The Kraken

I wasn't at the game and missed seeing Hodgson on TV. So consider me scolded by you for not already knowing that.

I agree; I just would normally have expected such call-ups to be for a friendly. But as you say, even if Roy has no intention of playing them, they will gain from the experience if they do get called up again. Gary Neville would have seen first hand the ability of Lallana against Man United, so that's fairly encouraging if its been his influence that has led to the call-up.

I'm still stunned he's been called up at all; I very much doubted he would make it to full international level at all, let alone after 3 Premier League displays. But you do kind of have to think that all 3 call-ups are slightly bizarre; Sterling has only made a handful of first team appearances for Liverpool and Livermore too having only just broken through. Perhaps a sign of the times that Roy will pick players on actual current form; but I don't think any of the three will see any game time against Ukraine.

Yep, a lot of the problem clearly seems to be that the ticketing system defaults to showing the top level seats; I've seen plenty of comments where people didn't know how to access the seats at the bottom (you have to press the "drag" button to enable it). Of course, the problem with selling the seats nearest the pitch first is that they are often the least favourite ones, as they offer the worst view; I always look for seats at least halfway up and above.

Fair play to him; I have to say I'm stunned.

Yes, that's entirely the same thing We moved ground just over ten years ago; did we surrender all our history after that? We changed our badge in the 70s; was all previous history suddenly binned? Our kit in the 80s bore little relation to red and white stripes. Our original striped kit was with blue shorts and socks, gradually these evolved to the more familar black shorts and white socks. The kit is pretty sh*t, which is why I don't like it. I do have to laugh at the over-reaction of the "its a kick in the teeth of our history" brigade though.

Do you not think you're going a bit overboard there? Cortese has had a fairly public spat with Lawrie, MLT and Benali. And, to be fair, most of it went public when those parties and not Cortese went to the papers about it. Cortese has certainly acted like a bit of a d*ck on a few occasions, but he has rarely been the one to stoke it all up in the press. Terry Paine was a guest of the club for the Man United game. As was Micky Channon. Jason Dodd works for the club in a coaching role. So lets not portray a figure of big bad Nicky eradicating every single part of Saints history prior to the takeover; its not altogether true.

I'm pretty sure this is exactly what will happen. Especially given that football kits now change every single year (as opposed to every 2 years or even more in the not too distant past). So, from purely a commercial point of view, it makes entire sense to switch from stripes every year, there's really not a great deal different that you can do with standard red and white stripes with such a short turnaround of kit timings. I was never too bothered by the all red shirt, just the red shorts and socks are not my cup of tea. I often buy the team short just for use at 5-a-side; I'm not a fan of this one so I won't, which is really how it should work, I'd have thought.

Judging from the system for the Villa game, the blocks that were previously empty do actually look to be on sale this time round, in particular the empty spaces at the front of the ground from blocks 3 to 5. Just a shame its taken 2 home game foul-ups to seemingly get over this hurdle; and the double selling issue above seems to suggest the left hand of the ticket office doesn't truly know what the right hand is doing. Poor all round.

Dune banned again

From the Crawley v Pompey preview, Crawley's manager Richie Barker on Pompey's finances..... Surely its not quality over quantity all over again, is it?

Which is why I said "particularly in the corporate areas", which quite obviously were not sold out. There were also undeniably empty seats in non-corporate areas, despite regular seats being apparently sold out a couple of weeks in advance.

Because it was against Manchester United, and there were plenty of empty seats (particularly in the corporate areas). With all the talk of a new, bigger stadium its disappointing in that we can't even sell out the current stadium against probably the biggest draw in English football.

So they're resorting to blatant lies now then? I was at the Pompey v Bournemouth game, with a mate who is a scout. It was most definitely not sold out in the home end (as evidenced by a crowd of less than 18,000). Our crowds have been disappointing IMO so far; but for a Pompey fan to use that to try and forge some oneupmanship over us is bizarre in the extreme.

There wasn't really a need for a "new broom" though. There was a way to keep complete control yet still retain the advantages of having the old guard onside with you. Lawrie had been ousted from the club long before the Liebherr revolution, Rupert Lowe saw to that straight after the Sheffield United staying up game. So he wasn't part of the previous at all. MLT is a different story, and neither side filled themselves with glory in the aftermath of the takeover, if we're honest. Things have simply progressed on from there. Its such a needless childish spat (from both sides) that its almost embarrassing to point out how pathetic it all is, and how it only harms both parties, there are no benefits to it at all (except for Cortese to feel he has the power and for MLT to provide his retorts via the media).

Oh I think I'd find time to continue to laugh my socks off, completely!

I hope the Trust take you over; I truly do. Its laudable that people have come together to make it happen, and you cannot fault the effort of the organisers, I'm sure they've put their hearts and souls into it. That said, what I have found laughable and at times cringeworthy is the ability by the fan base and media to whip up a witch hunt and to ride roughshod over facts and basic common sense in an effort to railroad the Trust into ownership come what may. To ignore financial obligations and claim that the Trust is the best option for the creditors (offering the players a max of £2M instead of the £8M negotiated by an officer off the court). To continue to offer the bare minimum to existing creditors while extolling the virtues of maximising the playing budget in order to continue with the notion of a competitive (i.e. winning) team. Quite frankly, some of the mathematics of the initial Trust bid were completely unworkable and such a work of fiction that they derserved the comments they received. But for me the worst part is the bare-faced ashamedness of the manager, the club and more pertinently the fans to continually whine on and forget all past misdemeanors and claim that the club are being victimised by the FL, and that they have a divine right to be "competitive". Of using up the player budget with another effort at quantity over quality, and then getting out the begging bowl to supplement the wage bill to sign players who other clubs in the division simply cannot afford; never mind that those funds could be better served by actually providing the creditors with a better return for their financial hardships, some of them which date back to 2010 and beyond and for which some will never recover. Its the sense of sheer entitlement and the notion that, no matter what occurs, lessons just do not seem to have been learnt that attracts criticism and derision. If the Trust can take over and get the club to live within its means then it will be welcome change. But I'm not sure if the fanbase is truly ready to support a team in the numbers required by the bid mathematics that, by it's very nature, wouldn't "be competitive". Particularly with an £8M player defrral bill hanging around its neck. Which is why I feel that, ultimately, a Trust bid in this guise would be ultimately doomed to failure.

MLT is a bit of a stretch, but it really isn't a stupid concept that you'd use a former player or manager to heighten the experience of a corporate day. Anyone who has done it before will probably tell you that its a good but overpriced day. So in the current economic climate you have to work a bit harder and make it all the more appealing. Very simple things like having a host like Lawrie, and a table of ex-Saints (some of whom would give a short Q&A in return for their free lunch), make it seem you're actually getting something a bit special for the extra payment, instead of paying through the nose and getting a relatively bland day out. Our current regime doesn't seem to see it that way and particular parts of our history are airbrushed out, so it's not going to happen anytime soon. But having a few hundred empty corporate seats even for the Man United game is a very sad indictment of the current level of takeup.

Erm, what?

I have no room in my heart for hate. Dalek is a relentlessly unfunny pr*ck though, despite how hard he tries.

They only had a proposed wage budget of £2.6M per year; that doesn't leave much in the players' pot!

Also, anyone who ever went in to the Ambassador's Suite would be able to testify as to what a difference having such a high profile host such as Lawrie makes. Which is why the price was well above and beyond the standard price for corporate entertaining. And it was usually full to bursting. Perhaps Manji can tell us from his inside knowledge how much Lawrie actually earned, and we can deem whether he was worth the money or not.

How much was Lawrie on?

So what are the hurdles now? Assuming the player deferrals are covered. There's the charge on the ground. Chainrai won't let that go for the amount being offered, that's fairly certain. What else?

Same place Chinny was going to get it from. Out of thin air.