Gorgiesaint

Interesting article in the Mail this morning by Martin Samuel - more about Hull then Pompey but does raise some questions about how much should the PL intervene. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-1259642/MARTIN-SAMUEL-Footballs-Lassie-like-watchdogs-barking-wrong-tree.html

Only piece I can find that supports that Al-Fahiim made a profit is this very small piece in this article - under loser of the week (Al-Faraj). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/championship/middlesbrough/6433173/Middlesbrough-job-did-Gareth-Southgate-few-favours.html Now I thought he gave 90% of his investment away but it appears not.

Interesting that he is a part owner of Saracens rugby club - they are highly influenced by South Africans at the moment - lots of players & their head coach is a Saffer. Having said that they are amongst the most boring of teams in the Guiness Premiership to watch. Mind you, he's done a bit of charity work for the under-privileged so maybe he just see's Pompey as an extension of that!! On another matter, had the radio on listening to the Danny Kelly show on Talksport and they had a Telegraph journalist on there (Kevin Garside I think his name was) who I thought said that Al-Fahim had stated that he'd made £45m profit from his time in charge of Pompey. Did anyone else hear that? It was a slight casteaway comment like it didn't matter. I did email the show but they were too busy talking about the late Harry Carpenter.

Just heard on Talksport that they understand it was his frustration at dealing with Dave Richards that has caused the problems - remind me who was from the PL that introduced at least one of the skint arabs? If true (on both counts) sounds like Mr Richards has a few questions to answer. Rumoured on the BBC gossip was that Roma & Celtic, according to the Mail, was going to bid for Belhadj , thought to be available for £2m - didn't have a link with it & I couldn't find it at the time on the Mail website so not sure how much truth there is but £2m sounds closer the mark in their situation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/8579283.stm

Brilliant.. my favourite comment Yes, if the PL had paid you your money then it would have all been okay & you would have paid the taxman... yeah right!!! That money would have been straight into Chainrai's account and gone before you knew it even existed. Laughable. To be fair, he then does say 'not to take the blame from Pompey' even though it sounds like he is!!

Well this is an interesting one for AA to deal with, let's see how impartial he is and how well he is doing his job.... and if Smith moves away on loan or not.

Ahh the great Portsmouth soap opera continues. And the really great thing is, this is only for their late payments. Wait until the FL get their hands on them for all of the other irregularities!! lol central.

Hmmm slow roast pork is fantastic if no-one has tried it. You need fatty piece of pork to do it otherwise it will be too dry, try covering it in fennel seeds, crushed dried chilli flakes, garlic and olive oil. As DP says, sear the outside and then slow roast at lowest heat for at least 6 hours. Beef & lamb are both good - beef has to have horseradish sauce and I can't be doing with mint sauce on the lamb though.

Well Rob Lloyd is a quiet, retiring type...not http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8578649.stm Good sense of humour to, people need to back off lol

What a prize c**k. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1259032/Avram-Grant-Ill-field-weakened-Portsmouth-teams.html So there's some great motivation for the greatest fans in the world to turn up on Saturday. Any guesses on what the attendance will be against Hull? The android must love this, desperate for money and to attract a buyer and his manager must have borrowed one of TCWTB's clown shoes to stick in his mouth!!!

Haha thats what I thought when I read it - do they have any Thai girls on the payroll? or are they just on Avram's payroll? I do wonder what the administrator makes of this though. Surely, he is trying to cut the waste from the business in an attempt to sell it - Avram & the players clubbing together to keep someone in a job which isn't essential might actually hinder his chances of selling the club.

You're right, the judge did suspend the WUO rather than dismiss it. But what would it take for the case to go back to court? They are insolvent as they stand at the moment, if the admin gets money from the PL on an advance basis that will keep them going for some time. What now is the trigger for the administrator pulling the plug?

Hmm so HMRC have left their options open depending how everything plays out? Could be a distinct possibility.

and there's no better way of achieving this from their point of view than bringing in a tame administrator. That way, none of them have to get their hands dirty and pull the trigger themselves. They can stand around and talk about how they did their best for the club, but be in prime position to pick up the bits they need to feather their pockets that bit further.

Just been announced on Talksport that Pompey have been deducted 9 points.

I see the debts have risen to £95m according to the BBC.... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8570134.stm Is this because Chainrai has lent them some more money?

I think it was a combination of its location together with the soulless atmosphere (massive stadium with limited crowds a long way from the pitch) that signed the death warrant for the Delli Alpi. Your right, its ironic that Juve have chosen to go back to the site of the Delli Alpi. It will be v interesting to see how they get on.

What has happened to Juventus is interesting in relation to this thread. For those who don't know, for years up until 1990 Juve played at the Stadio Communale (circa 30k capacity in those days). In 1990 they moved to the newly built Stadio delli Alpi (built for 1990 world cup) with its capacity of circa 60k. This proved totally unpopular with the fans, and I remember they had one crowd for a Coppa Italia game of circa 3000. In 2006, following the renovation of the Stadio Communale for the winter olympics (and it being rebranded as the Satdio Olympico) Juve moved back despite its 25k capacity (and sharing the ground - as they had done with the Delli Alpi - with Torino). They are now moving to a new ground (ironically on the site of the now demolished Delli Alpi with the 42k capacity linked to Whitey Grandad. The moral of this - I suppose its that moving to bigger ground (even if your current ground is far too small) needs to be carefully planned out. The Delli Alpi was a financial disaster - fortunately, like most Italian stadia, it was owned by the local council. And lets face it, whilst SFC are many things, we're not a Juventus with their level of success at home or in Europe just yet. Now I know that any proposed ground will be no where near the size of the Delli Alpi, but it shows what affect a soulless stadium can have on fans. There are lots of questions to be asked and answered if SFC were to move before any decisions could be made.

How many times did he say believe me, I won't lie to the fans - an honest person doesn't need to tell you that they're going to tell the truth.

That is a very interesting thought. Where would they play - the police would be unlikely to let them play at SMS even if Markus & Nicola allow it, Brighton's new ground would be the obvious choice but its not ready yet, Reading already have London Irish as tenants - Crystal Palace could do with the money!! They might have to trek all the way to London to play their home games. Edit - All of this assumes they are a CCC club next season with their massive support

Thanks for posting that Weston. Interesting to see where the few are and compare it to the people who came out the woodwork when we were in admin a year ago. Thought this line summed it up for me though... i.e. Lets spend £30m & buy the club, plough loads more money in to take it off life support & then take a look and hope we can make it sustainable. I would have thought that the thinkling around making it sustainable would have happened about £70m ago!!!

Interesting comment made by a caller on Talksport just now who is involved with the club that will reform after Chester City's expulsion. He commented that they had an application in with the FL to reform next season, and that a reformed club is treated slightly differently to a new club - they should get in about 2 or 3 divisions below (where the original club folded) rather than starting at the bottom of the pyramid.

That last sentence is completely damning... Making illegal payments to agents is against footballs laws, making illegal payments to potential witnesses in a criminal case would be against the law. The hole gets bigger.

I think that may be the key issue here - surely if the business cannot function without taking on a loan then its insolvent. HMRC's response will be interesting to say the least.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/16380000aweek-footballers-fail-to-take-pay-cuts-to-save-club-cleaners-1919453.html Gotta love the last paragraph Well if the switchboard staff weren't there, the phone would just ring - sounds like BT have cut the phones off