rallyboy

I'm not one for conspiracy theories so I'll just assume that the ref had the worst game in his career. But with the swings and roundabouts lottery of refs and linesmen, pompey can never complain about a decision EVER again in their history. In any of their remaining three games. So Baker Tilley have surfaced - Mr Carton-Kelly told creditors in the letter: ‘My investigations into the affairs of the company, prior to the original administration in February 2010, are still on-going, which may result in actions being taken against various parties, which if successful may result in funds available for creditors.’ 1. That's a long investigation.... 2. There should be action taken. 3. There will be no more money. 4. Sounds like financial irregularities to me!

hey Mack me old mucker - I'd rather look over my shoulder and see Fat Sam loitering in the shadows than see Chanrai dressed in a hood, holding a sickle, and firing up a bulldozer... We'll be alright, don't you worry about us, we'll either feck it up, or we'll go up. Either way the sun will come up again tomorrow and we'll live to fight another day having enjoyed the best two seasons in living memory.......

I think I'm with the Crabman on this, normally very positive and up until about 5pm today quite comfortable - things feel a bit different now.... I'm suddenly become aware that the whole season has the opportunity to unravel, I'm not saying it has nor will, I ain't no bedwetting wrist-slitter, but there is now a little door open and I really could do without West Ham kicking it off it's hinges. Anyone who suffered the Everton, Mboro or Aston Villa days will know how badly things can go wrong so I won't be comfortable until the job is completely finished. After rebuilding as a strong unit we have of late displayed some worrying late fragility - I now only relax at a three goal lead. The most heartbreaking would be dropping out of the top two in the last ten minutes of the season but we all know that happens. If West Ham go two down against Bristol City I won't be celebrating, I wait for around the 98minute mark these days, that's when the points are dished out, not before. So the heart is worried, you won't catch me joining in debates about what napkins we should use at our promotion dinner or the best footwear for pitch invasions just yet. But the head says no I don't want to swap places with West Ham ta, we are nicely placed. We played well enough last night to bury most teams, and we have the points on the board, there is no reason we can't do a professional job up there to pile the pressure back on West Ham. Thankfully the dressing room will be far more positive than the fanbase - the players are desperate to win, Nige will have them fired up - while we just worry too much about what we've witnessed in the past. As for the Norris goal - you can spin what you want but if we miss out I'd be more concerned about not beating 10 man West Ham, or a deflected Ipswich equaliser, or a keeping blunder against Blackpool etc etc etc - and that's just of the top of my head, perhaps even Billy Sharp has already scored the goal that keeps us down? As for Norris, it'll be another Portsea myth to add to the book of pompey fables, written by inbreds, lapped up by simpletons. They have easy games to come so it will be close, but Bristol City will scape enough together. Hold your nerve, you don't win promotions without these moments - and if you did, it wouldn't be fun!

Patience is required. Its pounds they need more than points - and Bristol City are creeping towards safety. They'll hitch up those caravans and move on in their own time, you can never rush an eviction. Though personally I'm more concerned these days about our own situation and West Ham's goal difference than what the pikeys are up to.

sorry Frank, missed that one in all the excitement! Though you should be worried that your mind even works like that..... Anyway, UnAppy makes a very good point when he says that going down could be a good thing, it gives you the chance to go back up.... Though perhaps staying up, and going up from there, might be a better plan? Reminds me of when people get sacked and explain later how it was the best move THEY ever made. Fight against relegation and then say it's a blessing when it happens, put on a brave face to the world and pretend it doesn't hurt. We can pull the same stunt if we blow our current opportunity - didn't want to go up anyway, tisn't proper football, we'd only lose too much etc.

having just seen a horrific home video shot by Avram Grant in the fratton end toilets, could I just point out that it ain't fat coming out of those pretty little taps.... Enjoy your tea.

I wouldn't wish injury on any players, but I'll make an exception for Ricardo Rocha. It seems the greasy one-paced pensioner who has the first touch of a clumsy sex offender is struggling with a calf injury and might miss the Doncaster game. Never mind. His career is over anyway, and he should have been suspended for collecting three red cards in a day - karma is a great thing. And as for Millwall, they can stop all that singing. No one likes us!... Yes they do, we fricking love you! Ditto Doncaster, thanks for the painting, good luck at the weekend, Billy sends his regards.

so Birch is charging £90K a week and he still makes mistakes. Doesn't it say in there that they've paid out £32K in direct costs on loan players? No Trev, that can't be true, have I read that wrong? We all know that they are all FREE, riding bicycles to games, living in tents, and feasting on delicious plump squirrels that UnAppy catches in the woods....that's why they were allowed them, because they didn't cost pompey a penny (not the tubby one who needs votes). The ever-dwindling parachute payments are being gobbled up at £450K a month by the current squad, and the players contracts will cost £14M to complete. Outbidding everyone for Norris was money well spent - it was a great goal, but it wasn't worth THAT much! They had the decision in January - offload players to save the business or try to win at St Marys. Whoops! And the money raised by loaning out isn't that great - total income for four players is £690K - that was fireloan prices after the January debacle. I see Chanrai's interest is kicking in and he's up to £18.6M, but what about the Milland Developments query - the payment to pompey of £4.9M doesn't seem to be in the books? Interesting reading, lots of football clubs owed money, loads of creditors shafted for a 2nd time, Birchy paints a VERY bleak picture and admits there is no sign of a buyer, he also gives the impression that he is deseprately trying to usher the insolvent business through the fixture list a game at a time, just to hold onto the golden share. Oh well, at least they won last night.

what a feck up! Appleton you idiot! You have one game away from home at the league leaders, and a home game against a relegation rival. Tell you what, let's give everything to get a result away, absolutely everything, to muster a solitary point that doesn't make a jot of difference, and as a result, surrender a comfortable home win that could have saved the season. It's a squad game, and it's a long season! - UnAppy, you dropped a massive clanger you legend! I'm sure it was worth it! Bybye Rocha you dirty League One loser! Have you met your new rivals?.... pompey, meet Crawley - Crawley, this is pompey, enjoy the next few decades together. After much research, I think we may have finally established exactly who is laughing now, and it ain't the window-licking special bus travellers.

I've given up trying to explain stuff to hardcore Skates, they just won't accept reality, and now that some have come out of hiding again, they're re-writing history as it happens! Clarifying football facts to the deluded is like wasting time explaining the concept of a 2nd phase of offside to a dolphin. It's like the first two months of Avram Grant's season - pointless. That full-blooded derby where we were the better side but conceded two wonder goals - the one where we were on the wrong end of some lenient refereeing AND were kept out by an inspired keeper, has turned into some class war where the courageous common man took on the whole of a poisonous city and battled to a glorious victory. It couldn't be a more sickly cliched panto script had Spielberg joined forces with fricking Disney. Their brave players stood up against the nasty men in red and white, the evil Lallana was strangling kittens and Baron Lambert ate baby's heads at half time. The near sell-out following ran a gauntlet of hate, toothless pensioners abused them, a dog walker looked at them threateningly, people threw beer at women, poor Rocha was picked on by nasty fans for no reason. It was a far cry from the nice welcome they gave Saints, the coins that rained down from the south stand were just offers of help with the bus fares. Thankfully plucky pompey, the club with the great history and fantastic support, overcame the evil Saints with their dock strike that no one can quite pin down. They defeated the spawn of the 3rd Reich on their own patch, they came away with a fantastic, er......point. Bravo for the plucky bestest! Yawn. And let's gloss over the fact that they started the day 5pts from safety, and the big party was for finishing the day 6pts from safety. Funny how none of our players lost it in the big match atmosphere down their place.... I recall the likes of Fox at fratton, just waiting for the ball from the crowd, with children who owned way too many digits spitting hate at him - no reaction. Unlike Rocha and half of their team that lost their heads playing in front of a massive crowd, no banks of empty seats anywhere - a properly-packed park - the last time that most of the guys will play in front of a big crowd I guess. I'll be glad when they feck off to some other division and we can ignore them for another forty years, I've tried debating with them but there are only a couple worth speaking to. It shouldn't be long before they go, but mark my words - they will win a few now, and the others will need to gather some points. But I'm more than happy to look a tit if they want to lose tonight.

lets not forget they also nicked a point at high-flying champions-elect Southampton, though I think they used up all of their luck and refereeing favours for the next five years. I was also reading in The News how the plucky bestest fans had the last laugh after running the gauntlet of hate from toothless Southampton pensioners and dog walkers. In the paper's defence I guess you have to give your public what they want to read, well, you have to give it to those that have mastered that particular life skill. But their run-in does look very winnable if they can be bothered, so let's not count those chickens yet..... And that's putting the whole forthcoming liquidation issue on the back burner for a mo.

looking at the remaining fixtures, pompey could win every game - but Bristol City have a couple of cushy games too. I think it'll be quite tight at the end, so those two points they dropped on Saturday could be the two points that cost them dear.

do we want to reveal our worst nightmares? Yes the thought of a playoff game at Brighton with their own ref is one I've feared for a while. The heart fears dropped points today and a home defeat by Reading on a nightmare Friday the 13th leaving us in 3rd on the final day. But the head says we have been there all season, we fought under pressure last season at the climax, it's never easy to get promoted and I wouldn't swap places with West Ham. They have some tough games to come. WIN today and the world looks a much nicer place. And let's also look at the facts, we are good enough to negotiate the lottery of the play-offs if we get our act together. Trust in Nige. But if I'm not actually there I can't listen to games on the radio.

just seen the Football League Show and the whole lot was worse than I thought. Varney did Morgan a treat - a proper professional attempted leg break. Most people would have hurdled that challenge as the ball was already lost, but he intentionally went in with both feet together. Then Rocha put his elbow into Lallana, before deserving a straight red by trying to incite a riot. Then he raises an arm at an opponent to commit a 3rd red card offence. By the time he has repeated Sharp's booking offence, he was up to about his 4th potential red card of the afternoon. If it wasn't for the fact that he has the first touch of Fred West and is possibly the worst fullback in European history, I'd have wanted him off the pitch - he's more dangerous in his own box than he is in the opponents' one. In defence of his kick into the crowd, he did it again at the Itchen but I think that one was meant to be a pass. I thought at the time the officials had a shocker but they were outrageously inept. And nice to see some sensible pompey fans on here - 2 out of 3,000 is a better ratio than I thought.

I'm sure this thread will run its course and when there is a takeover completed, or liquidation, the subject is done. Sour Ho asked for it to be closed in January when he said there was nothing more to say and he didn't find it funny - I would politely suggest he was rather premature, and the subject is funny! There have been some fantastic contributions from loads of people, and even when the football might be disappointing you can leave the insanity of the main board and come here to laugh at the freaks. So when the thread does go it'll free up some leisure time, though someone needs to start an All Things Pompey thread to replace it. But not yet, with the club seeking an urgent takeover, the subject still has legs aplenty.

can't be bothered with the main board, all the nutjobs are out, makes this thread look normal. What an odd day, like 29,000 others I felt robbed at the final whistle, but on reflection, if you get done by two wonder strikes it seems less painful. Ashdown made two great saves and the ref was truly shocking. He missed so many things and got other stuff wrong, not that it cost us the game, but I've never seen an entire stand leap up as one when he got yet another decision wrong in front of the dug-out near the end. Woeful. Putting our issues aside, and we had a few, I thought they were in the main clueless. They have red card potential all over the pitch, Rocha can trap the ball further than many players can kick it, Maguire's miss was comedic, and their support was quite ordinary. I guess if you pay over the odds you get players who can produce a bit of quality when needed, so if one point at St Marys justifies two seasons of quality over quantity and looming liquidation, then it was a great policy! Not sure why they are celebrating so much - they started the day 5pts from safety and after more points dropped to us they are now 6pts adrift. That doesn't bode well with Coventry v Bristol City up next. Tis a funny old game.

Rickie, Adam - remember when the dirty people came to our ground, beat us, took the p1ss out of you and celebrated in your face? It's personal - go seek vengeance.

It's quiet because we're all saving up our vitriol for tomorrow, there's only so much hatred you can generate in one 24 hour period, don't want to waste any! It would be like invading France but running out of ammo before you left Dover. If I'd been too busy on here today I might have discovered that I'd got nothing offensive left to shout when I really needed it. Not sure what Phil's excuse is, unless he intends to be really shouty with a chicken, stir fry veg and some exotic cider between his meetings tomorrow.

if Avram Grant was as good at managing football clubs as he is at ****ing whores he'd have a few Champion's League titles to his dirty name. As for the sad old spin - The ex-Blues boss refused to walk away from the club as it went through administration and relegation from the Premier League, while taking them to the FA Cup final that term against the odds. Or to put it another way, the seedy old pervert continued to selfishly rip his wages out of the bankrupt club while overseeing a record-breaking failure for the Premier League which culminated in him dragging the club out of the bigtime and away from the only lifeline they had, while also cobbling together a criminally-funded cup run that ended in hilarious failure. His coaching record makes Tony Adams look like Shankly, his personal life tells you so much about his lovely 'spirit'. And as for not walking away?? He was out of there quicker than Antonov would be if a moped backfired in a dark alley. We saw him....gripping a microphone in the style of a Latvian prossie, out on the pitch spouting sh1t to deluded simpletons, and they lapped it up! They can never break our spirit!!.. Does that mean we're staying up? They will never break us!!... Are we staying up... We will stay strong!!... Are we safe?... Er no, I've just got us relegated and we are so insolvent the club is ****ed for a generation, I'm off to West Ham now to announce that they have the best fans in the world...bye! Yeah, they didn't have an academy but every transfer window you'd catch gobby Avram splashing out on youth, and as for the cup, he liked nothing better than watching a tense semi on a big TV... He was as loyal as the heroic boys of January 2012 - bless em, those battling troops who stood by UnAppy in his hour of need. If you boys don't leave the club will go under....**** that, I want my wages. Mmmm, real loyalty that, well done to those guys who pushed the club to todays shameful begging from the government. Why don't they just go the whole hog and steal some more from the local charities. The fans have been shafted and are now being invited to borrow money to pay Ben Haim, the taxman has been penetrated and is now being asked to cough up some compensation, why not get down to the cancer charities and take their furniture? There must be some kids in wheelchairs who don't need their shoes, take them, sell them, and Kitson can buy himself some more shiny comfort-tat through the summer. They are beyond a fricking joke, even the politicians are counting down the days to the elections so they can drop them like a stone. I want to see them destroyed at St Marys - for so many reasons. not long now, Judgement Day is nearly here......

from all the guesswork and disinformation dressed up as facts by the pompey Trust I wouldn't have much confidence in their ability to operate an exclusive lucky heather franchise at Wickham fair. I'm sure they do all have high powered dayjobs - but from their business plan I suspect for some it involves the comedic delivery of a cumbersome piano up a spiral staircase, with regular breaks for cups of PG Tips. Buyout for a quid? Play hardball with arms dealers and loan sharks and shoo them away with a sh1tty stick? I think you're getting into the realms of fantasy there Jones. The dreamers and tyre-kickers are now IN the building, they might have good intentions, but the Trust is raising hopes and misleading the fanbase just as much as previous regimes. It may just be desperation, or it may be the lack of a proper business plan or a blend of the two, but either way it makes little sense and many of the few have noticed.

Funny webchat - some subtle posts! Despite it looking blatantly unfair, I can understand if the failed CVA1 is no longer classed as a CVA, but is now just classed as a new creditor. That means that punishment hasn't been avoided, it's just been suspended pending further enquiries. Should creditors of CVA1 approve of being included in CVA2 under new terms, then there is perhaps no punishment to dish out, after all the creditors will have agreed to it, so pompey will be down the seafront celebrating with jellied eels and lucky heather. But if CVA2 fails to get off the ground then a points penalty for CVA1 comes in like a tsunami and Birch will be picking up bits of fratton park in Paulsgrove. Is that how we think it might work now?..... And I ignore all claims by Birch or the Trust re points or debts being wiped off, nothing has been decided yet, they are just trying to plead for mercy - the old keep saying it, it might come true policy. Now that we have this £8M target, let's play guess the figures again.... What do you reckon for a hardcore number of fans prepared to put up £1000 - up to 3,000? Add on a handful of rich individuals and I reckon they're still approx £5M short of the target. Which would suggest that the current business is beyond salvation - what a bombshell! On a brighter note, let's imagine that a consortium might be able to find £1.5M - that leaves them needing maybe 3,000 hardcore support plus another 15,000 clubbing together to buy shares - then they hit the target and the champagne flows! That buys the club with all of it's ongoing problems, but it leaves a consortium wanting major control, and 18,000 fans feeling they have put their cash in but they don't have a say. Cue internal disputes over business direction, I would give it a month before it starts to fall apart, then again I am cynical about these things so it might be six weeks. It's over, it really is - even when I take my little bitter blinkers off, I still can't see a way forward that works for them.

yeah I just heard the £8M quote - presumably ignores issues like CVA1, the unlikelihood of CVA2, HMRC, football creditors, and the fact that the parachute payments are being gobbled up with every passing day. If true it sounds slightly more realistic than the idea that they can outbid Chanrai etc and buy the ground for £2M. Also sounds way beyond an amount that a fan trust can raise in a few weeks, unless they can find a loan shark to assist them. Still not sure why the administrator has encouraged fans to borrow from a credit union to sort out the debt that was run up by their club borrowing from an international 'credit union' - looks like a repetition of past mistakes to me, but hey ho.

many people cherish memories of games attended with departed relatives or friends, it's a healthy link with the past. My dad died more than ten years ago but I still think of him sometimes during games and wonder what he'd make of our recent seasons - he's still in the West Stand Archers moaning at refs and Benali. Saints games are now a happy association that will always be there for you - and especially this saturday - you have an emotional future ahead of you, but in a good way - everytime we achieve something you'll think of him and how pleased he would be. Great idea for a final visit, may he rest in peace knowing that Saints are in good hands. And he can thank Markus from all of us. RIP

I've seen two skates today - first one said he's missing his first local derby since the mid-80s as he doesn't want to see pompey 'destroyed'. Knowing I was seeing the second one I prepared... He was grateful when I presented him with a small piece of paper with a postcode on it - to help him get to Crawley Town next season for their new local derby, I even included the club telephone number in case he gets lost. I say 'grateful', I think perhaps 'worried' is more accurate, because it was less of a joke and more of a prediction.

so the Trust is a last resort should no buyer come forward? He's talking to three parties, none of whom are near making a bid. As they must be new to the table I'd be surprised if any of them will like what they see during due diligence. The eight weeks deadline he refers to is the Football League meeting at the beginning of June. If he can't go to that meeting and assure them everything is fine and the new season can be financed then I guess the golden share gets withdrawn. I keep reading this claim that the club is only worth what someone will pay. If it were a car, perhaps...but even then, if you offered the owner £100 and he could get £150 by scrapping it then that's what he'll do. So whatever someone offers has to be more than Chanrai etc can get from liquidation - and let's not forget there is value in the two former owners putting their land together, so any consortium that thinks it will play hardball with the creditors is kidding themselves. Moving forward the wagebill is still crippling, and Birch said that Henderson is the only one he doesn't expect to see back, so Lawrence and HuskyBloke will be back soon - at £150K a month. Interesting to see how well the two of them have done - they both gave it large about how they were going to derail our season and help Cardiff and Birmingham to the top of the table. How's that plan working out. And Birch has made passing reference to a question mark over Chanrai's status, but at no point has he been brave enough to officially challenge it, and he can't afford to, so I think Birch is bluffing, especially as he admitted himself the other day that Chanrai has been the only one to put serious money in to the club. It's shown in the accounts, the money went in, the assets are his. And where is AA? He's quiet, that could be dangerous.... Once they've established the full debt and the rapidly disappearing parachute payments, I can't see that any new consortium will match the scrappage deal. I think they'll have to weigh the club in as an Mot-failing non-runner. Looking forward to the big farewell party!