Ken Tone

Don't tell anyone else but if you're coming in from the A34/M3 as your location implies, it's actually usually quieter, and therefore quicker, to stay on the motorway to Stoneham, first exit on M27, and come in via Thomas Lewis Way. And I blame the Tories too!

And Fonte also looks uncomfortable on the left. It is an issue. But maybe Martin's continuous and continuing improvement includes learning to play on the left too.

To add another Tony Caldwell signed from Horwich RMI to Bolton, admittedly when they were in the old 3rd division (ie L1). Can't remeber his age ,but he was certainly not a youngster.. mid 20's? He went on to be their leading scorer for several seasons I believe, and definitely scored 5 in one league match -- but then weirdly faded away again back to part-time football.

Dalek, Dune and Trousers?

Sounds as if the crowd are shouting Leeeeee like for Steve . That'll confuse him

They'll be back. Look at the spurs fans comments. They haven't seen through him yet, and the media will still want him ...he virtually writes their headlines for them. It tends to be the clubs he's left that don't rate him, when they do the sums after he's gone. I predict Spurs will have a financial crisis once Redknapp leaves.

Those aren't real losses. They are credits to write against future profits. Keep up!

Absolutely. The fact that he seems to think that he only missed paying £30k on such a big amount gives us some idea of how little tax he pays on everything else he earns. If I can't have his (or the RBS bank bloke's) job can I at least employ his accountant please?

The trouble is that many (most?) clubs are paying more in wages than they can afford and the whole market is ridiculously inflated. So if a club sticks to what it can afford, it will almost automatically be at a disadvantage. As long as the Portsmouth living-above-their-means-then-reneging-on-debt scenario can happen, or as long as another rich (probably foreign) bloke with more money than sense, can come along and pay way over the odds, (eg chelsea), sensible clubs will always be fighting with one hand behind their backs. The only answer is to give some real teeth to the financial proposals and really force clubs to live within their means. As it is , I look forwards to Spurs going broke when Redknapp leaves and someone adds up the sums, and Chelsea going broke when Abramovitch wants his money back, but there'll always be another one to replace them.

Which last Friday?

"expert" and "talksport" ...interesting juxtaposition! Havinmg said that I am curious about who woud be the administrator. It presumably depends in who actually decides to put them into administration. The club can do so itself can't it, voluntarily? They can't want AA again surely to god? Whereas if it is Portpin, ie BC who puts them into admi , he obviously will want AA ...though HMRC may object.

loan not sale I hope?

I understand Cala is about to enter into a Sindy-cate with Corp Ho.

If that is correct, the only logical explanation is that we have other irons in the fire ...maybe an ex-'Iron' in fact? ... and are waiting to decide which is the better deal. Brinkmanship ..may work well or may backfire if other clubs wade in at the last minute and nick players from under our noses.

I hope the source declared the money on his tax return!

It would make some sort of sense if the manager also had to pay a percentage of the loss when he buys a £15 million player and turns him into a £1million one! I'm definitely in the wrong business.

That Lee fella's really let himself go since we signed him.

This agreement by Mandaric to pay Redknapp 5 or 10% of any transfer fee pofit was absoluely crazy. How common is it in pro football? It's an incentive for the manager to behave badly. All Redknapp had to do was sign lots of players on low fees or Bosman frees, put them on a long contract and wait for any one or two of them to be sold later. Big bucks for him. The fact that the rest of them stay languishing in the reserves on a big wage is no loss to him ...just to the club. In fact when you look at Redknapp's record it's no wonder he's such a wheeler dealer. He makes a packet from any profit but makes no loss from any loss to the club. Win win for him.

And yet reportedly they've turned down an improved bid from Ipswich for Pearce and Ward, of c £1.4 to £1.6 million. WHY??? It's like they have a death wish. All I can think is that the deluded few plan to hang on to all their players for now, then go into admin after the transfer window closes but before the WU hearing ...on the basis that the administrator would then be unable to off-load players till the end of the season. However I think if they get a real administrator this time he'll have to consider letting players go out on emergency loans just to reduce the wage bill. (I'd happily add Pearce to our squad btw, with our shortage of CBs. And it would be wonderful to get him from the skates for nothing on an emergency loan, just to rub it in.)

Ball boy in front of the Chapel?

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2588488,00.html Good grief! Didn't expect that

I think that is very likely. It is also very unlikely that HMRC will apply to put them into admin, so most likely is a voluntary admin by (nominally) PFC. The question then would be are PFC's directors and Lampitt really able to do anything independently ,or are all of them puppets of Chainrai? If they go for AA , that would be a pretty clear answer to the question. Or can/would CSI put the club into admin, as creditors? So in effect AA would then be selecting the administrator. I have a pretty shrewd idea who he'd choose! HMRC can object of course. Not sure how certain that objection would be to succeed.

Your post arrived whilst I was writing my last. So there is another source. That's good. Which horse for curiosity sake? Adkins's or Lee's?

So if that journalist is genuine, and correct (but his tweet is the only source?), it would seem reasonable to expect that the OS will announce his signing today. We could do with a morale boost after Monday.

My reading of the likley outcome is from now..... a) They get a buyer soon. If so surely would have to be another nutter/crook, but might put the end game off for a while. Not very likely b) More likely is that they go into admin just before the winding up hearing. (It will be interesting to see who is appointed administrator ... could it be AA again?!!!! ) Then by selling players, messing about with the parachute payments etc they should be able to scrape along till the end of the season, albeit with a points deduction, which is what the FL will prefer to them disappearing mid-season. The crunch will then come when they are due to make payments under the CVA, but have already spent some or all of the parachute money that was earmarked for this. They may or may not be able to renegotiate the terms. So for me the most likely future now is admin, points deduction, and another crisis as they get relegated. Next season they may start as a skint L1 club, or they may fold during the close season ---about 50-50 I'd say.