Ken Tone

It appears the aritcle was written following NC's interview with Solent... second hand journalism again. I presume we've all heard that in full? Is the article a fair reflection of the interview ? No IMO Do care I what the Mail says anyway? No. K.

That's really unfair on Surman. As far as I 'm aware he never wanted to go. He was sold to make ends meet whilst we were broke. If he'd refused to go we might have gone bust completely before Liebherr could get past those Pinnacle time-wasters and save us. K.

That's reassuring. Thanks k.

That is what is so annoying. You're told still sending out today. I was told last ones went Thursday morning and Solent said they'd been told on Saturday that last ones went Friday, so all should have by Monday, or Tuesday at the latest. This is a simple matter of fact. Surely the ticket office staff can agree on when they sent the last tickets?! Some posters have been told they were sent out in alphabetical order, others in reverse ticket price order. The reality seems to be that there was no logical order! It feels like they're just saying the first thing that comes into their heads to get people off the line. Now that might have been understandable in the early part of last week when they were snowed under trying to get on with the posting, but I think people ringing now have very good reason to ring, if they've seen the post come today still with no tickets. In my case tickets ordered on first morning of ST-only first phase. I can't even remember how long ago that was. If they are not waiting for me on doormat this evening I'm not going to be happy. K.

Just goes to show what a difficult job refs have. I saw the highlights on i-player this morning and thought their defender clearly caught Fonte's ankles from behind. Clumsy rather than vicious, but nonethless an obvious penalty to me. Btw how good is it to have a centre back who can run and attack like that in the opposition penalty area. K.

Whereas on saturday they said to me that they 'd all been posted by first post thursday! Won't know if mine have turned up today until I get home from work. K.

Wasn't at the game, just listened to solent so can't reall comment on how we played. But according to Ince they were al over us, apart from 2 mistakes ! http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/8560619.stm What a prat that man is. I am SO pleased he isn't our manager. We beat them 4 times in one season and stil he won't admit we might be the better team. K.

And then what happens if someone - perhaps someone who works for a carrier firm or the PO for example - happens to be sitting in the seats, with the original tickets?! K.

Exactly. Finally gave in to nerves when still no tickets this morning even though ordered on first morning of ST-only sales. Was told definitely by woman on line that thelast tickets were sent out on thursday morning But what was I worrying about? Ring back on wednesday. Meanwhile ticket office quoted on solent as saying had just about sent them all out ring if not got by monday or tuesday at latest. It would help if they'd agree on what they are saying. K.

The point is though, that even those that we'd quite like to see here because they are good enough, are on ridiculously high wages. They mostly only went to portsmouth in the first place because they were paid over the odds, (and maybe had the pill sweetened in the mythical 'brown envelope' too allegedly.) One of portsmouth's ongoing problems even if they come out of administration ok, is that they won't be able to easily offload their high wage earners after they're relegated. cf Marek Saganowski et al. Why would Utaka for example go anywhere else whilst he is in contract? K.

Our £44 tickets have not arrived yet. ST holders --ordered by phone on day 1. Am also nervous and will be until they come, but logic says not to worry because we do have a reference number, and the money has gone out from our account. K.

It was Fonte. Poor clearance, effectively passed to a swindon player near the middle of the pitch, which then led to their attack. Even a good player like him can make mistakes. Still a top centre back IMO and Harding is still a top LB. K.

At the risk of starting all the painful after game posts all over again, we weren't crap. We were well on top in first half and might have scored 2 or 3 with a bit more luck. Second half they scored with virtually their only shot and then broke our play up well, and we got more and more panicky and looked less and less convincing as the game went on. Hit woodwork 3 or 4 times. 1 shot cleared off line and 2 or 3 others well -saved by their keeper. K.

Their scorer was damn close to offside when the ball was put through to him ...more than I'd realised on the night. Looking at the highlights again I'm even more puzzled as to why their number 3 wasn't also at least booked for pushing James when he was on the ground injured by the bloke who was sent off. k.

Am doing deep-breathing exercises, keeping calm, visualising the tickets on the envelope, chanting 'ommmmm'... etc, even as I write. Logically I know you are absolutely right and will not pester ticket office till next week, because the more people ring now, the less time they'll have to post the tickets. Emotionally, however ... AAAARRRRGGGHHH ! K.

We couldn't hear Herbie because the pillock with the mike had the volume adjusted for how he held it for himself , ie right up to his mouth, and then held the mike for Herbie about 6 inches further away .. result could hear pillock - couldn't hear Herbie. Really agree about team selection announcements. Why have they stopped telling us who is on the bench? K.

The concept of Saints having an infinite number of Pulises is not one I wish to pursue. K.

Not received ours yet either. Phoned on first day of ST sales, and earlier in alphabet than you. Checked bank statement last night as beginning to get nervous, and money has gone out. K.

Is Pullis related to Pulis? No, must be a different player since he scored .. or even played come to think of it ;-) Good to see McLaggon playing 'with plenty of energy'. Thought he looked so promising last season before his injury. Maybe he'll make it yet? K.

You rarely bet, yet your forum name is 'speculator' ?! I think what people sometimes forget is that bookies don't just set odds on pure probability. They also take into account how much they mght lose, based on how many punters back a certain outcome. On that basis any well-supported football team will be given relatively poor odds to succeed, because they have too many fans betting on them, which would cost the bookies too much if they won. In fact bookies will quote as poor odds as they think they can get away with, yet still have punters bet, so they get as big a profit as possible. So 10/1 odds dones't necessarily mean that the bookies think there is only a 1/11 probability of us going up. It just means that supply and demand, market forces, indicate that enough saints fans are daft enough to put bets on at that rate! But not so many that the bookies will lose too much if we do go up. K.

I know Markus is a billionaire, but surely even for him this would be a fairly major investment? Could be well into the hundreds of millions. K.

This is all very well, but where would we put the away fans and the northam? Imagine the arguments if we had a whole new stadium to consider! In fact come to think of it maybe Cortese has come up with this idea because too many people said not to move the away fans at St Mary's? ;-) Btw anyone know how that consultation ended up? Any news on what the majority view was? K.

Or both ?

All points with some validity but you're thinking like someone who wants to run a football club. The administrator's main job is to maximise the money he can get for the creditors, not to run a football club. He doesn't care whether they do well on the pitch, unless that makes it more likely he will get a buyer who will pay more to the creditors. More specifically: 1. Who knows how much of the wages Pompey are playing? They don't have a good track record for 'prudence' do they? I would not be surprised if they were paying the lot. Some loans involve full wages plus a loan fee remember. 2. According to David James, the year they got to the cup final they lost money because the players' bounses were more than the extra income! 3. There is such a small hope of them staying up, that surely the admin can't really think it is worth paying out unnecessary money to make it very, very slightly less small? Still, my logic says the loanees should have gone by now , and they haven't, so maybe you're more right than me. K.

Personally I just can't understand why the administrator hasn't sent back the loan players. Why is he sanctioning continuing to pay big wages to non-permanent employees? Surely they can't all have been signed on season-long deal with no cop-out clause ? Surely even pompey can't have been that stupid? .... Can they? Reckon the Guardian reasoning is correct about Storrie. If he is still there in a few days time then the administrator will have proved he really is not independent IMO. K.