The Kraken

Don't know. If Jarvis goes to a bigger PL team I think he could be in with a shout. 8 goals for Wolves last term is impressive. But at 26 he's got to be thinking that his time is very fast running out. I know that I'd prefer us to sign Jarvis than Phillips. Although either owuld be most welcome.

And hasn't yet done so. Hence the lower price tag.

Matt Jarvis has played for England and scored 8 goals in the Premier League last year (as a midfielder) so has that on his side.

I'm thinking exactly this, an X-Factor style knockout bonanza.

I've avoided the rest of your post as its largely irrelevant after the opening line. We know that Nigel Adkins said he wanted to bring in up to 6 more players before the season started. We know that of those 6 he has been successful so far in bringing in 1 of those player positions, that of a reserve goalkeeper. We know that the season kicks off in 3 days time and its going to be going some (in the extreme) to have those players in place by then. What more is there to know? The manager set a target of bringing in players before the start of the season. That target looks set to fail. We may or may not bring those players in before the window shuts at the end of the month, time will tell. Stick your fingers in your ears if that makes the world carry on spinning for you if you wish. But no-one has suggested the club are doing nothing, and o-one has suggested we won't bring in anyone before the end of the window. once again I'm minded to wonder why some people need to invent a point of view to counter; can you really not counter the actual argument in the first place, so you have to make another one up?

Yes I know. They should have been. But the FL perhaps saw that there was a possibility the original creditors would have agreed to the CVA modification and therefore why the punishment was less than not actually agreeing a CVA in the first place. Do take note that I don't agree with this argument, but I can see where there is ambiguity.

You don't know what the creditors would have agreed to. No-one does, because they weren't asked. But being as Chainrai overwhelmingly held the cards in terms of the percentage of the debt there's a very good chance that any altering of the terms would have gone through.

Probably because Pompey's original CVA has been diluted and not scrapped altogether. They would still have paid some of the amount owed, but not all of it. There is an argument (not one that I ascribe to) that they could have gone back to all of the original CVA-1 creditors and put it to the vote again as to whether they would accept the revised terms of their CVA. If this had been the case, and if those creditors had agreed, there is the argument that the -10 is "unfair". Again, I don't for one minute agree with that, for me as soon as the terms of CVA-1 are not met or are altered then it has by definition failed and the club should be punished just the same as if they didn't have a CVA in the first place.

I got that far. No they won't have egg on their faces. I haven't come across a post yet that says we definitely won't sign players before the end of the window. Have you? I've seen quite a few (including my own) who relate to the fact that Nigel Adkins identified a requirement for up to 6 more new players (2 x GK, 2 x CB, 1 x RM, 1 x LB/LM), and that he wanted/expected them before the season started. To date we have one of those on his list (Gazzaniga), and are now linked with a formal bid for 1 more. So at the moment there's a bit of a discrepancy between what the manager was expecting by now, and what has happened. I didn't read the rest as that first line was so inaccurate to the actual discussion. Why do people have to make things up and put words in other people's mouths just to form a counter-argument. Is is that difficult to actually debate the issue that you have to make up a new one to rail against?

Its a throughly difficult sell to the FL. Survival relies upon re-negotiation of the players' deferrals and payments, which Birch has already just spent the past few months to get to the current figure. He needs to now shave off another 75% of that agreed figure. There are still parachute payments in the system which could be withheld and diverted straight to the players, so all the guff of "accept the new conditions or they'll get nothing if the club is liquidated" is a bit of a nonsense. And the PFA will look after their own and lobby for those funds to be paid. I genuinely cannot see how the FL can agree to the golden share in the current incarnation. And I cannot see how Trevor Birch, appointed by the courts, can justifaibly suggest there is a better than even chance that the takeover will go through with the current offer on the table.

I ran out of fingers to add it all up.

Vote Turkish.

So you predict we'll finish 8th?

He grew up in Cornwall (near Falmouth) and learned to sail there. Hence the mini uproar about the town of Restronguet getting a post box painted gold in his honour and not Lymington.

Also of Bolton, Stuart Holden was a great prospect before getting seriously injured. Looks like he may be back this season, would probably not be worth the risk but if he's fit and firing he'll look very good in the Championship.

Yep, exactly. Players like Ji-Sung Park, Ryan Nelsen, Danny Guthrie, Michael Turner, Robert Green, Pavel Pogrebnyak (all just quickly off the top of my head) are all decent signings who will do well alongside young, up and coming players from the lower leagues.

Well its no good forecasting our chances based upon a team we don't yet have, is it? That's just make believe. I could say "I think we'll finish 12th as we're going to sign Steven Caulker, Scott Dann and Matt Jarvis in the next 2 weeks". But what would be the point? Predictions are made on what you know. We know we are short in certain areas. We know the club want to improve those areas, we know they wanted to do this before the season started but haven't. We may sign players before the window shuts and, you know what, its not against the rules for people to change their minds on how they think we might do. I still think we'll make signings. I think they'll be what we need and if they are significantly better than we have already, I'm confident we have more than a chance of staying up and competing. Until that happens I'll continue to register my concerns at the state of current squad, giving they'll be in action in a few days time.

So we have to come up with who we should actually sign before we say anything about the fact that the manager hasn't brought in the players he said he wanted before the season kicks off? We have to name who it should be before that viewpoint is given any credence?

Sorry, can you point me in the direction of the people who are getting hysterical and saying we should just panic and sign anyone, please?

A free transfer and 60k per week over 4 years is roughly the same as a £7M transfer fee and £25K a week over 4 years. You could argue that's a JRod (conservative guess really).

Its a difficult one to answer just off the bat; in terms of individual signings on a like for like basis I think we've done well. And perhaps wouldn't swap too many players with some that our peers have signed. Saying that, I also think that the other clubs have signed well, and in more areas than us. I'm not necessarily saying peers have signed better individual players than us, simply that they've addressed their squad deficiencies better than us. If we sign a decent RM, a CB or two, and a GK then I think we'll be much better off than our peers. Its just it hasn't happened yet, so I can only judge on what we've done and not what we say we want to do.

First of all 2 years ago is irrelevant, aside from the fact we can say "ooh look, we've done well to get promoted twice in a row". Our needs and ambitions are constantly changing; now in line with being a Premier League team and wanting to at least stay there. So how we got here is a nice footnote in history but no marker on where we should place our ambitions right now. And no, of course I (or anyone else) don't just want anh old player; that's a ridiculous suggestion. I want better than we have, simply because that's what Nigel Adkins said he wanted too. His ambitions, not mine. If we get those players in before the window shuts then ok, and I'll judge them on their quality when they arrive. And no-one is writing the season off are they? Unless I've missed something.

Don't agree with that in the slightest, I think we're well behind our peers in terms of business done so far.

Have you not read Vectis' posts before?

Still not good enough to get promoted from League 1 though.