suewhistle

Nah, I meant since then! I used to be a systems analyst: can I have a detailed flowchart of what's been happening? Anyway, back to the Pinot Noir.. I mean football..

Gawd, not new news then?

Heh, heh, satire, abuse and schadenfreude.. I don't really want PFC to cease to exist, but I wouldn't mind PS in the clink, sharing a cell with die-hard P****y fans.. Great entertainment, but if somebody wrote it all as a novel you'd say 'how unrealistic, over-plotted and too many characters'..

Oh dear, go back to what you were doing earlier, and dont forget the tissues. I shan't be there as I'm saving up for the play off finals, but you should welcome new or occasional fans. Not sure you're intelligent enough to notice, but full grounds make watching any game far more involving and interesting.

Just got in from my evening out. Opened a bottle of Adnams bitter, and all is well with the world. A bird was singing its heart out from a road sign, I'm off to do some cross country skiing in the morning to help my lungs, and I'm glad I'm not spending my limited resources on the JPT final as I'm saving up for the playoffs..!! I so, so want to cross Italy, Switzerland, France and Belgium in my car covered in red and white....

Just a by the by. I had to wade through two pages of "yes"s before finding out it was Barnard, whilst I was madly scrolling down, shouting at the screen "BUT WHO SCORED?". Note to Dubai, shall shortly be off for my own lot of Italian red wine: bet it's cheaper here! If this finishes with a clean sheet might also get on to the sparkling..

Hmm, which way will it go now. A pacy wideman would be interesting...

It's not just Barnard who needed to score, so does our rampaging Morgan. Anyway. I went away before and they scored so I'm going to go away to tidy my dressing table. More excitement there as it's so messy i'm not sure what I'll find. Back later.

Come on guys, put those glasses down and type. Actually don't worry, I need to go and do things but I'll be back...

we never score from corners

You mean it's started??

I don't have a telly, but I'm sure this is like one of those reality programs where they carefully choose the participants on the basis that disaster is inevitable and everybody can tut tut and say, how stupid and misguided are they. Tut tut, they've chosen some right ones this time. Got to admit it's fascinating though, but must tear myself away to lesson prep..

Come on, come on. On this thread you have to post message numbers!:-)

Oh, I dunno. I'm sure some of the signs around the ground could be sold for more than twenty quid. Not that much more, admittedly, but I think you're being a leetle unfair..

Mention of Endeavor in The Grauniad: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/19/portsmouth-ownership-victor-cattermole Interesting that Telegraph report about an investment trust drip feeding in investors funds... sounds like a Ponzi scheme to me. Mind you, if they buy Pompey (and why on earth would they apart from an excuse for losing money from which they'd already skimmed off their generous commissions), they'd definitely be drip-feeding a moribund patient with little hope of a decent prognosis. Like all the previous owners: what's in it for them???????

ooh I'd love to play and would if I were in the UK - only 45 minutes mind, and I'd need to use the ref's changing rooms. Have you had any women playing before? As it's a charity match it doesn't matter that I'm over 12 (!!!) as mixed games are allowed.

Well, it sounds like our ticket office is not geared up to selling double the normal amount of tickets. Although I can't make it over from Italy due to cost reasons I'm at least pleased there are so many people scrabbling for tickets, and it's not even the FA cup! I suppose I might have to be fairly on the ball for the play-offs...

Not only that RickyR: he was offered a contract on the basis of playing and he accepted it. Fair for both sides, I feel, plus he no doubt gets decent medical attention at Saints.

Yep, I agree. "Capacity" doesn't allow for segregation, hospitality seats not used, people being ill or car breaking down at the last minute, etc. Watching on TV the other day I couldn't see where the gaps were. A friend of mine spoke to Brian Hunt, the Saints director, just before SMS opened. If I recall correctly they were budgeting for 1/3 crowds of 18000, a 1/3 at 24k and the top games at 28k+. As we know we did much better than that with at last latent demand being met. We can see in the Bundesliga with their large stadiums and low ticket prices what can be achieved and I think we could fill a larger stadium with decent football and ticket prices being _under_ inflation for a bit. Incidentally I was in the record crowd at The Dell of 31400 summat, and not being 6ft like my Dad didn't see very much of it. I reckon that figure was an underestimate!!

True, but having found herself in the deep do-does she may feel it's the best way out. If she left too early she might have thought that her dodgy employee would have used the fact against her. She's probably been busy firing off emails CCd to all and sundry to cover her back. Isn't she a fairly recent arrival? Not all promotions are worth having...

..or a round dozen, and a baker's dozen if you need to push it a bit. The haircut should stay in though.

...and be able to argue with all the fans who were [and quite a number who were not] there about tactics, who played well...

In my Italian bar I had to explain we were the third division club. They were impressed with the crowd and the atmosphere. Did the reputation of English football and its support no end of good!

A point no-one has mentioned: I think he likes playing in front of bigger crowds. Which of the likely buyers have that?

My view, more or less. Nobody let themselves down, that's the important thing. Time for an apperitivo even if I am still "relaxed" from lunchtime. Fellow fans, please make sure there's a good turn out for the next home game, I think the players deserve it.