rallyboy

I had to laugh last night when I saw Cotterill explaining how his side had dominated their 4th consecutive defeat and were the better team. Antonov should have been charged with defrauding Notts Forest, selling them a manager that wasn't fit for purpose. That comedy deal might be the bright point of their season - unless we can't get Davis fit....

but Man Utd owe more than we do, it's not fair. I seem to remember us trying to explain the difference about 900 pages ago. We obviously failed. I think one or two of these arguments have run out of legs, Ho won't accept the fact that the club couldn't afford the cup final team that they failed to pay, and the rest of us are fed up trying to explain it. Call me Sherlock but the clue was that they had to join a winding up order to get their cup final money. And its not that they haven't come close to servicing the debt, it's that they haven't even tried! Even the latest criminal ignored the debt and chucked money into the black hole of transfers and salaries. The latest regime has clearly just done more damage, but Liam Lawrence says everything is okay, so hurrah for the russians and the loan shark! But no fear, the magical ever growing parachute payments will cover all woes and make 2012 a fluffy trouble-free place. Bolster the squad in January and Lampitt can steer the good ship pompey back to where it belongs. Court.

the remaining parachute money is going nowhere near the CVA, as pointed out it's clearing the massive football creditor bill. If that was really your great get out of jail lump sum I'm afraid it just disappeared quicker than Avram in a police raid. You are obviously one of the sharper members of the few as you try and debate, but don't try and pretend that either cup run was legal. The club has been 'used' for the best part of ten years, the funding for big names to get out of the championship started the house of cards, Harry continued once up in the top flight, and the whole lot has fallen over ever since. The fact that you claim your owner was solvent in 2008 when the whole world knows he wasn't even the owner is laughable for a start. The club was cleaning blood money back then, from a man who wasn't allowed to own the club - were there any alarm bells? Pompey's last administration was one of the most predictable collapses in sporting history - champions league wages on 20K gates = problems. You outbid Liverpool ffs! Shame for the real fans, but as Frank's Cousin summed up so well, a bit of humility would go a long way. If you accept the crimes of the past it would be honourable, defending the criminality just leads to abuse. Supporting the continued criminality is just bonkers and will destroy the club. When we were struggling I recall analysing what I actually cared about. It wasn't players who took wages, they just came and went, it certainly wasn't the board, you end up with just the badge - your problem is that the little moon and stars is now tarnished as well. The last brand that was damaged so badly was the News of the World. It's no good bleating to the league, you need to knock on Lampitt's door and ask him what he's doing, the roots of all the problems have been created within the four walls of Fratton Park, every time. He's only just stopped spending money - three years too late, but it could be progress, unless we see another bonkers January shop. It's gone on way too long, hanging out with one criminal is unlucky, getting into bed with five makes you a cheap prossie. It's over, you'd enjoy yourself far more taking 2K to some crap little ground in the Blue Square and building a viable and respected club. The current one has had it, put it down.

thats a good spot in the Jewish Chronicle! Though no doubt one of Ho's mates posted that in pompey six months back and we are all playing catch up... That piece supports the theory that it finally dawned on Lampitt about a month ago that they were still insolvent - and becoming more insolvent by the day. Even Mr quality over quantity may be admitting that his masterplan last season, that was repeated this summer, was a huge mistake. New manager brought in on a pittance, top earners being sidelined in time for January - this is starting to look like a club that has no money and more importantly has decided to stop spending. So congratulations to Lampitt for that, it looks like a fresh start. Sadly for him the damage has already been done. Their only hope now is that the mistakes like the £40K a week double signing of Lawrence and Kitson can be passed on, and there is only one man in the country who pays those sort of wages - time to ring his former partner in crime Cotterill. He might be their only hope of shifting some of the deadwood, but then again I recall being told by the few that he was a coaching genius who did a fantastic job steering the highest paid squad in the division to mediocrity, well he may be able to save them once again by paying over the odds for his former players. But no one will pay Ben Haim anywhere near the amount they have ploughed into his bank account - was that a Storrie signing? And remember kids, a Storrie signing isn't just for Christmas, it's the gift that keeps on giving!

the football league meet today to discuss pompey, I think they would have to prove themselves immediately insolvent to qualify for a points deduction so I'd be surprised if that happened today. But I'm happy to be wrong! The league are more likely to swerve a decision thus delaying any new ownership negotiations - unless of course the members of sos pompey who are going to stand outside their offices and abuse them over the FaPPT swing the vote. While the test needs changing, its surely not the best time to have a pop at the people who have your club's future in their hands. And of course they promised Lampitt that it's a multi-club demo so I look forward to seeing fans of all colour and creed gathered showing a united front....I do hope they haven't misled him, then again he does seem a bit gullible.

I know that if I ever need serious investment advice I turn to a badly-informed footballer who has no grasp of the commercial world. Of course Liam, the club has cleared loads of debt and looks a really attractive proposition for anyone with £100M to spare... That's what's been wrong with most of the staff down there from Avram to Cotterill - they open their mouths and ridiculous stuff keeps spilling out. Gives us a laugh though I suppose. Rather than improving things, in the cold light of day it looks like the russians have significantly damaged the business by loading it with more debt... Total required to clear the debt and pay the wages over four years is now around £110M? Projected income in that period if they stop giving away seats and food and retain championship status = £50M? Shortfall = £60M, which doesn't sound much if you say it quickly. Plus another £50M to sort the ground, and £100 for the toilet, maybe £300 to get the fat out of the system. Cost of simply buying a midtable Prem club with no debt, no ongoing legal issues, and a ground = £60M. We thought we might have got it wrong this time when we said no honest businessman would see pompey as a going concern, well the one that proved all of us pants-wetting drama queen nutjobs wrong is on bail - and the thread continues, and flourishes. I can't see where they'll find another sucker, maybe coaching genius and model husband Avram can point them at one.

Lucky we were, but you make your own luck by having an attractive looking business that doesn't need too much to turn it round. Re The Mail - appointing an agent? - if it's true, and let's face it I don't see a fact in the article, it would indicate a serious shift from 'all is well, we just need some investment' to 'we're doomed, abandon ship!'... Creates instability either way, and that has to be good. Bringing together my username and this thread in a seamless move that we've waited 910 pages for - the word in rallying is that CSI's North One is desperately seeking funding and the championship's image rights situation could be in big trouble very soon. The relevance of this is that CSI's portfolio has some ropey businesses in it but the WRC is one of the stronger ones. If one of the star performers isn't self-sufficient, god help the rest, many of which appear to be unprofitable tinpot outfits designed to impress the outside world. Likelihood of pompey being self-sufficient and able to swerve league penalties? I would stick my neck out and say no chance. The problem for the business on page one was they needed cash, asap. IMO they now need new cash within the next two months to avoid losing points. Add in a loss of players and it could be a classic season. Proviso - they have been here before - no money, needing to sell, no future.... What did they do then? Went out and strengthened for the cup game, so I'm just glad we play them before their next illegal January spending spree.

following that meandering pointless webchat I think we need to set up dial-a-scummer - all of your financial questions answered, even the ones the News avoids. Tis the only way the facts actually get out into Portsea, and despite what Ho says, it's clear that most of their fanbase have no idea what state they are in, or any understanding of the implications on the business. 'Why can't the FA pay off our CVA now using our parachute payments to make it easier to sell the club'.... And they still had room for a new myth - 'the Liebherrs have said they don't want to run a football club....'I must have missed that press conference, was it the same one that Nicola used to list his transfer targets?

sos pompey should be alright to run the club. They just need to run a few bucket collections to buy off various owners. Once they have raised something like £40M at the next two home games, that will leave them secure to the end of the season. Then they just need another £20M to see them through next season and the jobs a goodun, could even be in profit by about 2015. Looks like the way forward now that Ridsdale and Storrie have committed themselves elsewhere. The only hitch might be that once they've raised £40M through jumble sales and sponsored walks, that amount of money will attract the same characters that have been there for the last ten years. Though if the tabletop sales and meat draws are that profitable they might want to abandon football and concentrate on them.

Club options and possible outcomes last summer - A. Put some money away to clear debt and prepare for CVA - maybe flirt with relegation as a result. B. Spend way too much, really badly, on players - thus nailing on further bankruptcy issues and insolvent trading, but still hoping for sympathy. We spent all our money, we don't have any now, we didn't realise that would happen, can you help?... The business plan of an idiot. Fan options last summer - A. Demand to know why the club is overspending again in a suicidal cycle of criminality under the control of dodgy owners. B. Pretend the club isn't still being used by organised crime, as the only thing that matters is what happens on the pitch. And our very occasional visitor Ho's claims that you wouldn't buy a club under the eagle eye of Lampitt and his former colleagues for money-laundering as it would be really difficult for a criminal to take control , well history shows that that little beast fell at the first. As does the claim that pompey fans have been all over the detail of this way in advance of some on here. Yeah Especially as The News is really choosy about what they feed their public when it comes to the nasty stuff about pompey - you tend to get it first on here. You cannot alter facts - the club is still being run VERY badly. That isn't the fans' fault, but the few do tend to turn a blind eye when criminality occurs, only getting involved when it leads to wins at St Marys, or Wembley - cos that makes it okay. The club image is tarnished beyond repair. Criminality has dogged it for the best part of ten years, and don't tell me it was all hunky dory and above board until the owner who was only pretending to be the owner, lost money in the market when his child-maiming goods became too expensive to sell to war-mongerers the world over. Not true - like the recent story I was told about our owners having being a vital cog in the Nazi war machine! - roll up for another Portsea pub myth lapped up by a sad little band of toothless fantasists - what a night out - some lucky heather, cheap cider and its off to the home on two wheels for some sister-fiddling into the early hours. You cannot rewrite history, pompey have had it, the real fans have given up defending club actions, they just want a club to support that they aren't ashamed to be associated with. AFC Portsmouth 2012 is the only way forward if fans want to have a shred of respect from the rest of the sport - 'the brand' has had it bigtime. Like Ho's street cred, it's over, long gone - they need to let Chanrai's little puppet circus die, and build a new clean club that runs to the rules, has a proper financial structure, and doesn't try to gain sporting advantage through criminality. That club would have my respect at whatever level they played.

big payday? The massive moneyspinning Chelsea game should be enough to cover about ten days wages! Or clear the small creditors and charities. Though I suppose that amount is a vast improvement on the expected income, just a pity that the man at the helm, AA, has his own agenda now, and it isn't PFC's best interests. His client is a man owed by Convers so he is looking to get money out of the club, not into it. Again. Can we get his autograph or are the likes of pfc and ho already in the queue? I see the few, chanting storrie's name, backslapping the ice cream vendor, flicking the Vs a local services while desperately trying to convince themselves that they have more fans, and bester than anyone else - oh, and the league have it in for them, yeah...blah, blah, big postwar crowds, deluded this, imaginary dockstrike, deluded that, blah blah, 13K of free tickets at SMS, Lambert to sign for pompey, our owner worked for the nazis, blah blah, Saints are insolvent, ding ding, yet more delusion, then another pub myth about ancient history, yawn.

sorry Euro, you did me there, I had slipped out of Sarkyboy mode for a mo! I'd just come off the main board where people were either demanding we re-introduce hoofball or slitting their wrists etc - and I'd not been up long! So it was quite plausible that someone was still convinced that we are Brazil... Was also still chuckling over pfc's claims that the bestest are the bestest, and that the facts aren't facts. The attendance debate over quality and quantity was finished long ago so I don't know why he's even continuing.

from a month ago when I was comfortably happy we could get a result down there we have managed to get into a suicidal run of form away from home that now has clear potential for a disappointing day out. The bookies will be reviewing it now. Bet your house? I really really hope you won't be spending Christmas in a cardboard box! Perhaps by then the pompey players will have sussed that they only have one payday left and some will decide they don't fancy playing. As far as the season goes it's better to have a wobble pre-transfer window than after - and West Ham must be sick. 12K? Yeah, they are the bestest and I am the deluded one.

you have to chuckle at Vince Clarke going on about 'the best fans in the country'.....he's already taken on board the quality over quantity idea. Though he may be disappointed when he looks close up at what passes for 'quality' down that way*. Or he's just offering blatant spin in the face of facts, as AA, Lampitt, Cotterill, Storrie, Grant etc etc already have. I liked that pundit quote the other night about the bestest still packing out fratton week in week out. These deluded people reckon that if they say something enough times it becomes true - it's a mental illness that should generate sympathy, so you lot should be ashamed at mocking them... *Kitson, Lawrence, Halford etc.

No proper takeover as yet, but we have overtaken. and of course AA's main task is to look after the creditors and ensure they get the best deal possible....followed by looking at how directors have acted prior to his arrival. He isn't a highly-paid puppet just smoothing the path for a loan shark to make millions. And like the rest of football I ignored his comments about points, he was just launching the new Chanrai PR campaign with a view to selling. But whatever he spins or convers up, there are some basic facts that will be hard to ignore, the missing millions throughout the Antonov empire. And of course his 'client' isn't the club owner this time, technically, it's a man trying to get money back from Convers, and £10M of that may be in the club somewhere, while AA might also have to compete in European courts with governments wanting their money back. In financial speak, tis a right old pickle that pompey are in this time.

they've dodged so many bullets I'm not convinced that the business is about to disappear, but it's different this time... Previously they were involved with people who were clever enough to disguise insolvent trading and dubious business practice aplenty. This time it looks like a blundering idiot has left a damaging trail of paperwork all the way across Europe. Annoy the HMRC and they blub and mutter - but when you start annoying European banks and governments in the middle of a recession the authorities are going to bay for blood. Whether they get any is down to lawyers, and Antonov appears to have given them plenty of evidence. Also the business is becoming less attractive with every sale, more debt, less value - and time is getting shorter. AA has his work cut out if he realistically wants to complete a sale before the next wages day - I'll stick my neck out and say that ain't gonna happen! Don't know about toast, but I wouldn't be looking to swap places with them anytime soon.

I'd have been pretty surprised if they couldn't survive the first week without mafia money, it's the pompey 2012 calendar that's going to be a thin item. But it's a pretty damning summary of their plight when the paying of wages qualifies as a news story with shock factor.

tis an indicator of how far Nigel has taken us. Three years ago we would have thrown everything at them second half and just as likely been caught on the break - 0-2. But now, it's standard practice to win home games, anything less would be considered abject failure. So turning it round like that would be exciting for most teams, but Nige has raised expectation so much, it's just what we do now, we win. Business as usual. But a great three points. And congratulations to many fans who are now realising that hoofing it means they bring it back up our end fairly sharpish.

worst bit of all? The club was claiming to be solvent until Anotonov was arrested for stealing money. This timing clearly indicates that the club has been run on stolen cash - and the league has sat there and watched. I do feel sorry for some of the fans, but not the ones who thought spending big in the summer instead of addressing debt was a good thing. Shall we pay off people who are likely to bankrupt us, or shall we buy a striker so we can beat the scummers? You make your bed, you have to lay in it. Or, if you swim with sharks, don't be surprised when you get bitten. Either way, no sympathy for anyone whose that reckless. Well done Lampitt, you have continued the fine work put in by Storrie and all owners and managers going back to and including Mandaric. Its been a real team effort, you don't create a train crash of this proportion without dedicated effort - drink a toast to quality over quantity! And nice to see some of those who loudly dismissed this thread as a haven for nutjobs and pants-wetters have waded in now with a massive U-turn and have finally learned to enjoy the comedic nature of pompey's appalling business plans. Welcome aboard, a bit late but well done.

the creditors voted yes for a deal whereby AA can name his price on the 'expenses'. As I said a million pages ago, if a big business took me for a ride and then offered me a deal like that I would have two choices. a. Accept that I've been conned and take the potential pittance over a few years like a feeble little lapdog. b. Vote against it, put them out of business, and dance on their dirty corporate grave. Other than if you are one of the few, I cannot see why any small business wouldn't go for the latter - It would be B for me every time. Then again I'm not a big fan of people stealing money off me - perhaps the creditors are more rounded citizens than I and take these things lightly. The creditors voted for a shafting and that's exactly what they are getting.

translated? It reads like a toothless rant from Paulsgrove's most educated person - big words but in an odd order. The admission that they can pay wages in the 'short to medium term' also supports the theory that new investment is required immediately to prevent a club-destroying return to administration. League rules aside, what happens to the current CVA if that happens? Does a potential new owner offer 20p in the pound of the original 20p? Antonov's problems might frighten off similar characters in future and leave them with no offers at all for a business that has no assets of note, and way too much baggage... Either way the only thing we can be certain of is that creditors are gonna get properly shafted, even if they have new members to their little group. I wonder how the taxman will respond to another flick of the V's?

so it's true what they say about Mr Panda the porn star - he just eats, shoots, and leaves? I guess the 20% CSI shareholder is busily ringing around New Jersey trying to organise the wagebill funding. Any 'banking clerical issues' with paying that and the situation would be even worse than thought, surely they must have money to cover the wages short term, even if they just pretend to dispute some.

Feel free to correct any of these guesstimates, unless of course you're clueless. The paying matchday income is only about 6,000 at an average of £20. If you add a few cup games and shop sales it gives you maybe £3.5M a year. The wages still look like £12M a year. A significant amount of the season ticket money was spent on players, the TV money and any sponsorship might cover most other overheads like the rents and utilities, travel, hotels and US holidays - and the toilet flush and guttering. The parachutes are covering the massive football debts. So even being generous that looks like a shortfall of at least £500K every month that the russians must be covering. If they consider paying the CVA, the loss would look quite ridiculous - and we are still not convinced that they have paid Chanrai yet... In simple terms the business needs to offload every high earner to break even, about six or seven of them, to be replaced by £3K a week players. To then meet the CVA and any payments to the former owner they need full houses for the rest of the season. The football authorities must be nervous now that the bank security for the owners has been exposed as fake. They are fine all the time the 'owners' cover the shortfall. Though this investment just adds to any future sale price making the business look even less attractive. Withdraw regular payments from a Lithuanian bank and the business is insolvent - dead in the water within the hour. A theory supported by the big fat bouncer in an orange suit who admitted that Convers are in financial trouble.

it's a bombshell that a senior management member should bang the nails into his own corporate coffin Phil - in fact it's Ratner-esque. Convers chancing of getting legitimate funding now that Dubov has announced that they are in big trouble? Zero. And if Convers is in big trouble today, it would confirm the concern that pompey has as suspected, been kept afloat by criminal funding. If the arrest of a man for fraud and the seizing of his criminally-obtained wealth has an immediate knock on effect for a football club, the connection is crystal clear - and damning, to the league, those that welcomed them, and to those that stood by and did nothing. Is it wrong to feel sorry for some of their fans? (Not the gobby arrogant deluded ones)

I raise my hat to the comedians who have hijacked the News site. Several of those postings were beautifully crafted, just enough spelling misteaks to be plausible, plenty of delusion to back that up. The bestest! And if Dubov is seriously referring to Convers being in big trouble then that is a proper bombshell. I'd be surprised if he can't find some dodgy funding but that doesn't sound very encouraging....