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Pompey Takeover Saga


Fitzhugh Fella

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"What they DON'T have is the great history*, the crowds Pompey got in the '40s and '50s or the future prospects. Do they have a season ticket waiting list? To me they have bolted on the middle class redoubts of Eastleigh, the New Forest,Winchester etc. to winch themselves up- just about- to 30,000"

 

 

The crowds they got in the "40s and 50s"? What did they expect, they found a load of glory hunters when they won the cup/league. It's well known that loads of Saints fans went down for a chance to see the 'stars' of the day, no TV saturation in the old black & white days. Included in the attendances were all the servicemen based in the area that they let in for free so it's amazing really that most of their crowds were mostly in the 30-40,000s at a time the big clubs were getting twice that! Their record crowd is just over 50k in a ground that could hold another 10k at its peak.

 

If they're so fookin' great why was there so many empty blue seats inside fratton in the good days back in the Prem? And why did they struggle to sell FA Cup Final tickets? They just lost their 'middle class redoubts' from Petersfield, posh Surrey, east Hampshire countryside, etc. when the appeal wore off.

 

And what fookin' history do they have? They're only 2 years old.

 

Deluded freaks.

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I was talking to a very knowledgeable Oxford fan - they have spent quite a bit, and he said several others including Bury and Luton are also giving it large. He reckoned ten teams were in with a real shout. He also said Taylor had joined Oxford by choice having turned down a new contract at Skates.

 

er, the shakers were promoted last season. Very knowledgeable. ;-)

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"What they DON'T have is the great history*, the crowds Pompey got in the '40s and '50s or the future prospects. Do they have a season ticket waiting list? To me they have bolted on the middle class redoubts of Eastleigh, the New Forest,Winchester etc. to winch themselves up- just about- to 30,000"

 

 

The crowds they got in the "40s and 50s"? What did they expect, they found a load of glory hunters when they won the cup/league. It's well known that loads of Saints fans went down for a chance to see the 'stars' of the day, no TV saturation in the old black & white days. Included in the attendances were all the servicemen based in the area that they let in for free so it's amazing really that most of their crowds were mostly in the 30-40,000s at a time the big clubs were getting twice that! Their record crowd is just over 50k in a ground that could hold another 10k at its peak.

 

If they're so fookin' great why was there so many empty blue seats inside fratton in the good days back in the Prem? And why did they struggle to sell FA Cup Final tickets? They just lost their 'middle class redoubts' from Petersfield, posh Surrey, east Hampshire countryside, etc. when the appeal wore off.

 

And what fookin' history do they have? They're only 2 years old.

 

Deluded freaks.

 

I have it on good authority that at the top of an Oligarch's wishlist when buying a football club is high attendances in the 40's

 

(unfortunately for our fishy friends, that's 40,000, not 1940's)

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2 out of 3 of my posts used up in one go, but never mind

 

"One thing I would do is impose a club salary cap, they're already paying wages that are way over the top"

 

We've met the FFP requirements for Europa League entry... remind me what happened last time they qualified?

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A thread from POL

 

This is of course a hyperthetical sp. WHICH OF THE TWO CLUBS PRESENTS THE BEST OPORTUNITY.

Scum are in the prem but do they present the best deal, i.e. what is their debt situation, where can you take the club and what would it cost to buy them.

Likewise Pompey, how much to get them into shape and challenging for the prem. It looks cut and dried, but is it? If you were an investor, where would you put your money?..Can I ask you to put club loyalties aside for this one.

And some responses...

 

We're the best long term prospect. Mainly because we're so easy to improve.

There'd be far more scope for an Oligarch with an ego to build Pompey in their own image, where as Scums deckchair, flatpack image is mostly set.... That may be an attraction?

 

Either way has risks but I'd say we'd be more attractive to a long termer

investing in a club such as Pompey would be more beneficial long term profit wise.

What they DON'T have is the great history, the crowds Pompey got in the '40s and '50s or the future prospects. Do they have a season ticket waiting list? To me they have bolted on the middle class redoubts of Eastleigh, the New Forest,Winchester etc. to winch themselves up- just about- to 30,000. They can't go further- unless they give a qaurter of their ground to the London clubs for away games. This wouldn't matter if we inhabited pre-greed, pre-globalisation times akin to Nottingham Forest in the '70s. Even Wenger has remarked about how they could have been challenging to be the best team in Europe: think about the likes of Bale and the rest, if they hadn't been forced to sell. Can an ownership come in make them another Manchester City? I just don't think they have the history, the tradition, the support or the potential. They wouldn't really make a good acquisiton for an owner- it's seventh or eighth at best every year, like it is now.

My favourite comment is this one :lol:

 

One thing I would do is impose a club salary cap, they're already paying wages that are way over the top

 

 

giphy.gif

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Despite their views.

 

they sit in division 4, without a pot to pee in and a dump of a stadium.

 

whilst we are in the prem, european football, good ground, immense training facilities with a billionaire owner.

 

how is that possible when they represent the better investment?

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They never fail to amaze me.

 

To answer that question about how much would it cost to buy us.....

 

- 4 star Uefa rating stadium with top class facilities.

 

- £20m+ training centre.

 

- One of the best academies in the world.

 

- A top 10 team in the richest league in the world.

 

- 19 international players

 

- £80m a season just from the domestic tv rights deal.

 

- European football.

 

etc etc

 

But they are right. I am sure someone would much rather buy a club that has

 

- Terrible stadium and facilities that can't sell out a match.

 

- Fourth division football

 

- £240k tv deal

 

- No training ground

 

Because that would cost about £5 tops.

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My family is from Eastleigh. I think if you asked any one of them if they were middle class there's a fair chance they would hit you with whatever came to hand first. (Bottle, glass, packet of fags, dog, small child etc)

 

However it amused me how the OP on that POL thread asked for people to put aside their loyalties before replying. Are they really that thick over there? (Rhetorical question, judging by the responses they clearly are)

I reckon the current delusion is that they are trying to put themselves in our place when we were in League One. Of the MASSIVE GREAT BIG DIFFERENCE was that we had that curious little thing called 'infrastructure' already in place -the stadium, the academy, the fanbase. We were a good investment waiting to happen- even down in League One and the Championship we were making good player sales which showed the world how good our academy was.

There is no investment potential in a stadium that is falling down (and would require complete redevelopment from the ground up), a club with no training facilities, no squad of worth, no youth development, half the fanbase of most PL clubs (let alone ours) and given the experience of the last billionaire who was involved with them (Chanrai) why would any person with the amount of money needed to make a PL club these days want to go anywhere near them? There are plenty of other clubs out there with much much greater potential with fans who are less insane

 

In fact why are they even trying to compare themselves to us (again)? I thought they were far far better than us and therefore didn't need to do this...... I can't even begin to comprehend why they are obsessed about how much we owe (utterly irrelevant given the money we have coming in).

 

I can't wait for the day that it finally sinks into their thick skulls that their glory days were before England last won a World Cup. There is no comparison with a modern Premier League club competing in Europe with twice the fanbase and a very bright future ahead

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I think with all those years with dodgy owners they have confused investment with money laundering. As rallyboy says, any chance they had of attracting an investor went out the window when they sold their future for a few feet of Tarmac.

 

If they were located anywhere else in England they may have a chance but there is no room for a stadium anywhere else on the Sceptic Isle and they have landlocked themselves.

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Three slight hitches that might halt the world's bestest sporting investment getting a new investor...

 

1. There is nothing worth investing in.

2. They don't want to sell.

3. They've landlocked themselves for a tenner.

 

1/ Surely they could negotiate with the council for a % of the 30 million quid or whatever revenue they earn every home game?

2/ Works out perfectly as nobody would want to buy them anyway!!

3/ But look on the brightside, after each Saturday game you can pop into Tesco's and pick up a bargain or two in the 5 o'. clock about to expire, bargain basket.

 

Jealous scummah, you just don't get it. :mcinnes:

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I think with all those years with dodgy owners they have confused investment with money laundering. As rallyboy says, any chance they had of attracting an investor went out the window when they sold their future for a few feet of Tarmac.

 

If they were located anywhere else in England they may have a chance but there is no room for a stadium anywhere else on the Sceptic Isle and they have landlocked themselves.

 

Spare a thought for this dear old lady and her picturesque short cut home!!

 

1199188.jpg

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Just thinking of the relative positions of us and Pompey last night

 

There we were beating a top rated European Club in their own back yard in front of 50,000 fans whilst Pompey were scrubbing around the south coast playing Bognor, Havant and Gosport in front of a couple of thousand.

 

Last season we were winning at Old Trafford, scoring 8 and 6 at home whilst Pompey were getting beat by non League Aldershot.

 

So many other disparities.

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I can't wait for the day that it finally sinks into their thick skulls that their glory days were before England last won a World Cup. There is no comparison with a modern Premier League club competing in Europe with twice the fanbase and a very bright future ahead

 

Strictly speaking their glory days were before England even entered the world cup (1950 if you are interested)

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... and given the experience of the last billionaire who was involved with them (Chanrai) why would any person with the amount of money needed to make a PL club these days want to go anywhere near them? There are plenty of other clubs out there with much much greater potential with fans who are less insane

 

 

Whatever gave you the inpression that Chanrai was that wealthy? He doesn't appear on Forbes list of Hong Kong Billionaires. Out of the Arab Ice Cream salesman, the Fake Sheik and the Pension fund embezzler Antonov, he appeared to be the richest, but any of their owners are small beer compared to the Liebherrs.

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I can't wait for the day that it finally sinks into their thick skulls that their glory days were before England last won a World Cup. There is no comparison with a modern Premier League club competing in Europe with twice the fanbase and a very bright future ahead

 

Strictly speaking their glory days were before England even entered the world cup (1950 if you are interested)

 

But history is history and we mustn't forget the exploits of clubs like Wanderers who won the cup 5 times in the past.

 

History has been very kind to them of course. What a high profile.

 

Similarly the likes of Huddersfield, Div 1 champions three times in a row between the two world wars.

 

Look where they are now

 

On a different topic, Pompey have never had a player who was top scorer in the English top division.

 

Saints players have achieved this five times

 

Big Ron 1966/7 37 goals

" " 1967/68 28 "

Mick Channon 1973/74 21 "

Phil Boyer 1978/79 23 "

Kevin Keegan 1981/82 26 "

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Their "glory" days occurred because of a special set of circumstances from 1939 to 1950, when because of the war, they had many of the best players in the country serving in the Navy and living in the area, which boosted attendances and playing strength.

From that point on they have been, except for when they sold their soul to buy a team and cup,on a downward spiral.

Now it would cost millions to bring them to League 2 standard let alone Premier League

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I used Chanrai because he appears to be the last rich person involved with the Skates who hasn't been arrested (yet)

 

Also this 'waiting list' for season tickets - is that accurate? I'm not entirely sure they sold all their season tickets last season

Mind you- this is an easy number to Portsmythify since they control all of that information so creating a waiting list would be very simple (e.g. Just make it up as you go along)

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I can't even begin to comprehend why they are obsessed about how much we owe (utterly irrelevant given the money we have coming in).

 

It's because they've not achieved any success in the past 60 years without accumulating so much debt they've had to have 2 administrations to write it all off, so they assume all levels of debt are unsustainable because they've never managed to pay a debt back.

 

Oh, except the ones they have been forced to by the football authorities by the enforced ringfencing of money they haven't been allowed to spend on anything else.

 

I can't believe there are actually still people out there who think they're a better investment than us.

 

I mean maybe for them, with a loan of £1000 each to pay back to own... something or other... or a bargain basement investor who doesn't intend on putting any money in for the long term, but for anyone with enough money to buy them outright and actually invest to give them the infrastructure they don't have, there are probably 30 other clubs with a bigger upside and no money pit stadium (and no site for development) who could actually be sustainable.

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They've now reached D-day, squad still short and up to their limit for wages. They've got "triallists" playing in the friendlies that they can't afford "at the moment" according to the manager.

 

I wonder if they'll sign anybody else?

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they are getting excited at the mo...

 

If we had a 40k stadium and offered STH at 150 quid and say 400 quid for a family group( up to 5) we would fill it.

 

As for the capacity, I believe we should strive to have the biggest football stadium caoacity south of London, as befitting the undisputed biggest club south of London. Historically, we've had a capacity much bigger than Plymouth and Brighton and 50% bigger than Scum. Again, we should try to keep our options open to regain this position (without bankrupting ourselves) but who knows what size capacity will be ideal come 2050? Will the likes of Man Utd, arsenal, Chelsea etc breakaway and join a World League, will the Premier League bubble burst, will safe standing become the norm, or with ever increasing populations, will demand increase to all-time record levels?

 

 

I think we should be heading for a 35k stadium which can be further extended. A new stadium will attract new fans. Brighton and the Plodders should tell us that.

 

 

Look at some of the capacities being talked about on that website - Bristol XXXXXX rovers 35,000 - we need 36,000 minimum with scope to expand even further, stop XXXXXXing about FFS.

 

 

 

at least one of them is thinking sensibly

 

What the feck are we gonna do with a 35k stadium?

 

Let's get out of L2 first shall we?

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Ahahaha this is the same club that often didn't sell out their shed during the most successful period in living memory? The same club who's cup final tickets were still on sale the day before the game?

But, as long as their delusion continues, this thread continues.

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Lol since when have they had a bigger stadium?

 

In my lifetime (40 and counting) their stadium has NEVER been bigger than ours! Even going back to when you were allowed to stand!

 

Particularly enjoyed the realist comment about getting out of League Two - must be in the minority.

 

 

Also.... I'm pretty sure the £1000 wasn't a loan to the club and definitely wasn't an investment of any kind! Unless I'm wrong and they've been paying dividends on the shares... ..

 

 

I'm quite sure someone with a sound financial mind (I.e. No one that supports Kipper Shed Utd) will pop along and explain it all

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Lol since when have they had a bigger stadium?

 

In my lifetime (40 and counting) their stadium has NEVER been bigger than ours! Even going back to when you were allowed to stand!

The Dell held 15,000 for a number of years. Their skip currently takes around 21,000, it used to be more. So they had a bigger stadium than Saints for quite some time (they could never fill it though, obviously).

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Pompey had a bigger capacity ground than us for approx. 80 years until the time we moved to St Marys

 

Despite this our average league attendances are about the same, we are marginally ahead now and pulling away every year

 

Interested that since the two sides met again in the same league (in 1960) Saints have had an average League home attendance of 21,000 whist Pompey's has been 14,000

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I'm quite sure someone with a sound financial mind (I.e. No one that supports Kipper Shed Utd) will pop along and explain it all

 

Rallyboy was of course taking the ****.

 

The 'shares' have never been 'shares' and have always been 'donations'. Ironically, a lot of the 'donators' still haven't cottoned on to the fact that it was a generous donation. It's the hope that kills them :)

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Rallyboy was of course taking the ****.

 

The 'shares' have never been 'shares' and have always been 'donations'. Ironically, a lot of the 'donators' still haven't cottoned on to the fact that it was a generous donation. It's the hope that kills them :)

 

The description of those donations as shares is surely fraud? Could there be grounds for the bestest to sue the club if it all goes sour?

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The description of those donations as shares is surely fraud? Could there be grounds for the bestest to sue the club if it all goes sour?

 

No.

 

The 'shares' were bought in the Pompey Supporters Trust. The PST then donated the money raised from the share issue to Portsmouth Football Club [v5.0?]. If the club goes sour, the PST still exists and therefore the 'shares' still exist. If the PST goes sour then the shares disappear - I guess they could then become creditors of the PST but what would that achieve!

 

In short, win-win for the football club [been a long time since they saw that!] and lose-lose for the simpletons that donated a grand.

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No I'm quite sure it was a massive opportunity for the bestest to invest in a once in a lifetime never to be missed opportunity to own a piece of the most amazing bestest history there ever was and it is only a matter of time before they shall reap the dividends of this clearly very sensible investment.

 

In other news, a bloke has been seen on the Kings Road selling Tower Bridge, the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower.

 

And I stand corrected about ground capacity I might have been thinking about attendance or something. Not that it really matters tbh - history is history

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I'm waiting with bated breath to see which of the fan-ownership models Newport decide to adopt - remarkably pro-active of them to have mooted and started a fan takeover BEFORE the club sunk into administration and dropped 3 divisions, and managed a mutually beneficial handover from the time when the multi-millionaire chairman pulled the plug to prevent a crisis, but I guess not all clubs' fans have the ability to see the completely bloody obvious unfolding before their eyes. :)

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