rallyboy

Don't underestimate the power of a packed park. Oxford looks pretty intimidated when they visited the fortress of fat - many of their players froze in the cauldron of noise and looked like rabbits caught in headlights. The famous blue army 12th man really makes a difference, and it was mainly that world-renowned passionate home support that helped them avoid relegation last season.

Same old hype - battling pompey give a good account of themselves against top opposition....err, it was Bournemouth, reserves, and the BBC said that the boys in blue barely created anything. The city is shrouded in spin. If we could be slightly critical of the board for a moment - the lack of transparency in general is one thing, but assuring a rabid fanbase that the wagebill is really low, is odd, and a bit dim. Of course they're going to bay for more players, they won't accept that ALL of that money is needed elsewhere. They've been brought up on a diet of insolvency and a culture of writing off debt, telling them that there's money about is like asking Avram to pick up a lady in a lorry park late at night, and expecting him to offer nothing more than a lift. He'd take her straight up the Junction 2 slip road, before dropping her safely home. I see no U-turns yet. New owners, same strategy.

The trickle of info on figures could suggest that it doesn't include the PPs, if it does they are already terminally insolvent. As for Whittingham looking to follow last year's plans, Clapham is indeed correct - bring it on! Warning - very long and complex sentence coming up..... Though one might ask - if you were already on the limit of your wages budget and you asked for more, and it was found from somewhere, if then the following week Aldershot, a potless basket case (no offence) take your youngsters on loan, presumably without reducing your own wagebill, why the feck would you look to extend beyond your already blown self-imposed wagecap once again by replacing them? This would give the impression that you have no respect for your own budgets, and are still overspending like a club hellbent on self-harm, and destruction. Though I'm sure that the PPs will cover it.

They built a new path for football to follow...and they came. In their thousands. Pouring into the fortress like a blue wave of optimism. Carrying with them the hopes of a city, and football itself. Hampshire was gridlocked from dawn as the swelling blue river of expectancy burst it's banks. And there he was. Washed ashore on this fresh tide of hope, the future of the club - a small rosy-cheeked urchin who had feared that this day would never come. But it had. Like a frail twig carried on the shoulders of a mighty blue river, our little cliche boy returned triumphant. He had stood in the same spot last season, teary of cheek, surveying the green turf that had faded through a bleak winter like the shattered hopes of a misled creditor. On that fateful previous visit he had turned to a man with furrowed brow and innocently asked 'please father, can we have our club back?' Well the innocent dream of that plucky child came to fruition. On Saturday. There it was, out there on the pitch in blue and white, as if Dagenham and Redbridge had come to town in last season's kit. And in this great moment of pride and glory, our small child defiantly held aloft an even smaller card. On its own it was just a bit of card. But when you put it together with other similarly plucky bits of card, it became an army of card - like a really big bit that had been cut up. And so it came to pass. From those small bits of card a message was sent to football worldwide. A shining beacon for others to follow. The biggest community club in the history of the universe had arrived, and our young friend was standing proudly shoulder-to-shoulder with people of a similar height, shoulder-to-waist with others. The trumpets sounded, the faithful roared, mobility scooters revved, and eleven brave blue warriors took their place in sporting history. Doubters had said they wouldn't be able to pay the debt, and that the financial projections were fantasy. People had sneered and said that the ground wasn't up to standard, even saying that they wouldn't be able to sellout and would have to pretend. These foolish few had even suggested that the squad didn't have much quality. Well those doubters look pretty silly now! At 3pm on Saturday the all-new and pluckier blue army took the first step back to the Premier League, watched with envy from all corners of the country. An acorn of hope had been planted, watered in by the hopeful tears of a nation, because pompey are every real football fans' second team. That small acorn took hold and within half an hour it had become a sapling. The first goal of the new era burst the net in front of the incredulous Oxford fans. Still high from their triumph in the boat race, the bicycle-riding students couldn't believe that their hopes had been dashed, though many were still reeling from just being in such exalted company. But yes. Their hopes of an upset were dashed. A towering cross was met by a blue head and the club had established a foothold on promotion! Boaters were thrown to the ground - the fortress rocked, three points secured. The club had indeed taken its first step towards basecamp - next stop the League One title, then onward to the summit of British football! Where a small child will no doubt emotionally plant a tear-riddled flag of hope. But enough of the future, today we should just celebrate the first win of the new era, pausing briefly to laugh in the face of the jealous doubters. Result pompey 1-0 Oxford att 33,990.

MLG, I love Claude - you have my personality sussed! Meanwhile, have they paid back any loans yet? Somewhere out there in a creditor's back office the fatpipes clock is ticking.

I like that, a new record for the fastest and most orderly mass evacuation of a League Two ground in history - 10,000 back out through the turnstiles before the 80th minute! Maybe that will bury the portsmyth about dirty scummahs leaving early while the fatpipes faithful cheer every last kick. In the past it was Thierry Henry, now it's Dave Kitson who left the field to mass applause with his team in total domination, and paused briefly to tell the locals that they are the greatest fans he has ever played in front of...sort of. But now the pressure builds, on Bournemouth! The game this coming week is now massive for them. The plucky blue minnows from League two will raise their game, after all, it is pompey's cup final, their only chance to have a pop at their local rivals. And that's why it isn't fair on Bournemouth because pompey will give it everything in their big game, let's just hope the ref is big enough to cope with such a massive fixture. I'm guessing it's a sell out? And if it isn't, just reduce the ground capacity until you hit the figure of tickets sold.

it's getting a bit embarrassing now, I thought this thread's golden era had passed - it's like people still insisting on giving you lavish Christmas presents in March. I 4-1 think that the few have just had a wake-up call. And there's me going to be seeing three of them tonight... I wonder whose fault it all is this time. Trust out!

that Stevenage reject that they are creaming themselves over and announcing his signing as if they have scooped half of Europe, sounds like a one-paced donkey who will be a goal threat in both boxes.

Rosie, horses, dogfood? - somethings afoot....or a hoof.

Ten new faces arrived during the summer, with many turning down better deals elsewhere. Whittingham said: ‘I think we’ve been very lucky as a club and management team. There are players with us who could have better financial rewards elsewhere. New summer but same old b0ll0cks! How many times have we heard this and then the accounts have eventually proved it to be all lies. Remember how signings weren't costing anything, living off squirrels in tents, and how pompey had the lowest wagebill in the division?! Lies. Why start a new era with the same templates for press releases? I see no transparency.

it's ridiculous to think that they will be out of money by the end of September. They have millions pledged, record-breaking sellout attendances, Parachute Payments to come, and a robust business plan put together by a top group of experienced executives. My guess is January.

Sell out! Trying to create more space? The ground is full, or it isn't, make up your mind. 18,200 is a great effort, but let's not pretend that they haven't in the past few days just reduced the capacity to the exact number sold, and are calling it a sell-out! If we are struggling to sell the last 1,000 at SMS just close off a block and we'll call it capacity. Or perhaps we don't bother spouting off in the media about little victories.

with all due respect to my learned friend, and not wishing to tread on the toes of the multitudes more pedantic than myself, I believe the takeover is only technically complete when the full terms of the takeover deal are met and all of those charges are safely removed. That day is about four years away. In the meantime, though casually labelled as a takeover thread on day one, the aforementioned beast broke it's humble shackles like a green-tinted Lou Ferrigno, and went crazily off-topic many moons back. It has evolved over several years and is now an unofficial news portal and discussion area for ALL things blue and few. But back to the original question, I suspect brink-of-playoffs obscurity, which will be sold to the easily-led as a fantastic season. I also expect to see overspending, mismanagement, a lack of transparency, delusion, and of course, blame being put elsewhere when something bad and blatantly predictable occurs.

so few shares, so many shareholders. The bulk of that investment was donation, and some still don't realise as they didn't read the small print. Their grand is being chucked into the pockets of journeyman footballers, even as the arena itself crumbles around them. Infrastructure, sustainability, transparency. The Holy Trinity on a seemingly godless island.

With the current amount of spin about corporate sales and sponsorship being way higher than when Chinny was in control, I presume this is just reducing the size of the ground to meet the tickets sold, thus allowing a claim of 90% soldout! If the remainder don't go, they can close the rest of the ground and technically call it a sellout. In their hour of need when they spectacularly failed to pack-the-park they should have just reduced the capacity. Jobs a goodun. In fact that idea of mine is 24% up on the same idea I had for the whole of last season, and way above what I projected it would be - fantastic news! Let's spend some money on the back of that obvious success. The fat still flows, lubricating the wheels of spin.

let's not forget, just like West Ham, the scummahs don't own their own stadium, they're £100M in debt because of free tickets to terrorists and hefty fines after the dock strike, they didn't pay their CVA at all, and they all leave at half time - booing their own players, while strangling orphaned kittens in the car park.

it appears from the statement that the only concern with paying higher wages was the percentage against turnover, not their own broken budget promises to the people who donated £1000. If their wages are now approx a third of their projected income for the year, (I think they might be sensibly ignoring the PP for these stats) I can see some gaping holes in the future cashflow. Guesstimate time! Wages - £1.5m? Means a total Income of about £4.5M, which kind of makes sense. (ST £2M, gates £1.5M, sponsorship/TV £1M) Then we have Robinson + council wanting £3M? - pretty sure both want that back fairly sharpish. They might decide to shaft the council - what can they do? Nasty council picking on the biggest pluckiest fan-owned club in sporting history! Robinson is different, they must pay him back, or he'll chuck them out on the street like his role model Chinny did. Add in all travel/hotels/club houses/agent fees (deliberately moved out of wages budget to fool league) and I guesstimate that they will need to average 14,000 to break even. And of course a percentage of CVA must be due this year. There are still fans that think selling season tickets cheap and giving away games means that they make more money longterm. No, let's try it again, that income is big because it is here now, whereas that other income is now smaller AND far away... Meanwhile those other greedy businesses in the city are still raking in £13M from every home game. Could be a harsh winter for cashflow, just around the corner.

team higher in the league pyramid can't afford to retain player, yet potless club crippled by debt signs him.... It has a familiar ring to it! Perhaps we should be advised that he is one of the lowest paid players in the league, and that he isn't costing anyone a penny, and that his wages are covered by parachute payments - that has been the justification for the last three summers. Whatever has happened, they have done very well to rip up their own wages budget before getting into August, and being able to pay more than League One clubs are willing to.

if they are so cash rich, debt-free, and massively ahead of projections after reaping bumper corporate sales and sponsorship deals, why are they doing bucket collections? That's usually the exclusive preserve of clubs flirting with insolvency. I think we must be mistaken, all new fresh pompey is fan-owned and financially-sound. I'm sure they're not begging in the streets like a two-bit crack whore. Unless of course they are quietly struggling to raise the percentage required to wrestle control away from their latest property-developing partner.... No, I'm sure everything is fine. The local media would have mentioned that if it were true, it would have shown in the accounts. And the few valued the whole club at about £3M, but now value ONE of the players at £5M? What an odd island that is for maths.

good to see the myth factory is still open for business and that there are still easily-led simpletons lapping it all up. It's been typed so it must be a fact. Just slightly worrying to see a few pompey fans questioning the wisdom of overspending, and discouraging the signing of Rocha, the poor man's Ben Haim. It's been a long haul and there's still a long way to go but one-by-one, their fanbase is getting it. Please, please, please sign Rocha - he looks expensive, unfit, tactically-naive, and a liability.

Win-win spin. Big turnout = pompey still a footballing powerhouse that everyone wants to see. Poor turnout = Bournemouth fans aren't as passionate or plucky as the few. Let's be realistic though, two minnows going head to head in a dreary friendly ain't the sporting event of the summer. But it did allow The Cat to complete his diploma in Advanced Nutjobbery by following the non-game live, via online updates - an action well above and beyond the call of duty. Good work, great dedication to the cause, even Lord T the official custodian of the thread bonfire will be impressed with that. And that is what this thread is all about, teamwork - people putting themselves out, so you don't have to. That 24/7 hard graft has elevated the PTS thread to the status of the world's leading international news portal for all things blue few. It might be ploughing through fifty pages of court papers to find the one sentence that proves a point, it might be Googling organised crime to run a fit and proper person check, it might be trawling through Twitter looking for rash claims by deluded inbreds, or it might be as simple as loitering outside a Portsea DIY shop in the hope that you capture a shot of a mobility scooter across the road. Nutjobs everywhere, take a bow.

it's great news for the couple, well done. Do I want to hear about it 24-7? Not really. Do I want to watch vacant untalented people who have no information, discussing nothing, and desperately filling hours of white noise television? No. Have I reached a worrying point where Russell Brand starts to make sense? Yes.... The butch and camp and annoying unfunny 'comedian' was ranting about how the public is being fobbed off with sugary news in simple form to distract them from the real stuff that is happening in this world. The media gives people what they or their paymasters want to give them. Meanwhile celebrities abuse kids unchallenged, and all kinds of other horrors go unreported for decades. The beardy freak is right on this one. calm down RB, you're funny on the PTS but this is all a bit ranty, your eyes are bulging, we're scared... In the last few days there has been news of a rape victim jailed for sex outside of marriage, the church has continued to allow wholsale child-abuse, and bankers illegally made millions out of other people's misery. But those stories are not the sort of things we should be concentrating on, they were shuffled to the back of the pack - will it be George, maybe Charles? Tweet us with your idea for a name and we might read it out back to you, for no reason at all - other than it being cheaper than employing real journalists. So forget war and famine, rape camps and corruption, settle down for another cheery day of joyous royal baby celebration, with just enough false hype to bury bad news under. It's what we need to keep us happy. Cliched shallow tabloids and reality TV - that'll keep us all in line. RB you old cynic... Cynic? 'disbelief in the sincerity or goodness of human motives and actions' Yep, guilty. Though I should be more worried about having conversations with myself, not that I really exist beyond this forum...

I can only assume that the game was too big for the ref, and that lowly little Charlton gave it everything in their big cup final. No panic, that squad will be ripping up League Two before you can say what chance have the football creditors of being paid out of the next batch of parachute payments as agreed?

we dream of emulating Barcelona, while they are actually living their dream of being Dagenham. I'm jealous again.

Mero old boy, the problem is that the Trust has failed to live up to the new transparent era that was promised, no one expects sensitive info to be released but the club has been partly saved by people donating their £1000, and those people could expect to be given a few more basic facts. It has been made very clear that sustainability is the key, you may have noticed that the club nearly went to the wall through overspending, twice recently. McInnes set a budget in stone, the bloke from Bury assured everyone that he would not break that budget, it all sounded very sensible for a week or two. Now they are talking about overspending, and we haven't got into August - Guy is turning into Cotterill/Appleton, let's hope he can continue to replicate their heroic records. So what became of the sensible spending approach? Despite the plucky 10K, there must be little spare cash, and loans need paying back in the next few weeks. That money in the bank should NOT be burning a hole in the pocket, it is very much needed, quite soon. but Rallyboy you nutjob, we have 10,000 season ticket holders and Parachute Payments to come... Indeed, discounted season tickets that will hit the gate receipts long term, and the PPs are more spoken for than a young Elizabeth Taylor. but the league are watching our every move, they won't allow us to trade insolvently... Yeah, good luck under their watchful eye, they have allowed two entirely predictable administrations to occur so far. I see a pattern emerging...