stevegrant

If SLH does go into administration, the Echo reckon the Football League have told them the football club won't be docked points. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/4251026.Football_League_says_Saints_will_not_be_deducted_points/ Seems very odd...

Sky Sports News "unconfirmed reports"

If I was wrong with my assumption, fine, but I don't think I was wrong to make that assumption, given the pair of you have - as far as I'm aware - tended to get the vast majority of your information from the same source in recent times.

Unfortunately, I've heard similar. However, I'm intrigued that this is being leaked given that the person responsible could get in some seriously hot water with the stock exchange. Well there's a surprise. That was my initial thought as well, but it's a few hours early. It entirely depends on where we finish at the end of the season. If we, by some bizarre miracle, finished 11 points ahead of the relegation zone, the penalty would be carried over to the start of next season. That would also be the case if we ended up being relegated anyway. If we finish "safe" but 10 points (or 9 points if our goal difference is better than whoever finishes 22nd) or less clear of safety, the penalty would be enforced immediately.

Davies would be ideal as a ready-made replacement for Heskey, IMO. He's also rediscovered the ability to score a few goals as well.

Yes - he also convened the creditors' meeting at very short notice and was particularly obtrusive towards each of the many interested parties who wanted to carry out due dilligence on the company's accounts - hence while there were parties who were believed to be willing to offer much more than Bates was offering, they refused to register an offer without having conducted due dilligence, so Bates' offer was the only one on the table.

Upside-down screen in Windows always gets people panicking

I thought it was highly amusing that, having basically hinted that Chanderpaul doesn't field very much, KP ended up having to miss half of the West Indies innings yesterday due to injury. Karma in action

Yep, still two spaces at centre-back... entry instructions are on the first post in this thread

£30 a ticket at the BIC... seems a little bit over-priced to me.

Teams are as follows: HOME TEAM - Manager: dubai phil GK: The Banana Factor RB: silversaint (45) CB: DarrenLeTiss CB: disintegration87 (45) LB: SaintKenny RM: JustMike CM: prideofthesouth CM: hamster (45) LM: mattbrennan (45) ST: stevegrant ST: The9 (45) ---- RB: dannypope (45) CB: CM: saintsforlife7 (45) LM: Scudamore (45) ST: Nexstar (45) AWAY TEAM GK: bigdavewatson RB: Andy_Porter (45) CB: Saints Mad Si (45) CB: The Flying Finn (45) LB: Neilza RM: forever a red and white CM: INFLUENCED.COM CM: lee_saint (45) LM: Griffo ST: Baj ST: magnet (45) ---- RB: Um Bongo (45) CB: ooohTerryHurlock (45) CB: Bugenhagen (45) CM: MLT's Headed Goals (45) ST: Foxy (45)

There are still two 45-minute slots available (one at centre-back, the other at left midfield).

Yep.

Dominos do BOGOF on all medium and large pizzas as long as you collect them.

Right, e-mails have been sent.

Only 60,000 of Wilde's shares are owned by Merlion Equities. The rest are owned by him personally.

Nearly there now... Only two places remaining - one is goalkeeper (90 mins), the other is either central or left midfield for 45 mins (position optional as there are people I can move across the midfield if necessary).

Officially, I don't think clubs are allowed to talk to players whose contracts are expiring domestically, but can sign pre-contract agreements with players contracted to foreign clubs with up to 6 months remaining on their contracts.

I believe the TV deal for the Football League is worth a lot more from next season. I think I read somewhere that it works out that Championship clubs will get somewhere in the region of £2.5-3m per season, while Leagues One and Two will get a fraction of that.

People had no reason to doubt Michael Wilde when he made exactly the same statements. He even went as far as to put it in writing in his "manifesto". Fiction. Lowe, along with Lord Marland and Paul Thompson underwrote a rights issue to part-fund the SMS construction, which brought an extra £3m into the club. So one "fact" that's actually not true and a load of opinions. If Crouch has attracted investment on the condition Lowe is out (and hey, who am I to doubt that statement is accurate - it's never been said before in order to get people into power, after all ), what is he waiting for?

Yep, which is why nobody's actually bought them yet. For all Corp Ho's bluster on the various threads that have run on the Lounge in the last couple of years, nobody has actually put their money on the table because while Fratton Park remains their home with a capacity of around 20,000, there is no way a mildly competitive Premier League club can be sustained AND make a return on an investment - particularly a £90m one.

Their problem is that they will have to continue to sell/release their high earners, which will leave them with a squad that would probably just about compete for a play-off place in the Championship. If they avoid relegation this season - which is looking reasonably likely given their run-in and the respective run-ins of the teams around them - it'll only be fighting off the inevitable for a year.

I was under the impression the asking price for PFC was down to "nominal", i.e. £1, so long as whoever came in covered all (or a significant majority) of the debt.

I'll be sending out e-mails this evening detailing how/when money is to be paid. If those positions remain unfilled by tonight, they will remain open - I will figure out a way of ensuring all costs are covered in the meantime, which may involve slotting people who had asked to play 45 but said they didn't mind playing 90 if necessary into 90 minute slots, getting the full money from them and then refunding half if/when I manage to get someone to fill the 45-minute slot. So long as 11 positions are covered at £230 each (or 2x£115), the costs are covered. I haven't got my bit of paper where I'd managed to fit everyone into a team to hand at the moment (currently sat on a train to Waterloo), but if necessary I should be able to do a slight reshuffle to ensure there's 15 in each squad rather than 16 if necessary. Getting a second goalkeeper is kinda vital though, so if anyone knows anyone who would be willing to play in goal at a cost of £230, ask them to get in touch pretty urgently!

There's certainly "something" in place in League Two. It's "voluntary" insomuch that the clubs voted in favour of putting it in place on a season-by-season basis, so it could easily be voted against next season. The Football League would have no power whatsoever to impose a salary cap because of EU freedom of trade legislation - it only works if the clubs are willing to vote in favour of it. As you rightly say, they tried it in League One as well but it only lasted a season - the clubs vetoed it after one season. I believe it's 50% of turnover in League Two and it was 60% in League One. However, I have a feeling it only refers to basic salary and doesn't include any sort of appearance/goal/clean sheet bonuses or signing-on fees, so it's still very simple for clubs to circumvent it. Most clubs in League Two do appear to be much more stable at the moment - Bournemouth, Rotherham and Luton's problems were from previous years with punishments carried into this season - with the exception of Darlington, but they do have the massive white elephant that is their stadium to cover the running costs of. 25,000 capacity with an average of about 4,000 - George Reynolds' legacy still lives on long and strong in that town, sadly.