Wes Tender

Taken from the rag known as The News:- 14 Portsea Islander Friday, July 15, 2011 at 01:15 PM wow, life must be so dull for Scummers that they now have to go on Portsmouth newspaper websites, register, view & comment on PFC topics. What a sad & pathetic waste of life it has been for the cretin known as 'sk8h8er'. I'll change this to apply to our favourite Skate comedian, Corpse. Wow, life must be so dull for Corporate Ho that he now has to go on Saints' fans websites, register, view & comment on Saints topics about the Skates. What a sad & pathetic waste of life it has been for the cretin known as 'Corporate Ho'.

I queued for nearly three hours this morning, for 9.15am to get a ST for my son, having bought mine yesterday.

He has a great career ahead of him as Finance Director for the Skates.

Did I suggest that those clubs have pinched those youngsters? Yes, they will see it as a good move, but whether they spend their time on their arses on the bench or on the pitch remains to be seen. They might make it, or they might not and having been released if they don't make it, arguably their careers will not have been advanced as much as if they had played every week and made a name for themselves in the teams they left. I don't think think that Cortese is the Messiah, but I acknowledge that he has high ambitions for the club and presumably the financial backing of the Liebherrs. I have seen nothing about Cortese so far to make me doubt his intentions or his ability. Have you? And IMO we will win more matches than we lose.

Nobody is suggesting that our whole team be comprised of all academy players, but if up to the standard, then of course the more we have the better for us financially, plus they will be known quantities. But when these top clubs have their huge budgets, why particularly would they be after any of our academy players, when they also have their own academies, plus the financial budgets to bring in youngsters from anywhere in the World? Agreed that youngsters naturally want to play for the glory teams, but they must also consider that even if they achieve that, most of them will be bench-warmers at least early on. And as you say, Liverpool and ManUre have signed youngsters from other teams, so the more that they get from elsewhere, the fewer they will need to pinch from us, eh?

As great an attraction as those teams are (and I'm deleting Spurs, as IMO they are a lesser light in that group), nevertheless they can only play 11 players on the pitch at any one time. So, they have squads of players because of their commitments in Europe and the cups, but the fact remains that the number of places in those teams available to ambitious and talented youngsters, is far exceeded by the quantity of players available in the market place. Those teams can not only access all of the Clubs in British football, but also those in the entire World. That is why I am considerably more optimistic that we ought to be able eventually to sustain a reasonable proportion of our first team comprising our own home grown talent.

I beg to differ. If you can't see the difference of having Cortese in charge instead of Lowe and the implications of his stated aim to bring through more players into the first team via the academy and if you don't have faith in his ability to achieve that, then you are entitled to your opinion. But if you're going to believe that it won't happen, then perhaps you'll explain why not? If players have been brought through the academy, have been associated with the club over a period of several years, are playing with their mates who they have also known for several years and who have developed with them, then why wouldn't they wish to stay and play together here, (provided of course that they are paid decent Premiership wages?)

OK, you think that is unlikely, but your opinion is probably tinged by past experience, which might not be a good guide to how things are changing at this club. Previously under former regimes, we had to sell any promising youngsters to keep us afloat. Now we do not have to. Plus, we are making improvements to the facilities and scouting promising youngsters to bring through the teams with the express aim of playing as many as possible in the first team, provided that they make the grade. Under those circumstances, I do not see any particular reason why those aims should not be achieved.

Jackie Corky??? Please, NO!!!

Easily remedied, although I thought that he could play anywhere across the defence too. His name is Jack and we've got him back, now he calls Southampton home and Saints fans all remember him, when he was here on loan His name is Jack and we've got him back in the greatest football team that Hampshire's ever known We all love Jack and we've got him back in the greatest football team that Hampshire's ever known

Mannfred Mann singing "My name is Jack"

No! Manfred Mann. You're thinking of Grocer Jack

His name is Jack and he plays at the back, both away and at Saints' home with team mates we'll remember, wherever we will roam His name is Jack and he plays at the back of the greatest football team that Hampshire's ever known We all love Jack and he plays at the back of the greatest football team that Hampshire's ever known

Burnley are obviously extremely miffed about us getting Cork from under their noses. They have dredged up the sale of Thomas to us a few years back and are crowing about how they stuffed us and Burley in getting us to pay £1.2 million for a player that they reckon was only worth £150,000. Somehow the deal of the century doesn't have quite the same significance early in the 21st as it might have done if something similar had happened at the very end of the 20th. http://www.clarets-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/it_was_the_deal_of_the_century_685681/index.shtml I wonder whether they'll bleat about how they really didn't want Cork and good riddance to him, that they're thankful they didn't buy him and more fools us for parting with the dosh. Crying like babies.

It's easy to have ambitions. Quite another matter to have realistic ambitions, ones that you stand a chance of fulfilling.

But Pilchards didn't mention Lambert and Barnard, he said that we have the best attacking force in this division. And that includes Chamberlain, Lallana and Guly, Connolly and others who can score goals. We will not just be relying on two players to score goals, or at least I hope not.

This is as far as I've got reading this, but I've highlighted the bits that give the game away. In short, your OP is so much conjecture, nothing much based on fact.

You really do have a funny way of seeing things. Yes, the first payment is due on 1st April 2012, so the CVA hasn't even begun to be serviced yet. If you take out a loan and the first payment is due a month later, you haven't effectively began paying off the loan until that first payment has been made, right? And just as a matter of interest, what exactly are your thoughts on all this? That your club hasn't even began to service the CVA to pay back the 20p in the £ over 4 years to its creditors and yet money is somehow found to buy in players at prices and wage levels that would be deemed to be beyond other clubs operating at more prudent financial levels. Do you ever get a feeling of deja vu?

Yes, we went into administrations for the sake of a few thousands. We had exceeded our overdraft by that amount and Barclay's pulled the plug. Please keep up. The mortgage on the stadium was being serviced. You went under owing £130 million, but I can see how you can say that we are as bad as each other. Thankfully, it isn't just those on here that are concerned about it, as you will forever be known as the first club in the history of the Premiership to go under. Nobody can take that away from you. If you honestly believe that most on here would swap the recent past history of our two clubs, even the FA Cup, in return for near oblivion and your current situation being owned by the Russian Mafia, you really are seriously deluded. We attracted a proper Billionaire with clean honest money behind him, whereas you attract the crooks, the equivalent of flies attracted to ****. Us jealous of you? I don't think so. I reckon that now we are on an equal footing again, you realise damn well that we are passing you on the way up, whilst you are headed back to your natural position beneath us.

I might be wrong, but although he has injury problems in his past recent background, it could be that our medical staff have sorted them. Certainly he looked both fit and sharp towards the end of the season. There is no doubting his quality at this level or even in the Premiership and his mental attitude also seems to be very good. I think that he has a role to play as a second-half sub, something different to introduce into the mix to bamboozle defenders and score some poacher's goals, the fox in the box. If he can remain fit and free from injuries, I'm very happy to have him available to us, even as back-up to Lambert + A.N.Other.

Another Skate who just doesn't get it. Yes, Man Ure's and Barcelona's debts are large. But they do have the income from merchandising, matchday revenue and their ownership to sustain it. Both are World brands and can easily attract investment or changed ownership if the need arose. Nobody is accusing them of trading while insolvent, which is almost certainly what Pompey were doing. Do you not see the difference? No, I didn't think so. As to our situation with the stadium, it was sustainable enough as a mortgage when we were in the Premiership, but when we were relegated, the revenue from attendances and the TV money dropped to make it tight. Even then it is arguable that had we had the support under Lowe that we had in the last season in the third division, we could still have afforded the stadium mortgage payments. Attendances dropped below the break-even point because many wouldn't put money into his pockets. But as much as he was dispised by many, at least he ensured that we cut our cloth according to our reduced circumstances, playing the youngsters and journeymen and we went under for a matter of a few thousands. If you really believe that you and us are the same when your players' wages were such an outlandish percentage of your income, then it is small wonder that you are held up as the prime example of how to cheat to win silverware and league position.

Does Connolly have a lot to prove at this level? He has played at a higher level than the second division, both at Premiership and National level and for Feyenoord and Rotterrdam in Holland. Admittedly he has to prove that he can remain fit and free from injury, but in my opinion, he has nothing to prove regarding his ability at this level.

Well, they can hurl abuse at each other all they like. Anybody who believes that the Skates have been bought by the Ruskies for anything other than reasons of money-laundering would be a bit naive. Oh, sorry, I forgot. It is because of the brilliant facilities, their superb fans, the investment potential that is offered by the sleeping giant of English football.

This is a sensible reply, is it? No, this is the usual semi-literate garbage that eminates from the Blue few. They really don't get it, comparing themselves with the likes of ManU and Barca. The difference between those clubs and the Skates is that those clubs can afford to buy and pay the best players, that they live within their means. If this Skate believes that it was excusable to buy the cup with money that they didn't have, a policy that left them in administration and left charities and local businesses unpaid, if he believes that this is just the same as Man U and Barca, then the man is clearly a total idiot.

Scoff all you like, but these self same factors have been instrumental in the decisions of several players going to another club or staying at their existing club. If it suits you to believe that all players only move just because of financial gain, then go on with your narrow blinkered views. Believe it or not, some players do have minds of their own, they're not all imbeciles. There are some who take into account their family lives, the quality of life, preferences of environment, etc. As for the examples of players pursuaded by loyalty to a club they supported as boys, then of course there are plenty of them. And as it seems that you entirely misunderstood, as you mention West Quay, that I was not even talking about Southampton. Some players or their wives want the bright city lights of London or Madrid or Milan. But no doubt just as players will go elsewhere for more money, there are also people who will switch working at one supermarket for another for an extra quid, because there is no loyalty there. Great analogy.