rallyboy

that could be another record to add to that hilarious start to the season - the only team to get a 9pt penalty and still be on negative points in January. If they stumble along at this pace and then get a penalty for the financial irregularities or administration I reckon they will be mathematically relegated around February. If they got hit for both I think they were relegated four weeks ago and we all missed it! IF relegation does happen and let's remind ourselves that it is only a possibility at the moment....the penalty points scenario wouldn't be as much fun - I want to sit there and savour their demise, in my best suit, eating Twiglets, with a can of Tizer to hand - I don't want them to go down as a result of off the field stupidity, I want to see the final coffin-nail-goals hit the net on Sky. Though at a push I would begrudgingly accept watching it on any channel.

talked to a Pompey fan last night and they still don't get it - 'we have the TV money to come' seems to be the answer to everything, ignoring all the loans secured against TV money until the end of time. Also, if you buy a cheap house next to the airport don't be surprised if you hear some planes, and if you buy cheap players from Africa don't be surprised if they go the the Africa Nations Cup, and they tend not to return on time. So from now until the end of the year they might get points off Sunderland, Stoke, Burnley, West Ham, then their reserve side is pitched into battle in January.....I do hope they don't draw their rivals away in the cup, that could be the final straw for their season. But if another wage bill causes problems or Storrie gets found guilty, then the financial side will look bleaker than the playing side, and that would be an achievement. I will miss this golden era but it has gone on far longer than I hoped.

this thread has generated so much laughter it deserves to be back up the top. At least things are going better on the pitch, safety is still in sight, the free-scoring team is playing well and defending tightly, and once Maradona and Grant get those Galacticos in during January with Fahim's £50M gift, the likes of Wolves and Hull won't know what's hit them. But I do wonder if any of those people who have loaned even more money into the black hole have asked for a first repayment yet, did Storrie actually twig that these people did want it back, and that annoyingly, the whole repaying malarky starts quite soon? January's TV money is spoken for, the loans have been used to clear debt, the season ticket money has long gone, the business must now be running mainly on the money through the turnstiles from about 6,000 additional people a home game - roughly £90K a week, approx a quarter of the wage bill. If they draw us in the cup they will have to forego home advantage and come to St Marys to use it as a money spinner.

I don't have 'the hate', and I have several mates from the wrong side of the river and it's great at the moment. They said they didn't want us to go out of business when we had our little issues and I feel the same now. That said.... I would love to see them in admin, relegated, convicted of financial irregularities, shamed, humiliated, and plummeting through the leagues like a bag of unwanted kittens down a well. But let's remember, the caravan-loving, inbred, multi-convicted, sister-worrying, self-tattooed, wonky-eyed, lunatic element only make up 80% of their support, the remaining 1,500 are just misguided and need our help and understanding. In fact they could be just like you and me, living in the same towns, working at the same places, just the same - apart from the fact that they support a team going down the shi+ter, and we very much don't. They don't need our hate, they need our sympathy.

yes that will be it Mr Loophole, the only place they are allowed to interview him is in court with a magistrate presiding in front of a public gallery. It's only on The Bill and the Sweeney that they tape interviews under caution in police stations and the like before presenting the evidence to the CPS, then await a decision on whether a prosecution is likely to be successful and then name a court date - which is where we appear to have rushed to in this case. It seems a bit unfair on him, I'm sure the agent earned the £500K on a £1.5M deal and that no one else would benefit from that HUGE fee, let alone the fee paid to the player illegally, I can't see any issues, what is wrong with the CPS, and the Premier League who must be hovering like vultures? - a guilty verdict would open the whole drum of worms and they would be squirming about all over Fratton goods yard inviting the attention of everyone from the fraud squad to Fifa. I'm sure it will be fine and no further charges will follow against the other members of the gang. Not that there was a gang. Or even a crime.

could be a good opportunity to thrash out a deal with Marlon King if Storrie gets to share a cell with him, though knowing Pompey's luck, Harry on the next landing will call in another favour, hijack the deal last minute and take him to Spurs... Anyway, hero Storrie must be innocent because for a week of that tax year he was away and he didn't know what was occurring at any point during the whole deal right up until the later annual tax return, and beyond. The blue house of cards is wobbling like an MFI wardrobe in a stiff breeze.

Dune is correct, if you wish to vote for holocaust-denial, racism and ill-thought out immigration policies based on selective history, they are indeed the boys for you. On this section of the forum, football meets politics, so it is relevant to say that I am happy to support Saints players of any colour or creed if they wear the shirt proudly, I have no wish to campaign against 'people who are different' as the BNP very clearly do. Surely a vote for the BNP is a vote against that foreigner Le Tissier, and of course we would rather go out of business than accept foreign money to save the club.... The lines are very clear. IMO you can't support both the BNP and Saints (or any club) as there are far too many conflicts to sit comfortably, unless you ignore the facts and just go for the convenient policies.

excellent effort, something to be proud of - the money raised and the finish! And as the months pass by you will just remember the good bits which will make it even better.

sorry! I opened the door and the little mischief-maker ran in. NC you are a naughty rascal and you know that there are people on here who will leap upon this now, I won't make that mistake again, which funnily enough I was only saying to another great hero LM the other day.

everyone deserves a second chance - Rose West, Peter Sutcliffe, Gary Glitter etc....or maybe not. King's record of transgressions puts the whole 'throw-in betting debacle' in context, and he has already done the 'I've changed, learned my lesson' bit a couple of times. Hopefully any potential managers will have daughters or wives and will think again about employing a man of this ilk. Gordon Taylor may find the King defending camp a lonely place.

no, it just means an agent is putting his player in the shop window. I would be surprised if the ban isn't lifted within a week or two as they MUST clear the transfers debt to avoid a points penalty, and if someone has chucked £15M into the black hole then they will be able to do that - unless of course it has gone toward restocking the landmine and grenades shop, with the rest of the income of the last year. So what sort of interest rates do you have to pay on a short term loan of this size? Presumably the guy will want the January TV money plus another £10M, or is that promised to another couple of people already? It's all so confusing - so much debt, so little income, add some expensive borrowing, that'll help. Monthly outgoings must be climbing rapidly with the repayments on the last month's £20M loans, lucky they had a big crowd at the weekend. With the new repayments they must have got the outgoings back to where they were before the great wage-bill cull. Nothing that five consecutive years of Champions League advanced stages income won't sort, no need to worry. Had they drawn Man Utd at home in the Carling Cup, would they have asked to play it at Old Trafford?

I'd be more concerned about the Orient fan who got involved with Kelvin Davies when he was trying to retrieve the ball - VERY close to a technical assault on a player/entering the playing area, which equals a very serious FA charge - from what I could see it didn't even generate a telling off from the steward on the spot so a few cheery people wandering about is no big deal in comparison, and their problem if it is. And I have a confession -when the beach ball landed on my lap my instant reaction was to hurl it in the direction of their six yard box, sadly it only made it onto the left wing but the thought was there. Guilty of trying to generate a Saints goal through any means.

I'm with Boggy on this one and we need to make a stand. If the inbred Southampton children who behaved like that in Bethnal Green want to show themselves to be ignorant and easily led by 'bigger boys' who supported the Germans in WWII, that's their choice - but don't bring shame on our club by displaying your stupidity in public. The team don't want you, the huge support at Orient doesn't want you, and now that half term is over just go back to your sad little lonely world of truancy and failure.

had I not been there I would have been horrified when we went two down but that's the first time for years that I never had any doubt - we were always going to get something from the game. It was just one of those freakish matches that happen over a season, you dominate yet the ball won't go in, we hammered their goal, nearly scored, but they go up the other end and fluke a second. Not saying we were brilliant but it was a really encouraging performance and they were petrified when we attacked in the second half and will now be on an open top bus ride celebrating the point. Two points dropped, yet a great comeback that was so nearly complete... As for their manager saying they were the best team, he must be mentally ill. And the BBC stats of 51-49 possession? - ludicrous, had to be near 65-35.

There is only one thing that can save the blue few from further humiliation. Not talk, nor excuses, no spin, no hollow promises, no more irresponsible borrowing, no blaming the papers, no denying financial irregularities - the answer is quite complex, so concentrate out there......... Someone has to put BIG money on the table. Yes the rumours are funny, some offer hope, others suggest meltdown, but at the end of the day they don't matter, it is all about that one thing - it's sterling on the table time folks! No, no - no more Storries of restructuring, delayed announcements, deals in the pipeline, meetings with banks etc, they don't count, they never have - it has to be hard cash, not another loan, and oh my goodness, it has to be now. So like the debt mountain, we wait.....with ever-growing interest.....

is it just a massive coincidence that the two new potential investors are exactly the same people who are awaiting a court-imposed compensation payment of £27M from the arms dealer? An amount which is unlikely to come as cash, if at all, as he is busy trying to stay out of prison. But what is their game? The best way to hit a former business associate who has ripped you off could be to get in amongst his previous company and wreck any land investment he still holds perhaps, or do they think they can get some of their dues via this route? It seems more likely that this is a personal assault on the arms dealer's lingering Fratton interests rather than an investment for football's sake - or do I always see the worst in people? Can one of our forum financial experts hazard a guess as to what they are up to?

a tip for you Merov as over here we know a little about these things - if you do see wages missed, administrators circling, owners running away with furniture, players advertising themselves in the press and men with clipboards measuring the pitch to see how many houses they can get on it, you will be staggered to find that there will still be fans in denial standing among the rubble of the club still pointlessly debating centre back partnerships and demanding to know why the board hasn't appointed Wenger/Maradona/Moyes. The majority just won't get the seriousness and when the fat lady rides in with the four horsemen surrounding by vultures they will think it's just the half time entertainment. 'But no one goes out of business, something always comes up....' Yes, as long as there isn't a worldwide financial crisis that has wiped out huge sectors of those who would normally invest. We picked the wrong time to get relegated (twice), Pompey may have picked the wrong time to be in desperate need of investment. Then again a billionaire might sail in anyday, all he will have to do is try to make sense of who owns what, give them all a few million to bugger off, find the £30M for the arms dealer, £10 for tax, £25M to clear the newest loans, £50M for the next years outgoings, £20M for transfers in Jan, £5M to sort the managerial situation, the £3M for agents, £5M for other clubs, £10M for a training ground, £30M to redevelop Fratton (all figures approx but you get the picture), leaving him with a a ground half the size of St James Park and a club that has cost twice as much as Newcastle and has half the income potential. That will be one shrewd billionaire who can see a business beyond the problems. Or he will wait for the admin where all but the name will go to creditors and he can start from scratch on a new site - cost? £100M to launch in the Conference South?

They're okay now, they've beaten Stoke reserves and have managed to increase their debt to pay the wages short term. I guess this glorious improvement will signal their fans returning here in droves. Bearing in mind they are likely to turn a corner at some point and the gobby ones will crawl out again, can we come up with an official name for this era for future reference? - The Great Silence, The Hush of 2009, The Year of the Tumbleweed? - something similar?...it needs to say shame, ridicule, failure and cowardice ideally. I just think we should remind every 'visitor' of these months on every future thread they try to hijack. Merovingian is obviously excluded from any of this as along with a couple of others he is braver than the rest so deserves respect, and though he doesn't realise yet, he's also our conversion project. He'll be there with us at Wembley in May, tattoos covered by Saints stickers...

More borrowing? Overheads creeping up, income reducing, what could possibly go wrong?! They need a VERY dim billionaire or a miracle. With missed wages etc the results on the pitch should be the least of their worries yet supporters are celebrating another loan to add to the pile - wakey wakey blue few, increased borrowing on a business incapable of servicing the current level is not a good thing. Clippity-clop, clippity-clop - that'll be the four horsemen of the apocalypse riding up the M275.

''it's just a matter of people not who they appear to be''.... if that is a Pompey concern you should be a bit less concerned about your forum and have a look in your boardroom mate! The future is very red and white.

If they scrape through until the summer there is a slim chance of staying up and a very very good chance of being in such a mess that they will fall through the whole league. Keep going I say! Storrie looking after the money, Redknapp asset-stripping, Hart leading the team - what could go wrong?.... Our situation was bad enough with two main creditors, but we didn't have about four different owners and a very complicated land deal, an administrator will need to satisfy or account for the arms dealer, the two fake sheiks, the banks, the taxman, the three loans for the wages, outstanding transfers, further loans currently being sought - all of which will be secured against anything of value, and with the players able to walk when they are unpaid as well, CB is correct, there will be nothing of value to sell. So if it continues without a proper owner investing, not loaning, any new owner might end up bidding for just the name, and the league registration. If the next wages are a problem, it might be the end of the road.

How could an administrator possibly sell that 'business' at the moment? Anything worthwhile seems to be secured against loans, there seems to be no sign of income to cover the most basic costs, simply there just isn't value in the business other than an ability to generate Sky money - but future tv and even parachute payments are already spoken for to a variety of loan shark consortiums. They will look at our sale and say they are worth more, and on league tables it looks that way, but I honestly could not see them finding a buyer if it came to it, there is nothing left to buy. The ship is sinking rapidly and Storrie is using his thumb to block a hole the size of Belgium.

the only administrator who should be quoted on a Pompey thread is Mr Fry or one of his less talented/lucky colleagues. Can we get back on track and ridicule our rivals in their hour of need?? They would expect us to repay the interest they showed in our little summer 'setback', it would be impolite if we didn't. So with that in mind - No amount of lucky heather and pegs will keep their creditors happy now, and they can't secure any more loans against the club horse brass. As Fratton Park is the only Premiership ground that has a jockey wheel and indicators could they tow it to Jordans and weigh it in, that might pay the win bonuses due.

the last thing they need right now is another short term loan secured against the same bits of shed that the previous ones are secured against. But where is all the money going? It's pouring through the club at a rate that makes Rupert look like Businessman of the Year, perhaps the great hero Storrie may like to explain. It must nearly be time to call a halt to this sorry debacle, there's a limit to how many sinister foreign consortium members you can have owed money in one director's box. And most significantly, they still haven't cleared the taxman yet, he will wind them up tomorrow if it suits him. What a farce, possibly worse than Leeds now, at least they were honest enough to collapse.

I shall be down there tomorrow for the Great South Run, I hope their triumphant open-top bus homecoming from the point at Hull doesn't get in the way of the runners. Like Hank Marvin, we've been in the shadows too long but the ship is sinking, the future is red and white. Storrie and Redknapp traded the whole club for a 1-0 win over Cardiff City, and it's nearly time to pay up. I hope they still think it was worth it.