Weston Saint

I know, I was standing close by in the Robin Smith

Looks like it will not be Katich. He has had no contact. Club are now saying they are close to signing a quality spinner for championship games. Also a player for T20. Could it be Brett Lee??? He has now retired from Tests and Bransgrove and he are good friends. Shane Bond says no approach for him. Expected to finalise this weekend and unveil on Monday

I suspect they were paid out of the residue transfer payments for the two who left for Stoke & Spurs

I suspect they were paid out of the residue transfer payments for the two who left for Stoke & Spurs

I would expect a diplomatic response to any Pardew staying question, something like this:- "Alan Pardew is a good Manager and was bought in to develop a team capable of challenging for the Premiership in a short time span. To do that you have to get out of this division. It was an understandably difficult start but Mr Leibherr has released funds to enable Mr Pardew to recruit the right coaching team and players. Recent results are very encouraging and if that progress continues Mr Pardew and the team will soon meet those challenges"

I would expect a diplomatic response to any Pardew staying question, something like this:- "Alan Pardew is a good Manager and was bought in to develop a team capable of challenging for the Premiership in a short time span. To do that you have to get out of this division. It was an understandably difficult start but Mr Leibherr has released funds to enable Mr Pardew to recruit the right coaching team and players. Recent results are very encouraging and if that progress continues Mr Pardew and the team will soon meet those challenges"

I think Digger has forgotten that the debencher, if there was one, was after the Winding up Order was filed and served.

As I understand it the football priority creditor rule will not apply if the club does go out of business. Football is not a preferred creditor within the rules of insolvency. The FA make it so within their "trading agreement" So football only gets the same % as HMRC. It is only when the club applies for it's "golden share" that the rule comes into force. The money to pay the remaining football debt is paid by the new owners. As I understand it HMRC argued that such money could have been held back by the buyers rather than included in the purchase and that was unfair. The court ruled that any new owner was paying for the business and that any other money paid to obtain a "golden share" was a present and future trading payment. That is what the HMRC are unhappy about but are unable to counter argue a strong enough case to get their way. That has been my interpretation. Football priority creditor rule is a red herring.

Come on guys, have a heart, can you blame them for not wanting to pay to see Pompey play. Those who are staying away must have been converted to civilisation

We had a good dinner though and we were both guests of another friend who paid.

Was speaking to a Pompey supporting friend of mine at a bar before dinner in Gosport last night. He seemed to think Pompey would be ok so I relayed to him what we all know. Watched his jaw drop as I came out with issues on ownership, alleged money movements and secure creditor issues. He now thinks they are toast

This quite amused me. First HMRC Counsel, an very experienced and highly regarded QC in this field asks questions about the clubs solvency at the original hearing and is proved to be right in doing so from the SOA. Now he is asking for evidence that Chainrai is a secure creditor. QC's of this level do not usually ask questions unless they are pretty sure of the answer. He will have looked at every part of the SoA and the fact that the party who produced it were then sidelined. I would say he has some certainty where his questioning in leading. Mr Administrator is a bit of a media whore isn't he.

I have seen nothing which suggests the court have granted HMRC's wish to examine Fuglars client account relating to PFC transactions. IF Chainrai was paid £2m out of that account in February is that in breach of the WUO against PFC? If the answer is yes Fuglars & Chainrai needs to get themselves off the hook. How do they do that? By saying it was not money from PFC but from Falcondrone. But then they will have admitted that the loan was to Falcondrone (which is what Ms Robbins said in her statement of affairs document) and that takes away Chainrai's secured creditor status.

The idea of "cup tied" is so you do not play in the competition for 2 teams. If they played for Pompey, were sold, and loaned back they will only still have played for Pompey. So no, they would not be cup tied

Agree, I have been saying this since Monday afternoon

I do not accept the comment "we are lucky to have a club" That breeds mediocrity. I like others were relieved Mr Liebherr came along but that is now history. For those that attend matches regularly they can see were were far from a constantly good side even at Div1 standards and the buck stops with the Manager. He had the resources both before the summer and winter window closed. He was aware of what was required. Progress was being made after an understandable stutter at the start and at one point we were 9 points from a playoff place. That position has deteriorated and that is why questions are being asked. We seemed to be going backwards in league terms. Now the latest players have had time to bed in and we are getting excellent results on good pitches. An obvious weakness has now come to the top of the priority pile. We struggle as a team and individually on poor pitches. That needs to be addressed. Top 6 is probably a step too far but still possible. What Mr Cortese and some of the more enlightened and critical supporters will want is a demonstration that we are able to constantly produce results on all tyes of pitches and against all teams in the division. It looks to be coming together but Mr Cortese is likely to be less patient than many of the supporters.

There were over 600 tickets unsold this morning according to Solent Sports News

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/mar/03/portsmouth-takeover-intermarket-digger Fear not, Pompey fans, for your deliverance is near. The latest name to have been linked with Portsmouth is none other than the Intermarket Group. Some will remember them as the city financiers that were declared saviours of West Ham United last October. But they failed to come up with the money and the club was sold to David Sullivan and David Gold, who did. Digger can reveal that they were also the men behind the £25m plan at Notts County, promising the funds to build a new stadium and a casino. They failed to come up with the money and the club was sold to Ray Trew. And it seems that the noise of another club going through financial collapse has brought Intermarket running. Its chairman, David Byrne, has approached the administrator, Andrew Andronikou, about buying the club. Byrne said: "I can neither confirm it nor deny it." But Byrne has his reasons for not sealing the deals with either the Hammers or Notts. "If it was not for our chief executive, Jim Byrne, dying, we would have done the deal with West Ham," he said. "And my partner offered a £500,000 non-refundable cheque to [Notts' then chairman] Peter Trembling to give us a week to do the deal. Sven‑Goran Eriksson was really keen but unfortunately Peter went and did the deal with Trew." Andronikou said: "Until I'm shown proof of funds and I'm happy with the calibre of the individuals no one will come into the club." Very sensible.

Echo now running a story that announcement on Friday. Two overseas players. Possibly Katich for early part of the season and another for T20 to play alongside Afridi Briggs and Dawson will provide the main spin attack

Thanks Guys, saw that yesterday but the press tend to cherry pick.

Sorry why is this a sticky? I have found no comment helpful or enlightening. We have a match thread.

Is the court transcript available online?

Heard on Solent this morning signing is in doubt through Mendis increasing unavailability. Hants have a new target whom they have offered a contract but as he has not signed yet they are not saying who. As the report on Solent came from Kevan James it has a high level of credibility.

What a game to miss but I have just got in from a long standing dinner appointment. Still I was kept up to date and good to see some of the reports from those like S-Clarke and Fitzhugh Fella.

Yep, same man