rallyboy

playing the game the correct way and shaking hands at the end doesn't seem to feature in Poyet's world. In the two games against us he tried to pull every trick in the book, tonight he just looks a complete idiot. Did they really print Nige's throwaway comments on the programme, and make up banners? How feeble. Sounds like they timewasted as usual and it sounds like their manager is so embarrased about failing to back up his big mouth with big deeds that he won't even shake hands.... Brighton looks a shabby club tonight, as did Bmouth after their gobby build up and capitulation, there's a lot to be said for the quiet approach. They are worthy champions over the season, but there is little class or sporting behaviour there. Nige just needs the win at Fratton for the full set. A good three points, now back to business on Monday. So everyone, get back on the bus and keep rowing it in the right direction, just keep chipping away, quietly gathering the points we need.

we need belief! And that little bit of magic in the final third, big players stepping up to the plate, confidence, rub of the green, team spirit - it's about who wants it most! No it's not. It's very simply about who grinds out the most points, it doesn't matter whether they look like Brazil or Wimbledon or believe or not. Points. So let's start with one or three today.

despite their great win today Huddersfield must be wondering what on earth they have to do. They are unbeaten since about 1978 which would normally be enough to win you the title, yet despite that amazing run they are not even in charge of their own destiny. We are.

following some concerns about what could go wrong in the next few days I've cheered up a bit. We have had a week of recovery, Lallana will be back, as confirmed champions their play will be less intense than they want or realise - we can get a result there. If Huddersfield slip up today as well then all is well again. Onwards and upwards.

I think the trouble with that Phil is that at least one of the parachute payments is required to clear the football debt, and Chanrai won't walk away without making some sort of profit, he's a loan shark after all! He might have to accept it's a quid now and £2M a year until the end of time? Difficult to service all that and keep the toothless but persistent taxman at bay. Either way those overheads still don't make it a business, even if you further delay the CVA, paying off Redknapp and Storrie's great signings won't be cheap, paying off Cotterill's crazy signings could be even more. A new team could be assembled on the cheap with the simple aim of surviving in the division but that would be hard work - see dutch experiment.... And the ticking timebomb you still have is the failing half empty stadium that doesn't cover overheads, surrounded by other people's land. Tis a slippery slope. The Russians must look and ask themselves, how will this make us money? A. By stabilising, avoiding further penalties and then through investment making it's way back to the Prem where the finance would then allow ground redevelopment, thus leaving the club in the position that a few of us have been in - competing at the highest level, unable to afford players good enough to keep us there. In an ideal world getting back up will take three years and maybe £50M? Unless they have £100M to put on the table, it's just a bonkers fantasy. For the one millionth time we refer the potential buyers to about thirty other clubs that would make more sense as an investment. Unless of course they have very special reasons for looking at the pompey business model that has operated so efficiently for child-maimers, loan sharks and convicted fraudsters in the last few years.

I'd go back to the mid-nineties and invite Markus to a game at The Dell, see if he fancied a little project. I'd also get him a camera and a huge empty photo album.

I read that there were rousing renditions at Cardiff last week of 'when Sol went up...'. Nice to remember him so fondly and to celebrate his great part in the club history. Takes the edge of the sentimental chant somewhat when you remember that he still hasn't been paid. And in that little singsong the few sum up the last few years - they want to celebrate the cup, but they don't want to pick up the bill.

I believe the deal is done and may well have been done in January - to the extent where his future employers convinced themselves they already owned him and could therefore influence his development by offering free advice regarding his selection and care. A bit like telling your mate you will buy his car next year and then telling him not to take it out in the rain. I'm sure Mr Cortese will have dealt with any external advice robustly. Hopefully our terms are favourable and will allow us to build. With time he should develop from a good player into a great player, I wish him well, but the money that has been quoted is far too good to turn down for a player whose form has been patchy. Any deal won't sit well with Nicola's Barcelona dream but he is a businessman and sometimes people make you an unusually high offer and you can't say no. It will be easier to hang onto academy players once we get out of this division. I'd love to see him back before the end of the season but I fear we have seen the last of him. Chamberlain that is, not Puncheon.

re the getting away with it Nick, there are levels... Many would like them to be legally held to account for the cheating at some point, with points deductions for the blatant financial irregularities and insolvent trading - or perhaps there will be an honest attempt at addressing some of the debt. So for me and many others, until they have been treated like Leeds, Swindon, Bmouth or Luton etc, they have escaped justice. But their remaining fans might feel that going from cup finals and games against Utd and Milan to being bent over and fiddled with by the likes of Coventry at home isn't quite getting away with it. Let's recall we were two divisions beneath them not long ago and they had billionaires aplenty ready to take them into the top four while we were trying to hang onto our ground. Not sure they feel they have got away with it as much as you feel they have. That said, delusion among the few is rife and no doubt we will soon have to hear about all the Prem players they will be signing in the summer as the master tactician Cotterill builds a club that will dominate european football for the next twenty years. He's done a fantastic job you know.* *Presumably this was some decorating or diy for his missus, because it certainly wasn't at Fratton.

so not only are they the bestest and most passionate fans who always turn out in huge numbers, they are now the most sceptical in the league as well. So many awards to hold, those extra fingers must help out.

surely you're not suggesting that he's squeezing the last dregs of cash out prior to legging it?? Before their nasty overpaid squad disbands for the final time I wonder if Chanrai mentioned to the Russians his ongoing legal right to the majority of any transfer monies? Or the fact that the surrounding land isn't included. Do they know about the CVA? or the pending court cases? Or the liquidation investigation? At least they have three years of parachute payments to come...... There must be loads of little surprises awaiting the unwary. Hope they got someone better than Al Fahim to do the due diligence. And in case no one mentioned it, Cotterill has worked miracles - he's a coaching genius - not a cheap option in desperate times. Apparently

sorry Nick, don't share your optimism for a change. I fear the away games, more than I did before Saturday. Orient was a battle, Rochdale and Rovers were not much better, the squad is getting battered and I hoped Huddersfield would crack by now. Not normally one of the wrist-slitters but I have a bad feeling about the next seven days and I think we need MK Dons to do us a big favour. I look forward to the physio and then the players proving those doubts to be unfounded. Cheer me up Nige, produce two or three of the injured players fully recovered at the weekend. And on a different issue, I saw the Rochdale manager post-defeat saying his players were exhausted after putting everything into the game on Tuesday. Cheers guys, raise your game for us and then have a breather against other teams. Nice. That's what we have to put up with week in week out, it's not our arrogance, just small clubs in their cup finals.

To take the highest paid XI in the division and coach them to mid-table mediocrity amid chaotic disciplinary problems sets Cotterill apart from most managers. Miracle worker? Maybe not, but he is certainly special... Though I'm still not convinced about his definition of quality in the whole ongoing and disastrous quality over quantity experiment that he intends to repeat next season. If there is one. I've enjoyed the terrific job he's done as much as I'm enjoying the craggy old prossie-botherer's latest relegation debacle. You can't take his spirit, but if you pop down to Upton Park you can have the three points anytime you fancy.

strangely concerned tonight despite a great 3 points.... Barnard's season looks over, we are missing Lallana horrendously, and I was disappointed that Charlton couldn't muster any fight. I'm just a little worried that we are wandering towards a defeat at Brighton and the table will suddenly make scary reading. imo the biggest game next week is MK Dons v Huddersfield. If Udders got turned over there the pressure is off and a point at the Withdean would do nicely. I don't want us to end up battering Plymouth's/Walsall's goal in the 90th minute desperately looking for a vital goal as we did today. Unless of course Davis comes up and heads the promotion-winning goal in the 95th minute of game 46 - then it might be worth waiting for! Though I'm sure someone will still moan about it.

putting the spiritual beliefs of individuals aside, how about we just give some thought to a guy who has suffered a horrendous accident, give him some moral support, and hope he can find the mental strength to adjust to what life has thrown at him. I'm sure he has the best wishes of many people of all different faiths.

Mack, why ruin our fun with some alleged facts? Sadly I can't imagine that more than a handful of people would have taken up that option, never mind. Go on, cheer us up by telling us all refs are against you, the authorities have got it in for you, and a defender sticking his arm out to block the ball on the line isn't a penalty. And follow it up with the hilarious one-liner Cotterill has done a fantastic job.....go on, you know you want to...

20% of their fanbase doesn't pay a penny?????? Just when I thought we were running out of laughs this thread coughs up that little gem on page 765 - hilarious if true! And as for Cotterill's waste of an appeal - defender sticks arm out on goal line, ball connects - that's a card as red as Storrie's ar$e will be after a few weeks in Parkhurst. Idiot.

so does the current business still honour the 'lifetime season ticket' bought before the last two administrations despite several name and numerous ownership changes? Is it in the due diligence that you have to give some people free football forever even though the company their contract is with no longer exists? Not sure I would take on a business with that sort of historical set up, imagine buying a pub where previous owners heading for bankruptcy had arranged for people to have free drinks for life. How about Chanrai sells 10,000 lifetime seats for £500 each as his parting gift to new owners? If only they had that many fans!

well, it seems the Russians are currently attempting the FaPPT and a deal could be completed by the end of the month... That will be the same deal that would complete a fortnight ago, and then a week ago. Time to find out if the football authorities can spot organised crime when it comes and knocks on their front door dressed in smart suits, carrying AK47s and a horse's head in a bag. I suspect you just have to stuff a handful of notes into Lampitt's thong and he'll make a call to the right people and the paperwork is yours. Next hurdle is to provide proof of funds, but if you have registered the name of a couple of banks I guess you have your own headed notepaper so that one is sorted. Finally you have to agree a price with Chanrai based on the amount of debt, cva, and complications on land use etc. That might be the toughest of the three, he'll want £25M in some form and the real business just isn't worth a third of that. Unless you already have an agreement with the arms dealer and this is a complete Russian property development stitch up. Or you plan to launder so much filthy cash through it that the purchase price doesn't matter. Football authorities - this time show us you have some bottle rather than rolling over and getting your tummy tickled. Roll up, roll up, there's still mileage left in the old train wreck.

welcome back Mero. The general thought is that by spending so much money this season it was a final gamble at getting Chanrai his money back. Quality over quantity involves Prem wages and long contracts, there has been little sign of controlling costs and using young players. Outbidding QPR was one of the highlights, but delaying the cva and payments to small businesses and charities to do it made it outrageous. So there has been no real attempt to stabilise the business, the big money paid out is once again future income being gambled. The mistakes of history have been repeated and now the business has to justify the massive outlay for minimal return. It's like Storrie never left. Lampitt and Cotterill deliberately gambled another year of parachute money on getting promoted back to where the big bucks are. They have failed and now the business has to bite the bullet, or bring in new investment. We can see through their spin, I'm sure you can, but many can't. They keep telling everyone how great it's been, how the players have done a tremendous job, how the fans have been fantastic, how the business is breaking even - but we all know that none of that is true. That's why we are amused. Any of the few who say it's been a good season are kidding themselves, much the same as the position we are in. We have spent big money for the level we are at, promotion is a must. If we fail you won't find any Saints fans saying, well we did pretty well, we nearly made the play offs and we did have a bad start, and the refs cost us lots, and we had injuries.... No excuses, both clubs have spent money to go up - not to stay up.

oh well, something to cheer us up on a gloomy night. Cotterill's done an amazing job............yeah, of driving the most expensive bus in the championship over a cliff! Ref's fault again, and isn't that the league's number one convicted sex offender chipping in with goals? How tasteful. When I said a couple of weeks ago they are still very much in it as they have two winnable home games coming up, well it seems I was talking out of my a4se! It isn't going to go down to the wire, they won't be close to the play-offs. Their season is over. Milk bottles on the doorstep, put the cat out, lock the gates and call the administrators to say the cva needs a further delay and that Plan A was an unmitigated disaster. Quality over quantity sounded like a lunatic idea in August, and tonight it was proven to be so, especially when the quality was very poorly chosen. Bring on the Russians, the circus is still in town.

not happy but, beat Bristol Rovers, Huddersfield draw at Charlton, jobs a goodun.

what does a loan shark do if you fail to pay? Well they could just take the business off you, pretend to be your owner and put you into administration for their own personal gain. The next step would be to decide when to sell the debt on, presumably when there's no longer any chance of big short term gain and they see a dim punter kicking the tyres. That'll be now then I guess.

we have seen ourselves how difficult it is to build from scratch and we also know how getting out of a division isn't as easy as you think, so even big Russian money for laundering would be no guarantee of success. There will be three more teams with parachute money, hopefully we'll come up and have funding, Brighton will have extra gate money and look to progress, there will be far more competition in the championship next year. That would be maybe eight teams with better funding than them immediately, and we have seen what the coaching god Cotterill is capable of with the biggest budget in the division. (By the way, I see it was the ref's fault again on sat.) Their business model has to be based on outside investment or massive investment in a new ground, Fratton Park cannot generate enough money to finance promotion campaigns. So panic not me old muckers, there is no quick fix down there. I think it's unrealistic to imagine us storming through the division first time so we might have a couple of years with them, or even get to relegate them. Which would be nice.

he got on the wrong bus.