The Kraken

Some of the money did indeed go to running the club (the DMG money I recall was the vital lifeline we needed while Mickey Fiasco kept kicking tyres). However, I don't think that all of the £3M would have been spent (Surman was sold on July 1st to Wolves, ML's buyout was completed on 8th July). In any case the transfers would surely have had an effect on either the price of the club to ML or the need to apportion working capital back (i.e. transfer funds received) back into the depleted playing squad.

Incorrect; by all acounts we signed a first-choice left back. Anyway, I know you love a good tantrum, but your "gelling" argument from last year has to be taken in context with when the players were actually signed. From Soccerbase.com.... Dan Harding, 21 July 2009 Rickie Lambert, 11 August 2009 Dean Hammond, 20 August 2009 Radhi Jaidi, 3 September 2009 Add in the loanees... Jacob Melliss, 14 August 2009 Neal trotman, 19 August 2009 Pap Waigo, 1 September 2009 Michail Antonio, 5 October 2009 So last season we signed just 1 player before the start of the season. We had already matched that by the start of July. I'll start to get worried if by the start of August we haven't signed at least 3 more players; making a fuss of it before then is just foot-stamping nonsense.

Really?

I think 3 to 4 weeks is plenty of time to sort out the 4 or 5 transfers we probably need, actually.

I'm not sure I agree with your first point. I'm speaking purely my opinion as someone who over the years has been to anywhere between 5 and 15 home games a season, but prices this year are roughly the same as last year (give or take a quid or two plus the infernal booking tax, of course). However, I don't think the price change will deter that many fans from coming, so long as the team are performing and we're in one of the top two league places. Sure, there will be the odd midweeek game or two that will have lower attendances but in the main I really think we'll see significantly increased gates from last year. Ticket booking fees will be circumvented either by more people popping to the ground after work or buying tickets in bulk so to spread the cost. There will be some, of course, who won't go because of cost but I think this number will be significantly outnumbered by those who want to be part of a promotion push. Of course, if the team aren't performing, I expect lower gates than last year and some proper fan unrest. I very much agree with your point that we haven't spent too much over revenue, and have actually always said this. When we bought Lambert, Hammond etc at the start of the season it was conveniently forgotten by the "in NC we trust" brigade that just 1 or 2 months prior to those purchases we had just sold £3m worth of talent (Surman, McGoldrick, Rasiak et al) from what was already a below average squad. Add in the FA Cup full house and TV rights from the Pompey game, plus the Wembley final (an attendance of nearly 74,000 would have netted us at least £1M in ticket sales alone), plus various other high gates (MK Dons semi final etc) and our revenues would have been well up from the budgeted figures, hence we could shell out for Fonte and Barnyard in the New Year. It will be interesting to see how this all ends up. Cortese could very easily end up with egg all over his face. Then again, if we're top of the league and crowds are in the mid to high twenty thousands, he'll look like a genius. Only time will tell, but one thing is sure; the PR surrounding all this has been an inexcusable, unmitigated disaster.

Being as the club haven't yet released details of the membership scheme, is it not a bit premature for this level of reasoning?

Joking aside, I was quite surprised about how many basic areas of the highway code I had forgotten. I passed my test in 1991 and hadn't even looked at a copy of the highway code since. But they do a multiple choice test on it and I think I only got about 60% right, which is quite shocking really. The highest score in the room got 80%, and they weren't all that difficult questions. Just shows how much you forget/disregard once you get your licence. The course focussing on your responsibility as a driver to better recognise changing road conditions, then reinforces it with stats and various other information on why many 40mph areas are being downgraded to 30mph. At the end I did feel a bit preached to, but it was worth it to get a much better appreciation of using the road. EDIT: I also meant to say, the course isn't just compulsory upon getting clocked speeding. Mine had two yound lads who had recently passed their tests and had chosen to do it for the extra training.

Not according to the Speed Awareness coure I took last year. There has to be a minimum number (I can't recall how many) of major accidents before a fixed speed camera can be installed. The mobile ones, however, are much less rigid in the requirements. I have to say, the course is well worth anyone's time to do. I did it because I was caught doing 36 in a 30 zone, which prior to the course I would (and did) find utterly ridiculous. However, I was definitely convinced by what they had to say, and it really makes you take a really good look at yourself on the roads.

This is a very good post (apart from the stripes bit...) I really don't have too much problem with the price hikes. Ok, the ticket tax is a bit overpriced at £3 but I can understand the principle of it. And I would expect our tickets and season tickets to be towards the higher end for the division as we're npw expecting top end signings, and they've got to be paid for. What I think is inexcusable though is how the club have just decided to cease their engagement with the supporters and adopt a like-it-or-lump-it attitude. It really would have taken a minimal effort of forethought and communication to avert the issues surrounding the removal of the half-season tickets and installment plan, and the fact that the club have still chosen not to speak out about their reasons for doing this is a concern for me. Yes, I'm sure these are all business decisions being made for the good of the club, but alienating some of your most loyal customer doesn't seem to be the best way to do business to me.

It's amazing how a kit can polarise opinion so much; thankfully the majority of fans seem to love it. I've bought mine and worn it a few times for 5 a side, and I really like it. One of the lads I play with is a Pompey fan and even he has admitted how much of a good kit is.

What a ridiculous question. But if you want to take that much of a simplistic approach, here's a couple of bullet points for you. About 2/3 of accidents in which people are killed or seriously injured happen on roads where the speed limit is 30mph or less. At 35mph you are twice as likely to kill someone as you are at 30mph. Speed limits are there for a good reason and they're set by a group of people who, quite frankly, have a much better idea of road safety than most drivers.

That's a hugely ignorant comment by the way; there's enough adverts and information out there to recognise the differences between an accident at 30 and 40 mph. But then you could always try that approach with the judge

I'll answer your questions, even though I agree that Cortese is being too ruthless in trying to extract every last penny from the paying customer. Installment plan; unerstandable to scrap it in its previous form as the club were losing money from it for no real gain. The argument whether they should offer an alternative has been done to death so I won't revsiit that, but my point of lack of notice stands; if they'd announced the scrapping of the plan months before this isn't an issue. Tciket tax: I think its perfectly understandable to have a ticket tax separate to the cost of the ticket so that the booking process is transparent. that said, it needs to be reflective of the actual cost, and £3 is too high IMO. Half season tickets: like I said, I can't fathom it out, not sure if I agree with your reasoning that they don't want ST holders but you may be proved right, we'll see. And I agree with your last point.

Scrapping of installment plan: understandable to get rid of the plan, but unforgivable to not give enough notice for fans to prepare other payment options. Ticket tax: understandable to charge a fee rather than add on to ticket prices, but £3 seems way over the odds of the actual costs involved. Lack of half-season tickets: really can't fathom this one. Lack of ST holder priority for Bournemouth game: a bit daft by the club, no real reason not to do this and a bit of a kick in the bawls for ST holders. It'll be interesting to see what the approach is for more major cup games, if its general sale for all then I think its a bit of a worry. Lack of clear communication from the club: this is a definite area of concern for me. The club absolutely has the right to change its working practises as it sees fit, but to score a series of potential own goals along the way without clearly defining matters to the customers seems a bit odd. As has been stated, all of the issues above are relatively small on their own but when added up together it begins a slightly worrying trend. And one that could easily be avoided if the club would just live up to their promises of engaging with the supporters.

Any number of reasons. But last season had he left he would have done so to become number 2 to Rob Green and therefore have little or no prospect of first team football. If he were to get an offer this time round as first choice keeper at a Prem club it would be very difficult to turn that down this late in his career. Anyway, this is all just idle speculation (for now).

Greed is good.

It's perhaps unfair to blame the club over ticket prices given that the price is determined by both clubs. From the Carling Cup rules.... 22 Tickets 22.1 Immediately after the draw is known the two clubs concerned must mutually agree the prices. all questions in dispute must be immediately referred to the Management Committee for settlement. The decision to not allow ST holders first option on tickets to claim their own seats is a bit daft though; unfortunately another small sign that the most loyal customers are not being put first.

Just playing devil's advocate, but they do charge a delivery fee if you don't go in-store for the purchase. Likewise with the club, if you go to the club for your ticket (before the day of the game) there is no extracharge. I don't for one minute agree with the booking fee and think it is a complete con; that said, there are "some" costs involved with the distribution of match tickets, though I very much agree that these should be subsumed into the total price. Either that or the price for sending out tickets should be more proportional to the actual cost (say £1) rather than a blatant money-making scheme.

Stag do in Amsterdam + Saints on TV = win win.

Nick, you are very right of course, and once the season gets underway and (hopefully) the club gets off to a flying start then I'm sure this will very quickly slip into the dima nd distant past. That said, its just very disappointing how completely unnecessary this all is, and how it could have been so easily avoided with just a small amount of consideration from the club.

John, I'll refer you to the first quote I listed in my summary above. It was lifted from Nicola Cortese's introduction to the document. "I firmly believe that this Supporter’s Charter will be the embodiment of what we stand for and it will target what we deliver year in, year out.” It should be pointed out, we are far from the only club to have some form of Fans' charter. It is not a ground-breaking document, it is very simple in that it sets out the basic aims and working practises of the club. If others think it holds little weight then fine, that's your opinion, but I have to disagree. I find it a little disconcerting how far the club has deviated from its stated principles of "engagement with the fans" in only a very short time.

Quite clearly a fair few people do care about it DellDays. If you don't, then it's not really an issue that affects you is it? So why bother commenting?

Yeah, because £1,600 a month just gets you nothing at all these days...

So after 8 pages I’ve come to the following conclusion: Pretty much everyone agrees that the club has no obligation to provide an interest/cost free instalment plan. There is mixed opinion over whether the club should provide a payment scheme through a third party. Immaterial of the above, most people agree that the club should have given more notice of the intention to scrap the old payment scheme. No-one can come up with a sensible idea as to why half-season tickets have been scrapped. The club seems to have done too little in the active recruitment of existing season ticket holders. Pretty much everyone agrees (to differing extents) that the club has communicated poorly with the fans over the above issues. And a lot of the resentment felt towards the club by some over these issues could very easily have been solved by the club communicating better. To conclude; two key excerpt from the Supporters Charter read as follows: "I firmly believe that this Supporter’s Charter will be the embodiment of what we stand for and it will target what we deliver year in, year out.” “Within the next few months we will be delivering news of our Supporter Engagement Policy whereby our supporters, specifically our Season Ticket Holders, can actively play a part in dialogue with their club in an effort to shape its destiny, such as pricing policies for ticketing and retail products. We intend this strategy to be ground breaking in football by enabling supporters to build a unique relationship with the Club.” The one common area of agreement within this thread seems to be that the club has fallen down in engaging with the supporters over the key issue of ticketing. And this is such an easy thing to prevent, and indeed to rectify. As supporters we’re not asking for involvement with everything that the club does, and indeed understand that there are a huge amount of decisions which will be made by the club which have absolutely no right being aired in the public domain. We are simply asking for the club to live up to the promises that it made in their own formal published document.

It's not as if publishing ST prices in March is such a hugely innovative step though is it? As a club we've done it plenty of times before. We were massively late in announcing our prices, I believe the 23rd team in our league to do it, which made the news of the scrapping of the installment plan all the more mystifying and frustrating for many.