Verbal

Work what out? Sometimes, it's a useful idea, Frank, to take things as read, not as you want them to read. Anyway, I'm bored arguing about the angels on this pinhead. By all means have the last word before I starting sounding like ottery.

Clearly there's a problem in that department. The Guardian today quotes an education spokeman as saying that the schools near his home in Portsmouth are 'offensive'.

Not at all. It was all more in the way of a fool-proof (although clearly not P*mpey fan-proof) prediction. The only thing I confused was my 'c's.

Thank you, Guru Bates.

What untrue, Nick? Lowe WAS in charge of the club when it went into admin, wasn't he? What's actually untrue is that he devised the structure of the club to avoid the points penalty - an impossibility since SLH predated the penalty system by three or four years. That's why the apology is just plain weird.

Why? (And even the correction is wrong)

I know, I know. But the list is endless.

Although one or two chose to deny it, most on here last season knew damned well that we'd end up in administration. The numbers just didn't add up and we had beyond useless team and board management. By the same token, it's blindingly obvious that you will (a) lose more of your better players before the end of August; (b) lose your dodgy property developer buyer; © miss your payment deadline to Standard Chartered; © get relegated with possibly a record low number of points; and (d) go into administration. (d) may happen before © because someone at the club may see sense and take the points deduction before the end of the season. Either way, though, all of the above WILL happen. Trying to find comfort by comparing yourselves to Brum, Wolves, Stoke or Hull misses one very important point. All of those clubs are united in their desire to survive. Morale at your club is in the gutter.

Yeah - shall we just forward this thread to Middlesborough? Dammit! EDIT: Or not! God, it's a all bit too much an emotional rollercoaster these days.

But however hard the League try and imagine the loophole wasn't there, they can't deny the reality that the club did not go into admin - only SLH did. SLH no longer exists, so how can you produce a CVA? It's not actually possible - ever. And the club can't produce a CVA either, because it was never in admin. This little mess is probably a lot to do with the League's insistence that we don't appeal the -10. They don't want to dwell on it. The -10 is as bad as it will ever get. You, on the other hand....

You speak Scottish? Explains a lot.

Already paying dividends? We're scouting four players in Scotland.

Only because I named three Scottish players we're looking at, and you - sitting right next to them - knew diddley squat. The joys of ITK... They're all pretty good, by the way - handicapped only by their impenetrable accents.

What's a tw4tty? A Channel Four reality contestant? Do they have such creatures in the (publicly or privately owned) burbs of Southampton?

Nah. I'll just settle for shutting up OBS.

We're also supposed to be scouting: Jamie Murphy, 19, forward, Motherwell Dougie imrie, 25, left winger, Inverness Caledonian Thistle Scott Arfield, 20, midfielder, Falkirk Damn - suddenly I'm ITK and Scottish. Doubly cursed.

All fine-sounding in theory, Phil. But it's all too often about power - the 'skill sets, functions and knowledge' are the buzz words used, in the end, to defend the indefensible. Too many times recently, the DoF has failed in British football precisely because no one could give a workable definition of what it meant, and who was answerable to whom. Hence, the numerous fallings out at Chelsea, Tottenham, Portsmouth, Newcastle, etc. The best counter-examples, obviously, are Fergie and Wenger. Can you imagine either being answerable to a DoF - or even having one in the boardroom 'mix' - and continuing in their posts another five minutes? Too many times, DoF in football here give the impression of not having nearly enough to do, and so often end up making mischief (again, Chelsea are textbook). Let AP stand or fall on rebuilding the team his way - not some compromise between him and WGS that leaves either open to blaming the other if it all goes pear-shaped.

Quite right.

The problem is that the minute there's a bit of a wobble from the team, there'll be the inevitable fan pressure for WGS to step in. AP could find himself undermined pretty quickly.

You got this information at a séance? Let me recommend ouija boards - much more reliable.

I am also alive, due mainly to the game clashing with having my boiler fixed.

For six long years I've been in trouble No pleasures here on earth I found For in this world I'm bound to ramble I have no friends to help me now. (A Man of Constant Sorrow)

That's the idea. They're going to pay players' salaries from the proceeds of the insurance claims.