rallyboy

AA having established a selling price in his own mind still appears no closer to securing that little formality that has thus far proved elusive - a buyer.... I'm impressed that the taxman has managed to get his own deal up to 40p in the pound but I reckon he still wants the lot. And AA's masterplan of announcing a future liquidation not only gives the FL time to rewrite the rulebook in advance so they can hit them very hard but won't it also mean that any parachute payments will halt with the closure of the company they were due to?

I think most people had doubts after ten seconds. Looks like he might have to turn to Chanrai as the best option for the club after all. No doubt he'll be the only one willing to try and save it for the fans etc, how fortunate, AA will continue to chase away any other parties with a dirty stick. The next part of this oh so predictable soap will be the sad and reluctant exit of tearful Avram, if only he'd been given some assurances he could have stayed, (cue squealing tyres and tail lights heading up the Eastern Road at 120mph) Great fans, fantastic club, sleeping giant, deserve success etc, it'll be another Harry script. Despite all these amazing positives about the place, funny how all of them still bugger off.... And I didn't begrudge Paul Hart yesterday, he's had a ridiculous season and a last day relegation would have been a bit harsh on the bloke, especially as he's still owed money by at least one club and his current employer runs out of cash today. He's had enough misery.

Grant said 'We have played some very good football all season. A lot of teams in the Premier League do not play as well as we do. 'We have shown we're a good team on the pitch playing football. 'The fans have been magnificent this season and once again they were fantastic for us' As Kamara would say, 'unbelievable Jeff!'

just been told off for shouting 'pervert' at the tv.

if the Premier League wants to force a breakdown of relationship with the FL it will damage both parties. They don't see that there's power on both sides - the FL teams could refuse to enter the FA cup, no more relegation, just cosy membership, same old sides playing each other, Wigan/Wolves v Bolton/Fulham again and again - that'll please Sky no end. Viewing figures will drop, re-negotiation of tv money, less all round, back to the drawing board. And Sky will have to pay a premium price for the lower league games and don't tell me they won't want Leeds v Millwall or a L2 playoff final. I would be curious to know the precise relationship between FL and FA as well. If the FA has responsibility for the sport then the Premier League's plans are clearly not in the interests of the sport as a whole and that leaves the competition outside of FIFA's control, it would be a competition purely for TV entertainment and with no international recognition - world wrestling anyone? No Champion's League entry, no Prem players representing their countries?.... How about Scudamore shuts up, fecks off, stops hassling the rest of the sport and lets someone sensible negotiate properly and fairly.

not a bad milestone post, better than some of our previous damp squibs and if we're looking for a contribution that captures the atmosphere of a moment in time - Stu has summed it up pretty well with 25,001!

been away for a year, could someone just briefly sum up what's happened? Has Maradona opened the new stadium yet? Will it be ready for their champions league group games?....

Talking of unlikely European campaigns - Fulham - servicing all their debts, taking an average bunch of players and making it to a European final without funding it from stolen charity money - that's what I call a football fairytale. The only connection I see with Pompey's 'great adventure' is that they're both incapable of taking 150 to some away games. And AA has convinced himself that everyone he deals with is an idiot and cannot see through his wafer thin plans - the taxman's gonna string him up one day soon and I for one will chuckle as his little legs twitch.

how could Azougy be responsible for anything? He was never a shadow director, he was purely there in an advisory capacity, he wasn't required to pass any fapp test as he had no power in his part-time, voluntary, consultant role. Unless that version of events is now doing a u-turn along with so many of the others?.... If they are going to tell fibs they really need to try and get some continuity and remember what they said last time they were asked. It's not been a criminal masterclass thus far. Reminds me of that Keystone Cops silent movie when they did arms-dealing, charity-theft, money-laundering, relegation and fraud in quick succession - with hilarious consequences. And it's nice to see the original inspiration for Brokeback Mountain, walk in any saloon looking like that and you'd be in trouble.

If Bill's Bathrooms refused to pay plumbing suppliers and was chucked out of the Toilet Federation the taxman wouldn't care less, they just want their money in line with other creditors, anything else is an irrelevant internal dispute. So could the taxman individually challenge each football club who choses to pay creditors at a different rate to protect their league status, instead of challenging the original Prem 'guideline'? What the league imposes on it's members has no bearing on UK law and if a club leaves itself outside the league structure that's between them and the league, not the taxman's problem! Football seems to be elevating itself to an unacceptable status and things have changed since their first defeat, and that's why the taxman will be all over this again very soon.

Add the vast agent fees and the odd payment to those involved in loan deals, stick the inflated wages and image rights fees on top and we are talking maybe £10M spent on that handful of 'cheap' loanees for six months.

perhaps you were right Nick, I may have been a tad premature in my earlier judgement! I recall when we were on the rocks I did a casual analysis of what I was actually supporting, I attended the last games just to put cash in with no expectation of entertainment nor success - and those games didn't disappoint! I certainly wasn't supporting the board, the players didn't deserve it, even the ground had changed in recent times so the only continuity I was left with was the badge on the shirt. That's where the likes of PIR must be getting to. He also needs to accept that even if people like O'Hara themselves haven't cheated, their presence is clear evidence that the club has cheated, and the illegal cup run can't be blamed on past owners. When I see O'Hara in that shirt I just see the money that should have been paid to charities and local businesses. They could have paid off debts, but no, they chose to bring in overpriced loanees. And the worst thing with the charity theft is that the money wasn't owed to them as a commercial debt, it was raised and then stolen to finance Grant's glorious fairytale - possibly the most disgusting case of bringing the game and a city into disrepute in football history? Very guilty of cheating, no defence at all - next case.

if parachute payments are forwarded to clear football debts and the season ticket money 'disappeared' before August - there would remain a business with restructured debts to pay off, and with an income of exactly zero. However you look at the figures they just don't add up as a going concern. Slashing the season ticket prices to get the punters to cough up now looks to me more like a speedy cash generator than a big favour to the few - the asset-stripping continues. And before anyone says you can't build flats on Fratton, it's designated for 'open air leisure', and if there's no football club it's quite simple, if there is still a club then it would require some legal work, but not much.

spot on Wes, that was the point I was making about the likes of PIR being sensible but there are many out there still spouting rubbish about it being unfair, the debts of Livepool and Man utd being worse than theirs etc. And everytime pervy Grant opens his mouth something ridiculous spills out. Many of the few are just happy to be at Wembley and ignore where the money came from. But since the creditor list went public the rest of football knows how they got there.

it's odd - yes we may have been a bit smug and annoying guessing what's going to happen next (!) but let's be honest here, it hasn't been rocket science - HUGE expenditure + tiny income, what was likely to happen?... So tell me, how can a large section of their fanbase still not grasp - 1.The historical irregularities. 2.The current sham of a semi-administration. 3.What the gloomy future might hold..... Pompey stole from charities to pay the likes of O'Hara and that's sunk in to some and there's shame and a dignified silence, but many still don't get it - what will it take to get through to the majority of the few?

There's definitely been a shift in public opinion, many papers carried scathing Portsmouth stories over the weekend, the 'plucky Pompey battling against the odds fairytale' has unravelled bigtime. The cup win's been exposed and is forever tainted, this year's cup run is just plain illegal, and if the quoted points penalties for next season appear I would start to feel that justice has been served. And the majority of their fans will need to take that on the chin without continuing to defend those that have robbed charities.

Pompey's now a tarnished brand and most sensible fans must be ashamed of what's been done in their club's name. The problem is, can their fans distance themselves from the management that stole from charities yet support the management that brought in O'Hara etc via illegal paperwork? The cast that has guided the club back to wembley are the same ones that stole from charities so it's going to be difficult to be selective when taking a moral stand. It might be nice if the overpaid players cleared the charity debts immediately, I have no doubt that if this had happened at St Marys a year ago someone like Leon Crouch would have stepped in before it even hit the press. Then again even in financial meltdown we showed a bit of class - Rupert was an idiot but he was a gentleman. Sort of. We might have crashed but it wasn't ugly.

I think they might be chuckling to cover their obvious relief - having started the season aiming for a top ten finish two divisions above, along with us tipped for relegation because of the penalty, they suddenly found themselves staring down the barrel of a possible league fixture against us as soon as this August... We knew it was a long shot, but they pooped their little pants at the prospect so tonight they will party like it's 1999 - which is funny because they were in administration then as well - it's like Spurs with the cup years, if the year starts with a 19 or 20, Pompey are likely to be in a financial crisis. Sadly I fear we will replace them a year from now without the chance of a derby, unless the authorities have a good look at the books in the next few weeks and we might see them next season after all. Or Salisbury might.

I just read through the entire list of creditors, it's ridiculous (if vaguely accurate). I see £500K owed to Spurs for O'Hara - will that be the fee from January when he was brought back in illegally? 'No transfers, just loanees, oh your accounts look healthy, help yourself, see you at Wembley.' Cheats. But what about the schools, colleges and charities, the small companies that suffer with cashflow problems, how could they do that to these people? It must be time to pull the plug, the farce has gone on long enough. Let them have their farewell party, a final outing for the Storrie banners, finish the league programme and pull the shutters down. Grant can continue to spout rubbish, his reputation is shot to bits - perving around industrial estates, an appalling league record, and when in front of a microphone he displays the judgement of a deluded clown. AA can treat everyone like idiots and spin more lies, and the big two pulling the strings can waltz off with the property deal that they have always wanted - like none of us know what's been going on for nine months! Let's face it, there isn't anything left to launder so they might as well call it a day, the corpse is drained - some of the stars of this little soap will be beyond the law, others will get away with it, and hopefully several will do time. Time to call it a day.

trouble is you won't have just one, there will be a family. It's you or them, reclaim your house by executing every last one! Several traps, keep them primed after you have any success, after a week you might find that the body count slows down. Every few years we get them here, it normally takes five or six kills before you can enjoy sleep without hearing little paws creeping around the loft, it's not for the faint-hearted, go do it to them before they do it to your stereo. You may want to wear body armour and smear mud on your face to get into that Rambo role as well, I wear a tea towel tied around my head and hold the bodies aloft to warn off the others. or you might have the only loner mouse in the area and he will skuttle away of his own accord....

my goodness, 490 pages in and they've managed to hit a new low. We knew the club had raped local businesses and now we find out that they steal from terminally-ill children. Surely this must be rock bottom? Plucky old Pompey, the fairytale club with the greatest supporters in thw world. Suddenly some of the few look classy compared with their club.

The only asset in the business is an ability to generate TV money, that looks like it's about to leave the building. This development would make it more likely that they could start next season without penalties BUT as they have already waved goodbye to incoming transfer money it would leave the business with no income of any significance. Matchday revenue would cover debt repayments and half a small wagebill - and that's it. That sort of thing doesn't bother fans because they can't see it, until they find themselves in another relegation battle, but they wouldn't be able to compete with the likes of Bournemouth and Rochdale on wages and transfer fees. Presumably AA could now be looking for an owner to pay £10-20M for a club with football debt accounted for, but creditor debt restructured, court cases pending, and no revenue for two years. Those initially cheaper deals start to attract the chancer consortium element and you end up with more nutters trying to make a quick buck or local businessen trying to save the name. They desperately need structure, facilities, academy etc, and that costs - I see them limping along for several seasons. And if you then think 'they will get lucky with some players and a good manager and bounce back' - ask yourself, who would go there, and also agree to be paid less than they could get everywhere else? And we all know they deserve more points penalties but if the authorities let them start on 0 and asset-strip the business instead, it could be more damaging.

AA is now defiantly telling the few that he will fight the European ban! It's him and the prossie-botherer on the battlements of Fortress Fratton, valiantly fighting for justice for plucky Pompey.....mmmmm. The authorities have said quite specifically that they 'won't consider an application'. AA says they have not been banned because they haven't even asked - he says they are still putting an application together - the type of application they have told him they won't even look at. He must be a bit simple. Or paid by the hour, filling his days with pointless tasks as the meter ticks along at an astonishing rate.

I believe that if they don't pay the football debt they don't start next season....? And AA commented under his breath yesterday that he doesn't recognise the football creditor ruling, if he sticks to that then they will be looking for a new type of business to be involved in come August. He has got himself into a bit of a pickle!

you have to give it to GM on that one, nicely done. At last the rest of football has caught up with us, yesterday was a breathrough in outing the criminality and cheating down the road. Did anyone hear the Danny Kelly comment about 36-37,000 Pompey fans trying to get into Fratton every game? Some education still needed there. As for Hearn, Collymore and Talksport - normally we wouldn't give any of you the time of day but this morning I salute you, along with SSN who accused AA of irregularities in his documents - welcome to our world. And if as AA says he hasn't needed to borrow from Chanrai, what is he using to run the club? Shirt buttons or advanced parachute payments?