rallyboy

good to see the taxman chasing individuals who no fault of their own could owe £1,400. Among those will be some Pompey creditors who have just been robbed by the CVA - I hope the 4p in the pound less expenses is enough to pay off the taxman. And on tax, interesting to see that a football club seems to have been laundering money. Who'd have thought it possible.

frustrating! - ghosts past one of their defenders for fun and the next minute he nearly kills a steward with a shot. In fact the nearest he got to the goal was with a cross. The worst effort was when Lambert gently rolled the ball back to him on a velvet cushion with a handwritten invitation to bury it. He missed the target again but unlike the shot that hit the roof of the stand the other week he kept this one below row T, so I guess he's improving... I don't know why he doesn't practice in the week, it would seem a good idea as football must be his main source of income, for the moment.

I'm in the Northam and today I will refuse to clap anything at all!! Mainly because my arm is in a sling after I dislocated my effing collar bone in the week. I'd like to say it was from punching the air too much at the Swindon game, but it wasn't. So my fellow negative monkeys who upset sensitive and easily distracted players with irrelelvant chants, feel free to say hello to the man with the arm sling! Unless you are 12 and an extra from Football Factory, then don't bother.

since when did we start shopping at Lidl? He would be great for a club under an embargo with no cash, but that's not the South Coast Team, that's the next one along. I'm sure he's a top bloke and he's done a great job creating a siege mentality somewhere that was under siege. But this one is a VERY different job and experience is key. Would be a little underwhelmed by an appiontment that is a step down from Pardew, but as I pointed out in the heat of the sh(tstorm, everything will be judged by the table in May so whoever it is, just get results.

The ban is a little ambitious. A spat with the Sun is unwise. The Sun confirming us as the only club on the south coast is most welcome. The cartoons were funny. The subbuteo is nearly funny. The Sun banging on about it is becoming boring, but then again they are aiming at a very low IQ audience. All publicity is good publicity.....as Gary Glitter, John Leslie and Michael Barrymore used to say.

I think the whole Utaka wage denial was about glossing over the huge percentage of his salary that comes in add ons. To generate the wagebill they had he is likely to be on the basic that Storrie and Redknapp freely discussed, plus at least the same again in image rights or offshore payments, as was and still is the Pompey way - so £80K seems quite likely for a player they rated as a new Diarra/Henry/Eto. Their wagebill must be huge for a Championship club - they would have been better off giving Utaka away with two million pounds to the club who took him in Jan. Or there could have been a 'Redknapp' deal to be done there........ So there are half a dozen players now eating up the budget for the entire squad. Luckily they have a young man who can borrow money against the 'stadium' to buy them. That'll be about four people using Fratton as security now.

so have they 'done' a deal that will fall apart when the FL remind them they have an embargo, or have they worked their way around it? Wouldn't surprise me if they have just ignored it and will claim a misunderstanding/loss of letter etc. Bearing in mind the league is also keeping an eye on their overheads so they don't get themselves into trouble again, the fact that the deal increases their wagebill won't make it look too clever. Signing Kanu after redefining him as a free agent or bringing in low-paid loan players to fill the squad I can accept, but signing two players from the Prem on big wages? Forget the Wilson element, according to the CVA plan that should have been simply a sale to raise money, not a swap deal that increases overheads. Have they now conned the FL as well? If they pull this one off you have to admire their cheek.

so to clarify the state of the business (using the term in its loosest sense) Wilson plus Smith has generated approx £2.5M gross, which equals maybe £1.5M in real terms (if Chanrai doesn't trouser it). With their Prem contracts Kitson and Lawrence must be on more money than the two departees so I would imagine they have increased their overheads despite offloading youngsters as well. How they can sign players when they are not allowed to sign players is a whole different matter for the FL to address and explain. The firesale has generated maybe half of their minimum target required to service the CVA, and the wages are still way over what they need to be. As a performance on CVA Part I - I think AA gets 2 out of 10. This is the next crunch time, how do they pay the wages and the CVA until January? Time for the Bank of Chanrai to open it's doors again.

news? I thought it was a lone rumour on a pompey forum? Now if that came to pass there would be questions asked. They are just upset that the goal machine Smith could be lost. I would guess that Chanrai will wait for any incoming cheques to clear before he does too much.

our strength last year was (eventually) squad depth - it doesn't have to be like Chelsea and Man City where you try to buy the two best in that position in the world, but all first teams get ravaged by injury and suspension, or even loss of form. When this happens, how good will poor plucky pompey look then? I see 'special' assistance being demanded before Christmas because the south coast's forgotten team can't field the sort of players that they'd like to. A surprised Cotterill will say his hands are tied, it's impossible, etc - if only the stunning Smith and Nugent goal machine was firing on all cylinders. Not sure the FL will be as generous as the Prem. More predictable soap opera to come.

calm down everyone, I was disappointed by the sacking but the insane ranting on here has annoyed me more than the decision, boycotts, chants, hanging from a lampost?? Idiotic. I saw Spurs this week sweep majestically into the Champions Lge proper, their fans were singing of eternal support - a few days later they were booing the players off like the fickle yobs they are. Win together, lose together? Only when it suits them. Managers and players come and go, you abuse them one week and adore them the next - so let's have a reality check on history for those spouting crap - Hoddle has failed everywhere since The Dell - having him back would have changed nothing - let's bury that stupid fantasy once and for all. Strachan was great for a short time for us, but his record pre and post-Saints is very average. Pearson was great in a crisis, engineered a great escape and may develop into a very good manager, but he's not Alex Ferguson so we don't know what would have happened then. Burley had a great record, but he failed here. Redknapp is the man to get you out of a relegation crisis by wheeler-dealing....yeah, right. For all we know Wotte could turn into Mourinho with some money but we will never know so let's not guess at the version of imaginary history we would like to fit our arguments. Pardew has a pretty good record with us, okay at West Ham, horrendous at Charlton - we have no idea how the next six games would go let alone the season. And most importantly Rupert Lowe's main aim was to make money for Rupert Lowe. Nicola Cortese' main aim is to honour his best mates' dying wish and to take us back to the Prem - Now the way he does that may be ruthless and ill-judged, his timing may be woeful, he may make mistakes - BUT unlike Lowe he wants the same end result that we do, success for Saints - this decision today will be judged by the table in May, nothing else. So chill, let's see what he has up his sleeve before getting all ranty, if he has nothing up his sleeve then we can rant.

after a few years watching football nothing surprises you so it's not a shock, just slightly odd timing. I'll reserve judgement until we see what the plan is, Cortese's structure is work in progress, let's see what he has in store and if it's crazy, let's go ape then. However if Cortese's masterplan is amazing then let's just thank Pardew for his part in turning the club around when we were in crisis and being part of the rebuilding process, and then look forwards. So I'll wait for more information before making a judgement.

about as long as he lasted on Horton Heath industrial estate. Cotterill made it clear that of the three players involved needing to agree personal terms for this deal to work, one was close, and the other two were still haggling - which sounds like 0 out of 3 - a far from done deal. Presumably one of the greedy incoming wants them to break the already ludicrous wage limit. This will be a test of AA's resolve.....Not. They will never have to pay the terms as the Prem or the FA will have to cover it as a football debt should his boss liquidate the business, so AA can agree any terms they demand with no intention of honouring them. Oh well, tonight it looks like our own eternal pessimist Nick may be drifting back into 'wrong' again, we shall see how the table looks in a few months, the jury is still out but all 12 are shaking their heads and doing that 'knife across throat' action...

Funny how AA seems to think they can sign players and the FL think they can't, then again AA couldn't make up his mind whether Kanu was still under contract and on huge wages or unregistered and unsignable a while back. Could this be a three year contract on crazy wages, or on lower wages because Kanu knows that he will only have to play one season and then they'll need to pay him off, thus giving him three years money for one year playing, guaranteed by the football creditor rule whatever happens? Another plank of deadwood to clutter the sinking ship.

so to be sure of covering the CVA they actually need to raise £75M in transfers this window allowing Chanrai to take his cut! Unlike the harbour stadium this news is a development - does the league know that he can take this money, do the creditors know, how long does this apply? No alternative owner would come in knowing the squad is in reality worth less than 20% of the market value. Or is Chanrai demonstrating to the ripped off creditors who voted for 'his' CVA that he's trousering the other 80p in everyone else's pounds? Those that voted yes become more stupid with every passing week, if that is possible. But the funniest bit of all is that we now have the situation where a £5M player sold pays maybe half a mill to agents, the usual £800K to Spurs, and with this the income from £5M is actually about just over half of the fee. So with Chanrai's power over transfer income they technically need to raise £100M in this window - and a further £50M in Jan! He must be chuckling to himself.

the 857 crew were worse. Just as hard but less sleepy. It's tough to get out of bed early when your sister is a cutie.

Pompey are set to sell Marc Wilson to Stoke as part of a deal to sign Dave Kitson and Liam Laurence. The clever plan was to raise millions and cut the wages, has AA become a bit muddled? This deal is additional wages and a much reduced fee - so it won't help pay the CVA, the overall sales target has been missed by quite a margin and the overheads must exceed the income. This deal is all about strengthening the squad and ignoring the consequences, it weakens the business -the exact mistake that got them a winding up order. Some might even suggest it smacks of a team cheating around the embargo and continuing to ignore debt, offloading youngsters and replacing them with Prem players. I wonder what the FL will make of it. How long can they continue to trade insolvently?

The Star have missed the vital points that Mandaric's deal was to sell only half the club, and the league has questioned the validity of that deal - two huge stumbling blocks preventing him even opening lengthy negotiations to return south - a suicidal business move that would lose him a fortune. Add in the court cases hanging over him and the storrie is very dead in the water.

looks like a few lesser Prem clubs have found somewhere to offload their unwanted overpaid squad players, and the owner clubs can't be paying all the wages. I think Stoke have history, they pulled that stunt on us..... Wilson can't be on too high a wage having joined before Storrie and Redknapp got going so his exit won't help as much as that of Utaka or Nugent. If they are stuck with both of them until the next window it will cost something like £2M and the wagecap will be nonesense - that's if they can actually pay the wagebill or clear up the outstanding bonuses.

Awford is still sensibly giving the party line whereas Claridge was ridiculed for suggesting that the club was being run by criminals and that it was wrong to abuse local businesses and charities. Not sure that he's recovered from his honesty but his street cred has improved dramatically everywhere else. And while we are on the subject of shafting business and taxpayers to contribute to the funding shortfalls in local services, will the club that ripped off the taxman to the tune of £25M+ be renamed as G5 FC to recognise their part in cutbacks, or are the locals not ready to make that uncomfortable connection just yet?...

Any other clubs or individuals get a cut? - the Sandbanks Petting Zoo Trust perhaps? Anyway once this kid from up north has fulfilled the 401 conditions for borrowing £40M, he should be okay for getting more loans and working the debt back up. Yes, I can see him taking Pompey back to where they were - £138M in debt. He wants to buy the club with their own money, he's a little Glazer!

a dodgy father in the background with bankruptcy and irregularities hanging over him, funding a son who doesn't have two pennies to rub together but who has ambitious plans for redevelopment.... could we meet their long lost arab cousin who knows Maradona and we have the full set! This is just the new lease of life this thread needed, though the plot does seem very familiar. And any of the few who think this is a good news story must have the memory of a goldfish.

that's the most feeble potential owner thus far - even worse than the one that didn't exist, and if AA calls it a debacle it must be bad. I suspect he's used ALL of his money to get this far and the sensible owner uses a small amount to buy and keeps the bulk to run the business, not the other way round. So he's going to buy the club for half the price Chanrai wants meaning he writes off half his investment, something he could have done anytime before, yeah right! - then he's going to buy the arms dealer out, and he'll want at least £20M to make up for the cva shafting. So student boy has to find himself a loan for about £40M and sign a paper to take on all the other debt as well, presumably his bankrupt father taught him business skills. Definitely the worst chancer so far, right down there with the bloke in Barnet who lived with mum and dad. Makes you wonder - why do people do this? What do they get from seeing their face in the paper with a caption that says 'nutter or dreamer?' Madness, and not in a Night Boat to Cairo sort of way.

I see Fifa are in the country looking at the World Cup bid today, do we know what time Blatter's people will be checking out the Harbourdome complex and adjoining water borne fleet of executive hotels? Putting rivalry aside it will be fantastic to have the world cup final played in Hampshire - I hope they complete the snagging list before the delegates get there. It must be close to completion as I saw the old ground at Fratton on the tv and they've run that one down to dereliction and closed a lot of areas to fans, every other seat, and even the car park, so I guess the big move must be any day now.

that'll be the players that voted for the CVA thus giving the club support to do whatever it wants. Looks like they made that bed and either joined a club that doesn't pay wages on time or stayed with one that doesn't - tough. What did they expect? Idiots. From the FL view that looks like a club still saddled with massive historical football debt that cannot meet its current obligations, let alone take on others. Embargo should be tightened until they can meet their overheads - and unlike the Prem I could see the FL jumping on them.....hopefully. When they default on the CVA soon can we just put the cat out, the milk bottles on the doorstep and close the whole sorry saga?