JackFrost

"HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will not pursue its dispute over the validity of the administration at Portsmouth football club, the BBC has learned. A scheduled High Court hearing is still expected to go ahead on Monday. But administrator Andrew Andronikou says an HMRC challenge to his appointment will now be dropped. Mr Andronikou, of UHY Hacker Young, was appointed administrator last month, and cut 85 jobs at the club on Wednesday. Portsmouth are facing a nine point deduction for entering administration." (BBC website)

Something tells me HMRC have something up their sleeve for monday, and all this was a bit of a diversion. Call me cynical but I think the SOA have provided HMRC with quite a bit of ammunition

Then they really are screwed :wink:

They might still do. depends what HMRC have up their sleeve Monday

There was some controversy initially, I think on the radio they said a few people had been accidentally captured on it coming out of sex shops. . . Amazing though, i went to one place in Devon I haven't been to since 1993. Must be close to a couple of years old, my next door neighbour's wall is damaged in it and he got that fixed ages ago.

I've never understood why people think Ricky Gervais is funny

Even if Pompey stayed up with a 9 point deduction, I'm the PL would find some financial irregularity and deduct them a further 15 points. . . The PL want shot of them ASAP

Quite, the statement of affairs could be providing HMRC with quite a lot of ammunition . . . .

That paper also reported 2 weeks ago that Pompey had been saved by a South African consortium

I'll be keeping a close eye on the Burnley-Stoke game tonight. One of Burnley's best chances of getting 3 points on the board.

It's likely O'Hara's wages are being paid by Spurs, but shouldn't think that would apply to all the loans

he played all of 2 games for Derby County last season

They had one, they missed it 5 months ago

without the patch saga knocked in 47 in 51 games in my first season, got promoted through the play-offs thrashing Brighton 5-0 in the final. My team is Davis, Harding, Jaidi, De Laet, James, Van Der Meyde, Lallana, Schneiderlin, Thomson, Lambert, Saga Subs: Bart, Thomas, Boyata, Murty, Hammond, Puncheon, Mifsud

jeez it's come around so quickly. I think Alonso is odds on for the title, people say him and Massa don't get on but as they are now under the same red umbrella I think they'll get on just fine. It's what happened at McLaren that interests me, if they treat Button like they treated Alonso there will be fireworks

Yep, either the court will find all is well with the current administrators (Unlikely) Result: -9 points or the court will find the current administrators are illegally appointed and appoint its own administrators (likeliest scenario but not by much) Result: -9 points and further ammunition for the PL/Fl for further points deductions or the club will be liquidated (a genuine possibility IMO) Result: AFC Pompey playing in the Conference south or thereabouts

and that's in the worst possible case scenario if Pompey somehow managed to avoid any points penalties (which won't happen). It's looking like 3 of Pompey, Hull, Burnley and Wolves are going down, I think Wolves will just do enough as their better than Hull and Burnley simply aren't good enough under Laws. Even if Pompey stayed up with a 9 point penalty, I'm sure the PL would come up with some 'financial irregularity' -15 deduction to make their relegation a certainty. The PL want rid of them ASAP.

I think Cardiff have got land they are selling around the stadium which should cover most of the debt

They might have different requirements for different rounds, in the 1st qualifying rounds you get pub teams from Andorra and Luxembourg who literally play on recreation grounds. If one of their teams got far in the competition and drew a fairly big side they'd probably have to switch to a bigger stadium nearby? Different competition I know but when England have played Andorra away recently they've had to move from Andorra's usual place to a Spanish stadium due to England's large fanbase. As for Pompey, they played AC Milan at Fratton Park so can't see their stadium being a problem for European competition. I may be completely wrong :wink:

He also made a comment about the Queen's vagina being haunted or words to that effect which drew quite a few complaints. He left MTW because he wanted them to focus on proper news stories and not people like Adlington months after the Olympics had finished, and because the beeb were telling him to tone his act down. What did the BBC expect?

Definitely, I think the most likely outcome (but not by much) is 2 but HMRC are going to do everything they can to get it to 3. I can genuinely see them going to the wall.

I can see why people don't like him but he is refreshingly politically incorrect. Mock the week was always gonna go downhill once he left, BBC told him he had to tone down his act which was a bit like inviting Bernard Manning on the show and then telling him to be less racist. . Is it just me or are the MTW producers trying to get Russell Howard to mimick Boyle's act now?

But this is IMO why HMRC have been very clever regarding the questioning of the administrator's validity. If Andronikou does lay people off he risks getting deep in legal issues, if he doesn't "Pompey have made little or no effort to reduce their costs etc.etc." Pompey are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Cos they have the best fans in the world

I don't think anything will happen until after this court case. If the administrator started laying people off when his own position isn't legally allowed, there are even more serious legal repercussions. The PL aren't going to do anything points wise until after the court case. They need to cover their backs. Even if Pompey stayed up with a 9 point deduction, the PL would still come up with some financial irregularity (-15) penalty at the end of the season. Pompey are down, the PL will make sure of it. It's the court case that is the key day. Putting my prejudices aside, I can see HMRC getting their way and this being a key date in football history, and a big statement to all other clubs. I can see them going to the wall, I really can