rallyboy

been out all day and come home to the worrying bombshell headline that Ben Haim is off. Having seen the detail, thankfully he isn't going anywhere until he's paid up, but it had me worried for a mo! - nice bit of News spin, no facts, just standard agent talk, looking to engineer a move from a sunk ship. I like the idea that some of the few think the oldCo debt can be dumped while the Golden Share can be carried forward, even though the two are stapled together in the same sealed envelope. A bit like the purchase of the cup and the folk involved - airbrush the child-maimer, the building debts, and the greedy players from 2008, but continue to claim the dodgy cup win from the era. On a technical point, I presume that CVA1 hasn't REALLY failed as long as CVA1 creditors AND CVA2 creditors agree to new terms this summer. If CVA1 creditors don't vote yes to a further brutal raping, then the club is exiting admin without a CVA. Looks like they have just delayed the failure, consolidating all their points penalties into one easy package. Talking of dodgy CVA1, where is the king of close-to-the-wind financially-based comedy AA? He is always good value for entertainment, and he's the only administrator who signs more autographs than Ben Haim.

the portsMyths keep coming - Lallana has put in a transfer request apparently - that's right up there with 13,000 free SMS seats to asylum seekers, and the nazi gold. If Doncaster loved them that much they'd have given them a nice painting - but I see no watercolour of a London and North Eastern Railway Class A4 4-6-2 Pacific hanging in Birch's office, so it must be boll0x... Saw a big skates fan tonight, he's got signed shirts, gives it large everytime I see him and goes to all home games. I asked him if he had put his money in yet. He looked puzzled and asked me what the Trust was.... More marketing needed. As for Birch - pretending relegation isn't a major blow and saying it doesn't change the finances. The figures he quotes are nowhere near, there is a significant drop in income, at the last count it was something like £3M+ in TV alone. He is a desperate man. The fat lady has sung, the four horseman are leaving an unholy trail of sh)t up the Eastern Road and he's making out that they are right on track. Reality check required.

it was just another January gamble that failed - we knew their luck would run out eventually. Hang on to a few players that should have been moved on, bring in loans that DID cost money, continue to ignore the debt, and try to dodge the relegation bullet. But Rallyboy you smug nutjob, the players refused to go... Okay, well let's bury the myth that they are plucky heroes who stood firm, let's point out that they are in fact greedy moneygrabbers who took out wads of filthy cash stolen from charities and used them as hammers to bang nails into the club coffin. Pearce and friends have bled the carcass dry, yet the bestest few still love them, because that's the PR version that suits. Loyal players, Appy's troops, packing the park, fortress fratton, best fans in the world....stuff of fantasy. It was meek surrender to poor teams in front of empty seats with fat blocking the pipes and Birch clutching a lottery ticket. If it is the points penalty that saw them off and not the suicidal transfer policy, then this must be their first genuine punishment for a decade of irregularity. But they should have been good enough to overcome that. pompey must have several players in the top ten wage earners in the division - the return on investment has been woeful. We've been banging on for years - they said they would stay up in the Prem, we told them it wasn't enough if you are running on Champion's League wages. They said Cotts would keep them up last year, we pointed out the requirement on that budget was not to stay up, but to GO up. As for the current manager who inherited Q over Q - UnAppy knew the situation, he's an idiot if he didn't, and I believe there is more honesty to him than Cotterill, but he failed to motivate an expensive squad. Home defeats to Millwall and Derby when the stakes are so high?... Like the previously heralded football geniuses Grant and Clotts, I don't think Mr Appy delivered - he was the cheap option and he's used pompey to make his mistakes. The idiotboy Cotterill has just rubbed it in by only finding some form when he went to Forest. So ignoring the heavily-pregnant herd of liquidation elephants in the room for one moment, I can see pompey getting out of League 1 first go......especially when the next penalty kicks in....

so as expected they went and got themselves relegated while I was away - typical. It was fun to watch though, in the surrounds of my lovely executive suite in one of Middlesbrough's finest hotels. The reviews said it was 'tired' - turned out to be fricking exhausted. I loved the 80's first time round, but I didn't want to stay in it again. Nice picture of The Queen up on the wall at breakfast, the stockiest TV I've seen since Avram pushed the boat out at Horton Heath, and wiring in my room that looked like it was in an opening scene from London's Burning. But as for our friends to the east. Never mind, at least the future looks Rosey, which reminds me, one of their main abusers was always telling us it would be fine. Where for art thou Toyman? Can we only expect a Ho return if our first year in the Championship ends in the dismal shame of finishing third? As David Steel once famously said 'go back to your caravans and prepare for liquidation!' Byebye pompey, I'd like to say it's been nice but it hasn't. Should the club fold I'll feel sorry for approx 10% of the fanbase. The rest have been spouting crap for years and deserve no sympathy.

it's getting a bit desperate when you start going through bins looking for scrap to sell. They should weigh in Varney, he must be worth a tenner a ton for medical research into apathy or lack of eye and foot co-ordination. This morning I'm off to a distant football ground next to a river. By the time I return to the beautiful south I suspect pompey may be a former championship club. If I miss that moment on here, fear not, I'll be enjoying it on a bracing northern waterfront. The only thing I would ask is that we don't have a mad claim by the toyman or a News webchat while I'm offline. I don't want to plough through 30 pages on Sunday.

and that's another problem. Everytime you start to feel a little bit sorry for them, because let's face it, forget their brave face, they are having a fricking nightmare of a time, some member of the few starts arrogantly spouting off. Huskellop is going to keep the scummers down with Birmingham. Lawrence will blast Cardiff into the top two. Henderson will help the Hammers get their rightful top two place. The wonderstrike by Norris will be the one specific moment aside from anything else that has happened over nine gruelling months that changes our whole season and will be slightly re-written in folklore... Stains will come straight back down and they are bankrupt. We are much better off in League One, we'll bounce straight back... Good luck with that, it's a ****er of a division to get out of even when you have money! And the whole bestest thing.....pompey are the best in the world, while all scVmmers boo their own team and leave after 70mins. I'm not aware of another fanbase that makes these outrageous claims, and that's the embarrassing bit, being the only people to say you are the best, when you are so clearly not. You could say, we've had a fricking nightmare of a season but there is still a trusty hardcore and we have a bell perhaps, but don't let the likes of Liverpool or Newcastle laugh at you as much as we do. Those guys have bigger groundsman's sheds than Fratton, who would seriously announce that their fanbase is better than that of big clubs?? Even Leeds, West Ham and Derby must chuckle. Norwich have a fantastic fanbase - Reading made more noise at SMS, but I don't hear them claiming to be the Galatasary of the south. I saw hardy York City fans in Peterborough, didn't hear them saying they are bigger than Barcelona. So I'll feel sorry for pompey if they want to be a bit humble, but it doesn't take too much of their delusion to wash that feeling away. A polite tip for the few - be less deluded, get a reality check, bin the ludicrous portsMyths, and you might get less people laughing at you, and some respect from the likes of Crawley and Stevenage.

meanwhile the pompey Trust is desperately trying to cobble together a deal but MoneyPenny is calling for stricter regulations on club owners. Not sure that the portly vote-harvester's antics will help the Trust this time. The last thing a potless consortium needs is more restrictions, they don't have proof of ANY funding, her call for more regulation could scupper any Trust deal. Imagine Bristol City going into this weekend without those extra six points....and the few were worried we would do a 'West Brom' against Coventry. The sporting gods have prepared a script for Saturday, the planets are coming into alignment..... And despite having their own ref that day, what about those two points that pompey dropped at St Mary's that cost them a home banker against Millwall? Those events have left the table on a delicate knife-edge that couldn't have been predicted back in August. Could it be that we will go up the same day that they go down? If so the swing in our league positions could be up near an astonishing 100 places quite soon. Surely a plan couldn't come together that well? And as one of the more vocal nutjobs on here I have to admit that if they are relegated and start next season with a penalty while we start life in the Premier League, I would consider that justice has finally been served. No one is in prison yet and the madness of loanees and charity-shafting continues, but looking at the table I'm not sure they are getting away with it anymore. This thread has been about investigating and highlighting the criminality, and laughing at the delusion. So if they get some justice this weekend, or the next, perhaps PTS should be retired in the summer with full honours, and replaced by something that covers the plucky little clubs in the lower leagues?

I didn't get in until 3am so I'm a bit sleepy. But that league table looks mighty fine this morning! A thoroughly professional job last night, in total control, nerve-wracking to watch, but this side is playing well enough to reclaim the title if Reading don't deal with Birmingham. IF we can finish the job on Saturday it will be an astonishing achievement by Markus, Nicola, Nige and the rest of the staff. To turn the business and the club around in such a short space of time would be remarkable. And as a nice little side order, I can see Bristol City relegating pompey the same day. The world is a much happier place than it was last weekend.

more myths getting written in Portsea pubs. All scummers boo their own players and leave after 70mins, and apparently we all called for Nige to be sacked after they won a glorious point. Methinks they still don't get the difference between booing Nugent and the ref, and booing your own team. I think the Steve call has confused them too, bless. As for Kitson comparing himself to Ronaldo today.....they both get booed, it spurs them on....mmmm. Yes you lanky Wotsit-look-a-like netball player, your being a bit selective about your results - in reality you get booed loads, you lose loads. Other than that, well done for raping the club coffers of £20K a week - and try not to punch the ball into the net tonight.

Positivity alert.... When we were going well I thought Nige suggesting that we don't worry about what else is going on was a bit off the mark. But he's right. West Ham can do what they like, no need worrying about that in advance. We need to ignore all the complications gathering around the run-in, all the negativity, all the worrying that many of us are guilty of. We have a simple plan.... Beat Pboro, draw a line, back on the bus, everyone row it to Mboro, same again. I'm not saying it's easy, but it's simple, and we are capable of it.

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.