Ken Tone

I wonder if O.J. Simpson's lawyer is available?

My understanding of the "busines plan" etc ,based on a mixture of public statements and a couple of chats to acquaintances who are unfortunate enough to be (in one case very) close to the trust insiders: Somehow they have met the council condition "That the council receives an assignment of parachute payments to repay the loan or that an investor guarantee is provided by the trust for the full £1.45m" presumably by the latter bit. Also they have the £1 million from the HNW investors in their escrow account -- another requirement. Stuart Robinson is also lending them some money , but I cannot find out how much ..as well as purchasing the surrounding land of course. So they have a bit less than £1.5 million in genuine fans' pledge cash + £1 million from HNWs + £1.45 million PCC short term loan + £X loan from Robinson = c£4+X million to buy the club and Fratton with and have some cash float to start running the club. Just about enough for now. However, both PCC and Robinson want their money back pretty soon, and this can only be afforded by using some of the parachute money that was promised to the ex-footballers as part of their compromise agreements. The 'business plan' is no more sophisticated than "we'll pay back the two short term loans, then by the time we have to pay the players, (and any other creditors they're currently over-looking) something else will have turned up". Hence Taylor's comments about his members now being third in the queue. When they agreed the compromises, they were going to be first in the queue in effect. It's basically the Billy Bunter "I'm expecting a postal order" school of economics, for the oldies amongst you. Even so, they may succeed in the takeover if the Harris bid is perceived by Taylor to be a front, and/or the FL's position means that Harris won't be able to access the parachute payments. Taylor will play brinkmanship, as he is doing now, but in the end he has more chance of getting some money for his members from a live club than from a liquidated one. Meanwhile PKF just want out ..somehow, anyhow .. because they're effectively working for free now, having reached the £2.5 million cap on their fees.

I think the case is actually to allow PKF to force Portpin to accept £3 million (now) as payment for its (£18 million) charge over Fratton. So the case cannot go ahead if PKF are not in a position to give Portpin that £3 million within a short time of the decision, and of course PKF are relying on the trust to give them the money as part of the overall sale, so if they haven't got the money to hand, PKF cannot force the issue.

Yep. It's a crying shame, isn't it? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ... wipes eyes ... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA .... breathes in .... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Quite ,so that must mean that PKF are considering selling to Harris, even though that would lose them the golden share. Did Harris not make retaining the share a condition of his bid? If not, he could end up with a club that has no league to play in! This beats any sopa opera I've ever seen. More twists than a bent corkscrew!

How much longer before everyone realises they are simply stuffed?

I thought that too, but there were some weasel words to the effect that negotiations over minor aspects or details of the conditions could be delegated to officers/council leader. Calling this minor or a detail is ludicrous of course, but not in pompey language.

Interesting comment on the News site: Fratbrat1:35 PM on 13/02/2013 So it seems that the council has been prepared to swap the guarantee of the parachute payments for the guarantee of owning Fratton, if the trust defaults on repayments. Interesting. So if the worst came to the worst in 13 months time, it would be the council that would be evicting the club from Fratton, and the council that would then be selling it for development for retail or housing use. That would be a tricky thing for their p.r. people to handle!

What if you fail?

I too feel sorry for Gasacoigne, but why does he needs money donated to pay for for treatment in a private clinic in Arizona? Why not be treated here on the NHS ? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21427967

Yes, to underwrite the council loan.

Serious answer. Their attedance figures in L2 ought to be enough to comfortably support a L2 club. However , on top of all the normal expenditure, they will have to generate enough gross profit to pay back the loans they are relying on to take over. So if for once they are to be run sustainably, they will have to keep wages low, right down with those paid by the likes of tiny clubs such as Aldershot etc. This should mean they cannot expect to assemble a team that will easily get promotion. So unless they get lucky, apppointing an excellent but cheap manager for example, they will need to make do with being mid-table L2 for several years to come. Once they've paid back the initial loans in say 5 years time, if they've not been tempted to put themselves in hock in some other way by then, they could then start to spend a bit more, and ought to be able to get up to the natural level for a club of their size .... probably yo-yoing between L1 and championship IMO.

How is it undermining their bloody bid this week, to continue to have the same conditions in place that have been in place for months and that she and the trust have known about for months ? ... namely that the parachute payments go to their members as part of the agreement that they made to accept less than they were contractually entitled to, to guarantee they might one day actually get some money God -- that woman is annoying!

Personally I won't be happy if they lose the -10 this season, when they will be relegated anyway without the deduction. I want them to start next season in the 4th divsion, with no money and on -10 points ------- and ideally without Fratton Park, but that would be the icing on the cake.

I see that article says that tomorrow's court case is to try and force the sale. I thought it was just to set a date for the actual hearing? If they haven't got that right, you can't put much faith in the rest of what it says.

and if only the trust actually had the £3 million.

Indeed. Though you have to wonder when he is going to do something similar for the trust's inner circle? ....who also have no money and who also plan to borrow to buy the club, and some of whom also have business records that include financial troubles.

And indeed it was from a rubbish corner that they broke away and scored. Much prefer inswingers myself. But as long as we avoid ones that swing both ways, that's ok with me.

What are the chances of another court case delay? Or might they actually meet to set an actual, real date for the actual, real hearing? ...in about mid-March? I can hardly contain my excitement.

this

Personally I was surprised that Forren didn't come on at CB, with Clyde LB and Yoshida moving to RB. Thought Richardson looked a bit vulnerable at times

Actually it is very carefully worded, and really only says £2 million in pledges. I believe they only have somewhere around £1.2 to £1.5 million in hard cash from fans, leaving aside loans, HNWs, old corn flake packets, monopoly money, IOUs from the tooth fairy, etc

I spoke to an ex-colleague this morning, who as well as being a big PFC fan, is closely related to one of the trust's inner circle, so he is pretty genned up. According to him ....... 1. Robinson backed them yesterday, against Harris, even ringing PKF to say "how will the club run without a car park then ? , etc " 2. Their bid relies heavily on borrowing (gosh ..what a surprise!) 3. Robinson is lending them some cash, as well as buying the surrounding land. (Hmmmm.) 4. They are counting on the PCC loan as part of their sums, and my contact was at first very confident this was ok. However when I queried the conditions, eg in particular, re-payment via direct access to the parachute payments, he got a bit more cagey and said that negotiations were going on over this at the moment, and this is the last thing to sort out, because the PFA wanted them paid directly to the ex-players you know. (Gosh! Who'd have thought it!) Sounded as if they are hoping (no, expecting) to persuade the council to relax their conditions. (Won't that require a public whole-council decision?)

It's £3 million now. The trust upped its bid to make it more attractive. So today's farce eared Chainrai a cool extra £250,000 at any rate !

Not exactly. He is quoted as saying he "stepped down from the operating board". That only really says , 'took a back seat'