Jimmy_D

Incredible. I feel this saga doesn't have long to run now.

What makes it especially unlikely that the kitman already knows the tax has been paid is that the first team manager was the last one to know it hadn't been paid.

He's probably trying to wind you up.

I couldn't find a thing either. No whispers, no rumours, nothing. I reckon it's probably just gambling on an outside possibility to try and score ITK points.

It's not quite as simple as us just gaining... WHU and Cardiff would also have a game in hand on us if Pompey's results were expunged.

Japan have improved a heck of a lot since then.

No, just that the post was deleted. OK, todays games are finished. Time to close this I think. Please try to keep it civil in future.

As I said, I'd missed that because I was replying at the time it was posted. Saint Clark has already kindly taken care of it.

No, it's not. That reply was posted while I was replying myself. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely disagree with Alpine's pessimistic opinion, but I disagree with the opinion, I don't just attack Alpine for having an opinion I don't agree with.

Easy... By all means disagree with his opinion, but there's no need to have a pop at other posters like that Simon. We're all on the same side here.

Ah well, chances are Cardiff won't finish the season with those points.

Would love the results to finish like this to be honest.

Heh, some fans complaining that Andronikou should have known what was going on with Pompey not paying tax... The two companies might be so linked that the administrator uses 'CSI' and 'Pompey' interchangably, but Pompey the football club technically aren't in administration. Yet. So it was entirely down to them, and entirely their fault that they didn't pay the tax. As for administration not being on the cards, of course it's not. They haven't even started paying the last CVA yet, no court in the land would grant the protection of a CVA under those conditions, it'll be liquidation. Endgame now, barring a last minute billionaire coming to the rescue for them and immediately paying everything off.

Looks like he's bound to improve our chances of getting promoted at any rate

Surely Andronikou's risking his fantastic reputation with the Pompey fans by claiming he's the reason for Saints being on their way to becoming a footballing powerhouse?

Does this mean we have to be (even slightly) grateful to Redknapp? :/

I agree, the original purpose of this thread, ie. to discuss a point of law, has long been lost here.

It is! I can see where Swansea's reputation for playing good football this season has come from. Blueprint for us if we go up maybe?

No. I was disagreeing with the view that Celtic being a bigger club will keep Hooper there. The entire point of the post was to point out that the relative size of the leagues could more than counteract the relative size of the clubs. Sorry if that didn't come across clearly.

Sordell maybe? West Ham seem to think they're in for him as well as us on their forum.

Ma Chaine Sport have the TV rights for France. They used to sell rights in the USA but that went down the pan with Setanta iirc.

Chanrai is just a gambler chasing losses now.

In terms of English football vs Scottish football, here's how it breaks down in real terms. (ie. where the money comes from) English football attracts far more interest from foreign markets, The Championship is marketed in Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Sweeden, France, Norway, and the huge market of Asia (although this doesn't include Japan and Korea). The SPL is marketed in Australia, Canada, France, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Sweeden. This means that, despite their obviously far higher attendances, and us not being in the Prem, Saints will have been watched this season by a number of people an order or two of magnitude higher than Celtic. These far higher viewing figures mean that advertising is more effective for those audiences (ie. fans buy products they see during matches. Yes, YOU personally might not, but enough do to make a huge difference). Some of the money companies can make extra from advertising pays for that advertising to the tv company. The tv company uses that money to buy the rights to show football from the league, and that money is distributed to the clubs themselves. That money is then ploughed back into the teams, helping to keep the league competitive, the matches entertaining, and the interest in watching high. This means that while Celtic fans might moan that the only reason English football is better is because of the Sky money, that money comes from exactly the same place as people going through the turnstiles, from the fans. It's not Sky that's made the English league the best in the world, it's the fans, from all over the world. If we get back to the Prem, those differences are even bigger, and that combined with the fact that England international players are very VERY rarely get selected from outside the English league, and you can make a strong case for why Southampton could be seen as a bigger draw for a player than Celtic. Most Celtic fans seem to be assuming that there's no chance of Hooper coming here because they see themselves as the far bigger club. I don't agree with that view, and that's the reason I think there's every chance we'll manage to sign Hooper.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/19/spl-scotland-champions-league

Heh. This. I've got a gut feeling we're going to get him. No ITK stuff, but it feels like we're going to make sure we sign Hooper as a statement of intent as much as needing the striker.