saint si

The problem here is that PFC (whichever version) seems to treat charity money collected from fans as just another source of both income and outgoings, and so is taking it through the club washing machine, when it should be completely ring-fenced. Disgrace.

It's Davis, not Davies FFS!

Has anyone read the letter from Blackburn's chief exec to Venky's? It's here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/sportingintelligencecom/355347150182?created Relevance to this post: You may also be aware that HMRC (tax authorities) have been chasing Portsmouth Football Club for a debt they owe. HMRC have made a technical mistake in law and therefore cannot claim the money they are owed. They will make sure of course that the next football club that falls out of line, won’t be so lucky. We need to make sure that this club is not Blackburn Rovers. Any idea what he's going on about?? Incidentally, if I was the owner, I would be pretty sceptical of a 10 point plan to save the club which starts with a point #1 of "promote me and give me more money" ...

http://web.archive.org/web/20030417050455/http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/article.asp?article=141992&Title=Cup+final+tickets

I would like to inject a phrase: "continuous improvement". It is a false dichotomy to say we either shoot for the champions league, or we settle for mid-table obscurity. What we must do is continually strive to improve. We have done this in colossal strides over the last 2-3 years, but this will slow down dramatically from hereon, and so now it is all about making continued small steps in the right direction. Success breeds success in football. Winning on the pitch creates interest, drives up revenues, attracts players (etc etc) and it all feeds nicely back to winning on the pitch. But it takes time. We cannot and must not expect any kind of instant overnight success. As football fans, what we can all hope for is that we just keep getting better... and if we're lucky we might get a good cup run or two on the way to provide a short term bonus and injection of momentum. How far can such an approach take us? Who knows. But there is no point in putting a ceiling on it, just like there is no point in saying that anything less than X is not good enough. What I absolutely would not want us to do is to spend beyond our means, win a cup or get to a couple of finals, and then have it all implode around our ears. FWIW, I don't believe we could have a better duo than Cortese and Adkins to drive such a philosophy within the club, and I have no doubt they are already doing so.

Is accessing the website itself a crime? Is downloading a criminal offence or a civil offence? Does Pirate Bay (despite the name) not also provide access to public domain material? What constitutes "downloading"? Does it matter that Pirate Bay does not actually host the material itself? If Pirate Bay is to be blocked, should all sites that allow you to find copyrighted material also be? What about Google? Youtube?

Only happens if they start TWO consecutive seasons in admin

Left click on the image and "drag" up to the tabs in the IE window. It should then open on its own, and from there you can right click and use Save Picture As. Or just use Chrome.

I must have watched a different game as I don't think it was lack of effort at all on Saturday. I think NA asked him to just sit in and play a holding midfield role to help us kill the game off - a role he has played before, e.g. Blackpool in the cup. Thought he did a good job of essentially just keeping the ball. He played lots of short passes and simple triangles. He did absolutely nothing wrong considering we were 4-0 and just closing the game (and season) out.

Wait - who gets to sack the administrator? Wasn't Birch appointed by the Court???

Not at all... their last away win was only 4 weeks ago, so if anything they're due another long period without an away win :-) Of course, the one rather frightening fact about that away win, was that they beat Hull!

Agree that Baker Tilley are going to be key to it all. A further question then - if their chunk of the debt is reduced by a CVA, then what happens to BT's obligations to the creditors of CVA1? Is that the point at which Baker Tilley then confirms it cannot fulfil CVA1, and CVA1 is deemed to have failed?

Really depends on if they've learned their lesson from last time...

When Lallana scored our second against Leeds with an absolute class finish. We were well on top against a team that were fancied for the playoffs or thereabouts, and suddenly we all had a glimpse of the season ahead ... before the game we had no benchmark, no idea of whether we would be competitive or not. After that game, we knew that we could compete...

He said: ‘We think we are looking to attract between 20 to 25 people to eventually put in £5,000 to £10,000. £250k? That won't last long!

Rule 9.2 http://www.football-league.co.uk/regulations/20110629/section-3-the-league_2293633_2125717 Goes to head to head record.

Is there prize money in the NPC awarded for finishing position?

What needs to be remembered is that (ticket volume x ticket price) is a very simplistic measure of the benefits of a bigger stadium. More fans in the ground = more food and drink sold, more programmes etc More fans in the ground = bigger audience for the in-ground advertising, which means higher rates More fans in the ground today also means more fans tomorrow buying merchandise, creating a demand for Saints on TV etc ... especially if they are kids. It also carries a halo effect, whereby the club appears to have more prestige, weight, ambition etc - which will assist in both building up a fanbase (including overseas) as well as attracting players to the club. But despite all that, my own view is that this is still some way off...

Now what odds on him scoring the goal that sends us to the prem on Saturday?

If (a big "if") we expand the stadium, we will certainly put in place more corporate facilities, as that will deliver a far greater return. I am sure Cortese will have this in mind. The other big consideration is that every fan through the gates is also one that might buy food, drink, a programme and merchandise, and once fans are in the ground they are a captive market. Cortese has also spoken about his desire to make SMS (or wherever) a place to eat/drink before or after the game, rather than everyone trekking to and from the city centre. Finally, I would also think we'd be looking at other commercial opportunities that typically can be attached to stadia. Flats and hotel spring to mind. That may end up being a more likely driver for a relocation than a capacity increase... unless Cortese also plans to regenerate the entire area, and build a SFC-branded river-side plaza or something.

Somebody should tell them we played Peterborough on Tuesday, alas not the Skates

102 (UK headlines), 160 (local headlines), 302 (football), 390 (local sport)... can't even remember what the teletext equivalent numbers were...

Just had a week away and come back to find the PKF report. Couple of things: - The list of creditors shows OldCo (Baker Tilley) at 16.5m - HMRC are then separately listed at 9.9m (PAYE & NI) and 500k (VAT) ... so this can't be the OldCo debt as that's covered by the 16.5m ... ? - But the text part of the document (and the balance sheet) shows 1.5m (PAYE & NI) and 735k (VAT) Also, is there any irrefutable proof yet that the 16.5m isn't going to end up back at the original c. 80m? Given that the CVA was agreed by the OldCo creditors to be 20%, then it doesn't simply stay at 20% if the CVA is not honoured. I.e. the contract has been broken by OldCo, so the creditors should not have to honour their part either. So on that basis, OldCo (care of Baker Tilley) arguably owes £80m again. The question is therefore what are the terms agreed between OldCo (Baker Tilley) and NewCo (now in administration). The answer is not at all clear ... do BT get lumbered with the whole lot? Surely not. The key trick that AA pulled was the liquidation and transfer of assets... and it looks like a clever move right now, but if it was done with the intention of avoiding the CVA payments, then that might come back to bite them... I have every expectation this will only get settled in a courtroom.

Agree completely. Price the competition out the game and then complain about the salary you're paying. Same reason that I have every sympathy with Sol Campbell in pursuing them for the payments he was due! Maybe he'd have played for a decent club if OldCo hadn't been so keen to throw money at him?

Yeah yeah. All sounds great. But with only a few minor flaws. 1) the Trust won't amass the £8m 2) CVA2 won't get approval (it doesn't even exist yet) 3) CVA1 won't disappear quietly in to the night without a court case Enjoy your delusions!