sidthesquid

I watch it every day - it gets funnier and funnier

It still amazes how many players they signed at the end of Sept, none of whom by the sound of it have they paid for. It must be pretty close to fraudulent to be getting goods (ie players) without the means to pay for them. How did they get away with it just when we thought Eugene Bopp would be their star signing and how come th PL let them carry on signing players with no means of paying for them. I think the PL are just praying that they can limp on to relegation without too many questions asked

Could you expand on what all that means for us simple people

I'm pretty certain that it is about not being paid for 3 consecutive months - ie, owed three months wages & therefore the contract between player and club is not being honoured. Everytime you accept your wages, albeit late, you are accepting the continuation of the terms of your contract.

It might just be the New Year's hangover, but I keep getting this nagging little fear that Paul Allen's yacht will be moored in Port Solent before the month is out......

That is just silly. He delayed administration for as long as possible because once it came all his shares became valueless & he was out of a job

One subtle difference between their plight and ours was that at least Lowe, Wilde & Crouch had some affection for the club & wanted the best outcome for the club as well as their investment, however badly they may have managed it. Pompey on the other hand have a dubious foreign ex-owner for whom the club has served its laundromatic purpose, an alleged owner who is potless & has never even visited the place, a minor shareholder who is a (potless) buffoon & a fantasist, an ex chief exec under investigation for fraud, a new man in charge of the cash with a long list of convictions and a major foreign creditor whose agenda appears to be anything but football. Just for a fleeting moment, as I re-read that, I almost felt sorry for them..........But I'm over it now

Another thing that amazes me is that the PL let them get away with a raft of signings at the end of Sept when they were clearly already in the financial carp & not repaying moneys due for earlier signings. If they get away with this the other relegation dogfighters who are living within their means (ie Burnley, Wigan, Wolves) would have a strong case against the PL for their failure to act. I think their deafening silence is down to the hope (& reasonable likelihood) that the Skates will get relegated anyway & be the FL's problem, not theirs. (And incidentally, they seem to take a far harder line on financial mismanagement than the PL ever have)

Sheer class, mate

Please don't let him back - one of the worst players ever to wear the shirt

I think not going into admin will be a longer, more drawn out & amusing outcome over the next few weeks. It is in none of the creditors' interests to see it happen - ie Chenrai, Gaydamak, the agents, Watford etc, but they are all going to squeeze & squeeze what they can get out of it now the writing is so clearly on the wall. Hopefully a monumental firesale to keep them at bay, then when every last fixture & fitting has been flogged off in the middle of April, admin finally happens, thus guaranteeing -10 for next year in CCC. However, winding up day is a day after my birthday so I could live with that I guess. (Though if I'm honest I don't want them to vanish, just for the natural order of things to be restored)

Antonio is worth a punt - big & strong with pace & a good throw, but more of an impact player than a starter. Trotman could be replaced by any one of dozens of lower league CBs. He's a good keen lad, but very limited Mellis going is neither here nor there - he clearly has talent, but as we saw so often last year, lower league footy is a man's game & he is but a boy

The reason he stays in the team is that he can cross a ball better than anyone in the team, with pace or deep and high. If he got it bang on every time he'd be the new Beckham, but how often does Antonio or the long list before him of Thompson, Dyer, Hammill, Fernandes going right back to the Wallaces beat their man only to blaze the cross into the stand or the keeper's gloves. He is a good player in this league

I seem to remember Beattie was the highest paid in the Prem on £16k & refused to pay him more which was why he got the hump & went to wreck his career in the strikers' graveyard. Also, as we have found with Saggy etc, it isn't that easy to move on someone who is on five times more than he is worth and anyone else would pay.

Oh, and keep the squid fiddling to yourself, please. Just thinking about it made me feel quite ill

More likely to have been caught in a dirty mac in the the sea-life centre if it was anything to do with our friends down the road

Is cod-prodder too rude for this site?

Didn't do much for our finances either, as I recall

I wanted the lad to succeed last season, but I'm not sorry to see him go. We will be above Donny by this time next year anyway. He goes with my blessing & I hope it works out for him, but I don't think we'll ever regret letting him go

Is it just co-incidence that two Israeli's lend money to a skint club who have just appointed an Israeli manager, seemingly at odds with at least one of the board (ie chairman)?

Was he ever!?

A bit of context for our display yesterday. How many times have we played against 10 men & fooked it up in recent years? Colchester worked hard, played 9 behind the ball and made it difficult to find any space. Usually we contrive to lose to their only shot on goal. Also, you can sense the apprehension in the crowd & it must get to the players. Since we beat Hull City 4-0, nearly two years ago (a real false dawn, if ever there was one) we have won 8 out of 38 home league games. There have been (approximately) 4 chairmen, 7 managers and 80 different players in that time - the only constant being us. Our nerves & our pessimism must get through to the players. You could see it yesterday, the longer the game went on - players failing to push on into space, needing an extra touch to shoot, playing the safe ball or shooting from 35 yards in desperation. We don't roar them on, we sit and panic & prepare for the worst & it gets through to the players. I don't know how we change it save a couple of flukey wins, but we must not start getting on the backs of the players. Personally, I thought booing at the end yesterday was out of order - it wasn't a dire performance, just mediocre, and it wasn't for a lack of effort, either.

Most stupid post of the week award won early this week. He did not have a great game but he has talent and he will be a good player. He reminds me of Rasiak, wandering around looking uninterested, but then suddenly wakes up and does something good

My thoughts on today: Same old same old - it is becoming so predictable. Can't hold a lead, let goals in in stoppage time, can't beat 10 men, can't win at home.... How many chairmen, managers and players have we been through yet nothing changes. Anyway, the players Davis - 7 - a day off, really Thomas - 8 - seemed to enjoy playing right-back Harding - 7 - a real mixed bag of good and bad Trotman - 7 - did okay, but one or two careless moments Perry - 7.5 excellent again Mellis - 6 - no real impact Hammond - 8 - worked his socks off James - 7 -neat and tidy in cm without making a real impact. At fb he at least got some crosses in (some excellent, some not so) which was more than our wingers managed Lallana - 7.5 - worked hard, but not sure playing wide is his best role (I wish someone knew what it was) Lambert - 7 - worked hard for little reward Paterson - 7 - Is he Rasiak's lovechild? Like his 'dad' at times looked careless and uninterested at others like the most likely to score subs Mills - 7.5 - kept them busy down the left with the best cross of the day Thompson - 5 - never looked like getting anywhere against their fb. He's not progressing at the moment Schneiderlin - 6.5 - okay, but his arrival hardly changed the game Pardew - couldn't really fault the line-up or the substitutions. Just needs to break the curse

Excellent footballing display tonight. Lallana was superb, James in midfield was a revelation, Lambert caused them problems all night and a nice balance to it all until that injury and (yet) another sloppy moment by Thomas let them into the game and we lost our heads. Worst referee I've seen down there for a long time