InvictaSaint

Phew!! Jacob will continue to attend matches. I was a bit worried there for a minute.

I had that too - three times before finally getting through. So frustrating. Wouldn't mind being on hold if they had one of those "you are now number 23 in the queue" systems that other big organisations have, but being cut off after 10 minutes is very irritating. BTW, did anybody else get through during the period when the card payment system wasn't working properly? 20 minutes waiting for the payment to be accepted! The poor girl at the other end of the line was at her wits' end, the poor thing. All you could hear was other operators in the background saying the same thing "Oh no, payment failed". Just don't think the system could cope...

Storryteller: Have you got £40M to keep us going til the end of this season and then a further £30-40M to wipe off further debts and invest in a CCC team stripped of any decent playing talent? SA consortium: Errrr.................

Quite. The point is there is absolutely no guarantee that at the end of the 28 days, the potential buyer won't turn round and say "no thanks, not with a 10 foot barge pole". All HMRC is interested in now is certainties - something which Storrie-teller has been short of since day 1.

Is Storrie-teller now relying on free advertising from his mates at ESPN to sell his players? The last few paragraphs read like an advert in Auto Trader....

Unbelievable, truly unbelievable; the brass balls on PFC are incredible. PFC: "Can we sell players outside the transfer window?" EPL/FIFA: "Yes of course you can. We are happy to instantly make our league 100% uncompetetive by allowing one club to sell players, whilst others cannot - players who may ultimately see to the relegation of another member club, who may not have been able to buy players outside the window." PFC: "Wow! Really?" EPL/FIFA: "No. Not really. ****s" (Three hours later on ESPN) "ESPN can exclusively reveal that the mean and nasty Premier League and the even nastier FIFA have shockingly refused Portsmouth the opportunity to make money outside the transfer window when other less important or troubled clubs are not allowed to sell players. Chief Executive Peter Storrie-teller told ESPN "It is quite incredible. I have had 3 emails and a post-it note from potential buyers of Portsmouth Football Club from Nigeria, who all tell me they may possibly potentially be able to think about eventually considering considering making an offer for PFC (perhaps). This will guarantee our income, so why won't the Premier League make an exception just this once when we are so special and deserving of special treatment? It just isn't fair. Now....where's my monthly salary."

That actually really made me laugh (and after a morning spent marking 25 A Level French essays on the techniques of Luc Besson, that is no bad thing! :-) )

The only bit of that article I would find fault with is this: "Things may get worse before they get better, but the silver lining is that Portsmouth, like Leeds, has a large fan-base which virtually guarantees revenue over the next few years, and should enable them to bounce back." Large fan base? Pity only 10,000 of them could be arsed turning up for an FA Cup tie against a fellow PL side (Sunderland), even when the tickets were only £5.

What makes me laugh, other than Storrie's desire to sell this story to the giant media outlet "Soccernet", is the language used in the quotation that constitutes the second paragraph. "Storrie told Soccernet: "The encouraging aspect of the possible takeover is that both sets of lawyers are currently talking. I would anticipate that something is likely to be agreed within the next 48 hours to enter the next stage of finalising the terms and conditions of a takeover. It's all ifs and maybes - "possible takeover", "anticipate" "likely to be agreed". Even then it is all a prelude to entering the "next stage of finalising terms"; it's not even definite that it will conclude!! More stalling for time by Storrie-teller.

Is that so? Wasn't aware of that,sorry. So skip from 2 to 4 then instead.

Am assuming the order of preference for tickets will be: 1.Season ticket holders 2. Those attending semi final and or southern area final 3. Members 4. Those on database Does that seem about right?

Tea on keyboard moment! :-)

Goal!!!! 1-0

Carlisle 1 Leeds 1 (3-2)

1-0 Sunderland. Ref changed mind and DID send Rocha off!

P*mpey concede penalty to Sunderland; Rocha sent off

Carlisle 1 Leeds 0 (3-1 agg)

BBC website has the MK Dons assistant boss listing all their injured and cup tied players. Their top scorer - Jermaine Easter - is out and their Spurs loanee, Andris Townsend, is cup tied. They have 3 others definitely out with a further 5 rated doubtful.

To anybody out there who might be wondering, the ignore function is just wonderful :-)

Have they moved the training from Hertfordshire to Putney then? Crikey, must be a lot easier now than when I did it... ;-)

I wholeheartedly concur my friend; when was the last time we had anything like this to get excited about? This could be a big week for us, so yes indeed, let's be positive and enjoy life rather than looking for the dark clouds on a sunny day. Life is too short.

Funny - Leeds managed to lose 2-0 to Exeter at their place and still beat Man Utd away. Is there a new natural law that states that Saints must beat teams like Exeter? If so, could you let me know where it is?

Post of the day, sir.

LTC, I stupidly neglected to add you to my list of life-saving posters on SWF; please allow me to put you in the top of the list now. :-)

I don't know why I bother with this board anymore; same old wrist-slitters wanting everybody to join their misery train. Some people just don't want to enjoy life. If it weren't for the Saint-Clarkes, Mintys and West Enders of this world, I would have lost the will to live ages ago [Wrist-slitters feel free to insert sarcastic / cutting comment here; I would not want to deprive you of the opportunity to put down somebody who doesn't share your world view]