rallyboy

I think you'll find the few are still doing the arrogantembrace the cup win, ignore how it was financed thang. And with respect Ho, please don't pretend this isn't the case, we don't need another rewrite of history - just because you keep typing it doesn't mean you have altered the past. The club was in legal trouble as soon as Mandaric's sale misled the football authorities - the child-maimer's deception that was later acknowledged by Storrie himself, was a deliberate act to pump money into a club for gain on the pitch. Why pretend you weren't the owner if it was all above board? The cup wasn't about a lucky draw, it was about overspending by an owner who pretended he wasn't the real owner to get around FaPP tests. The eventual and completely predictable collapse wasn't about a sudden withdrawal of funding, it was about longterm massive overspending and incredibly poor and potentially criminal management. The financial planning was that of a retarded five year old - paying Champions League wages on League One income from a League Two 'arena'?? Is it about rivalry? Yep. Would we highlight it if we weren't Saints fans? Oh yes, it's flicking the Vs at football and that annoys fans of all persuasions and if you think no one else cares you need to get out more and hear what is said all over the country about a club that is still to address debts. It just makes it funnier that it is our rivals with their bestest fans, massive support base, sleeping giant, biggest team on the south coast claims with their Fortress Fratton, and their siege mentality that mighty Barnet found so petrifying. We take the mick out of Chelsea, Utd, Arsenal - any club that thinks it is bigger than it really is gets stick - and pompey sit very nicely in that role. Perhaps a little more humility might be in order? I said on here before that I got sense out of W******d when I ran into him (sober) - he just wants his club back, in whatever division - he didn't come up with any of the fantasy pompey stuff that appears on here. So it is the gobby fans and the club attitude that annoys ALL football fans - some things are not worth defending - that is why you are often the only pompey fan on here trying. We have to delay the CVA because we have no money - oh, and how much for your striker? The facts clearly suggest the club is still being run in a shabby manner, and is still trying to pretend there are no creditors or debt - any pompey fans who follow that spin are VERY dim or not football fans. And those parachute payments are being frittered away every day - the next search for a rich new owner will have to start soon.

I'll chase a ball around the park all afternoon like a dog but I can't do gyms, pointlessly plodding on a machine that goes nowhere and stinks of other people's sweat? No thanks. Rather someone threw a stick for me to fetch. Maybe I am a retriever...

today is not the day for knee jerk reactions - we have very few facts. All we know for sure is that one of our players is seriously ill and if initial medical reports are accurate his immediate battle is firstly about survival, and then he could face a very lengthy recovery to everyday life - football is a long way down the list of priorities, where it should be. Wishing him and his family well.

in fairness to Lampitt he's been doing pioneering work in the area of salary-capping. If you can't afford the contract the club agreed just pretend Tal Ben Haim isn't yours for six months - ignore him, don't answer his calls. This is basically the player loaning the club his ludicrous wages, but the short term saving is enough to give potential new owners the impression that the club is trading solvently. Win-win! Which is another term you don't hear too often down that way. You'll have to pay up eventually but this simple action will reinforce the impression that you are either insane or a bunch of crooks who refuse to address your own wagebill, let alone debt. But don't let the owners see the next set of accounts, they'll have a fit. Or they'll shoot you.

recently saw a copy of The News from 91. There was a big piece about pompey needing fratton developed, blaming the council for lack of support, and the backpage was 'Saints say no to groundshare' - mainly because we had our own plans for near the airport.... So a serious question - Is there a club other than pompey that can demonstrate such a consistently poor financial history right back through four decades? That's more than bad luck - its several generations of 'mismanagement' - the place is a magnet for dodgy businessmen.

oh no, pompey have beaten us in the transfer window, what a disappointment! Sob, sob. If only Nige had been watching Lewes we could have scooped the non-league youngster who is coming in to replace the professional youngsters that Cotterill shipped out as he doesn't rate yoof. Damn that Cotterill, he beats us everytime - first Benjani who has bigger and saggier t!ts than Sam Fox, now this nobody! How annoying. How was that money-making friendly at Betis? Now they've managed to make a few quid out of the original idea they can give Havant back their £2K... Or has Ben Haim already spent it on tacky chrome wheel trims and cheap-looking tats? Back of the queue Havant, and it stretches from here to Aberdeen - yeah, get behind the taxpayers, the hospitals, small businesses and that cancer charity - as Ho proudly points out, pompey have spent your money on sh(t players instead. Nice.

belated april fool, or just a nutter who thinks 'IRA rapist' is an acceptable fancy dress look? While its admirable to tackle crime when you see it, creeping around impersonating the black panther could be regarded as a step too far - to do it for the benefit of the tv is most bizarre. Methinks someone read too many comics when younger. Either way, let's hope the mean streets of downtown Yeovil are a safer place tonight.....

only one thing worse than losing - hearing Dave Merrington explain why it has happened. Support sounded great on the radio - well done to those that travelled. Seen the highlights, blatant foul on Lambert. Magic moment? Lallana making their defender fall over just by looking at him as he set up Harding. Good recovery effort, and many results went our way so little damage to the season - too many people drawing games.

cue Claridge cliche - fratton is a terrifying place for teams to go, really intimidating - and professional sportsmen are renowned for becoming withdrawn in the face of aggression... Teams like ourselves, Leeds, Forest, Cardiff, West Ham and Millwall have never experienced a hostile atmosphere, well not in a shanty town stadium with so many empty seats. Though I think the players are mainly terrified of catching scurvy or the plague in the ramshackle 17th century dressing rooms. They will create quite an atmosphere when we go there, though they'll have to hand out songsheets with small words to the people going to their only game of the season. Those 12,000 regulars must generate quite a noise! Welcome to hell? I don't think so! - the bestest bubble has burst. Fortess fratton is a wendy house.

they were heading for about 8,000 season tickets I believe. which would mean, the first £280 of EVERY season ticket goes on paying ONE player (wages and NI) That is insolvency territory. while 6,500 paying punters a fortnight = not a lot of matchday revenue. So the Russians will have to dig deep in April when the transfer income hasn't quite matched the ridiculous fantasy CVA predictions. Anyone looked at the Land Registry recently to see if Chanrai is still quietly in control of the business? If he still owns Fratton Park, he has full control of the club. But I'm sure the Russians wouldn't allow that to go on.

with the basic requirements of administration-exiting still to be attempted, let alone completed, there is no sign of an end for this thread yet. Unless of course you fit into the simpleton group that believes pompey have paid off all debts, cleared the CVA, and it's just a matter of building the new ground with all that parachute money? Once the CVA has been completed, and the forensic enquiry clears all club officials, and the related tax cases lead to no convictions - then the thread will have run its course. I wouldn't be surprised if this thread actually lasts longer than pompey's south coast dominance lasted - it would put that little blip into context. In years to come it would be cool to say, yes you did go to Wembley, but we have a forum thread that lasted longer than you were above us. Would make me chuckle.

is Stevie making them up, are they having a larf? That'll be an anagram of F*ck Ram Toss. Signing a Hungarian striker is a real coup - if you are still on rations and looking forward to the Beatles doing their first school concert. At least the bloke looks cheap, which is progress.

Wembley, promotion, top of the league - let me have a long hard think, do I trust Nicola and Nige or am I more interested in what Warnock has to say?...... Difficult one that.

yawn.

nice lineup! Just enough room left on the pitch for a photocall of club officials mugging a charity worker. And what of the down to the bare bones plucky bestest bench?.....

give it up Ho, some of your arguments like some of the few, just don't wash. We are bored trying to explain attendances and boycotts, the difference in the two clubs plight etc - the facts have been laid out, if you can't accept them just move on, let it go. Please. Accept the fact that we have bigger support, in the modern era of one club loyalty it has always been that way, probably always will be. We may even be the bestest, but who cares, that is for the likes of Claridge to go on about. Understand that the media are just being patronising and making out there is a little plucky underdog with undying support, even if the figures suggest otherwise - it fits their cartoon style - grab a simple theme and milk it to death. They will now adopt Swansea, or perhaps Norwich who in particular do have really impressive support and would deserve such a tag. Coming soon - the plucky little canary tweaking the tail of the mighty Chelsea - the media have forgotten pompey already, its over mate, other than court cases, the club is the day before yesterday's chip wrapper. You still have your club, that should be a bonus, but you need to let go of the past. Let's get this thread back to the funny stuff not the boring. Court cases, tax evasion, pending prison terms, delayed CVAs, deranged managers, ridiculous signings of old fat men, and continued spending despite debts remaining unpaid. I miss people like Avram, especially when he used to lose games really badly, spout rubbish, then give little Avram a run out at the club's expense. How about when we discovered the pompey kitman was on more than our manager, or when the potless Sheik dressed as an ice cream vendor or when the administrator signed autographs! - let's get the comedy back. Happy days.

nice one! Don't take any sh)t from these people. Or anyone in fact!

more like the next Maxwell.

and the funniest thing of all is that however unpopular Rupert was, and whatever ludicrous financial decisions he made, compared with the insolvent trading and blatant criminality that has gone on down the road he now looks like a financial genius and an honourable gentleman. pompey have improved Rupert's PR image ten fold. He drove us into a wall because he made mistakes. They drove over the cliff because they were greedy and twisting the rules. They then did it again. And are still doing it now. Or as Ho will point out, there is no difference between the two situations. Yeah, whatever. zzzzzzzzz........Ho continues to try and bore the thread into submission. And what hurts most is he didn't quote me today, I can't have been offensive enough, this one will qualify for a response surely.....

without us seeing the precise detail of the most recent takeover it would be standard for the new owners to have taken responsibility for ALL aspects of the business, ie any due income, and any due debt. To think that Chanrai would have made a special effort to retain responsibility for a certain portion of the debt just stretches reality. The club owed the small creditors, so the present owners of the club now owe the small creditors. In the same way, just because Storrie ordered certain items or agreed contracts doesn't mean he owes it not the football club. The club stole the charity money, the club shafted the businesses, the owners bought that responsibility via the CVA they agreed to honour. Just pay up pompey. And anyone who continues to defend the current regime's lack of activity when it comes to debt clearance by passing blame or saying, yes we don't know the details of the latest change of hands..... Well I would wager Ben Haim's wagepacket on the Russians being legally responsible for all debt, and if they aren't and £120K is outstanding from Chanrai, they could be local heroes by paying it off themselves from their HUGE fortune, and ripping into those that haven't. Simple. It seems they haven't done that, so I reckon the circus is still in town - same old show, just different clowns. Roll up, roll up! - Lampitt and Cotterill dancing like little monkey boys on strings, and the few lapping up every spun word as gospel. One little set of figures they can't spin - the league table.

Any new mystery investors coming in from Libya?.... Not sure they need to spend anything as Cotterill points out after every game that they were either - a. robbed by the ref. b. the better side. No, they are doing fine with that squad - and how depleted can it get by December? Rather than wasting time on strengthening I presume Lampitt is concentrating all of his efforts on trying to make sense of that hugely complicated and confusing paying back a charity scenario. No funds for small creditors but here's another new striker!....the madness and criminality continues.

we are developing the technical skills to play champagne football - and the wisdom to know when not to. Some people were jumping up and down near the end demanding we charge forward. We were winning, we had the ball, they couldn't get it off us - job done. Good three points against a strong side who will scare a few this season. We are more comfortable against sides who try and outplay us, mainly because we haven't met anyone who can yet! Good use of subs, slightly risky but its along season and we have a strong squad for that purpose. 10/10 Nige. And well done to Seabourne, he is stepping up to the plate. D'Urso is quite poor. Did I see him wrongly over rule a linesman's correct decision from his vantage point half a mile away? His use of cards is somewhat erratic as well, nice he's got the hang of counting them though.

get Theo to come round and read his autobiography to you.

all the debts were proven to AA and he listed them to the court after carefully investigating each and every one of them - so there is nothing to dispute. Unless of course the debt figures he conjured up don't quite match the figures now due for payment? Did he move a decimal point or two perhaps, just to leave the taxman in the cold?...now people are watching to see what is paid and the figures don't quite add up. A meeting with HMRC and the court to explain that would be a meeting worth delaying. (Thats a little conspiracy just to keep Ho amused, better than listening to ludicrous pub myths and publically declaring them as fact.) Lampitt says pompey are a third party to all that has gone before. He is distancing them from the debt, but still happy to be associated with the cup win? The old problem, trying to embrace the glory while ignoring the crime behind it. Gobbing off about Harry and the arms dealer's achievements but slagging them off after they've left the sinking ship. Tis a confusing and fickle business when a cup is financed by taxpayers and you have to be selective about the bits you want to remember. Unlike accountancy that is quite simple and generally goes like this - Small creditor does agreed work. He bills you. You pay it. By now they must have paid more in management and accountancy fees to ignore this debt than to pay it. But the simple cost of closing the book on this massive PR gaffe that has bankrupted local businesses and damaged the club name even further? Less than a months wages for one player.

so Ho is in protest-denial despite press coverage and facts, yet tries to sell us another pompey pub myth - the club is for sale. Bearing in mind Cortese doesn't even tell his missus if he is interested in signing a player, please tell us Mr Ho, what is your reliable source for this piece of business news? Do tell, we are like Gareth Bale, all ears..... Is it the same cross-eyed, sister-bothering, dentist-dodging pub simpleton that brought us great favoutites like the SS tank commander, the dock strike, scummers don't own their ground, the 2 for 1 unemployed tickets at St Marys, the Lambert to pompey close season transfer perhaps? Endless drivel thought up by the dim, for the dim. No matter what rubbish is peddled over that way as fact, or whoever had protests or didnt, there is only one way to judge who is the top team in Hampshire and you are now on the wrong end of the league table, so just like Avram's favourite leisure centre assistant - take it on the chin. We had six years accepting we were in that position on merit. We deserved to be playing Dagenham etc, the table doesn't lie. It may be different in a month or two, but today it shows that we are the top team in Hampshire. Let the tiresome attendance argument end there.