a great club. It's the fans I feel sorry for etc.... Denial ain't the place where Mido opened his swimschool. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

general opinion here last week from those that know was that Chanerai was caught between deciding whether he's an owner or a creditor and as such he couldn't put the club into admin. Administrator saw it differently, taxman agrees with us. The fact that it's returning to court suggests the taxman fancies his chances, especially as the paperwork must be all over the place. Admin boy says he's not unduly worried, but then again he wouldn't be, it's not his football club - and he does come across as clueless. If it wasn't for the chaotic last six months I would see this as a minor blip - but with their track record for employing idiots and suicidal strategies I don't see him dismissing this challenge too easily, and certainly not in one go tomorrow.

so the master plan of business recovery is revealed at last! - wait for the ruthless Hong Kong money lender 'to fall in love with the club'. That sounds like a great plan! I'd certainly concentrate on that instead of addressing the debt, those long summers that little android boy spent at administration camp were'n't wasted. Is it just me or is the Paul Hart story another bit of journalism from someone with no grasp of the facts? Surely Hart is right up the front of the queue now as a football debt? Last week he had little hope, now like Sol he's guaranteed payment, unless they never kick a ball again...

that'll be a long debate - all those in favour of the penalty?.....yep, that's everyone, next case. So how long do we give Storrie, and how long before the administrator announces that he has called the old bill? I give Storrie until Wednesday, and even then he will spin his sacking into a glorious exit. Admin. 'Peter, I ought to advise you that I've spoken to the police and they are very keen to have a look' Storrie. 'Fantastic news, I didn't even know Sting was a football fan, can I sit next to him in the director's box?'

until they're properly punished for the criminality and deceit that has occured I don't even recognise them as a football club. If they want to play to their own rules outside the structure of the Prem and the FA that's fine but no football fan should think they are hard done by or deserving of sympathy. Dear Pompey Take the penalty points, return the loan players, offload players you can't afford, get rid of ones you haven't registered, get the crooks to step down, prove you haven't broken Prem rules by trading insolvently, stop driving your manager to brothels, stop ripping off small businesses and charities, show us your books are legal, clear your debts, pay your tax - and then you can be (reluctantly) welcomed back as a valid part of the british game. As far as I am concerned Burnley are bottom of the table in 19th place, the one below them isn't playing to the same rules and shouldn't be included in the competition.