Kingsland Red

Referees in FA Cup games that are not independent, but employed by one or other club's leagues has always troubled me, if only because of what they are prepared to accept / let go , never mind the loyalty to their own league / league pressure etc. Hence when Leeds beat Man U recently I fully expected a 96th minute penalty.

I understand that Vantis plc are (independently) viewing Pompeys books. Then HMRC has time to substantiate the case against them upon receipt of the Vantis plc assessment. Then all parties reconvene in the High Court. If Pompey have traded whilst insolvent then there are also other legal implications for the directors.

So, Vantis plc, Business Recovery Specialists, can inspect the books and get an accurate state of financial play to report to the High Court. If they consider the business is trading insolvently, or at a substantial ongoing loss, then they could chose to put the club into administration befor going to the High Court. This would seem highly likely. Any buyer could then secure the club at a substantially reduced cost, ie excluding their £60m debt.I cannot understand any buyer wanting to buy into such debt.

For 7 days!

Adjourned (for lunch?)

Which suggests Pompey may be treated differently (?)

I trust ML but NC is a bit of a rottweiler and needs to appreciate that cup finals are rare in our history; Saints fans are very loyal without major expectations or a need for a conveyor belt of success; and Saints have a history as a family club offering stability ( before you know who got involved) for their managers. I'm hearing he may be getting a little impatient with league results. We're averaging 2 points per game for goodness sake.

To (almost) quote a long lost football director: ' New owners is rearranging the deckchairs'. New owners , same debt !!

Probably that HMRC have left the room and Storrie, Azougy, Al Mirage, Claridge etc have bowed their heads and haven't yet noticed.

I would expect the real force here is ML, after all he is the successful businessman and NC is merely his rottweiler. Unfortunately in football complacency is rife due to the comfort zone of the wages being so disproportionate to society in general. Let's hope the culture NC is instilling at SM is slightly different and the standard, 'As I said earlier', 'triffic', ' Lads let me down',crap spewed out by football managers for the general football public consumption is not accepted by NC/ ML.

With regard to the 9 point deduction does this come into effect this season ? Or is it carried to next season if Pompey dont get sufficient points to stay up( excl -9 points) ?

Found on the debate thread involving one of the five Skates who went to the EPL: The money Chainrai put into Pompey came from.....Arkadi Gaydamak. http://www.portsmouth.vitalfootball.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=10013&posts=23

Minus ten points and only 3 points from the first 6 games.

We're no worse off than after the last away game at Brentford, a point away and 3 at home will get us up the league and probably into the play offs a year ahead of schedule. If not, let's enjoy the ride anyway,so much better than previous seasons now we're able to go into every game with expectations high. Some of the posters on this thread need to support a top four club to fuel their appetite for success, we're Saints for christ sake.

Be warned, anyone that has already bought tickets for Leeds, Huddesfield and Walsall, take them along or you'll have to buy them again. What a farce, I wanted Hartlepool but conveniently they weren't on sale.

Lost Transportation quote removed from Grauniad article: I disagree with the description of "haemorrhaging spending" that David Conn uses to describe the finances of Portsmouth Football Club. This requires context. In August 2009, PFC paid the outstanding monies owed to Standard Bank which was in the region of £30m using transfer income, sky money and season ticket income. This had the effect of hollowing out the finances of the club and meant that the business had a cashflow problem. Any purchaser of the club would (or should) have been aware of that from any due diligence on the club. There were income streams but the timing of these were not conducive to running a business smoothly. Anybody aware of running a business knows that cashflow problems can easily kill a business. So when Al Fahim took control of PFC, there was around £50m of debt. Half of which was owed to Sacha Gaydamak (£28m) which was agreed to be paid in two instalments: January 2010 then the rest in 2012. The club had an overdraft facility with Barclays at £10m which was guaranteed by Gaydamak with agreed payment schedules. HMRC were owed around £10m, mostly generated by the transfer sales which had kept the club above water. In August 2009, HMRC would have agreed to a payment schedule which could be timed with the income streams of PFC. Then you have the running costs associated with a premier league club. The playing staff wage bill had been considerably reduced by departures and although there were still a few players earning exceptional wages, the squad salary total was more in line with the lower half of the Premier League and the quality considerably reduced. So although the playing side of the squad was compromised by the delay in the takeover, the financial side wasn't as desperate as journalists made it out to be. It required some investment and liquidity to survive as a club. However that never occurred. The six/seven weeks under the control of Al Fahim can only be described as bizarre. Despite the obvious problem of cashflow, Al Fahim never addressed it. He went round the world looking for £50m when I believe that £10m would have allowed the club breathing room up to the January window. So the cashflow problem resulted in September's wages not being paid. This allowed Falcondrone to get a foothold in PFC through a £5m loan and with the help of Peter Storrie stirring up the supporters, Al Fahim was forced to sell 90% of the club in October. What has happened since beggars belief. One of the more interesting pieces of information that has come out is that between the takeover in October and today, the club has received in excess of £50m of income. Mark Jacob confirmed that prior to the January Sky monies and sales of Kaboul and Begovic, the club has received £40m of income. Half of which is the Chainrai loans - charged against the club as David Conn wrote, the rest have come though gate receipts, transfer fees payments etc. So where has the money been going? Not to outgoing transfer fees as the Premier League have had to freeze money in order to pay these. Some £4m has been paid to HMRC according to Jacob. Some £7.5m went to Barclays (more on this below). Wages have been paid eventually (approx £8m I think). However other running costs haven't been paid on time and creditors have only received money through legal action or camping themselves out in the reception room at Fratton Park. The Barclays Bank case is particularly curious. As I said above, the bank had a guarantee from Sacha Gaydamak using assets worth £2.5m as collateral. One of the first actions of Falcondrone ownership was to default the schedule of payments on the overdraft. The assets used by Gaydamak were seized by the bank and the account facilities frozen. Falcondrone paid the remaining £7.5m but PFC do not have an overdraft facility. The winding up order from HMRC have placed further restrictions on the bank account which creates further cashflow problems. The club have been cutting costs - for example the academy have seen its satellite facilities removed, staff sacked, bills have not been paid. The youth team coaches were repossessed last month. The training ground kitchen facilities have also been repossessed due to non-payment. The finance director resigned her directorship and become an employee. She was complaining last week of not being given money to pay day-to-day bills in her new role as finance manager. In short, the club is being driven into the ground and is operating as a zombie club while Daniel Azougy, the three times convicted fraudster, operates as the de facto owner of PFC. And then there is the maths. If the club has received £50m in the 13 weeks since the takeover, why is it in the crises it is where day-to-day payments can't be made? Something stinks rotten at the heart of PFC. David Conn, your article merely touches the surface.

The comments by 'Lost Transportation' beneath the article are of more interest as he is obviously not restricted in commenting. (The journalist being open to legal challenge )

Is currently in the SSN studio covering Celtic's game. Seems to be more mobile these days !

According to the Grauniad article he will renegotiate the clause out to ensure regular football before the world cup. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/01/transfer-window-portsmouth-stoke

Aston Villa, Barcelona and Saints, that's class. Thanks ML and NC, you've restored pride in our great club.

So skeptics, who would have thought this time last year that we would become crane spotters, bizarre but true. Thanks ML. COYR !!!

Dont spoil our fun St L !!

I know like me, fellow Saintsweb members seek out Liebherr Cranes in our travelling around. Reading the Dudley Brazier obituary in the Echo Business section I quote: " In the 1950s Brazier & Son Ltd built many of the shops in Southampton city centre.... and were the first to use a huge tower crane on a Southampton construction site in 1959 which attracted much interest. The Liebherr crane was shipped over from Germany for the Marlands Development".

As a manager I suppose Warnock can only think of the immediate problem and future planning is not relevant. So Saints being a better prospect for Premiership football is of no concern to him and safeguarding his job. The fact Danns may not be paid at Palace unless another player goes is not in the Warnock agenda.

If they need to raise £1.5m plus Victor Moses money by the deadline then I would have thought it in Warnock's interest to sell anyone who any club is offering money for. It is a strange situation as whilst they desperately need money to play the monthly wages effectively they only have 24 hours sales time left, then slowly die. (Unless Leon Crouch pops along)