sotonjoe

Well Bateman has got the ball rolling in terms of specifically what is and isn't ok for Murty to do... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACCEPTABLE: Clenching fist and saying "Yes." NOT ACCEPTABLE: "Proper" celebrations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Any advance?

Just in case anyone else gets similar ideas, here is a good thread I've just started reading on the Pistonheads forum ... link

Michael Owen?

I think we spent £8m preseason in our failed playoff season and spending like that is well above the Championship norm (or was back then anyway), so it should have been enough to take us up. Money should buy you success if you know how to spend it and then know how to get the best out of the talent you purchase. Who would I like in our squad now? Baird for one. I thought Lundekvam was over the hill by then so don't think he'd have anything to offer. Surman, Bale and Jones are all players who have gone on to cut it in the Premiership to differing degrees so could surely do a job at our current level.

Odd. Seems as though Hammill has really divided opinion on his first stint at Saints. I can't remember ever seeing him myself.

Did you see him? I was there and it's all subjective but I thought it was a bit too joyous tbh. I thought he milked the adoration of the Reading fans a bit too much as well. That said, he wasn't in his 'new' Saintsfc role at that time anyway. I think the discussion would get pretty tedious if we all tried to draw up a set of guidelines about what sort of celebratory gesticulations are classed as excessive and should lead to the termination of his current contract, but I stand by me general point. He should remember who his employer is and behave in a way that would be seen by all rational supporters and staff of Saints as being respectful. If not, I expect a horse's head on his pillow by morning.

Links will prove useful for me mate so I wouldn't worry too much. I plan on taking a tent to save money at some point, but I'd like to spend some nights under a proper roof as well.

I wouldn't call it a derby but it's much more important than either game against the Skates this season.

Fine. Then I hope people tell him how to behave humbly in press boxes and club lounges and that he make sure he does it.

I'm still a bit mythed that we decided to employ somebody who is so openly 'Reading'. I don't really understand why Reading don't want him if he's such a good coaching acquisition. If it turns out he isn't that great, then perhaps he should start eating some humble pie and start making more of an effort to support his employer's team rather than jumping around in press boxes when Reading score against Saints.

I really hadn't thought of going that far south or east to be honest. That part of the world seems attractive but I think time and money might keep me away from it this time round. I want to be able to have enough time and money to enjoy bits of Germany and Switzerland etc rather than having to worry about going quite so far from home.

Thanks Jack, but I think this might take me a bit far from home. I'll check the map though and see what the distances look like though.

Will definitely look these up as I wanted to see some of Germany. Thanks.

Hi Sue, Thanks for this. I want to see some bits of Germany so my initial plan was to stay a little bit further East than some of those places you mention. However, it makes sense to do a loop so there's no reason why I can't see a bit of eastern France on either the way back or down. Can you suggest anything particularly interesting about those places that Google might not tell me? I'm sure Turin is self-explanatory as a largish Italian city but I wonder if you could recommend any Italian lakes other than Garda as that's the only one I've really heard of (I've been there for one day on a flying visit actually). I've just look up the Ferrari factory tour and the Ferrari website seems pretty useless. It just gives a description of what seems to be involved but no idea of prices or when it happens. I think I'll have to get Googling some more on that one.

Cripes yeh. Shocking!

I haven't really seen an awful lot Europe. I've driven through bits of France, Belgium, Germany and Austria just to get to Northern Italy, but did that without stopping at all. Recently I've been watching that programme the Hairy Bikers are doing where they've been touring Europe on their bikes and doing all sorts of baking, and it's made me think how nice Germany and Austria look. I also remembered Top Gear talking about the best driving roads 'in the world' being in the Swiss Alps so I've done a bit of research and found some of their ideas. Now I fancy putting together a little European jaunt with the aim of seeing some of the best tourist places, driving some awesome roads and eating / drinking some nice food and drink, but I'm fairly short on ideas and wondered if anybody had done something similar and could suggest some places to visit for nice scenery, drives and nice food and drink. My ideas are at a really early stage. I know Top Gear spoke about driving the Stelvio Pass and the San Bernardino Pass, and I've pencilled in a stop at the Nurburgring, but that's all I've got so far. I guess I'll go to Calais and work my way down the to Swiss Alps for the two roads I've already mentioned, so I could do anything in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium or North East France within reason! Has anybody had a go before?

Yes, your mistake was applying common sense to Pompey! Accruing £24m of debt in approx 16 months is staggering. It's £150k a month I think! And they've been shafting the same range of local businesses etc all over again.

Correct. That's how it seems to me after having read through the whole report. The report even makes it clear that the current admin are unclear how much of the £16.5m debt will remain payable once the liquidation of OldCo is complete. In other words, they're hoping they can erase a lot of the old £16.5m debt which will take a big chunk off the total £40m currently owed.

I don't think it is. Portpin / the OldCo are owed £16.5m on this new list for the CVA which was arranged as the partial repayment of the old debts. The remaining £24m of the total £40m would appear to be new.

There are also some charges being made by UHY for pre-admin work which, I'm guessing, relates to their cancelled appointment as administrators. It's good to see that they're trying to extract more money from the club despite not actually being appointed.

Just found some footage of Alan Pardew meeting Mrs Fonte for the first time ... http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/publicite-en-bdccea0f81476f3b5ccdb6c018044f24.html

good effort dell days. Now go and save the Falklands or something.

I was unsure what I wanted to happen them till now. I said liquidate them as a knee-jerk 'I hate Pompey' reaction, but after reading the figures this morning I really want them liquidated as some sort of punishment for what they've done. In the few months since coming out of admin they have accrued new debts of £24m, that's ignoring the existing CVA debt of £16m. There's no way they could have accrued these new debts so quickly as some sort of accident or due to some sort of unfortunate set of circumstances. The only thing I can think is that the've deliberately gambled by taking on players they can't afford as an attempted quick return to the Prem. It has backfired spectacularly and the wide range of creditors is ridiculous; schools, charities, hotels and other football clubs are all represented. It looks as though they've gone to one local taxi form and racked up a debt before moving on to another. They've done the same with coach companies and hotels. The whole things is nothing short of scandalous. Flush them down the bloody drain.

current admin has charged them just over £500k for a month's work. Think you've read a different figure from somewhere.

WTF has Peter Hook done now? I knew he was ****ed off at being kicked out New Order but never thought he'd take it this far.