stevegrant

I'm not sure the news that footballers aren't necessarily the brightest is a particularly big story, to be honest

Not on it

Yes, I've still got that sky blue one so that'll do for the nominal "away" team.

The old saying "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" rings true here, I'm afraid.

Yeah that's not a bad shout, as long as there's enough interest. I'll need confirmation from everyone interested (only those who will actually turn up, rather than those who say they'll turn up and then don't bother, please) by the end of the week otherwise I'll have to cancel the pitch booking. Go!

Most clubs these days announce "attendance" figures based on the number of tickets sold rather than number of people through the turnstiles.

The commercial side of things in terms of supporter revenue (not corporate sponsorship) is abysmal in this country. The match-going fan, as a generalisation, won't buy a lot of the absolute tat that is put on sale in club megastores. Compare that to somewhere like Germany where their ticket prices are generally lower but they spend a fortune on club merchandise.

£5.3m of that wage bill was promotion-related bonuses.

I reckon they saw that the total TV deal value increased by around 50% and just assumed the parachute payments would increase in line with that.

No, as Pompey are about to enter year 4 of the parachute payments, they get whatever is relevant to year 4 at that time rather than at the time of their relegation from the Premier League. On the flip side, if the new deal had been for less money than the previous deal, they'd have been utterly ****ed as they'd have received even less than they were expecting.

I'm well aware of that Read what I actually wrote rather than what you think I would write, if the increase of 25% (not a fixed figure) was applied evenly - and there's nothing to suggest they wouldn't be - then there would be a £2m increase in years 3 and 4 (£4m increase in years 1 and 2, for clarification purposes). **** me

The new parachute payments have gone up from a total of £48m to £60m, a 25% increase (interestingly, some way short of the increase in the overall broadcasting rights value). If that increase is applied evenly across all 4 years of parachute payments, that means they'll receive an extra £2m next season, not the £4m they have supposedly budgeted for. Oops.

Sorry gents, but this game is now off. West Brom had to change their manager last week as the guy I'd been arranging this game with suddenly dropped it all (understandably) as his wife is undergoing chemotherapy. Having spoken to the bloke who's taken it over, it turns out he'd not made any arrangements with their players and, with West Brom apparently providing free coach travel to their fans for the game, many of them are taking advantage of that so won't be down here early enough. I believe they've sold out their allocation so any remaining players were unable to get a ticket for the game. As I said previously, I've pencilled in an away game at Watford on Saturday 8th June, so watch this space

For some, relegation will be great news as they'll have a load of new grounds to visit. I was bored so worked out that since their last season in the Premier League in 09/10, if a Pompey fan went to all of their games home and away, and did the same next season, he or she would have ticked off 83 of the 92 league grounds

Yep. Fair to assume they'll have a stronger team out at their place.

This one was even closer, can barely have been a foot from the line

That header set up Kerins for our injury-time consolation goal Probably the highest I've ever jumped, tbf

Just as an aside, I've pencilled in an away game at Watford for Saturday 8th June.

Colin Farmery mastering the History teacher look there... I didn't realise there were that many different shades of dull colours.

100 for Vince

I presume (we can only presume, given that the "transparent" trust has been anything but) the theory is that season ticket sales will provide the vast majority of working capital through the summer and into the early part of next season, and then the hope is that they get a good start to the season and momentum builds enough to get big crowds during the second half of the season to plug the gap. The vast majority (if not all) of the parachute payment due next season cannot be counted upon as they're largely spoken for with the football creditors that will be carried over to the new owners. Don't forget League Two operates (supposedly) strict salary control regulations, which restricts the wages/turnover ratio to a maximum of 55%, so it's not as if they can just dive in and recommence an overspending policy. That said, given the size of the other clubs in League Two, they're still going to be able to attract the best players for that level. I know McInnes is going to be the chairman, but have they said anything about appointing a CEO? They're going to need somebody with a bit of experience in the industry to deal with players, agents and other clubs, otherwise they risk getting taken for a ride by a lot of people because of their naivety and inexperience of the way the game works.

55% of turnover, I believe.

Just like their business plan. And the number of converted pledges. Oh.

I can.

Yes, apart from, well, most of the Bundesliga, and those small provincial clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid, but hey, why let facts get in the way? As an aside, Exeter City's supporters trust has - according to its website - over 2750 members.