melmacian_saint

Before diving into the (il)legal atrocities that have meant they will die another day (but they will), I think we should all show some sympathy to all those footballing communities who have not been able to p*ss on the law and get away with their clubs staying in business. The most frustrated have to be the Rangers fans, even more when it comes to the way public institutions have acted (especially HMRC), as it's hard to understand why they weren't even allowed to get a CVA proposal accepted when Pompey didn't even pay a penny of the first one, something that in the real world means game over, and were even allowed to run into more debt leading to a 2nd administration without any payments to previous creditors completed. As for the future, fear not my dear friends. Balu will come in and once he realises he'll only get something like £3m maximum from the PPs (don't forget about those agreements to offload the ship and Birch's salary), he'll use that to buy off the land around FP and the ground itself, build Tesco, sell the club to the populist-council-backed Trust for nothing, rent Fortress Fatpipes to them on a 15-20 year contract at £1m or so a year, and he'll enjoy his retirement with his money finally back. In the meantime, he'll arrange a scapegoat (normally known in football as a Chairman) to deal with getting a half-effort of a squad to turn up at the league/cup matches and keep the thing going (maybe they'll even act good and comply with FL restrictions!), won't put a single penny into the club (apart from the money to buy the club's most valuable yet decadent asset, leaving it with nothing, and because he's a secured creditor he probably doesn't even need to do that!) and by the time he's finished with his act I predict they'll be struggling at the foot of the Football League if not down in the Conference already. When the money from FP is gone (disguised as those life-saving PPs), it's time to call London and good ol' Trevor again. They might have reduced their debt from liquidation figures to a good looking one, but the dam is not holding up a flow of millions. This is League One, and with their troubles and Chinny's lack of interest heavy investment is not on the cards, and a further relegation to L2 is very likely. If the Trust manage to buy the club off, their project has no sustainability in Pro football. If admin no.3 comes about, it's a no-brainer really. Don't worry fellow nutjobs, it's still "From Ronaldinho to Rochdale- A matchday programme's spiralling decline" on Pompey TV's prime time. In fact, I'm starting to believe this is for the best. PFC's decline will be so great that I doubt there's any possible recovery for them in the medium-run. Our rivalry will become meaningless but for the geography of it.

Virgin Trains are great. It's also a very smooth connection journey through the underground from Waterloo to Euston so you'll be fine. Not sure about the price but given I've found cheaper deals on Flybe for travel up to Manchester than Cross Country's fares I imagine there's almost no difference.

Lawrence can wear a pompey-styled Salvation Army t-shirt if he wants, the deal is simple: he MUST go for the club to survive. As must Sir Tal (hang in there). And his wage adjustment idea just doesn't work. It's the same thing over again, kicking the trouble back to midfield instead of putting it out of play. I also doubt that Birch will be looking to keep him especially on those terms, it's simply spreading a liability over a longer period of time rather than solving it, and because under the FCR he will still be entitled to the full amount of the contract he had up to the new, IMF austerity-like one, at the end of the day there's little benefit in keeping him around as they will probably have to pay him more than in the current terms. But there are questions to be asked. First and most important issue is Kanu. I doubt he will lose his court case, which means a possible 3 million quid exposure right there. With Chinny jumping on the parachute payments (legally so because of his secured debt), the club will not have the cash flow, in the short or medium term, to face this, which could see them liquidated mid-season. Another issue is the agreements reached with the departing players and club creditors. Given the FL's ruling on their football creditors, one would assume that the FL is aware of these situations and will make sure that the club fulfills its arrangements without delays. Once again I doubt we've heard the full story on the agreements reached with players (as we had before) so for all we know Chinny could already have given up the game (he wanted them all out, never agreed to any compromises, especially to those reached by the admins), and the PST simply won't be able to finance former player deals and the football club at the same time. If Chinny agrees to this, then all he'll do is note down the PPs debit dates, purchase Miland's assets, build Tesco and leave the club in a 3rd admin in as many years (even less, I'm sure 1.5 years is enough for all of this), possibly on the verge of leaving revenue-sustained football (bottom of L2). And if they do drop out of the FL, then don't even bother coming up with a CVA. There really isn't another way out for them is there?

So just back from Team GB and goodbye to a team where he is a regular starter? Me thinks not. Cork is probably one of the best players we have on the ball, he is definitely not a question mark. I would say the youngsters will probably go away on loan for short periods during the season, in which case it makes sense to have all those options around.

Don't forget about Lawrence. It's all been very quiet all along for him. The unlikely hero for us nutjobs might be across the sea...who knows?

That damage picture seems slightly suspicious... Also it's a bit weird that nothing was noted on the AA plane, especially when it's that kind of damage in one of the main parts of the plane. Not fair to speculate, but it's pretty easy to create a story like this about two airlines that, with different backgrounds to it (one because of its philosophy, the other one because of financial trouble), have a strong cost-cutting approach to business. Like I said very suspicious incident and reporting. If true however, I wonder if those Ryanair pilots weren't recklessly rushing their way down the taxiway for take-off to avoid a whipping by their senior directors for a horrific 3 minute delay, probably not related with their actions. O'Leary needs to have a cup of tea every now and then.

IMO I don't think we'll let him go without at least a full season of regular first squad football.

Comparing London to Southampton does not make sense as you cannot possibly compare what in my opinion is the world's capital with one that if anything is simply it's natural marina/port. Make no mistake, I think So'ton is a great place, in fact it was down to more than just the uni when I decided to come here to study, but just like londoners are happy to have their boats here, we should be happy to have such a great city only 1h30 away.

I don't understand all this criticism. We have a tradition of talent in our academy, any investment towards improving its conditions should be considered good.

You can't compare the Morgan/Davis/Lallana situation in 2009 with Dann's. At that time, they were recent arrivals at a club (two of them recent arrivals into pro football itself) that was in complete desintegration from top to bottom. Since then however, their personal performance has generally been on the rise. Dann's career has gone a bit bleak since his early days, and both Birmingham and Blackburn had bad seasons but not exactly low expectations (or budgets), which means that the team (in which he was a starter for most games) generally underperformed, it wasn't a Blackpool/Charlie Adam situation. Not only that, he appears to be considerably injury-prone. I always thought Johnson was the real deal of the two actually, especially after the heroics in the League Cup final. But unfortunately he seems to have lost his way with this last season at Wolves. If we sign him I hope he proves me wrong, but surely we can look for better PL experience. And anyway, since we're looking up to last season's Swansea/Norwich, I don't think they went into the season with PL minutes on their starting CBs?

Don't really understand why people prefer us having a CB that played regularly in 2 successive relegations and has had the big lights shut on him than one who has overall done a good job in our PL journey and is fresh into the top-flight. Not saying another CB is not needed, just think that there's better PL experience at a probably lower or equal price around.

Wonder if pompey fans would remember "the Fratton 8" in a few years time just like they did in Bristol. What is even less likely is that any agreement Birch tries to sign with the players will involve the club paying half of their contracts.

Don't think it's fair to write-off Fonte. He's been a regular starter for us ever since he arrived, and yes he had a bad run at the end of last season but it's not like the whole team didn't stroll over the promotion line (plus he was big for us when it mattered in the end). I think that he's a good pro and will up his game, and is not in the group of players whose good job has come to an end. Strongly believe him and Jos will be regular starters throughout the season.

2-0 down to a 100% amateur non-FIFA acknowledged national team at half-time, playing with used kits from 2 years ago, with only 2 players on contract, 6 from the youth squad, and 8/9 trialists which are unlikely to be signed or have in fact rejected deals offered by the club. No interest for the "deadly 8" in the wage list, as potential employers expect them to be free come the beginning of the season. TREVOR WHAT ARE YOU PLAYIN' AT?

Just like Plymouth on our dark Championship days, and like Bournemouth in League one. It's a normal rivalry to come by when we meet in the leagues considering geography, but once the sporting meaning of it disappears then it's over.

Hope they trust their youth goalkeepers. They will need them at the best of their skills. At least they haven't signed him for 5 years... Also dies anyone have any knowledge concerning Gillingham's nightlife? I'm assuming it'll be daily trips to Canterbury for Tommy.

So are all the new season tickets meant to have been posted to us then?

Why did they bother coming all the way up to Wide Lane for all those years when they had their own Uni pitches?

Sounds like signing a Pro contract probably got to his head far too soon.

Depends if we can buy a new full-back, priority should probably be right-back tbh but we do need someone to replace him.

Forecast Seaborne Dickson Puncheon Barnard Forte Butterfield I think the club staff that didn't travel to France should be focusing on helping these players find a club to move on.

Did they actually take any of their contracted players to Gibraltar? Also this is outrageous. I don't remember any team in administration jetting off to a tour abroad.

Good sub, think he can help us in the Prem. Not against the decision.

And you wonder why they went bust...

I think Huseklepp would be a very good deal right now. Also does anyone know where the company/football club boundary stands at? Meaning what could be saved in case of liquidation. Looking at Rangers, the only thing that will actually change is the company...