Wes Tender

Excellent

Thanks for teling me whether I'd feel embarassment wearing various costumes to various venues. As you know better what my feelings would be about making an exhibition of myself, perhaps you would kindly furnish me with contact details, so that the next time I'm invited to a fancy dress party, you can advise me on how I'm likely to feel about wearing which outfit. So all these people who participate in historical re-enactments should only dress up at the venue, lest people think that they're somehow abnormal walking about as Roman Legionnaires or Cavaliers? This nation admires its eccentrics, because they are individuals. Frankly, nobody except for a precious few on here appear to give a damn and they are the ones who are giving everybody else the entertainment value with their narrow-minded views. Lighten up.

Laughs at the irony of you calling it a narrow selective view, when you attach so much importance on appearance. Loving the entertainment value of this fred.

Who's angry? My feeling is one of resignation and pity that there are individuals who seem to think that it is of importance what people wear to matches and that they are that bothered what other fans think about them. And I see that you have not given me an explanation as to why what you wear is a barometer of one's pride in one's club.

You just don't get it, although I've tried my best to explain it. I'll have one final go at it. I don't really care what fans from other clubs think about us. It doesn't bother me. I'm not that shallow. I'm confident enough about myself not to care what others think about what I wear. That's something that comes with maturity. I have my own perspective about what is more important in life. Which bit didn't you understand? And as for your claim that "thankfully many of us have a lot more pride than that", that is bullsh*t. Why is what you wear a barometer of one's pride in one's club? I'd love an explanation.

Why am I not surprised?

People who are so shallow that they could care a toss about how some similarly small-minded fans of a rival football club think about our fans wearing fancy-dress deserve to be condescended to and also pitied too. As you rightly say, this generally isn't a problem for those over thirty, most of whom gain a bit of perspective on life as they grow in maturity. Perhaps these shallow, callow youths might yet grow up to be embarassed that they placed so much importance on something so trivial. I suspect that when they have more important things to spend their money on, like a family and a mortgage, that is when most will revise their priorities. Mind you, it may be that then they cannot afford to go to football matches too.

That first video inferred that it was the 6-3 game where United wore the grey shirts, whereas it was the 3-1 victory. As the 6-3 match showed, United wore the blue stripes throughout.

I'm happy to hear that when you are out with friends that you surround yourself with people of a similar mindset; that they are all fashion gurus who detest anybody who dares to wear anything they want, instead of the outfits that are deemed to be cool by the fashionistas. It's only natural that you surround yourself with people of a similar mindset (or perhaps sychophants) but although you suggest that it is not envy that fuels their comments when they see the Saints fancy-dressers on TV, I reckon it is because they are narrow-minded and a bit precious. They'd be more balanced and mature individuals if they were more accepting of the freedom of expression of others, a more live and let live attitude. But with luck, this maturity with come with the passing years, when people realise that fashionability is shallow and unimportant and will eventually be replaced with the self-confidence to wear whatever one likes without caring a damn what others think.

I love the name pompeyrback Yes. Back where they belong, a couple of divisions below us for the present, although of course it might well be many more shortly.

Done

I heard that Jobsite are looking for another football club to sponsor. As their image has taken a bad knock because of their association with the DFCBs they need to be associated with a club with a good public image. It has done irreparable damage being associated with a club that has been owned by gun-runners, Russian mafia money-launderers, fake-sheiks, Hong Kong loan-sharks, etc.; people who are not averse to cheating the taxman and robbing local charities and screwing small businesses. Now they need to redress the balance by sponsoring a club renowned for its family friendly image, the honesty and integrity of its current owners. Why, even the club's nickname "The Saints" has the right sub-conscious connections for a business wishing to clean up its image after association with the cesspit that is Pompey.

I've corrected it for you.

Thanks for that PaulyH. When we were promoted last season, many on here took comfort that you were promoted in successive seasons, therefore there was no logical reason why we couldn't emulate your feat. OK, some counter-argued that it was easier for you, as the calibre of clubs in the division was higher this season, with the likes of WH, Birmingham and Blackpool joining the division, Leicester and the Skates spending big and other clubs like Leeds and Cardiff also looking good for a play-off spot. I'm encouraged that Holt has carried on scoring at the top level and forgive me if I believe that Lambert is the better player. You were a team with a good team spirit that was fomented by them staying together and knowing each others' game. You wisely kept the core of the team together and fine-tuned it with some good signings. I expect that we will do much the same. There is a lot to be said for the unity and spirit of an established squad with a confident upwards momentum and a good manager capable of getting the best from them. Some relegation zone teams like Wigan have proved this by taking the scalps of the league's giants recently. But your achievement and that of Swansea, are a good marker for us and our expectations that we can gain mid-table obscurity and then press on from there the following season.

For all those doubting the wisdom of Appleton accepting the appointment as the Skate's manager, here is the reasoning behind it. As I said earlier, he was a relative unknown before he took the job and had he gone by the more conventional route with a lower division / lower profile club than the Skates, would he have been in the frame for the West Brom job now? As it stands, he is not blamed for Pompey's demise and even now, the noises he is making about staying with them and rebuilding are plus points in his character and everybody will understand when he comes back and regrets leaving them, but explains that WBA made an offer that he couldn't refuse, that there is no other club who could have tempted him, etc.

According to the ancient Chinese proverb, a journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step. The single step that began our journey was when Markus Liebherr and his friend Nicola Cortese bought the club. Although the destination has been reached, the journey continues while we build on the success that has been achieved on the foundations laid by them. I doubt whether there was a single Saints fan in that Stadium or elsewhere yesterday who didn't spare a thought for our saviour and the part that his involvement played in our salvation. I'm sure that everybody wished that he could have been there to witness the greatest moment in the club's recent history. He will never be forgotten by any of us.

A gormless moronic idiot on Vital Pompey:- Read more: http://www.portsmouth.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=280784#ixzz1tG3cjfJ1 He'd rather be playing in the third division than in the Premiership. But I presume that he was quite happy for the Skates to win the FA Cup, even though they bought it with money they didn't have. And one assumes that this principled Skate didn't personally go and watch them play those plastic Premiership teams like ManUre, Chelski, Liverpool, Arsenal, City, etc. But the men wearing the white coats really ought to be coming to take him away, haha, for believing that although they will shortly be two divisions below us (at least), that they are still the South Coast Kings. Still they'll be "heeling" their wounds in the lower division playing real football, albeit with their squad of kids and journeymen.

You're obviously going to think that. But I believe instead that he shot you down in flames.

Yeah,yeah,yeah. And we're no different from you; we were also in administration recently, the only difference between the two clubs is that we are also living beyond our means, but our owner hasn't pulled the plug on our debt to him, we screwed the Norwich Union over the stadium mortgage, the Liebherrs are looking to sell us, blah,blah,blah..... So what exactly are you saying? That we shouldn't be morally indignant that schools, charities, local small businesses and the taxpayer have been royally shafted by your poxy little club, not once, but twice within a very short spell of time? And that if we are indignant, it is only through bitterness and jealousy? I'm sorry to say it sonny, but it seems to be you and your fellow Skates that have lost your grip on reality. By the way, did you see the link to the top twenty of Premiership clubs over the past 20 years? I didn't see your lot in there. Surely there must be some mistake, as I'm assured by the likes of you and Toy Boy that the Skates are the bigger and more successful club. But I'm sure that in twenty years time, they'll probably do a similar table for the lower divisions and I'm confident that you'll be right up there.

A bit of light relief among the doom and gloom that faces the Skates on their headlong plunge towards oblivion and an indication of which South Coast team has been the more successful in the top flight, I found this:- http://www.talksport.co.uk/magazine/features/120426/all-time-premier-league-table-top-20-clubs-past-20-years-170665 Now, when the next one is published a further 20 years down the road, I fuly expect that we will have improved on our standing of 14th. Whereas I also expect that the Skates will not feature at all again.

Didn't I read somewhere recently that the forensic investigation of the liquidated Oldco from the last administration was close to a conclusion and that there was a likelihood of some individuals facing prosecution as a result? Or did I dream it? I have often thought that at some stage, they must have been trading whilst insolvent which is a criminal offence, isn't it? What if it is also revealed that the Android inflated the level of debt from some creditors to reduce HMRC's chances of a veto of the CVA? Could any of this sort of revelation have any bearing on what happens this time around?

The plaque that I'm looking forward to seeing, is the one at the entrance of the new Fratton Tesco Superstore. The one that will read "On this site stood the stadium of Portsmouth Football Club, 1898 - 2012."

But even then, surely more than he would have been on as number two at West Brom? Win, win for him, eh? And only a year out of his life, whereas via the other route it might have taken several years to achieve the recognition he has now.

A case of "And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee." ?