RinNY

It's the red & white shirts: must be!

If they are obliged to go into administration first, taking the 9 point penalty and assuring relegation, and getting the sorry crew running PFC now out of there, then allowing an administrator access to the funds simply to pay the wage bill and basic running costs while he finds a buyer, would be reasonable, I think. What isn't reasonable is for Pompey to be asking for this money as a way to stave off administration and relegation!

Wenger made a good point on SSN, that for the integrity of the PL, Pompey must finish out the season. It seems to me that, while the PL was correct to deny Pompey access to next season's parachute payments in advance, the solution ought to be for PFC to be forced into administration -- with Storrie, Gaydamak, Al Fahim, Al Farraj, Chainrai, Jacobs, and anyone else involved in running the club, out on their ears and whistling for their money -- and the PL should then provide the adminstrator with the necessary funds to see the club through to the end of the season, or until a buyer is found, from next season's parachute moneys. PFC can then start next season as a CCC club with an appropriately small budget and a squad suited to the CCC, after selling players over the summer like any other relegated club. Of course, that would actually require someone to step up and behave responsibly and courageously, so there's probably no chance of that happening.

Yeah, but that 25 million, should they survive to receive it, will go straight to creditors and therefore benefit a new owner not at all: in fact it will not even come close to resolving the debts. It's like the tv money last summer, that Al Fahim seems to have thought would enable him to run the club, except it went straight to Standard Bank & he never saw a penny of it. The simple reality, it seems to me, is that -- as with our case only more so -- there is just no rational case, fiscally speaking, for anyone to buy the club now. Once it goes into administration, assuming that's even an option still, it might be attractive to a point: you can pay pennies on the pound to clear the debts and end up with a CCC club for a small outlay -- just as Liebherr settled debts of around 30 million by paying about 12 million for SFC. So the question is: would you rather assume debts of around 70 million and try to run a CCC club on that basis, or pay 10-15 million to settle those debts in administration, and have a CCC club debt free? I think that answers itself, no?

I think one of the funniest things in this whole saga has been Storrie (what a clown) trumpeting that Pompey are an attractive buy, because they can be acquired "for nothing"! That's right, folks, for nothing down, and no further payments, you can purchase a debt of 28 million to Gaydamak, 12 million to HMRC, 17 million to Chainrai, 10 million or so to other clubs, several million to other assorted creditors, plus the obligation to pay wages and running costs in excess of 2 million a month, with no significant income streams because they've all been spent already for the foreseeable future. And we'll throw in a club that will be playing in the CCC as a sweetener. What a bargain! No wonder Storrie has 'em lining up to take this deal ... supposedly. What I don't understand is why the Court didn't just pull the plug today. Pompey have had over a month to prepare for this: now they're told they have another week to present their case? Why? Why wouldn't they be prepared now? Isn't that just putting off the inevitable?

One word: Lallana.

Connolly has suffered from serious injury/fitness problems the past couple of years, and though his undoubted class makes him worth having around when he can play, he certainly can't be relied on to give you a full 90 minutes game after game. In fact, his best role is probably as a super-sub, and occasional starter in particularly important games when fit. Meanwhile, we rely very heavily on Lambert, and if he were to get injured, we'd need another main striker. And all of that tells you why we've signed Barnard, a guy who has shown his worthn as Sounthend's main striker the past season or two. I should have thought all that was self-evident. Why are you raising this question? Have you been out of touch? Aren't you the guy who has constantly bemoaned our lack of adequate cover at various positions (e.g. CB) over the past few seasons? So why would you now be (apparently) critiquing the provision of adequate cover at striker by raising this question???

Once the season ended & transfers were possible, we sold some players: do the names Surman and McGoldrick ring a bell? Money kept SFC afloat long enough for Liebherr to be able to save the club.

Ummmm ... no way Fergie buys the second round: he's Scottish!

I think it's clear that Pardew (like most fans) sees James as more suited to the defensive midfield role, & as an emergency right back only. I think it's clear that Thomas is not by preference a right back, and will not be a Saints player after this season. I think it's clear that Murty will never again play consistently, due to injuries. On a six month deal, Otsemobor, who has at times shown considerable ability as rb, has a chance to audition for the role next year, while filling a need for the remainder of this. If he works out, well & good; if not, no harm done. As to Seaborne: Jaidi & Perry are old, & Thomas is not very reliable, while Lancashire and Martin are raw. A good young CB to provide cover for this season and (hopefully) grow into the role of Fonte's first choice partner next season makes sense, surely? More generally, the defence has been our biggest weakness this season: these signings have the promise of shoring it up considerably, and protecting us against possible injuries. Good signings, therefore!

Nah, screw that for a name! The merged club could be called Southmouth United. Fans could chant: "the mouth of the south is coming for you!" *lol*

Having a spare 30 minutes to kill, I've just been googling Ali al Faraj and his comany Falcondrone, to get some sense of what's going on with Pompey. Here's the weird thing: there appears to be absolutely no information whatsoever about this man or this company except in connection with PFC. It's as if both he and his company blipped into existence just for the sake of taking over PFC, and that alone. I know super rich people can, to a degree, control what appears about them on the internet; but I've never heard of anyone being able to keep as low a profile as that while being in any way publicly active, as a major businessman must necessarily be. And in any case, can this al Faraj guy really be super rich if he cannot afford to pay the wage bill of a business he has recently taken over? I mean, if he is a billionaire with a major stake in SABIC (huge Saudi petro-chemical corp, with a turnover of ca. 24 bn quid annually) as reported, then why does he need to keep trying to arrange short term loans to meet a wage bill of under 2 million?? Surely he could just pay it out of his own account! It does make one wonder whether Ali al Faraj really exists at all; or if he does, whether he isn't basically akin to that fellow Lynam trotted forward as his supposed money man backing the Pinnacle would-be takeover of SFC: the one who was penniless and lived with his mum & dad still, I forget his name. In other words, if al Faraj exists, is he just a penniless front man? And if so for whom?? I have to say: we've all had our criticisms of Lowe & Wilde & Crouch & Askham & the rest who ******ed up our great club; but at least they were real people, whose actual worth was known, and who came forward to take responsibility for their policies and decisions, however poor they may have been. And at least they never failed to pay the club staff!! I find the whole Pompey situation astonishing, and I don't see how anyone could suggest they aren't in a far worse hole than SFC ever was. I'm left to wonder just what the PL's "fit and proper person" test consists of? It appears to be a farcical rubber stamp, as things stand. I won't say thank goodness for Lowe, Wilde, and the rest; but thank goodness they were at least real businessmen who could be and were held accountable for their activities!

To me, the crazy thing is that Storrie is talking of a big loan to "stabilize the club's finances". They're already in debt to everyone they have dealings with, to a reported total of in the region of 60 to 95 million. They cannot make the payments on the debts they currently have. How is borrowing yet more money going to solve this?? In particular, the loan is supposed, according to some reports, to be securitised by future Sky revenues. How can they securitize revenues they likely will never see, due to relegation looming? And if somehow they do, that means they'd be spending next year's income now, essentially: so what will they use for funds next year? This is how they got to the point of not being able to pay their wage bill: this year's Sky money went straight to the banks to pay off loans, leaving them with no operating funds. I remain astonished day by day that someone doesn't pull the plug on this whole mess, but that all those involved, from Storrie, to the PL, to the other clubs, to the banks, to this mysterious Chanrai character, just keep letting the hole get deeper, the mess get bigger. There's an old saying: if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging! When are those responsible for Pompey going to stop digging a deeper hole for themselves?

Well, there's a - (dash) before Miland Development, so I took that to be a dash too, and not a minus. Negative 95million makes SLH's debts, which were 80% or more the mortgage on an excellent stadium, seem like peanuts. Big trouble indeed! I don't see how they survive this as a going concern, absent a new sugar daddy with hundreds of millions and a willingness to spend big time for little or no return.

If so, would there not have been some publicity about these judgements? And in any case, the sums involved are peanuts ... for a football club, anyway. Not even a week's salary for an average player.

Surely that must be out of date: because it would seem to indicate that the Gaydamaks in fact still own Pompey? After selling the club, theoretically, to Al-Fahim who sold to Al-Farraj?? Unless all of that was pure bs, in which case how has the Premier League been okaying all this nonsense? And if they have a net worth of 95million, why are they in trouble??? None of that makes sense to me; and what on earth is a CCJ??

Arguing about Lowe is a waste of time, because people's positions are set in stone and nothing will persuade them to change. However, that said, there are plain facts that must be accepted by any reasonable person. (Are you a reasonable person?) My point is this: under Lowe, the mortgage on the stadium was a major cost, a cost that was not problematic so long as we were in the Prem, but a cost that became a millstone once we dropped out, and especially once the parachute payments ceased. Liebherr got the stadium for, probably, about 30p on the pound in the winding up of SLH; he owns it outright and has no crippling mortgage payments to make. Obviously, that makes it as easy for him to run it as a going concern as it was difficult for Lowe (and Wilde, and Crouch). There is no comparison, and in making the one you make, you reveal only your set prejudice against Lowe. A prejudice which is understandable, but which a reasonable person might perhaps think it was time to consign to the past?? I.e., get over it, eh?

It's one excuse after another with them. "New investment is being arranged now"; "50 million will be available in a few weeks"; "the bank failed to transfer the money properly"; "the VAT and PAYE are in dispute and we'll be suing the govt. for daring to demand them"; and so on, and so forth. They never lack some sort of specious explanation for why they haven't paid whatever it is they haven't paid, and how they'll be paying it shortly. When are creditors other than the govt. going to draw the only possible conclusion -- that there is no real money behind the club -- and press for a bankruptcy proceeding, is what I wonder. Man, it does not look good for them. Under a transfer embargo, that they kept saying would be lifted soon, but it hasn't been; facing a winding up order, which they claim is unjustified, but can't prove it; unable to meet their wage bill for the third time; likely to have to sell any player for whom they can get any kind of money at all ... Why on earth didn't Storrie walk away from this mess when he had the chance? Or is he in too deep with things he can't afford to let a new executive discover and make public? More to the point, what on earth possessed Avram Grant to walk into this mess?

The interesting thing about all this, to me, is that it reveals that no-one actually has a clue who or how many we will sign. During previous regimes, there was always a good deal of well-founded rumour going around, and we usually had a good bit of advance info as to what was going to happen. This regime plays their cards very, very close to their chest, and as frustrationg as it is to have no clue what players may be on their radar as possible signings, it's also heartening to see the sound professionalism involved in running such a tight ship! In a few days now, I think we'll be hearing good news, and whoever comes likely will be someone unexpected.

They are really in serious difficulties. People talk about a "firesale" of their "stars" to find funds to cover their debts, but I don't see who they're going to sell for any real money. They might get a few quid for James, Kaboul, Belhadj, perhaps even Boateng, but hardly the tens of millions they need. And other than those four, their best players are only there on loan. I mean, who is going to stump up big cash for the likes of Utaka, Kanu, Hreidarson & the rest? Let's be serious: these are the kind of players who, if they go, will go for small fees or on free transfers. They've already sold the crown jewels, and the money went straight to the banks, but left them still deep in debt. They really don't have assets to sell any more for the kind of money they need; so unless someone somewhere puts in 20 or 30 million (and anyone who does that is not buying a Premiership club any more with the money, let's face it), they very well may go, not just down, but under. Sad really: I wouldn't wish that on any club or its supporters. Just goes to show, even though the lesson of Leeds United has been out there for years, some still don't learn. Buy temporary success at a price well above your means at your peril!

I don't see how there can be any doubt that we CAN make the playoffs now. Look at the teams in 5th and 6th: MKDons: inconsistent, pretty average team; Huddersfield, fantastic home record, but crap away record probably says more about their true quality. I don't think these teams, or any of those between us and them, will avoid dropping a fair few points over the rest of the season. So if we keep playing the way we are, and winning, we have every chance. We definitely ought to make the playoffs: we should be favorites to finish in 5th or 6th at this point, given our squad and form, especially if we strengthen in Jan. And this is the year to do it: expectations starting off were low, but next year they'll be high, and what are the chances, do you imagine, that we can keep the likes of Lambert, Connolly, Hammond, Lallana, Schneiderlin this summer if we're still in L1 next season? Because we so clearly can and should make the playoffs, and because we're likely to lose some of our best players if we don't win promotion, I'll be disappointed if we don't go up at season's end.

I agree completely with this: the way Pardew left Reading left a bad taste in my mouth, and he didn't really inspire at West Ham or (obviously) Charlton. But he has proved me wrong in doubting him: really gotten back to the things that made him a good manager to begin with, built a strong a flexible squad, instilled discipline and a positive attitude in the players, and gotten the club really believing in our ability to win any game. His signings have been excellent, and his identification of which players already here to keep and how to use them has been excellent to. What a pleasure to see the progress that Lloyd James, Morgan Schneiderlin, and Adam Lallana have been making this season. For the first time this season, I really believe the promotion playoffs are a realistic hope. So long as we can maintain our current form, I don't see any team outside the top three that is not going to be dropping points in fair numbers over the course of the rest of the season, so I do think there's a realistic chance of us finishing somewhere in the 4 to 6 group. And I really fancy our chances in the playoffs if (knock on wood) we do get to them. So yes, full credit to Pardew and his staff!

Indeed, we went down with players still successfully playing Prem football: not just Crouch and Phillips, but Beattie (for half the season anyway), Delap, Higginbotham, Baird, Niemi, Camara, Davenport (or would be if he hadn't gotten stabbed), and probably a few others I don't recall just now. It's depressing to see a team like Stoke doing so well with no less that four former Saints (Fuller as well as Beattie, Delap, & Higgy). There was nothing wrong with our squad as such, clearly. It was the Sturrock fiasco, the utter lack of leadership from Wigley, and the rather half-heated effort of Redknapp that brought a perfectly adequate squad down. That said, why on earth are folks still moaning on about Lowe?? It's in the past, ffs: can't we leave it there?

For what it's worth, though Liebherr's contribution in retiring all the debt so that what comes in can now be dedicated to the club's neds rather than to servicing debt (which was our biggest problem before), the fans who show up to the games are due a huge pat on the back. I doubt Liebherr is actually spending much of his money on the team: we attract three times the usual league attendance, and so can afford to spend two to three times what other teams spend on players. So well done to the 19,000 or so fans who regularly show up to watch L1 football! Even so, as much as it helps for Pardew to have the money to offer, most players don't just want money they want to feel there's a likelihood of success too, and clearly Pardew has been able to convince very good players that Saints are going to be successful and soon. So again, good for him in his ability to bring in players who are really class at this level!

I agree with the guy that said it's his ability to sign them. Realizing that the likes of Jaidi, Lambert, Connolly, & Hammond are good players is easy: any well informed fan could tell you that. It's talking them into signing for Saints that's the hard part, and it really impresses me that Pardew has been able to do that. They're all players who are really too good for League 1, and therefore a cut above our present station. When was the last time Saints had a manager who could sign players who you thought "geez, how did Saints ever sign that guy"? Ummmm ... that'd be McMenemy, no? His greatest talent. If Pardew continues to be able to bring players here of that calibre, relatively speaking, as we move up the divisions, as I'm starting to feel confident we will, then good times could finally be ahead again for Saints!