rallyboy

Another signing, more debt - mid table isn't enough when you must now have the highest wagebill in the division (as we well know). Though it's a bit odd for a business that has been trading insolvently for a year to still be increasing overheads.... First they gambled on getting into Europe and lost. Then they gambled on staying up and nearly lost the club. Now they are putting everything on an instant return, and the stakes get higher with every gamble - if they lose this one, surely there will be nothing left to bet. Someone's brave - or hasn't learned any lessons from history.

suddenly it makes sense - AA pulled the plug on Halford because he had Rooney on the other line.... That also explains why AA hasn't done either of the major things he said he would be doing in the last four days. Presumably like those who have joined before him Wayne will be buying out his Utd contract 'with his own money', and joining as a free to sidestep the year long embargo that has so hampered their recruitment. I guess the administrator has had to put administrating on the back burner to finish that deal, and the european appeal. Wayne's thick, but I hope for Colleen's sake he isn't that thick.

that's not the stadium - that's just the smaller of the two meeting rooms at their new training facility - it looks like a photo from the announcement of the Messi signing.... Talking of media scrums, we should welcome them to our world - there's Liverpool all over the papers, AA makes the rash statement that they will have new owners and exit admin in days.....no media bat an eyelid. Is it that the media aren't interested or like the rest of people off Portsea they just don't believe him? Once out of the Prem you no longer exist.......unless your chairman can create you headlines. The Prem that brims with quality - Wigan, Stoke, West Ham, Bolton, Sunderland, Wolves, Blackpool, Blackburn etc - internationally-recognised footballing giants from the best league in the world. Am I the only one that shudders when I hear results like Birmingham 0-0 Fulham?

and AA has spoken to all 14 of those present in that photo and 3 have approved his cva - which equals 98% when seasonally adjusted. What's happened to his much-promised admin exit? Has he been telling fibs and the dim few have been lapping them up again? They'll need a shedload of lucky heather to get out of this one.

what happened to that exit of administration and new ownership that AA was finalising over the weekend? He's been paid for six months to do the paperwork, it just needs signing. Presumably it will all be confirmed at the press conference today at the turf cutting of the Harbour Superdome? I'm puzzled and starting to wonder if rather than closing this thread asap it might be wise to allow it to run, just for a day or two - at least until Chanrai's postal order clears.

Mack did save us a few posts tonight with his accurate summary of the last 200 pages, thanks for that. But I guess that's it now, the thread is reaching a conclusion, the final signatures on the takeover being completed and adminstration is now behind them - move along there's nothing to see here anymore. It's been a bumpy ride and a hilarious one, we've made friends on both sides, Ho has been here too, but I guess all good things must come to an end so farewell my 683 page friend, may this thread go down in history. As AA packs his briefcase this evening and leaves Fratton in the hands of a new owner this weekend they are set for a glorious and stable future, a workable cva, new investment, debts addressed, and a squad soon to be strengthened for that all important promotion push. He did them a great job and he'll be pleased to be somewhere else on Monday. As one thread closes, a new chapter in Portsmouth FC begins, I for one thought they would struggle to get a new owner but this weekend they have proved us wrong! Unless of course we still don't believe AA. Perhaps we should wait for some....now what do they call them?......oh yeah, facts......

Phil makes a good point - they learned nothing from Leeds or even our mistakes, and now it seems they can't even remember making these same mistakes a year ago. They seem hellbent on destruction by overspending, it's a cycle of stupidity. Rather than becoming addicted to a thread that he obviously hates, cobbling together childish insults that make us chuckle, Ho would be better off asking his club why the hell they are STILL buying players they can't afford. And that's where the problem lies - 'it's not the fan's fault' they squeal - not directly, but you didn't ask why they were overspending you just sat there and enjoyed the ride, celebrating everytime Lawrence scored, rather than saying - 'Why is this bloke here on these wages that some Prem teams can't afford?' and 'Why am I letting AA and Lampitt do this to my club??' The only way the club will survive is if a new owner chucks large money in, or they cut costs and look for stability, even if it means another relegation. When Saints fans weren't happy they took action. When Liverpool fans weren't happy they took action. Even Man Utd fans are making a point. The fans need to see what is really happening and look beyond the exciting point away at Middlesboro - at this rate those odd points could cost the club it's future. To celebrate a goal by Kitson or Lawrence without questioning their signings is to condone the suicidal course that AA, Lampitt and Cotterill are leading the business down. As Secret Affair so famously said, it's the time for action - Rise up my blue friends, leave your sisters alone and come out of your caravans, get those heads out of the sand and tell them to stop messing up your club, put a halt to the madness - accept that the bigtime was an illegal sham and rebuild sensibly - or wave goodbye to that whole glorious ten years of history. So are they going to complain about overspending or just sit their meekly shouting Kitson's name while knowing inside that he's bankrupting the club, with their support?

I think perhaps the club's damaging media campaign over the last year insulting football authorities at every opportunity, plus the drip feed effect of Gold and Wenger openly calling them cheats, other clubs losing out on players when outbid by a morally bankupt and insolvently trading regime, a whispering campaign in the corridors of the football league from unimpressed chairmen and the pending court action, meant that the insanity of signing Lawrence and Kitson was seen as the final two straws - AA couldn't even do that in one! Rather than being seen as the cavalry coming over the horizon, history may record these two Stoke reject signings as the final double insult that pushed the authorities to action. Enough is enough - saddle the horses, it's Apocalypse II time - the return of the four horsemen - clippety-clop, clippety-clop, up the M275.....

So they couldn't fool the FL like they did the Prem - I reckon the signing of Lawrence and Kitson may have been the final straw - a clear two fingers to creditors and other clubs. Their wages are too high. The figures don't stack up. They made no effort to address debt. AA is Chanrai's puppet and creditors interests haven't been top of his agenda. Then again, you didn't have to be Sherlock Holmes to notice these things!! Interesting times. Not convinced that it's the end game and the FL now have a problem. The club is committed to players and contracts they can't afford and the fixture list has to be honoured. the few need a big high-interest loan - nothing to pay until 2014.

the four requirements - 1. Pay your effing bills 2. Stop ignoring the transfer embargo. 3. Accept that the FA Cup was obtained by deception. 4. Show some humility by apologising to the rest of football. 5. Stop manipulating figures on squads or debt, it's really obvious when 4 becomes 5 etc.

any problem with wage payments now would be nothing short of disaster. It would reveal that behind the brave talk and positive spin the club is sinking and the business is terminally damaged. Let's see whether that is the case before cracking open a can of Tizer. And as promised - I thought Avram Grant had been shopping in John Lewis when they said he'd just splashed out on a pair of Thais.

any chance of a UK football club being name-checked in French or Israeli courts in connection with money-laundering and tax evasion? If agencies have been hunting paper trails and performing forensic accountancy investigations on the child-maimer's businesses there must be a 50-50 chance of a football club getting a mention. That could be the ultimate humiliation for the public image of any business looking for a future without the taint of scandal. Crab - I would post more but like potential owners of Pompey I'm too lazy to invest the fiver being asked. thanks for the support, I'll do my Avram Grant joke again soon, hasn't had an airing for a hundred pages, watch this space.....maybe tomorrow, it's classic, worth repeating.

so Lampitt hasn't seen anyone's comments about his company?? If I was boss of a company criticised all over the national media I would take time to have a glance. And he glossed over the serious issue of the lack of funds for an unworkable CVA by talking about football creditors instead. Nice.

not sure about the subs bench but if anyone needs pulling off at half time Uncle Avram can organise that at Horton Heath. I can see the Gaydamaks being a fiercesome Maginot-style defensive line, behind their line of lumpy grass outside the box where kids will lose their limbs - the war crimes tribunal's answer to the Chuckle Brothers. Quite a line up but maybe short on pace? Though I would imagine Storrie will show an astonishing burst when they find the real accounts. I take it in true blue tradition none of these players will be correctly registered, they'll be obtained by mysteriously buying out their contracts elsewhere and will arrive on a bus that will be driven straight through an embargo?

methinks Ho doesn't like this thread anymore, he started going off it when one or two of his great ITK claims amounted to diddly squat and his street cred hit zero - and it's still flatlining. There are ways to behave on an opposition site, humble and self-effacing are quite cool - but blind arrogance and denial is always hilarious. Do carry on everyone, it makes me chuckle, and this thread should continue all the time AA's golden goose keeps smearing omlettes all over his little chubby face.

I thought the precedent was set by Roy Keane admitting deliberate violence against an opponent in his book, I believe he was charged. Mokoena has clearly bought the game into disrepute and is so 'honest' he will no doubt plead guilty. On legal matters, how's the European appeal going?

.......so without a new owner is AA using extended admin as a safe harbour protecting the company from any further liquidation attempts, until the new company takes on the debt and is safe from liquidation itself? A gap between the two events would be an opportunity for a unpaid creditor to pounce and push for the death sentence, but all the time they delay the start of cva every unpaid debt is in limbo? Does a cva-approval for a cva that fails to proceed have a time limit before it runs out and it has to go back to court, or is that far too much to hope for?!

many people don't realise that the CVA hasn't even started, I presumed it would kick in as soon as it was approved by a lunatic in a wig but the wait goes on for that first elusive 3p in the pound. What's worse than being shafted by a football club that's stolen money from you? Having to wait for them to shaft you.

just another Saturday at Fratton Park, empty ground, no points - business as usual.

met Nigel Adkins today and I have to say he's a top bloke - and he's delivering on the pitch. As one who was quietly underwhelmed at his appointment, I think I was wrong and Cortese has got this one right. In Nicola we trust.

Saints 2004 - big money in - big money out but unwisely spent and now medium money in - medium money out spent wisely, building sensibly. With a big pot in the corner should we have need. I would imagine our business model is based on championship income at the moment so it needs to happen sooner rather than later. Pompey's business model could never have worked, it needed Champs League income to keep it propped up with a ground that couldn't generate diddly squat - it was insane and was only ever going to end one way. It makes Leeds look unfortunate. The director's should have been sectioned if they ever believed it was viable. I wonder when it will end?..... Man utd HUGE money in - HUGE money out -hugely reliant on continued success - one bad season with a 5th place finish and they are in big trouble.

so 675 pages in we are still trying to explain basic maths - it's like showing a retriever a card trick. big money in + big money out = okay small money in + big money out = bad big money in + small money out = Blackpool big money in + huge money out = Liverpool

if you think I'm wandering out on to the M27 at Junction 9 for a kickabout at Christmas you can think again.

I'm not sure they're getting away with much behind the scenes at the moment. No ratification from the FL for AA's laughable CVA. No sign of a real owner. No sign of any creditor getting a penny. Arms dealer claiming more money and increased security over assets. No sign of fresh investment. All quiet on the outcome of their European appeal. No sign of groundworks commencing at the harbour. And with every day that passes........the debt increases. tickety tock, tickety tock!

I have no issue with Mokoena getting away with an elbow, Mack is right, swings and roundabouts. BUT....announcing it to the world is pretty dim, and I'm not buying the 'look at innocent little me, I'm just too honest for my own good' - it's not the talk of someone who has just deliberately elbowed someone in the throat and described it as 'doing him'. I see a charge of disrepute or similar landing on his doormat sometime soon, they don't like players bragging about violent assault - but it was worth a point, so time well spent from his point of view.