Weston Saint

Wonder who has come in for Lallana? OK, I will answer that - no one so far.

No he won't. Now 10 bookings

Poor game from Saints point of view against a decent passing Luton side. Lucky to come away with a win but may be we just did enough. Lallana bright and tricky up front with Lambert. He is learning a lot from Lambert and Connolly. Fantastic free kicks from Lambert. Schniederlin did a decent job in midfield. Perry played an intelligent positional defencive role. Thomas was excellent in all he did. Probably my man of the match. Antonio was poor. Davis made a couple of good saves but other than that he is poor with coming to get the ball and his distribution. Paterson looked decent when he came on. The rest do not warrant much mention. Still, a win is a win.

Ah that was you was it. You took your time. Still you can pull rank on the Stewards

Fair comment from a Portsmouth Supporter As Portsmouth Football Club prepares to 'celebrate' New Year bottom of the league, facing a winding up order from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and having just announced for the third time in four months it is unable to pay its salary bill on time fans can be forgiven for wondering what on earth is going on. Understandably fans want a focus for the frustration they feel at having seen the best team in half a century - and FA Cup winners less than two years ago - decimated and the fragile bond between club and supporter potentially irreparably damaged. While fans chanting for 'their' club back, miss the fact that PFC has been a private limited company since its inception in 1898, they nevertheless have a point. Since 1972 PFC has been the plaything of sole owners. John Deacon, Jim Gregory, Milan Mandaric and Sacha Gaydamak can all be placed in the by-and-large 'benign' dictator category. Whatever the ups and downs on and off the field, fans at least knew who was in charge, made their discontent known when things were going wrong and administered the (sometimes grudging) praise when it was due. Even the hapless son of Jim, Martin Gregory, tried. Inheriting a loss-making business he had little or no interest in, his ill-fated, but well-intentioned, partnership with Terry Venables and Eddie Ashby ended in recrimination and ultimate administration in 1999. Plus ça change. Since August 2009 we have moved into uncharted territory, however. In many ways it is hard not to feel sorry for Sulaiman Al Fahim. This man is genuinely desperately keen to do 'right' by Portsmouth Football Club and its fans. He will argue, plausibly, that he had a deal with Gaydamak and was on course to meet his commitments and timescales for refinancing the club by the end of 2009. When push came to shove however, he was unwilling or unable able to come up with the cash to see off the persistent bid of the 'Ali Al Faraj' group. Al Fahim's consolation prize was the Chairmanship and a ten per cent stake. Some fans have asked why Al Fahim has yet to inject his '£50 million'. If he has the money, to be honest, he is wise to keep it in his pocket as things stand, but more of that later. The reason Al Fahim sold out so quickly can be largely laid at Peter Storrie's door. Seduced by Al Faraj's promises and frustrated by Al Fahim's evident innocence in the murky old world of top level professional football, he believed this group provided a better and more sustainable future. A desperate time called for desperate measures. An impending wage bill in September had to be met so he acted. Fans groups were mobilised and Al Fahim was bounced into selling. Storrie has his critics among Pompey fans, but much of it is unjust. His partnerships with both Mandaric and Gaydamak have seen PFC progress on and off the field at a rate few could have imagined ten years ago. He is widely respected in football circles and his contacts book has invariably helped the club out of many a cashflow crisis over years. Portsmouth FC is an established Premier League club because of Storrie, not in spite of him. His reputation is undoubtedly compromised however, by the fact he has publicly backed not one, but two 'rich' Arabs in six months and for one reason and another, neither have come up trumps. But the truth is that since Storrie was sidelined from the day-to-day financial side by 'Al Faraj', PFC has collapsed like a pack of cards. The reason PFC can't pay its wage bill, the taxman or assorted football clubs across England and the continent, is because the owners - whoever they are - don't have the cash or credit needed to finance it properly. More worryingly, this is inspite of a loan of at least £18 million, maybe more, from Hong Kong-based businessman Balram Chainrai since October. If you throw in the £5 million Al Fahim invested for his ten per cent and £2.5 million Gaydamak paid to Barclays Bank in December, PFC has received the benefit of at least £25 million since September. That excludes any other revenue. And yet the club can't pay a £1.9m wage bill on time every month? Extraordinary. The spokesman for the 'Al Faraj' group Mark Jacob has hinted in the Guardian this week the blame lies with the previous regime. The statement on the official site contesting Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs' winding up peition is more explicit, citing the 'difficult position following former owners' decisions'. One might be more inclined to believe this if we only knew who the current owners are. But we don't. Besides, Jacob will no doubt understand one legal term which sticks in my mind from my business law days: Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware. Passing the buck simply doesn't wash. Sacha Gaydamak, Sulaiman Al Fahim and Peter Storrie, three of the principal players in this drama (or is that farce?) have publicly come out and explained their positions. Jockeying for PR advantage? Of course they are. However, all the new owners have mustered thus far is a Spurs-supporting lawyer as spokesman and a convicted fraudster who is 'advising' the club on how to deal with its debts. Few of Pompey's previous owners would have had the barefaced gall to treat this club's supporters with the utter lack of respect the new 'owners' have displayed so far. Ali Al Faraj, it is time to reveal who you are. If you are not prepared to face the scrutiny of fans and media alike as 'your' club lurches from catastrophe to crisis and back again, there is only one conclusion to be drawn. You are not fit to run our club. Colin Farmery chairman of the PVA (Portsmouth Virtual Alliance), a group of websites affiliated to Portsmouth Football Club.

His contract with Reading is up at the end of the season. If I was Reading I would be saying, you want him you pay a small transfer fee and sign him on a permanent deal.

This is what I would expect: -------------Bialkowski------------- James---- Thomas—Perry------Harding ---------------Wotton----------------------- Waigo---Schneiderlin---Hammond---Lallana --------------------Lambert--------------------- Subs - Davis, Lancashire, Mills, Gobern, Paterson plus 2 others!!! I am assuming Jaidi injured and Antonio loan period completed. If both available they will start in place of Thomas and Waigo who will be the other two subs.

Nope "Advanced Banter"

Your Norton has a problem it seems

Or Oscar Wilde "Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much"

George Bernard Shaw once said "Hatred is the coward's revenge for being intimidated"

But tribal hatred Duncan?

But why hatred? That is what I do not get. Good humoured banter and rivalry I can understand but not out and out hatred. Surely that is unhealthy when we are refering to sporting occassions.

I just do not go for this entire tribal hatred lark. Surely anyone with a modicum of intelligence will agree with me. Yes, Pompey are our nearest rivals and yes it is healthy to have good humoured banter and a wish they struggle on the pitch. Because of the pain and worry we went through last summer it is natural we want to see our main rivals squirm a bit themselves. The bragging rights are with us at present and long may that continue. However, do the majority really want them to cease to exist? Do we really want to end the history of banter? Would Bournemouth, Aldershot or Reading be able to step into those shoes?! I think not. I have many Pompey supporter friends, the majority of them season ticket holders. They are good people. Do they love to see Saints lose? Yes they will say with a twinkle in their eye. I, with other Saints supporters who used to enjoy banter on the old BBC 606, agreed to meet up with a group of Pompey posters a few years back. It was an open invitation and most of us had never met before. It was a chance to put faces to posting names and raise a little for Charity. Over 20 met up, pretty evenly balanced between supporters. The day we met was the day Harry Redknapp was announced as Manager of Southampton! Plenty of banter, many a drink passed our lips and we won the table football for Saints, something we again achieved at a follow up bash. It was good humoured banter Then there was the time when we were relegated from the Premier. A good friend of mine who always referred to Portsmouth as the “P” word sat down for dinner and was presented with a glass of Coke by another good friend who was a Pompey season ticket holder. It was accompanied, with a big grin and the words “you better get used to that from now on” He was told where to go but again with a grin and a twinkle in the eye Posters on football forums do not represent the majority of the local population, not even the majority of the season ticket holders. For every idiot who supports Pompey with a passion and disregard for others, there is a Saints supporter equal to them. But thank God they are in the minority. I want to see Pompey lose, I want to see them relegated, I want to see them suffer the embarrassment and pain we had to endure but I do not want to see them cease to exist. Relegation will do for me.

15th January is favourite for me

Someone needs to tell the Pompey Board a winding up order is not a wind up, it's the real thing. If things are as serious as it seems, I expect the club to go into Administration within the next fortnight. If they pass that period then some idiot has decided to bail them out again but why would they when they can use that money to pick up a debt free CCC club that Portsmouth will then aspire to. I say aspire because the alternative is extinction As the Pompey supporters say ?????

And for his scores with the performancew team in SA. One century and a 70 odd. Well done, I am pleased for him having chatted with him many times last season.

Not really. That is 75 crosses that only produced, at the most 3 assists as the 4th one was Trottman's goal against Exeter. To me it says his crossing is ineffective. Lambert will feed off good crosses. In fact Lambert has more assists and not from James initial croses. James is a decent player but not at right back where he does not have the pace or experience and lacks that same turn of speed and effective crossing in midfield. It is no good crossing into the box if the defender heads out all the time or the goalkeeper collects. Crossing from the byline is the answer but James is not doing so. Why? pace and lack of skill perhaps? This debate has gone on long enough so I will leave it there. If he does not develop a better crossing skill he is wasting his possible talent.

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/Selling-the-shop-fittings-will.5945148.jp

From 1st January it rises to 10 yellows for suspension so no worry

James credited with 75 crosses prior to the Exeter game.

44-5

44-4

Trottman - suspect we might be able to extend his loan until the end of the season if we want but I do not see him as a permanent signing Antonio - I reckon if we can get him now on a free we might go for it as first team cover. Mellis - already gone Wiago - on loan to the end of the season. Certainly one I would want to see Saints buy if the cost not too excessive. Makes things happen.

http://www.football-league.co.uk/page/DivisionalAssists/0,,10794~200925,00.html