rallyboy

Mid-table Championship level is Fulham, Leeds, Brighton etc. That's quite a leap from League Two, even over a couple of years... It makes Cortese's Champions' League dream look like the target of a sane man.

pompey fans have done a great job! Nice wind-up! But don't announce that on the main board, there's people on there who despise Rickie and dislike half of our current team - god knows what they'd make of your fishy love-in! Anyway this current takeover hasn't completed yet - and it's a bit late to halt bitter, that ship sailed long ago! Try living on the frontline and hearing anti-Saints stuff and portsmyths everyday, then see if you can ignore the rivalry.

Without wanting to sound too much like a bitter jealous scummah, unless you are playing them at rowing or University Challenge, a win over Cambridge is no big deal! Just sad to see that the ref found the game too big, it was his cup final after all. (deluded myth no.646) But the sleepiest giant is awake and Fortress of Fat is ready to cook chips again! The old stadium was packed to the rafters, it was rocking - sort-of, only a fifth of the ground empty, which is no problem in League Two, it's a great gate, really. RB you old cynic, it's fantastic support. Unless of course you have spent the whole summer talking about full houses and the best support in world football, and then at the first opportunity, you fail miserably to back it up. Time for the spin factory to ease off the accelerator and get real. Go buy some fence and kid everyone that you have a training ground.

They seem to let anyone umpire at Wimbledon these days.

No. Despite an appeal by Bob Stokoe, 1973 was downgraded in CVA1 to 395. It was further downgraded in CVA2 to 4AD. Which either means that the Romans hadn't turned up yet, or that these four pages will be spread over five years. Luckily they are ringfenced, making them the pluckiest bestest most passionate virtual pages on the internet. Which makes me jealous.

It's difficult to judge what is happening in someone else's head and the default assumption of most people is that their viewpoint on others is the correct one. 'How can they be depressed, their life looks great from here'. Clark Carlisle did that great programme where he explained that as a footballer your entire life is defined by what happens on the pitch. Make a mistake and you are a failure, it isn't just a game, you are a failure as a human being, and he couldn't see beyond that failure and considered suicide. When someone gets to that state the rest of us can't understand it. He has a big car, a mansion, so he gave away a penalty, it's only a game.... And how could he do that to his kids? We don't know, and nor does he, because his mind is in a state far beyond anything we can comprehend on our spectrum of normality. Applying logic to someone at the end of their tether is pointless, they are operating at a different level. Gary Speed - what the f? Few outward signs, so many unanswered questions. What was happening in his head was obviously very different to what we could see in him. While the train or bus jumpers look selfish, when they reach that point, they don't have the mental clarity to even consider what happens afterwards. They don't mean to mess up our commute or upset the driver and emergency crew, they may just want the voices to stop, or their torture to end. I don't want to come across as Mr Caring, I'm as selfish as the next man and probably more insensitive when it comes to asking why the victim couldn't have just done this at home rather than blocking my motorway - and I think I'm joking when I say that...deep down. But in the cold light of day you have to think of the people they left behind. And in this latest case many people confuse success and wealth with happiness - even though people who are purely driven by money will never have enough. Make a million, you want ten, make a billion....see Ecclestone, he should be retired and doing what ever he wants, but he's driven by greed and wealth, and it won't make him happy. In fact he doesn't even look happy. Robin Williams had everything material around him, but I'm guessing that he had become someone who was just wanted as a prize dog that did tricks for people. Wheel out Robin, he'll make us laugh for a bit. Being poor isn't any fun but money doesn't equal happiness, and success is brief and fleeting. You don't want to be reliving the past all the time. The other slight problem with being stinking rich is you can change anything. A court charges you with fraud, you pay them off. You can go anywhere VIP. Someone annoys you in business, have them dealt with. Money can make you all powerful. But one day you will get old and ill, and your money will achieve nothing - you will age and you will die, and this lack of power must hurt even more if you have always been able to buy your way out of trouble. I watched a family member die and it really struck me at that time. You could be richer than Abramovich but all the money in the world won't save you. The most important thing in life by far is your health, physical and mental. People worry about debt, war, Shane Long, parking tickets, home defeats, the state of their lawn. If you have a roof over your head, and food, and your health - you are doing very nicely. *Dr RB is not a qualified health professional and most of his advice should be ignored.

What is the ownership situation of this new training ground? I realise that ownership is not an exact science down that way but it is being spun as theirs, I just wondered if that is true. Is it land owned by Roko, leased to the club long term, plus an agreement over sharing gym facilities? Or is it a proper training ground? If it is the former, the only thing the few will own is a fence.

Bizarre style... Or a pioneering new way? Lazy cut and paste sentences. Likely to annoy many. Odd layout. Criminal some might say. Killing journalism through machine gun delivery. Subs to blame?

It makes you wonder about Pochettino's judgement. He has taken a job where a 5th place finish is failure, Spurs have a divine right to Champions' League football, it is their destiny etc - so he has to take a fairly ordinary squad above Man Utd and Liverpool. Now he thinks he can buck the trend of the huge fees our players have raised and can buy Morgan at half-price. I look forward to seeing him fail, on all counts.

Rather worryingly some of the madder conspiracy theories have been proved correct - arms dealers, non-existent owners, money-laundering, fantasy accounts, mafia connections, prossie-bothering managers, underwater casino plans etc. Nutjobs just ask the questions that should have been asked by the few for the last ten years - plus the odd ones that don't need asking... So out of interest, why the unusual declaration of an 11-month accounting period? - and where did that speedy £50K suddenly appear from?...some fans who had mysteriously missed all the previous begging requests, or a greedy property developer claiming another little chunk of the pie?

Village People have gone a bit downmarket since their last hit. And I think it fair to assume that little John doesn't see a lot of action, so the chance to show him off for the enjoyment of like-minded men must be as good as it gets.

Indeed, that final 20% came from nowhere. And it arrived the very day before the first game. Remarkable. What a coincidence. Like a story of fantasy pluckiness to launch the new season. Can we see the accounts? Thought not.

Jose stands up and shows some spirit, Morgan puts on a dress and starts blubbing. What's French for sort yourself out you big girl.

I'm bored. Can someone find that link to Moneypenny going off the top board like a wardrobe in a swimsuit and emptying the pool - it gets funnier with every viewing.

While I would like to see more quality added before the end of the window, had the board turned down the crazy money offered for some of those players, that would have needed some explaining. Every player has his price, we have done very good business, now we need to strengthen. If that doesn't happen, then I'll be waving my little hankie with the rest of them.

Mero is right about attendances holding up, they've got the pricing right for an injection of capital in the summer, but I think the unusual release of figures for just 11 months trading raised a few eyebrows and hinted that perhaps the 12th month don't look too pretty. After pompey outbid better financed clubs last season and continues to beg, we are not convinced that the leopard has changed it's spots. The constant spin about how fantastic the failure to hit the training ground target is, just reinforces the feeling that the easily-led are once again being led.

Indeed he is a villain, a greedy mercenary, one of the blokes who demanded to be paid his wages - most of which he is still waiting for each month. And here he is now, bold as brass, strutting about like Mr Superstar, helping their fundraising efforts. What a ****.

Whether they hit the target or not I'm sure it will be yet another resounding success, blazing a trail for lesser clubs to follow.

Anyway, there was this skate in my road who was loving it when we were struggling, and he was all over it giving it large when they beat us at SMS. I played the bigger man and chatted to him about the game, then he started going on about how Cortese was selling the club back in 2010, and lots of other Portsea pub myths he had heard and was peddling as gospel truth. I've not seen him for ages as I thought he'd moved, but this afternoon, hey presto, I saw him creeping out of his house. He's only been hiding from me for four fricking years! They only chat when they're winning...

I agree, top marks for that, but I'll get back on message when I find another stick to beat them with.

I can see why the bookies would give short odds to a club that was harshly treated by the football authorities but has bounced back from financial problems through hard work, honest endeavour and good management...

Yeah that's all great but more importantly we don't get to vote on our match programme cover. I'm not going to another game until we introduce design democracy. I'll be in the car park brandishng my season ticket at an Echo photographer if you need me.

Personally I'd have gone for Floodland but great to see mentions on here of The Sisters, Carter, Billy, Scoobius, Joy Division - you don't all lack taste.

Yes it is a good number sold, but if it's the same as last year it's cheaper to buy a season ticket if you are likely to attend more than half the games - and that's why their walk-up numbers suffered. That said, it is a reminder to football about pricing - better to have a stadium more than half-full with less income. Not that it's a problem in Division Four but even Sky don't want empty stadiums as a backdrop for their great product, they want people to think they are watching the hottest ticket in town. Fans have said before that all clubs should sell as many season tickets as possible. They don't want to! A sensible business wants a decent cash injection as capital BUT significant numbers still paying premium rates for the whole season. Take our case, if we cut prices and sold 28,000 season tickets that worked out at £20 a game we'd have already sold to all those wavering people willing to pay up £38+ on a pretty regular basis. You need balance - unless you have a cashflow problem and you are desperate to get money in before August so you operate a cut-price sales policy and hope that the cashflow shortfall later in the season is covered by parachute payments that no longer exist, or property developers who will claim another chunk of the business. yours faithfully Jealous bitter scummah nutjob.

Voting for a cover design?? Really? How on earth can they get anything done if they want to involve anyone whose donated money?? I don't want Cancer Research or Oxfam ringing me every five minutes seeing what I think about their website or their latest leaflet. Just get on with the research and give kids some clean water! Fatpipes is turning into some mad hardline socialist republic where everyone has a voice and nothing gets done. If that's the way they want to go, just sack Awford now instead of in November, and give his job to the Dave Clark Five.