rallyboy

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....

Vince Clarke! So Westwood can be played by Andy Bell...just needs a little bit more glitz in the outfit and maybe a blue and white thong. Putting the camp back in camponologist. And as an aside, that's why some people think everyone on here is a nutjob or a pants-wetter and think the thread should be closed - they don't understand half the gags, and the detailed technical research confuses them! Anyway my fellow nutjobs, pompey owner is in court later, his first step on the way to a lengthy jail sentence. And you don't get to say that everyday.

stepping back from the comedy of it all, we've been here before. The blatant criminality and insolvent trading, still unpunished. Will anything be different this time? Experience suggests not. For sure, Vlad's street cred is shot to bits unless he is cleared of all charges, and there are a lot of charges that go back a long time, so his part in this comedy may be over. That leaves the village simpleton bouncer in a suit, the Leeds man with a dodgy history, and Lampitt. They will continue to spin positivity, but I suspect the access to funds may be an issue. This would see a decline in the team, and that could be the only punishment. I'm not expecting the football authorities to suddenly do their job, or the courts to ignore the dodgy handshake that seems to have kept them afloat thus far. So it's really bad news for them, but they have had bad news before, and let's remember they are debt-free with nothing historical to bother them. The PR side? They no longer appeal to honest businessmen so damage to the brand doesn't matter. The real test is April - Saints away, and a CVA. Time to do some maths again, my recollection is they lost something like a million over six months recently and pretended they hadn't by not paying Ben Haim's wages? That said, it was enough to fool the Russians' due diligence!

Phil's right, my eyebrows were raised at the thought that a man advising the football authorities on how to stop dodgy people buying clubs was also advising dodgy people on buying clubs. In fact that was enough for me in one day, and then...the bombshell. Vlad's biggest mistake was not using Storrie's shredder and trying to stuff the evidence down the Fratton Park toilet before fixing that flush, he must have left a right old trail, I wonder where it leads. The only way it could get funnier now is if he refuses to respect the warrant and we are treated to pictures of him being bundled away like a mass murderer sometime soon. And his history would suggest he is way too important for that warrant and will ignore it. Cue re-writing of pompey management structure and future planning asap, Lampitt to spin something positive, 'Vlad was a minor part of what we are doing....with his majority stake....' I saw someone online feeling sorry for Appleton, a man who took a cut price job that no one else wanted at a club drowning under the weight of unresolved legal and financial issues. I'm not surprised, and nor should he be, the job was unwanted when Cotterill baled out. We all knew that Vlad was looking to clean money, even the thick ones on here, so we aren't being smug, it was bleeding obvious. I reckon the CVA is in proper trouble now, this must have a konck on effect for funding, time for AA to come in and delay again, followed by moaning creditors who voted for their own shafting. Tis all very predictable. But the golden moment of my day was sitting down at 6pm and listening to Fred explain how the owner of his favourite football club is as we all suspected, nothing more than a criminal on the run. We are so lucky, this thread has been so much funnier than we deserve - so a special hello to all my fellow pants-wetting, toast-mongers who are sadly still banging on about this boring situation when the thread should be closed. It still has legs, in fact it's just sprouted wings and an outboard.

did this revelation dawn on him during his journey?....................

met someone the other day who had never heard of us referred to as The Saints. He was from N.Wales though, he thought I was talking about rugby league for a bit - I think he may have been a little bit simple.

to the layman it appears that his business empire is crashing down around his ears...that might have a knock-on effect when it comes to building that shiny new stadium.....or bringing in new players.....or placating the previously toothless football authorities. If in the next few months he can't find money in other corners of his business world and misses the wages, I might just wet myself a bit! Cue Lampitt saying nothing is wrong, but with a slight twitch. Then dig out the shot of Leslie Nielson telling us there is nothing to see....

worst decision ever? Diana getting in a car with a drunk frenchman who wasn't very good at driving? Or Puncheon telling the gaffer to stick his team selection where the sun don't shine.

difficult to judge the poor bloke after just one game but....Mr Appy already has the air of a clueless bloke in way beyond his depth. He couldn't be worse than the previous appointments could he? Life can't be that funny can it?.... Do I recall promotion hopefuls Norwich going to their arch rivals and giving them the mother of all spankings last season? There's a thought.

Poyet's main problem is his previous views on the game are so ridiculous that I don't bother to listen to him anymore. Anyone who seriously thought we were like Dagenham last season is lucky to get a job in cleaning the kit, let alone coaching. He was made to look an idiot by Nige. Again. He needs to leave mind games to the experts, the sort of people who put the Withdean victory footage on the big screen prior to kick off. I left the ground and legged it straight to the Carter gig at Brixton where someone else had obviously done the same, and they were still in the Saints shirt. I did shout red army across an army of crowd-surfers but to no avail. And Phil, we have been dominating teams like that on a very regular basis at home, the main problem for opposition is they just can't get the ball off us. Very happy days.

oh, I see now! - the Lithuanian government has actually stolen money from poor little plucky Snoras.....and covered their tracks by framing a mafia-linked, alleged money-laundering fraudster who was declared unfit by the FBI and the Financial Services Authority?.... That seems plausible. Far more likely than a crook with a history of financial irregularities getting involved in....er.... financial irregularities. With things starting to unravel off the pitch we just need the new bloke to oversee a red-card riddled defeat then grab a microphone to declare that his side dominated and were the better side, before heading off to the nearest industrial estate for some 'me time' up against the side of a skip. I miss the good old days of Cotterill, Adams, Hart, Avram etc, hopefully the new bloke can be as entertaining. Shouldn't be long before AA starts signing autographs again.

Ho will have known a couple of days back when he met up socially for his fortnightly update, so no surprise there. Lampitt running from the building shouting we're fecked wouldn't really help the situation from a PR point of view. And earlier in the week I believe I was some sort of bedwetting loser for even making jokes at their expense as all their troubles were behind them. Perhaps Sour Ho will be back to tell us it's officially open season on them again.... I do so welcome his approval.

too late for extradition, by now he'll be away over the border into Hayling Island, stowed away in that safe house used by the witness protection programme. The pompey story is getting complicated again, can't they do one criminal case at a time so everyone can keep up? It's difficult to remember all the twists and turns but the place is a magnet for criminals - I'd be curious to know what Nicola makes of it as he knows banking better than he knows football. He must be looking forward to meeting his fellow bankers and seeing the lovely facilities down the road. That aside, this does seem like quite a significant development and surely there must be rumblings in the FA and FL? As for the tabloids, you'd hope they'd be frothing at the mouth with anticipation like Avram at a sex worker convention but I fear it will pass most of them by. It must be over a year ago that I compared their state to attending the funniest comedy festival ever. It's non-stop hilarity, inspired and original, but everytime you go to leave the venue at the end of the show, the curtain goes back up and they return and do some more. Wish I'd bought sandwiches, and the last train is long gone - not sure I can laugh any harder, please stop, it's too much.

after reading the business news can there be anyone out there who still thinks that pompey are in safe hands? We've had all the mafia stuff and the money-laundering accusations, sometimes these things are overplayed. But now we even know where the dirty money is going to come from. The professional business credibility of this russian is like the driver's door of his Porsche, shot to bits. I still find it difficult to believe that they have managed to find worse owners at every takeover, but if they win at Watford everything will be rosy in the garden. It's a funny old game.

thanks for the offer Gemmell but as Ho will tell you, I waste far too much of my life on this thread without having 24/7 access! Well that is a bombshell today, and the FSA will be chuckling to themselves after pointing out all these issues a while back. And for View from the Top, I think the general feeling is that one of pompey's fit and proper owners has just been shown up to be worth very little, it appears that he has been linked to criminal activity, and one of his businesses is facing accusations of fraud. Apart from that he's doing okay. On the surface this looks like quite a significant blow to CSI's street cred, I look forward to some spin telling us otherwise. Meanwhile pompey have had to cough up something to Spurs over Begovic today - their reluctant but unavoidable delayed payment is being promoted as a positive move by the new owners to renew their relationship with Spurs - sadly I think any dealing with Redknapp could be seen as unwise at the moment. How long before Appleton asks what on earth is going on? Cotterill must ring him and just laugh down the phone most days. Plenty more laughs.

if they're cleared, hopefully they'll celebrate with an armed raid in Chandlers Ford. Re-offending rate of the Chandlers Ford two? Currently zero, so it works as a system.