rallyboy

Sky must be propping up a few clubs. When they decide they don't want to pay as much, which they will, the pressure of big wages and borrowing will ride through the Prem like a demolition ball. I wouldn't want to have a big wage bill and a shedload of borrowing in the next year or two, because trouble is a brewing... I think we knew all along that we were punching about our weight but its come as a shock to people like Newcastle, they could yet go into freefall. With a very feeble looking Prem this year it could be the time for a few to cut their cloth and try to get away with it, but they are all too busy panicking about it being the worst time to lose out on the money, thankfully we don't have those worries! Personally I am pleased we have a sensible owner who has built businesses wisely, in fact I think we have found the perfect owner* for a club that wants to get back up there but doesn't want to gamble on its very existence. I trust him and Pardew, we are in a realistic era and everyone wants the same thing, but achieved in a controlled low-risk manner. If we have learned anything this summer it is bugger living the dream, just build sensibly. *as long as he doesn't go bonkers at some point soon, takes training, picks teams, waves letters about etc

How much would you pay for an FA cup win over Cardiff City when the top teams no longer consider it a worthy trophy anyway - the actual existence of your club? Nice one Harry, you and Storrie have really excelled yourselves this time. I reckon they must have three weeks to save the club on two fronts - if they don't find and spend £10-15M on players they can wave goodbye to the Prem, if they don't find any money at all the debts will be called in and the club could stutter into oblivion via consecutive relegations or even a winding up. When we slipped into league one it was like we were tramps being moved on to a less comfortable park bench, they are heading for eviction from a penthouse straight into a skip. I don't wish them out of business, just for them to languish in the bottom half of league two, so I am ticking off every day of the transfer window with great joy, it's a clock ticking over their Prem survival. And for those who say they don't care, try living further east. Having started so badly and declined rapidly, 2009 could still be a fantastic year for us.

I can't believe what Redknapp has just done to them, sells Bent for £12M but only gives them £9M for Crouch, he has no shame, I hope he kept a straight face when he was demonstrating precisely how much he cares about the club. Why didn't he just bend Storrie over his desk and make him beg? It would have been less insulting. Wonder if they will name a stand after him when Maradona opens this new 50,000 seater ground on the waterfront next season....

Putting aside the comedic value of their situation, look at our squad that wasn't good enough to stay up in the Prem, we deserved to go down but there was still some quality there, or look at the players Newcastle failed with - on that basis I can't see Pompey getting a point before Christmas!! They have a keeper and one striker of note, not exactly a winning formula. Every week they hang onto players and maintain the wage bill it's another nail in the financial coffin, every time they sell it must cause more resentment between the two owners (!) and as the squad reduces, how on earth are you going to attract quality players? We have suffered the same problem, Pardew must have some potential signings who won't even talk to him because of our predicament, welcome to our world. They are on a slippery cliff and unless this new guy produces serious money within the next couple of weeks, I can see them in administration, the options must be running out. And my message to any Pompey fans I come across is simply, 'see you soon'.

very funny, though I would like to have seen Rupert topping himself in the bunker.

from the Telegraph - 'Portsmouth face an uncertain future after it emerged that the club's new chairman, Sulaiman Al-Fahim, has not filed any paperwork to notify the Premier League of a change of ownership despite promising the completion of his buyout was "imminent" more than a month ago.' That's a worrying development - oh it's okay, I've got over it already!

Why all the doom and gloom panic? I'd be worried if we'd spent the last few months teetering on the edge of extinction but we had a fantastic end of season run-in and then a major squad rebuild, so I am sure we can win this division, maybe by a record margin.

had a chat with him at St Marys only three/four months ago when he was down for an evening game so I know he witnessed the dutch experiment close-up, he will seen our players and how they behaved last season, and should be a good appointment. (if he can get us some Chelsea loanees nice and cheap too that would be great!)

hopefully Kevin Keegan will clear up all of this confusion when he officially takes charge, on Friday, or within 48 hours.

Bumpy?? That's loser talk, negativity, you must be a skate, we'll walk this division, just like we walked the....oh, hang on, no we didn't, we were too ****y by half, it was tougher than we expected, maybe this one will be too.... Bumpy is a good description, it's reality check time for a few, if we win one of the first three we will be doing okay, I expect the squad to come together and improve greatly as the season goes on, though a few other teams going into admin would be most welcome just to take the pressure off a little. We will get there but it's gonna be a long haul and not for the faint-hearted. If it takes us maybe 8 games to clear the penalty, some losers will still be on 5 or 6 points above us so it could take 10 or 12 games to tick off safety? (but like everyone else, I am guessing wildly!)

'Pompey sign over the hill player and chuck more money out of the door' - it works for me as an idea! James leaves, Niemi is injured, suddenly they would have a youth team keeper in front of an appalling defence. Niemi was great for us, always will be, and sadly his career ended too early. And recalling Nathan Dyer's finest hour, legendary status could be confirmed on Niemi with one dropped cross in front of the Fratton End...this transfer has comedy legs....

I think Cowesboy could be proved correct, IF we send out an overpaid team that obviously doesn't care, if we have a lunatic at the helm, get beaten most home games and have players who think thieving from less well-off people is a good hobby. Even though we will be in the bottom four for a while, I believe we should get 20K people through the gate regularly.

10K pretty soon? - I think that is fantastic and I am usually being ironic on here but it is this time and I believe the Northam may be sold out for Millwall. It's a real vote of confidence for the new regime, people are putting their money behind ML and AP, the supporters are coming back, there is a good feeling around Saints for the first time in flipping years, long may it continue. If teams think they are coming to a club struggling on minus points that will lay down and die because the support has faded after relegations - they are in for a shock. Fortress St Marys! Let's give some crap side a good hammering, and I don't care whther they are from a little town in the middle of nowhere, they're in our division now.

pfc123, as someone who seems fairly reasonable (ish), though I can only imagine you come over here because your own forums must be incredibly depressing at the mo, what the hell is going on down there?! If the non-Dr had the money surely he wouldn't be allowing the asset stripping.... What does Storrie think is going to happen next with a poor manager, no players, debts out of control and a half-hearted takeover partially completed, with no sign of any money yet? You need something like £30M for the bank now, £20M for players, losses running at £2M a month, the transfer money coming in is already servicing debt so that has gone, the business is on life support, and if the league look at it and decide something odd is occuring they might withold TV money, and that would be the final nail. I can't see any sort of financial plan let alone a football one, it all hinges on non-Dr producing a vast amount over a couple of years for squad and facilities - £200M? which he would have done by now if he had it, surely? The business must be worth a quid to take on the debt, and remember that we have had a year or two of this so if you need any advice on admin, debt-restructuring, how to spot a dodgy takeover etc, just ask, we will be pleased to help! Though our points penalty-avoiding plan still needs work... My tip would be that if you have set your heart on seeing Maradona opening that new stadium some time soon, you might need to have a rethink. The difference between the likes of failed Prem teams Saints, Derby, Leicester etc etc is that we all spent the money on stadia, not on players wages that has gone out of football forever, it has cost us all, but the legacy is a value and structure in place for a future. Without a massive injection of cash within three weeks (or an astronomical amount in Jan) I can only see a bleak future down there and in years to come you may be reflecting on Redknapp and Storrie paying a huge huge price for one FA Cup. And by the way, I believe the non-Dr lives with his mum and dad in Barnet...

Not many have doubted his ability to finish in the box, it's just whether he can be arsed to get in there. If he wants to play then we should be happy to pay his huge wages as he will score 25 goals and he will for the first time in a while offer value for money. Then again, if he can't be bothered he can naff orf. He's failed in the Prem, not entirely set the world alight in the CCC, maybe like others with delusions of grandeur he needs a reality check of where his skill level is. Classic case is BWP who might have been ideal for us down in the third tier but he thinks he should be playing Champion's Lge.

well I'm happy to combine the two, proud to see Hampshire win at Lords and I came home with red and white legs. My mate was in his Saints shirt, only got abuse a couple of times but while they were up there giving him stick their sisters must have been enjoying a day of not being 'bothered' back home in the caravan.

I can understand the concern about the potential problems of having one owner. But if we look around the leagues I would suggest that OUR one owner has credibility, a proven track record, respect in the business community, and has done everything in a professional and sensible manner that gives me confidence in his ability to move the club forward and not regard Saints as a flats/hotel development that happens to have some annoying sporting club attached. Bates, Gaydamak, Hamman, non-Dr Hydra-'sue me for your money back' - not men I would want near my club. Chelsea is a hotel complex financed on a whim by Russian oil 'given' to people by a crumbling govt, the Glazers bought Man utd with the club's own money, Liverpool has the 'benefit' of two owners and all that goes with boardroom egos, QPR has a cosy consortium that has bought some great chandliers, and Leeds have just picked up a huge bill for Bates' latest legal loss, though of course the club is owned by a mystery trail of off shore investment vehicle companies. I would be nervous with some of those people pulling the strings, but we are not in that position, one owner can be a problem if it's the wrong owner. Unless he goes a bit bonkers at some point, I will be very comfortable with ours.

I would love us to charge straight up this table and grab the title by the throat. BUT we are currently cursed with the bare bones remains of the poorest team in our history and a new manager is desperately trying to bring in players, so experience suggests these things won't gel overnight. If we get just a point from the first two games then a few people are in for a reality check. 1st target - Club survival - DONE. 2nd target - Stay up - maybe by Christmas we will know.... 3rd target - Playoffs or close to. 4th target - Promotion. 5th target - Champions. I am pleased that AP is targetting the top two but IMO anyone putting money on automatic promotion needs their head tested, it's a very long shot - and please note this post so you can drag it out when we do go up, I will be as pleased as anyone if I am wrong!! Please Mr P, make me look stupid!!! This isn't 'loser talk', just a touch of reality, I am sure Fialka had us in the Champion's League within two years, that doesn't make him a winner, or ambitious, whatever his mum thinks. Steady everyone, we will get there.....we will return.

There must be half a dozen people out there who consider they were in principle offered the Southampton job recently, but I don't think the man who actually owns the club was doing the offering. Fialka's wishlist must be a lengthy document. In Pardew we trust.

this is a real blow and sets us back, Euell was to be the spine of our promotion-winning team and he offered excellent value for money when you think of the games that he won us single-handed last season. In my view he will be a very difficult player to replace for that sort of wage, he was so much more than just a free-scoring midfield general. Then again my view is slightly-impaired by the mind-altering ****tail of drugs that the nurses sedate me with, so I may be confusing him with a hat stand or a small tree. Pardew must be chuffed, that's one less awkward conversation he has to have with an overpaid underachiever.

So he's scraped his pennies together then, though I note that the league has approved him but have said they will be monitoring any changes....meaning they will be asking questions if his legal problems escalate, or if perhaps a mystery investor suddenly pops up in the background thinking the coast is clear. I wonder if the non-doctor may be on his credit limit without the torturer's backing, it should be an enlightening transfer window. If he doesn't spend within a week then we will all know that the game is up - he doesn't have the finance for the team or a ground, but if he does spend, then we know that he can clear the debt and move the club forward. And he needs to spend BIG if he is serious about keeping them in the Prem. Either way, we will be reunited soon!

Mail online headline - 'Pompey in trouble....' - now reporting that Hydra investors are taking legal action, a further complication for someone in the middle of a fit and proper persons test. An interesting development, unlike his apartments. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1200615/Portsmouth-trouble-Al-Fahim-takeover-bid-probed.html

I think some are being mischievous and confusing museums with trophy cabinets... Twenty years ago there was more than enough stuff to fill a boardroom wall at The Dell, pennants and gifts from visiting clubs and tours, minor tournament silverware, add to that old programmes, photos, player-loaned shirts and boots, some multi-media action and interview stuff and you would have a cracking museum. The club has a few well-respected historians to assist, it would really link the post-admin club to the history. A great idea, and not a huge expense I wouldn't have thought. Extended stadium tours - see the ground, learn about the history, buy stuff in the shop, come back on Saturday and spend more, come back for the rest of your life.

Sad news for those who hadn't heard about Sammy the club mascot... He'd been unwell for a few years and his last couple of owners had not cared for him properly, his last big walk was in 2003 and after that he was malnourished, starved of love and forgotten. To save a vet bill, Mark Fry backed his Montego over the poor thing to put him out of his misery. It wasn't all bad though, he made lovely seat covers, and Fry used the £25 he raised through their sale to pay off Barclays.

Good tip, but it must be said that if Rupert offered ANYONE the Saints job in Feb they would have run a mile, and rightly so! ''Come work for me, I'll help you pick the team, you get a tenner a week and as much as Edam and Advocat as you can stomach, the players are crap and can't be arsed, and you have to pay for your own fuel in the company Micra - and of course you will qualify for constant abuse from the forum''. Maybe not... Think I'd settle for the few months off and the offer of a proper job from what is once again a proper club. Because we are a proper club again! Just need some players now.