Lazlo78

"It's just a minor setback, we'll walk this league"

So true. I'll admit that I forgot to think about the price, only the quality of the player. But as you say, £12M is and should be way out of our territory!

CHDAJFU? http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/aug/08/steven-fletcher-wolves-transfer-request

You saw how much money the trust needed to fund a squad with an average wage of £2500ish - why should it be any different for Chinny? For your fears to materialise, Chinny would have to suddenly become more interested in football and less interested in money. Every one of those decent players will command more money and Chinny will never pay that. He is a reluctant owner drawn into this again to protect his own interests.

I'll pledge £1k to see that script made into a movie!

Will Rupert Lowe take over Pompey?! I see your hint - "A duck foe" - and I can only imagine it refers to ole Rupes

Landline or mobile?

Thank you! It's been doing my head in - and I think it looks quite silly putting the medal in the mouth like that

Whack-a-kiwi?

Great reception from the crowd for Sarah Attar - first Saudi Arabian woman til compete in track & field at the Olympics!

You'll definitely be all right, dunno about your fellow fans though

Whooshed straight over my head

It's from the PST Q&A Sevvy linked to: http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?14620-Pompey-Takeover-Saga&p=1433055#post1433055

http://www.barprobono.org.uk/ ? "Ehrm hello, we've get a slight situation we need to get sorted. Got any interns ready for a pro bono assignment on the south coast? They'll be sleeping in tents alongside our unpaid performance analysts"...

Have they ever said that they wanted that? I thought they just wanted to 'compete at the highest level possible' ...

It's a thin line between heroics and blind stupidity

Good luck with that, chaps!

In this allegory, Tal Ben Haim would be the iceberg?

It's a really difficult message to deliver: "we won't loan you the money but we still want your votes come election time". The only way I could see PCC suddenly loan PST the money is if Penny and others whipped up another vote collecting media frenzy and everything kicked off. No, the PCC will point towards the difficult economical situation, the Premier League (if only they would have given us that guarantee, we know there is 0% chance of obtaining), the PST for proposing a plan that is too risky etc. Watch them try to deliver the message in the kindest possible way

Ok, so the trust is out of the way. It's Chinny or bust. 300k separates them from waving goodbye to TBH. - Only possible owner now is Chinny - TBH probably won't budge - TB probably won't liquidate - Chinny probably won't let the club go bust So we roll on

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I think they've done a good job, but they really need to make that very hard decision and admit that it just wasn't enough. Not because they lacked effort but because it was a lost cause from the start... and: TBH I love the TBH abbreviation

Posted a link to the PCC loan application to a Pompey fan - his response was along the lines of: "A loan will come too late and TB isn't mentioning the trust anymore (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1129786/tal-ben-haim-key-to-portsmouth's-hopes-of-survival?cc=5739). They don't have the money. I saw their budget and they only expect £30.000 for maintenance of FP and want to close down the academy in 2 years even though we can't afford to buy players. Not a chance." I'll make the bold claim that he gets it. As for the document it is a great source of info for many of those issues that have been discussed numerous times - e.g. how much money does the PST have and how much has been pledged. Massive respect towards the PST for their efforts - they have dug up £1M which must have taken hard work! They have a dream of coming to the rescue and creating a club that will be the envy of the whole country, but TBH they should do the sensible thing and step away... their kamikaze plan is underfunded and built on so many assumptions and hopeful projections that it will be a monthly gamble to keep them running. Have NO worries that they will come storming up the leagues with the trust at the helm - they'll have to count every penny twice to keep the club afloat so there will be no crazy contracts. Even the PCC who could be excused for being biased bascially kicks the chair away from under the feet of the PST to leave them dangling. The report is full of reservations about the fragility and blind optimism of the whole PST budget and at the end of the report they ask: "do we really want to become part of that? If we say yes, then they'll be back for more as soon as their budget collapses..." I really like this part from Key Risks (8.5) - especially vii and viii: The most significant risks of providing financial loan support facing the City Council are as follows: i) The uncertainty generally surrounding the Board and the Management of the new Club and therefore its ability to deliver the Business Plan and therefore the prospect of a future liquidation and loan default. ii) The Investment from the Fan Share Scheme, Associate Director Scheme or High Net Worth Investors is lower than anticipated and as a consequence the Club does not have sufficient cash to operate. In these circumstances the Club would need to secure additional investment / loan funding and may request a further loan from the City Council in order for the City Council to safeguard its original investment iii) The £7.68m bid for the Club is not sufficient to avoid liquidation and the PST seek further loan support in order to increase its offer. iv) The Income or Expenditure expectations of the PST are over optimistic, the Club has a cash shortfall and then requests further loan support from the City Council in order to avoid liquidation (e.g. Income from Ticket Sales, Playing and Non Playing Salaries, future Ground maintenance liabilities). v) In the event of liquidation from any of the events described above, the security of the parachute payments will no longer exist. The City Council will then obtain title of Fratton Park. The City Council will not be able to realise any value from Fratton Park for at least 5 years and any value realised is likely to be less than the loan provided. vi) The City Council will itself borrow to fund any loan provided. In the event that the Club defaults on any loan provided then the City Council would be left with a loan that will need to be repaid but without any income stream to repay it. In these circumstances, the City Council would need to make equivalent savings from core City Council services to fund the repayment vii) The expectations of other sports, voluntary and community groups are raised such that they seek financial support from the City Council and the City Council is not in a position to satisfy them. viii) Expectations of the City Council as “financier” of the Club is raised, particularly with the Club and its supporters and the Club seeks further loan support from the City Council for other initiatives or developments, for example for acquisition of adjoining land. I think the PCC gets it too by thinking with their wallets (smart move! )...

This is a picture of Liam Lawrence: