spyinthesky

Whilst hopeful that things will improve for the better (but feeling quite uncertain in this respect today) it was interesting to have a look at the squad listing on the official site. First of all no photos of Big Vic or Billy Sharp. Can understand the latter but surprised that there is no shot of Vic as he has been here a year!! Is he on a witness protection scheme perhaps!! Also only a few of the team are shown in updated team colours but I suppose this is the least of our worries. Anyway a list of the current squad for the minority who don't realise how thin our current squad is : 1.Goal keepers BORUC DAVIS (great servant but.....) (GAZZINIGA/CROPPER - both unlikely to feature unless desperate) 2.Right back CLYNE No specialist cover as yet (who will play there if Clyne gets injured?) 3.Left Back BERTRAND TARGETT 4. Midfield BIG VIC CORK JWP DAVIS TADIC RAMIREZ (question mark over his future) SCHNEIDERLIN (if he stays) 5. Central Defence FONTE YOSHIDA HOOIVELT (!!!!!!) STEPHENS (prospect but unproven at top level and played cameo midfield roles pre-season) 6. Attackers MAYUKA (!!) MCQUEEN (prospect but unproven) ISGROVE ( ditto ) 7. Central Strikers PELLE GALLAGHER (prospect but unproven) RODRIGUES (Not available until near Christmas and uncertain future beyond this) SHARP (Likely to be on his way) OSVALDO (definitely on his way)

1. Since I was last there when Branfoot was manager, BFC have turned their ground into a decent little stadium 2. Tickets in away end so able to have a decent pie and (expensive) pint in their Social club 3. Why were there so many empty seats in the Saints end when the allocation was apparently sold out!! 4. Vocal support was excellent, especially in the first half. 5. Thought the montage of photos around one part of the ground was very interesting. ( a la Chelsea/Arsenal) Would be good for us to consider although the loss of so many decent players would tug at too many heartstrings at the moment. 6. Thought our 1st half performance was decent but a long way from where we would hope to be. 7. Isgrove lively and liked the look of Sam Mcqueen. 8. Clyne and Jose looked solid. 9. Targett a year or so away from a 1st team regular spot. Good prospect though. 10. Two new lads should do Ok for us. 11. Gaston put in the typical curates egg performance - good in parts. 12. Corky looked off the pace. 13. Jos SO slow. 14. Jack Stephens is not a midfield player.

Is that a definite? Tried to buy a ticket over the phone and was given Option 2 but this cut off as soon as the call went through. Wonderful service!!! Any idea how many tickets were allocated?

I wonder if all the problems at Tesco's will affect the proposed Pompey development? To be fair it seems that the issues are more to do with a preponderance of large out of town sites but it does appear that shareholders are putting the Tesco Board under increasing pressure to concentrate on reducing prices to compete with the Aldis and Nettos rather than expanding the number of stores. Meanwhile, as a gesture of friendship, perhaps the £80 odd million we may expect to receive for our departing players should be offered up to our friends down the road to pay off their debts or build a brand new stadium worthy of 4th Division football

Can anyone remember the details of the so called 'Cancelled Fund Raising Event' that was supposed to happen when we went into admin? This is often mentioned by PFC fans as a lack of interest from us compared to their 'wonderful' support of the club in difficult times. As I recollect the idea was dreamed up (in the best intent) by a young lad who was looking for fans to turn up at the Central Hall, or somewhere similar, to start a campaign to save the club. Am I right to understand that the meeting was cancelled, not due to lack of interest, rather than because the Markus Liebherr interest came along and things turned round for the better very quickly

Spot on We will get off to our historical bad start in the top Division (last year was unusual) and then have to make up ground as new players/manager become bedded in

Apparently Poch was in the Chilworth Arms last weekend deep in conversation with AL and his advisers. Could be that Liverpool have got wind of this and want to put pressure on the player/club before Poch starts putting pressure on Adam to sign for Spurs

We all have our views on how to respond to returning players when they arrive back at St Marys with their new club Bearing in mind they were all treated well by the fans (as far as I am aware) and paid pretty well by the club, wouldn't it be nice if they donated a small portion of their signing on fee and/or increased wages to obtain tangible good will from those remaining fans who will be at St Marys next year. Donating half a dozen season tickets to deserving individuals, supporting a local Youth/Senior side, or something similar would strike a cord with all bar the most hard hearted fans. Can't see it happening but would be a nice change if something along these lines was considered

Think Steve Grant confirmed there were about 20,000 season ticket holders last year x say £550 average = £11m Say 60% renewed this year at an average of £572 = £6.8m That leaves a comparative cash flow difference of around £4.2m There will be new season ticket holders to factor in but can't see too many people beating a path to the Ticket office door unless there is better news on manager/players. Wonder if this quite large (guesstimate) reduction in cash flow revenue will affect transfer policy. Problem is our collective expectation level has been badly affected by recent events. I really don't like seeing empty seats!!

Just reading this and 'Stay' by the Hollies came on the radio. Perhaps a copy should be sent to all those players thinking of leaving Appropriate words!! (original was by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs)

No idea what the value of the deal is and I guess it is not as generous as some Prem club deals. However it appears that the company owners are keen Saints fans and it is rather disrespectful to them to indicate their involvement is 'crap'!!

Turmoil when Poch arrived turmoil now he is going......going.....gone!!!

Four of us have renewed and I will probably continue to do so through hell and high water. Too many years a fan/customer (whatever you like to call it) to give up now However that doesn't stop me occasionally wondering why I put so much time, effort and money going to watch over paid, and often over hyped, prima donnas running round kicking a bit of leather. Admission prices are too high and it would be good if the League or FA Cup games could be really cheap to attract the floating fan I find myself really enjoying the summer break but will be back in August hoping for the best but fearing the worst!!

Some Pompey fans getting all excited about the possibility of signing James Constable from Oxford. Plenty of platitudes. Prove goal scorer, experienced, take the team to the next level etc However all change when the news comes through that he has signed for Eastleigh!! Poor player. over the top, Pompey can do better etc etc etc

... on the ex Cortese club house in Chilworth. 'The Glade', Woodside Avenue, is on with Knight Frank at £2.1m, having been purchased by the club for £1.8m Another asset disposal?

Cortese and Rupes seem to share certain traits. I recollect that Rupes contacted the employer of a disgruntled fan who had the temerity to criticise him via a company email address. Rupes also employed a PR company and had his tame journos. However Cortese never publicised a 'Letter of Appreciation' from a grateful fan!!! as did Rupes

Steve Thanks. Is there any published information available re season ticket sales? Notice that Norwich reportedly sold 19,000 for 2014/15 in February. Brighton are also selling well but their prices, in the Championship, seem to be very reasonable and include interest free Direct debit plus subsidised travel (a la the early Rupert Lowe days here) I have a good deal of sympathy with Eelpies view of things. However not so sure about his comments about Cortese. I am sure he would have been hard nosed if he assumed he was in complete control of the club's affairs. However the situation seems to be different now and the previous (apparent) largesse seems to have been reigned in and presumably he was unwilling to operate under these disciplines

Presume they are likely to be slow due to all the uncertainty. Understand that approx. 22,000 were sold last season but can't see the figure hitting the same mark this year due to the current management/player uncertainty and also the cost which really must be hurting a lot of people. The four I go with have all renewed but primarily out of a sense of duty rather than expectation.

Fair point What I was trying to put over was that Celtic had put an expected value of around £6-£8m on Vic and Cardiff were able to match this. We then came along and offered up £10 - £12m (dependent on who you believe) However Celtic were amazed at our offer and joyfully accepted the additional Wonga.

Any one know what term contract he is on? 3 years? Notice he has been unused sub for Sochaux at the bottom of French league 1 recently and in one game, v Marseilles, he came on at 26 mins then was subbed at 57 mins. I know this has been done to death before but Mayuka £3m, Forren £3m, Osvaldo £12- £15m, Ramirez £10m plus Wanyama (arguably overpriced by £2m+ according to many pundits) you do wonder how good a side we would be if the transfer money had been spent as wisely as for the likes of Clyne, Davis, Cork, Lovren, Rodriguez and, of course, SRL

There always seems to be areas of empty seats even in 'sold out' games. This was evident at the Man Utd game both in the home and away end. Would be interested to know what the reason is. Perhaps problems with the Booking Office computer, ticket holders not turning up (but shouldn't that count in the attendance figure?), tickets allocated to staff (but presumably not in the away end ) etc etc. As mentioned we are 1,000 short of capacity for 'sold out' games and probably 400-500 lost to segregation, so there is a 'missing' 500

Dellboy Thanks I did a quick on a back of fag packet calculation from the programme whilst on a train The figures you quote are correct and it is nice to get over the 30,000 average. Still find it difficult to understand why our best crowd is almost 1,000 short of capacity

Thorpie As a long standing fan I am with you on this No disrespect to younger fans but the level of expectation has risen in recent years and can see why there would be dissatisfaction amongst more recent supporters if we fail to break through the glass ceiling I am happy to see entertaining football, win more than we lose and remain solvent at a time when football finances are very fragile

Total attendance 567,015 Average 29,843 Highest 31,372 v Man Utd Lowest 27,987 v Stoke 2012/13 30,873 Down 3.3% this season Record Average 31,717 2003/4 Record Crowd 32,363 2011/12 So based on the above information it appears we are unable to 'sell out' the ground to an attendance figure which is less than our average gate 10 years ago Presumably the segregation arrangements are the same. Is the difference in Hospitality?

From where I was sat thought the atmosphere was good, particularly in the first half and this was mentioned by some of the 'neutrals' sat around me