Wes Tender

Docker doesn't need proof. Agenda driven posters just like to stir the pot occasionally. If I had to choose the person on this forum who would be least able to see into Adkins' mind to anticipate what he may or not do under different circumstances, Docker would be high up on my list.

You're right, that Ramirez is absolute ****e and neither are Yoshida, Mayuka or Clyne anywhere near good enough to play in the top flight. In the case of Ramirez, Yoshida and Mayuka, this wasn't blatantly obvious to most observers after they had played the few minutes that they had and this sort of insight probably only comes to somebody who has been watching football for over fifty years. But at least you expected us to lose against both Manc clubs and Arsenal. A lot of the others on here apparently expected us to win those games, judging by the number of threads discussing who the next manager might be. The sensible position is that new players have not yet had the chance to integrate properly into the team. The new players brought in to make a difference, have been away on International duty and hadn't been here long anyway. And I don't agree that the Premier division is stronger that it was when we were last here. The hierarchy at the summit has changed a little, but the teams below the top four or five are not better than before.

We're going to finish comfortably mid-table.

The correct answer is the last one; it's utter stupidity, Adrian. Don't attempt to credit them with other reasons for their inability to learn from their mistakes, or to misunderstand the difference between our administration and theirs, when the obvious one is staring us all in the face.

Why is there the need for yet another thread on this subject? There's a very similar one already available. Or is the OP just keen to say hey, look at me, I need attention? Or do we need a new thread about this after every game we lose, because the previous thread somehow becomes redundant? Let's get some perspective for heaven's sake. And perhaps have the mods close one of these threads and try and get some order into the forum. How many thought when the new fixture list was published that we would have picked up any points against Man Utd, Man City and Arsenal? OK, we might have expected to have got something against Wigan, but when some on here suggest Martinez as a potential successor to Adkins, the presumption is that he is doing a decent job there and they are not the pushovers they were any longer. So we were actually in a position to beat both Manchester clubs and got tonked by Arsenal when we had lost some momentum because of the International break and did not have the time to bed in some of our new signings. Even then in the Arsenal match, their tally included two own goals and a fantastic free kick and Lambert really should have put away his chance. Had the game finished 3-2, would we have had all this bed-wetting? Well, I suppose we would have. Because there are many on here who are prone to the knee-jerk reaction, unable to see the bigger picture, without the intelligence to reason that it was unlikely that we would get anything or not much from the opening fixtures and that the likelihood is that we should fare much better against most of the other fixtures. The marathon gun has just fired and we are last at the 800 yard mark. We might as well accept that we are going to be last, eh?

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/football/nonleague/9931304.Clubs_join_queue_to_sign_non_league_star/ Oh well. game over for us then, hoping to sign young starlet Harry Cornick Jr. from Christchurch. As Storrie pointed out so eloquently on a previous occasion, why would any player sign for us when given the choice between Saints and the Skates? Reading, Stoke and others might as well throw their hands in too, as they can't offer the package that the Skates can, with their iconic stadium and best fans in the World support. And they are also the only club after him able to offer a rolling monthly contract too, not only allowing the players maximum flexibility in the career choices, but also able to enact that policy because of their utmost confidence that the players will want to stay with Pompey, because it is one the big glory clubs with an illustrious history. Also, he will be enticed by the prospect of moving to a beautiful thriving cosmopolitan city full of culture and energy. Surely the bright lights will be enough to turn the head of a young lad from a sleepy little backwater like Christchurch.

Lallana is the better player and if the reason that Notso Cleverley gets picked to play for England before him is because he has more experience of playing in the Premiership, then that will soon be re-addressed. When Adam has put in a decent shift, it will quickly be established that he is the better player of the two of them.

But Pugwash, it isn't a question of money. After all, he wasn't being paid a fortune with us and could have earned much more had he gone to the Arse. With him, it's all about personal development and from that perspective, it would be a very positive career move going to such a big club as Pompey, even in the third division. Thank God that the Skates weren't after him when the Arse first expressed interest, as we might not have had the benefit of his excellent contribution to our progress up the divisions had he gone to them then. He's been a superb player for us and is now gaining the recognition he deserves. But if I'm being honest, I have to admit sadly, that with us he is depriving himself of the opportunity of playing in the theatre of dreams, Pompey's iconic stadium, filled with the greatest fans in the land. I somehow feel that he deserves better than us and that if the Skates came in for him, we wouldn't stand a chance of keeping him.

Now that's a hard one, choosing who to believe about whether he had received an offer from the Skates. Well, if he says it was rubbish, I am forced to accept the statement made by Storrie-Teller. After all, he was the chief executive of a club known for its absolute probity and the high integrity of all individuals associated with it, all of whom have led blameless lives totally devoid of even a whiff of illegality and criminal proceedings against them. And as Storrie points out so eloquently, why would any player wish to go to little old Southampton, when he could play for a major club with a glorious history, such as Pompey. Why, even in the third division, some of the most illustrious players in British football even now acknowledge that they would rather play for the Skates with their magnificent ground and unsurpassed fans, rather than with so-called glory teams like Celtic. I'm worried that should the Skates make an offer to him now, he'd be off like a shot. After all, if he was prepared to stay with us when we were in the third division, it follows that he would go to the Skates at the drop of a chapeau

And there are posters on here who admit that they are incapable of reading posts comprising more than a few lines, so that is a benefit for them. "Too long", they moan. " I didn't get past the first line" is another comment from these people, who apparently have the attention span of a goldfish.

Charlie Wayman:- That's a pity. Carrick might have shown promise when he was young, but he doesn't exactly stand out as any sort of midfield maestro now. I hope that JW-P aspires to be much better than him.

shhh! Scumfinder General Frattoniser is one of us undercover. Keep it quiet so he's not outed.

One of the most amusing things I heard chanted at the Crawley match, was the Skates' "can we play you every week?" So one of two outcomes could justify that chant:- Either the Skates are hopeful that their club will survive administration and struggle on living hand to mouth, wishful of remaining at that third division level. Or they anticipate that they will somehow rise through the divisions and hope that Crawley rise simultaneously. For all that the Skates managed to beat them when they were reduced to 9 men, I predict that Crawley will finish the season above them.

A total moron from the blue phew, expounding on the David v Goliath clash against Crawley yesterday:- http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/portsmouth/fb_news.php?storyid=18103 The thing that doesn't appear to have penetrated his thick cranium, is that the Skates are currently playing in the same division as Crawley, who I imagine are relatively debt free, own their own ground and have some other infrastucture to support themselves. It could well be argued reasonably that in many ways, Crawley are the team on the way up and are in no way inferior to the Skates other than in past history and the size of their respective fan bases. We are no longer the Skates' main rivals in the South and Crawley and Bournemouth fit that position far more accurately nowadays. As for that comment about the Manchester United fans, well, I await the men in white coats to take him away to somewhere where he can't harm himself.

Oh dear! Your dream was that your club would be owned by you, the fans. It looks as if it isn't to be and instead the game goes round and round and you might be getting one of the past owners back. So let's see for a bit of fun if we can predict the one after next. So it was Fahim the penniless sheik, then the invisible sheik, then the Hong Kong loan shark, then the Russian mafia, then the Hong Kong loan shark again. It's apparently soon to be the penniless sheik once more, so will it be the invisible sheik, Al Mirage, after him? Perhaps it will be different this time. Who knows, maybe the penniless sheik is hoping to cobble a consortium deal together comprising him, the property developer and the Trust. This thread will undoubtedly have many more hundreds of pages added if this goes ahead, but don't worry PES; on the distant horizon I can see a situation whereby your ambition of following a club run by the fans comes to fruition. But regrettably it will have to be preceded by the liquidation of the current incarnation of the club.

Nick, my post was in response to the one by Rallyboy:- I enquired as to whether the grammar wasn't deliberately a satirical parody of the average thick skate and my suspicions have been confirmed. I didn't recall him from on the previous incarnation of this forum. But like you, I love the way he comes across and his wicked self-deprecating sense of humour. We are very tolerant of the Skates on here, unlike how they treat us. But it is the likes of Mack and Merro who deserve sympathy for the plight of their club. Fantasists and those who deny culpability for the way that their club has acted like Ho and PES get no sympathy and no respect from me.

Well, comfort yourselves with the belief that spiritually it is your club, even when it was owned by the gun-runner's son, the broke sheik, the fake sheik, the Hong Kong loan shark, the Russian Mafia and then again the Hong Kong loan shark. You must have been so angry when they began ruining the club that you own spiritually. But you lot never expressed that anger in public, especially when it seemed apparent that the broke sheik, the fake sheik, the Russian Mafia, were stinking rich. You obviously allowed these feelings of resentment to fester just under the surface. Even with the second coming of the Hong Kong loan shark, you don't have the principles or the gumption to make a unified stand and mass boycott matches as the nuclear weapon to bring about his departure. You'd rather soldier on with the club in its present parlous position, having to pay through the nose to satisfy the loan shark, instead of starting off with a totally clean sheet at the lowest level. And why is that? Could it be that by starting again, the history of the old club would be expunged? The only way that the club will belong to you, is if you start from liquidation of the old club. As it is, you will struggle to shake off Chainrai for years and even if you cobble together a takeover by the Trust in tandem with this property developer, you will be beholden to him and the high net worth individuals, who will expect a strong say in the running of the club. Birch as administrator has to decide who buys the club, in the best interests of the creditors, if indeed he decides that it is not better to liquidate it. Although it is a loopy suggestion, what would your position be if the likes of Markus Liebherr came in and took you over, paying off all your debts? Of course, I don't really need to ask, do I? You and all of the other Skate fans, the Ho, etc, would all be crowing about it insufferably. How quickly it would be that thoughts of the club being owned by the fans disappeared? So please don't come this attitude that if the opportunity came along for us to take over our club, we'd jump at it. We're quite happy to continue as we are, thank you, happy that we don't have financial worries, that our owners are ambitious for us and going about things the right way, building up our infrastructure, improving our academy and training facilities. So they change the shirt to commemorate our 125 years anniversary; lets take control of the club to prevent it happening again! You really are naive if you don't accept that the only tangible way that the fans will own your club will be via liquidation and a rebirth starting from the bottom rung of the ladder. The path that you're on at the moment is going to lead to liquidation anyway eventually. So if your lot had the intelligence, they'd realise that and make the start now, using the money pledged by the fans as the down payment. Most of us would respect your club a lot more if they started again from scratch. The current entity, the one that cheated charities, local businessmen and the tax man has no redeeming features and invites scorn and loathing. It would be a kindness to put it out of its misery and start again with a clean sheet and the kind wishes of all of the football community (including us) for its success.

It's interesting that this statement could apply to either party in this petty b*tching. Good reason that both of their heads need to be banged together.

It depends on your age, VW. If you're over 50, the answer is 1. If you're younger, the answer is 7.

Figure of speech. As far as I know the land was bought by ML as part of the package when he bought the club, so technically everything is part of his estate, isn't it?

But getting back to the goats and the car behind those doors, are we all in agreement that the goat behind the third door has to be the second goat, because the first goat is behind either the first or the second door?

Although now owned by us, its value currently is only as agricultural land. And it is currently deemed by EBC to be part of the strategic gap between Hedge End/West End and Durley. But the housing at Grange Park goes pretty well right up to the boundaries of Jacksons Farm. If additional housing were to be required in that general area, Jackson's Farm would be a good candidate for it and the land value would soar. Another remote possibility is that there could be oil under the land, or maybe under the Grange Park development and access to it could come via JF. So it could be that sometime in the future that land could indeed bring in quite a substantial return to the club and to the Liebherrs.

Ditto. Without the brackets, you would do it in the order it's written, at least for the sake of those of us of more advanced years. I'm entirely happy with algebra, but why would some idiot leave off the brackets, unless it was deliberately to confuse everybody?

But why do you say that it is the first goat behind the third door? As the other goat must be behind either in the first or second doors, the one behind the third door has to be the second goat.

There's just something I'm not sure of regarding Mack; is he really not that great when it comes to the grammatical aspects, or is he instead playing a blinder with a superb parody of a typical skate? As you say, he does get it, he understands the big picture and although he gets some stick from us, he takes it in good spirit and makes light of it. His sense of humour leads me to believe that he could indeed be playing to the gallery with a stereotypical parody of your average Skate fan, in which case I take my hat off to him. We have gone on their forums and pretended to be like that ourselves, so why shouldn't he do it on here as a way of gaining acceptance by us? The end result though, is that you can feel sympathy for the likes of Mack for the downturn in his club's fortunes, but not for those Skates who somehow think that what we went through is somehow the same as what has brought them low.