rallyboy

you are right DM, everything is fantastic - getting relegated was the best move they ever made, the future really is bright in the 4th tier. In fact, if someone now offered them a higher place in the league structure they would say no, it's tremendous to be in League Two with fewer than 10k season ticket holders, and less TV income than the estate of Jimmy Savile. They've signed some waifs and strays, they've done a deal to have the bins emptied, the park is rocking, and the whole town is buzzing with expectancy. So they're in an amazingly strong position, it's a golden era for the blue army - and that might become true if you say it enough times.

They've buried/delayed the debts and chased the criminals out of the club. This is the brave new world, the dream scanario where every penny goes to the club, the stayaway blue army returns to the fortress, and the community stands proudly alongside the Trust. So why only 5,000 sales at this stage? With the discounts and the feelgood factor I honestly expected them to hit twice that fairly sharpish. Obviously that figure will increase - but if sales start to slow anytime soon they could be straight into cashflow problems before the season even starts.

yeah it was so difficult to predict - tiny income + huge wages, who could have seen that coming... I feel for the fans, they are as much victims as everyone else with their days out at Wembley that have never been paid for. Oh well, I hear the FA Vase is quite a day out, so the few may still be able to relive those heady days of turning a blind eye to theft and money-laundering.

massive. Just need a couple of extra phrases in there and I'd say it was someone from here taking the mick. But I fear it's from someone who actually believes all that drivel. Let's just hope that the refs are brave enough and big enough to handle League Two games at the semi-packed fortress of tumbleweed - and that they don't get more of those emails telling them not to give pompey throw-ins.

2nd most famous phrase in mountaineering, normally shouted rather than spoken - as we left the B and B three days ago I said to you, whatever you do, don't forget the effing flag...

Perhaps in Finland they are finished Suomi, but where I live they are still gobbing off every day. Give my regards to Ari Vatanen. I realise that with the recycling old waste deal they are now doing their own punchlines, but does The News really have to join in? Following months of blatant PR for The Trust and very selective reporting of major events concerning technical aspects of the takeover, we have this little gem - There are the PR gatekeepers, operating largely in the upper echelons of football, who often take it upon themselves to restrict the flow of information to fans. A neutral might observe that gatekeepers are operating in the very lower reaches too, where the flow of information has definitely been filtered to please the easily-led. Let's not forget the great scoops that carefully examined all opponents of the Trust, but none of it's board... As well as the above statement which is blatantly part of a forthcoming 'we don't want to be part of BIG football, we're much happier in League Two, you must be jealous' campaign, if the Trust's media poodle continues to peddle PR, the few will only be told what they want to hear. Which is good, as the dim and easily-fooled shouldn't be confused by the full picture, and certainly shouldn't be encouraged to make up their own minds, nor allowed to question anything. Keep calm and follow instructions from the gatekeeper, he has all the info you need, and will advise you what to think.

or go one step further and agree to pay £135M and not pay a penny. But spend the rest of your life boasting about how great you are and how much you enjoyed it.

had an interesting chat with a Celtic fan the other day. When I mentioned Rangers he said 'they don't exist anymore!' His attitude is that there is some new club calling itself Rangers, but they have been going one year, and had never won a trophy before last season. Some people might say that is harsh but I think there's a few people on here who would agree. Any business that wants to drop historical debt does exactly that - drops the debt and the history. I look forward to a fundraising friendly between Rangers 2013 and pompey 2013 - a chance for the little Glasgow minnow to find out why fortress fatpipes is the envy of world football with real vocal support and an atmosphere the Scots can only dream of. And pompey can dream of perhaps one day matching Rangers by putting a 4th tier championship trophy in their empty cabinet.

if anything I'd say Aldershot are trailblazing rather than following - and at least one season ahead of pompey's business plan.

you won't see the new kit in the shops as they will have already sold out due to them having the biggest fanbase in world football - as well as the biggest fan-owned team in the history of sport, much to the envy of all other fans that have ever lived, and those who are yet to be born.

Ertl promises to sign and explains how he and Guy have in fact already achieved their goal - It was easy for me. I want to be part of a successful Pompey team and bring stability to the club. Hopefully we can put the club back where it belongs together. Job done Jonny boy, you did that through your perfomances last season! Well done.

And in cultural news, the one billion pound Harbourdome project finally has a rival in the Fantasy Island Planning Awards. Some visionary businessman has come up with a plan for the crumbling South Parade Pier - and I think he has The Lampitt Storrie Consultancy working on the figures! It seems that the plan is to push the crumbling wreck over before it falls into the sea, ignore any listed buildings status, and replace it with an international arts and culture centre to rival Tate Modern and MOMA. Simple as that. Project costs have been done using portsmaths and pinned down to a worryingly unrealistic and vague £20M-£30M. But it's okay, it will be funded by private investors while the Guggenheim Foundation will be invited to chuck a few million in, AND to fill the new landmark with their art collection. So much easier than the museum doing their own thing, just give their money and art to someone else... Presumably there will be provision for a casino in the basement, then they just need the council, Maradona, and Tesco involved, and it's a goer! And if it doesn't work, the taxpayer can always pick up the tab. What's more likely to happen in portsmouth - Guggenheim Southsea opening, or the CVA creditors getting paid? My money is on 0 out of 2.

He's a really good signing at that level.....but he's always one tackle away from six months out. So with a small squad he's a risk, but I'm sure they know what they are doing. Connolly does stand out from most of their players - I have yet to hear him announce that the few are the bestest fans ever. Maybe he's too sharp to be dropped into the lazy media interview template - Only one club I wanted to come to, best fans, massive club, sleeping giant, offered more money but turned it down to come here, great history, ground is s fortress, other club's cup finals, envy of all others, ripping up the division, etc. And however much they love him when he scores goals, more than other players he will always be balancing on that thin fence between hero...and villain. Cos he's a fecking scummah!

I'm sure Garcia didn't deliberately make a slave trade reference just to try and annoy an opponent. It's not like he comes from a country with a horrific recent history of racism where fans shout monkey chants at England players, or motorsport fans black-up at F1. I expect the chicken stuff was merely banter - the same as when fans hiss at Spurs games, it's only a funny little noise. People need to be less sensitive.

I'm sure the FL didn't advance them anything, and they won't know what the Prem did, but everyone agreed at the time, including the likes of AA and storrie, that they had been advanced money to get them to that summer. So I think that was just the FL being 'clever' with words. Meanwhile the financial gap between the divisions is ridiculous, if you are on the wrong side of it. If we can stay up again, we will be looking at something like £75M in tv revenue. What is it in League Two, about £1M? Common sense would suggest that it will be impossible for a club to climb right through the divisions again without MAJOR external funding. Never mind.

well I 4-1 applaud that! It has taken effing years and we've had numerous managers lying about the costs, local sponsors shafted, fans misled, BUT it seems that the penny has finally dropped. This could be the new austerity era, the one that should have started years ago. Funny how expenditure is reduced when it's your own money. Well done pompey, this looks like the first attempt at solvent trading in a decade. Another step towards distancing themselves from the crimes of the past. but not the cup

It all kicked off at Portsmouth mayormaking... Trust-supporting councillors decided that in the new era of community and 'all moving forward together' they would hold an impromptu public inquest and hanging on the vote on council funding going into the black hole that is fortress fatpipes. In front of foreign visitors and assembled guests, the council chief named those that opposed the rushing through of cash and demanded apologies, but this rather vulgar action resulted in most councillors walking out of the ceremony. The main target, whose crimes were wanting to know why the funding was rushed through and demanding assurances on the original loan terms, seems to have been on the wrong end of vilification for being a dirty scummah who wanted them liquidated. All part of the new era where everyone stands together and those that opposed the Trust are welcomed aboard as part of the bestest community club the world will ever see.

and fatty broadband.

No big transfers pending but with decent crowds for League Two and the opportunity to borrow the PP money they can push the boat out a bit on wages. Not that they would, with creditors still waiting. After all they are sticklers for clearing debt before going on mad spending sprees. I'm still not convinced that the eagle eye of the Football League overseeing their every move will be any more effective than it was last time, so I fully expect to see a promotion push fuelled by the odd unusual signing. But I'm more interested in our game today that is worth a few quid and a lot of pride - but compared with the last two years, it has absolutely zero riding on it, which suits me fine. But it must be a bitter blow for all those fans of Redknapp, and the many people to the east who assured us we would be finishing with the lowest points total ever, and even this week informed everyone that we were a club in crisis and massive debt, with no one at the helm, and no future. Mind the gap.

just when you start to feel sorry for them they start churning out myths again. Yes we are in it up to our eyeballs, the Nazi gold is nearly all gone - spent on shady loans and dodgy heroin that we use to turn kittens into addicts - we are doomed, it's over, we are very jealous indeed. Come on Lord T, as the keeper of the PTS thread flame it's your role to chuck on another jerry can of 4 star, not some dentally-challenged, sister-bothering, bouncy castle executive with a shoe size higher than his IQ. All that and Wickham Fair around the corner, it's a busy time for myth-spreaders. Silly season here we come.

As Lord T says, it is so predictable. True-blue England keeper in waiting becomes greedy useless journeyman at the drop of a fatty tap. The bloke has presumably been offered way more money, two divisions higher, doesn't have to train out of his car boot, and the funniest bit of all is that he regards Blackburn's chicken-bothering owners as businessmen with more realistic plans for the future! But plucky pompey shedding that bit of deadwood leaves the way open for David James to return and show them what a formerly dodgy keeper looks like when he is approaching fifty. Bring back the heroes! Kanu, Campbell, Ben Haim, Rocha - they all earned a fortune*, now they can give something back! Those guys will revel in the silky-skilled, one-touch-world of League Two on a freezing December evening when the pitch is modelled on a cow field - it must be the way forward for the biggest club outside of London. *might earn a fraction of their fortune, should the PFA ever manage to drag it away from the Trust.

spin alert... Tom’s contract was up and with him being 26, he felt it was time to move on. Well Guy me old matey, he probably 'chose to move on' because his contract wasn't renewed. It would have been undignified to stay on until the police were called.

pompey will sell a few season tickets as many people now believe that they own a share of this company - a club that has no debt, has shrugged off Portpin, and is the biggest outside of the Prem. That's the version that is being sold to them by the media partners to boost interest, and it's worked. As in previous summers, once the season ticket money is banked, the truth can slowly emerge - as long as they can keep a lid on the little clues, like being less attractive to players than Fleetwood. The few also claim that pompey will be ripping up League Two. Perhaps we'll just wait and see how excited they are come October.

when I saw the thread title I expected some unsavoury tabloid story.

don't worry about Mack, he's normally off his face on Nesquik and floor polish by the time Deal or No Deal finishes. Yes their new man is making all the correct noises about budgets, it's just that we've heard similar pledges in the past from the likes of Lampitt who preached about watching the pennies and paying down debt, while running around a Ferrari dealership shouting 'I want, I want' and throwing rolls of cash into the air that were so thick they could choke a Horton Heath personal fitness trainer. If there's a way to creep around the new restrictions, they'll find it. So I'll wait to see how their transfer policy actually develops before buying into the new lean mean business hype.