trousers

James Pearce @Pearcesport Prosecution to Mandaric: Monaco money was "partly in relation to sale of Peter Crouch, isn't that right?" Mandaric: "Absolutely not" Prosecution: "I'm saying Mr Mandaric that you paid a bung." Mandaric: "I don't understand where you are coming from" Pros: "Your friend Harry Redknapp knew perfectly well the money was connected to sale of Crouch." Mandaric: "You'll have to ask him that" I may be losing the plot, and/or will to live, here but I thought this was a case about whether Redknapp paid tax on the money, not where is came from per se. In other words, in the context of this prosecution, does it matter whether it was a "bung" or a "gift" from a tax evasion perspective?

David Brown @DavidhBrown #Redknapp trial:#Mandaric says“I took out of my pocket money to pay out the Inland Revenue….£100million over 12 yrs” Post by @timesnewsdesk

Worth a cut-and-paste into here for posterity.... Remember these words? "I am very concerned about the financial status of this company. It seems to me there's a very real risk that this company is undoubtedly trading while it is insolvent. "I'm obviously conscious that, by making a winding-up order, it would have very severe consequences not only for the company as a business but for the supporters themselves, but that's not a consideration that I strictly take into account." Of course, they're the words of Registrar Christine Derrett in February 2010 as the old Portsmouth City FC company struggled for its financial life. Fast forward two years and its deja vu, with a February 20 date set for the son of PCFC, Portsmouth Football Club (2010) Ltd, to have its day in court, fighting a rearguard action once again against a winding up petition by HMRC. The sums of money involved may be less astronomical - this time the club owes a mere £1.6m against telephone number VAT and PAYE & NI contributions in 2010 - but the question remains the same: can PFC prove it is solvent? If not, is there any imminent prospect of the company being sold to a new investor? By the skin of its teeth, Pompey got away with it two years' ago. Can they be so lucky again? Those who are concerned about administration probably don't need to worry about it. Following the issuing of the winding up order by HMRC, Pompey have to get the court's permission to go into administration. If you check out the quotes above, you will understand how lucky we were to get into administration last time. This time we have a major problem. Our debts are just getting bigger and there is no realistic plan to become solvent. An administrator cannot allow a business to run while insolvent so before the court allows a business to seek this protection from it's creditors it will expect to see the cavalry not just coming over the horizon, but charging into the battle. There is no question that Pompey are insolvent and the only plan to become solvent is to find a new owner willing to inject the funds CSI are no longer around to do. The court will ask the question of whether after four months without finding a buyer for Pompey there is a realistic chance of finding one. They are unlikely to accept the sort of dubious letters expressing an interest that they did last time. There is no-one around to even pay the administrator this time. Despite the rhetoric about Chainrai guaranteeing £10m to put us through administration we got through it last time by drawing down parachute payments, and in the High Court the administrators barrister quite clearly said this was done because there was no other source of funding available. Who will pick up the cost this time? Many fans have spoken of Chainrai and Kushnir stepping back in. There are many problems with that scenario, but it has to be a remote possibility anyway. Portpin are already rumoured to be ready to accept half of their previous price with no takers. For them to start putting in £4m between now and the end of the season in the hope of recouping £8m is just throwing good money after bad. Many people refer to their secured status but that is no longer relevant. If a bank lends you £1m to buy a house then discovers when they repossess it that it is in fact worth 50% of that the net result is that they have lost 50% of their money. There is no 'secured debt fairy' who compensates people for making bad investments. If Portpin were to undertake to keep the club running until the end of the season they would know that all the money they invest would be dead money. If after nearly three years Portpin have failed to find a new owner willing to give them back £17m then the chances of them finding someone willing to pay £21m is an LSD-inspired daydream. Pompey have probably left them at the point where it isn't worth chasing their losses any more. The prospect of winding up also explains the lack of significant movement outwards in the window. There is no point selling players unless the £2.4m needed to discharge the winding up order, (£1.6m already cited and once wages are paid another £800k apparently becomes due to HMRC), can be raised. As you tend to get 50% of any fee up front and the rest in instalments the chances of Pompey raising that kind of money are remote to say the least. Better to keep players who will attract a new owner and could potentially be sold for good fees in the summer to fund his squad rebuilding efforts. But this time the football club fairy godmother may well baulk at bailing out PFC once more. As things stand, it is a pretty good bet that Pompey will not survive the hearing, if it gets that far, in a little under three weeks' time. Lampitt and Andronikou are obviously not going to appear in The News telling us we are doomed, largely because it is their job to try and sell/save the club. They won't concede defeat to HMRC before even arriving at the courtroom steps. They will exhaust every legal avenue but it looks a doomed effort. Pompey, in its current guise has but 20 days left to live. Without a new owner we are going to be into Plan B country. Never ask for whom the bells chime; this time they chime for us.

"There is no question that Pompey are insolvent and the only plan to become solvent is to find a new owner willing to inject the funds CSI are no longer around to do." There you go Football League...from the mouth of a Pompey fan

Meanwhile, in a courtroom in London..... David Brown @DavidhBrown Milan #Mandaric made “modest profit” and recovered £17million loan when he sold Portsmouth FC to Alexandre Gaydamak, court told

I'll get my dancing boots on in that case. Will schedule a deluge of snow for 2pm....

Just a thought.....What's the cut-off date for the points penalty being carried over into next season? Third week in March rings a bell. Perhaps they are looking to head off administration until then?

Anyone know what would be financially the most damaging scenario for Pompey this weekend? The game going ahead (i.e. having to pay all the costs of putting on a game) or the game getting postponed (the lack of match-day revenue adding to their cashflow woes)? Just want to know if I need to dust off my snow dance or not....

I think the fact that AA yesterday chose to highlight the names of the PFC2010 directors during what appears to be a routine interview with the press speaks volumes.

Yeah, but AA said yesterday that he's only "advising" the board of PFC 2010 so it must all be above board.... :-)

Please tell me what you typed into the search engine to come up with that... :-))

So, anyone know who's signed up to attend the CSI creditors' meeting tomorrow?

Was just about to pose the same questions. Would the Football League need to know what account was being used to channel the money through? If, per chance, it was through AA's company account wouldn't that suggest that the club are being run by an....erm.... administrator? Nah, that can't be right. We'd have seen a points penalty by now if AA had anything to do with running the football club. Silly me.

They actually have working toilets at the training ground? It's not all bad then...

@pn_neil_allen: Fantastic news about #Pompey players staying and committing themselves. Question remains, though, now how does the club meet £1.6m tax bill?

I did notice the forum was unusually slow on my laptop this evening and that it showed pages loading from an odd sounding domain name (which I can't remember the name of now - DN appeared on the status bar at the bottom left corner of the screen) Probably not related to your issue but thought it might be worth s mention in passing

Here's hoping Millwall can hold West Ham to a draw in the lunchtime kick-off and likewise Blackpool at Cardiff (3pm KO) Should set us up nicely as I've got a hunch we win't lose at Birmingham in the evening KO.

Damn...I've run out of *facepalms* for the OP

@pn_neil_allen: That's it. Ryan Williams the ONLY #Pompey player to leave on transfer deadline day. Excellent news for supporters.

Adkins mentioned this in his post match interview. Said that some players (e.g. Adam) need to shoot more often.

jos hooiveld @joshooiveld20 Second half we deserves more then a draw, good to see the spirit and energy. Thanks for coming on this cold night! #lostmyvoiceandtoes

http://www.archive.org/web/web.php HTH

Jaidi tweeted that he was sitting in the stands with him during the game