Well, I can only wish Avram the best of luck - he's gonna need it!

As for us, I am slightly worried by reports that David James would like the vacant job at Fratton Park. I want him to stay at the club, but not in that capacity.

He may well be a great manager for us one day but I think we need somoene from the Championship / League One who knows the divisions well.

A lot of people (including me) said the same about Chris Hughton - but Hughton's an experienced coach, and he had a chairman who was prepared to fund a Premiership wage bill in the Championship.

That said, appointing a new manager is way down the list of priotities. Paul Groves has managed in the past, and unless you've got a new owner who can spend money on top of the CVA requirements (which are beyond the reach of a Championship club, even with parachute payments), you don't really need a manager, you need a coach, because signing players is going to be out of the question.

And as James is out of contract (he waived the clause about an automatic extra year, didn't he?), and the administrators aren't there to renegotiate player contracts (and with a staggeringly high target of a £10m wage budget, they still need players to leave before they can offer the likes of James new deals), and any offer to buy the club won't go through until July at the very earliest (you're looking at 6 weeks minimum from offer to completion) - James is likely to want to sort his future out by then. Especially if he has a good World Cup.

BBC report a CVA offer of 20p in the £ over 5 years. I imagine the likes of HMRC and other 'ongoing creditors' will be looking at that with a fairly jaundiced eye, wondering if Pompey will immediately begin to backslide on their current tax payments in order to rake together the pennies for the CVA payments.

Leon Tricker wrote:
Well, I can only wish Avram the best of luck - he's gonna need it!

As for us, I am slightly worried by reports that David James would like the vacant job at Fratton Park. I want him to stay at the club, but not in that capacity.

He may well be a great manager for us one day but I think we need somoene from the Championship / League One who knows the divisions well.

Separated at spawn.

HMRC reportedly set to veto the 20p offer, as it does not "represent value for taxpayers"., which means a likely 21 day - Accountancy Age claims that HMRC hold enough to veto the CVA single-handedly, so there's likely to be a 21 day adjournment before anything else happens.

Bit of a hole in the Pompey first team squad.

They'll be fine, they just need to get permission from the League to play rush keeper.

They can do 4-4-3 with subs

www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Rivals-39w...icked-out.6455530.jp

ENGLAND'S top clubs wanted cash-strapped Pompey kicked out of the Premier League last spring, the High Court heard today.
Beginning Pompey's defence in a case brought by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, Richard Sheldon QC, said that in March this year the other 19 clubs in the Premiership wanted the Blues expelled.

He said: 'The clubs in the Premier League wanted to boot Portsmouth out there and then in March.

'It was only due to the intervention of the head of the Premier League, Richard Scudamore, that this course of action was averted'

He said the league then offered to make an parachute payment which would have come during the 2010/11 season.

'This deal enabled Portsmouth to complete the season,' added Mr Sheldon.

'This was presented to Portsmouth very much as a fait accompli - they could take it or leave it.

'Mr Scudamore persuaded all 19 other clubs to do this.

'The other clubs wanted Pprtsmouth Football Club to go to the wall and divide all the TV and other money among themselves,' added Mr Sheldon.

David Agnew wrote:
'The other clubs wanted Pprtsmouth Football Club to go to the wall and divide all the TV and other money among themselves,' added Mr Sheldon.
Those lovable scamps...

Judgement day tomorrow.

As a Pompey fan, I've gone backwards and forwards on this: do I want my club to survive at any cost, or would it be better for us to go into liquidation and rise again in some other form? I just don't know anymore.

Some things I am sure of:

1. I can accept the arguement that PFC needs to be punished as an example to the rest of football. But whatever happens to the club the people responsible for this mess wont be the ones punished.

2. Even if we do go to the wall, I wouldn't be confident of other football clubs actually learning any lessons from what has happened at PFC.

3. The tax dodges - e.g. 'image rights' - and other dodgy dealings / ridiculous contracts aren't unique to Pompey. This is going on at your club too. Some argue the difference between Pompey and other debt-laden clubs is that those other clubs can 'service their debt.' Indeed they can - but only because they are avoiding paying tax too. There has been a deafening silence from the managers/owners/chairmen of clubs on the Pompey tax issue. Why could that be? If your club has recently invested in an ivory tower, you might want to bear the above in mind...

Like I say, I don't really know how I feel about Pompey right now, and at least half of me thinks we should just be put out of our misery.

Fratton Park on Saturday, for Linvoy Primus' testimonial, was a depressing place to be. Just over 6000 turned up for a modern Pompey legend. I know people are pissed off at the club, and I know money is tight, but it was a poor showing from our supposed 'best fans in the country.'

Leon Tricker wrote:
1. I can accept the arguement that PFC needs to be punished as an example to the rest of football.

Why? Portsmouth are what? The 50th, 60th club to go into administration? It's not so much as locking the stable door after the horse has bolted, but asking the resulting foal to make the bolt.

But whatever happens to the club the people responsible for this mess wont be the ones punished.

Exactly. Time after time, the indivduals that run the clubs that make the mistakes are the ones who get off scot free, while it's always the clubs (ie the fans) that get punished.

Example: A set of directors use £160k of the club's money as backhanders to agents. As a partial result of that money not being at the club they went into administration. The only way the authorities found out was because of whistleblowing. Total points deducted: 40. Fine paid by club: £50k. Fine paid by directors responsible: None yet. Fine handed out to agents: Hahaha.

Yes, I'm talking about Luton.

The reason this is, is because the committee that decides FA rules is manned by representatives of Premier & Football League clubs (as well as County FA types). The committe that decides Premier/Football League rules, are the chairmen of the clubs concerned. As long as the turkeys have the vote, Christmas will never come, and the clubs (ie the fans), rather than the indiviuals responsible will be hit.

What threat is a 15 point deduction for not exiting administration, if you can get away without paying 80%, 90%, 95%, even 99% of the tax you owe?

2. Even if we do go to the wall, I wouldn't be confident of other football clubs actually learning any lessons from what has happened at PFC.

Oh, football clubs will be learning, just as they've learned from other clubs in administration. They just won't be learning what you want them to learn.

Oh, the irony.
A fee of £5m was agreed with Genoa for the 23-year-old midfielder, who was subsequently loaned out to AC Milan.

"Genoa were due to pay the first instalment two weeks ago," said the Championship side's administrator Andrew Andronikou.

"We've been listening to excuses. We've had enough."

Sean of the Shed wrote:
Oh, the irony.
A fee of £5m was agreed with Genoa for the 23-year-old midfielder, who was subsequently loaned out to AC Milan.

"Genoa were due to pay the first instalment two weeks ago," said the Championship side's administrator Andrew Andronikou.

"We've been listening to excuses. We've had enough."

I know! I spat my tea all over my PC when I read this earlier today.

The best defence I can come up with is, err..., 'two wrongs don't make a right'?

:-)

So, er, last night. What in the name of fucking fuck was all that about?

It's funny cause I was thinking the opposite, when I saw that result I was like "finally!"

I'm happy for Leon to contradict me on this but even as Pompey are completely skint, unable to fill their bench and down on their luck, their first XI is pretty strong for the championship and I'm surprised it took them that long to win a game. I actually anticipated them to do quite well for the first few months, until December or so when injuries start piling up and you need to rotate your squad. Shows what I know I suppose.

They were allowed to add three players to the squad at the start of the month, despite still being in administration (and therefore still being subject to the transfer embargo), and already having more players than the mimum 20 that the league stated they would be allowed to have.

At the last league meeting, it was claimed (by the administrator, I believe) that there was just the matter of paperwork being completed by 5pm that day, that would see the club exit administration, and that was the only barrier to the club getting their league share (ie full membership) back. It was claimed six weeks ago that Balram Chainrai only needed this for the league to accept him as new Chairman.

However, the club is still in administration with the administrator Andrew Andronikou claiming that the club can only come out of administration once the club is granted it's league share. This is highly irregular, as a) owning a Football League share isn't usually a condition of exiting administration and b) every other club in administration has had to exit administration, then wait for the next League meeting to get their share back.

So Andronikou is claiming that the league need to rubber stamp the deal before Chanrai can be given back the club, but the League won't (can't?) give the club the rubber stamp until the club exit administration?

What the hell is going on? It's all starting to sound as drawn out and as complicated as Swindon's time in administration (administrator Andrew Andronikou).

Fussbudget wrote:
It's funny cause I was thinking the opposite, when I saw that result I was like "finally!"

I'm happy for Leon to contradict me on this but even as Pompey are completely skint, unable to fill their bench and down on their luck, their first XI is pretty strong for the championship and I'm surprised it took them that long to win a game. I actually anticipated them to do quite well for the first few months, until December or so when injuries start piling up and you need to rotate your squad. Shows what I know I suppose.

Happily, I'm not going to contradict you. I do think our first 11 is one of the strongest in The Championship and on Friday night the team just clicked. I'd like to think that Fratton Park completely rocking helped too (an amazing atmosphere in the ground) but we also got that elusive bit of luck with the Leicester goal being disallowed, and a soft red card.

I still think we're relegation candidates though - one win against a lacklustre (and luckless) team hasn't changed that. The injuries and suspensions will tell at some point.

David Agnew wrote:
They were allowed to add three players to the squad at the start of the month, despite still being in administration (and therefore still being subject to the transfer embargo), and already having more players than the mimum 20 that the league stated they would be allowed to have.

At the last league meeting, it was claimed (by the administrator, I believe) that there was just the matter of paperwork being completed by 5pm that day, that would see the club exit administration, and that was the only barrier to the club getting their league share (ie full membership) back. It was claimed six weeks ago that Balram Chainrai only needed this for the league to accept him as new Chairman.

However, the club is still in administration with the administrator Andrew Andronikou claiming that the club can only come out of administration once the club is granted it's league share. This is highly irregular, as a) owning a Football League share isn't usually a condition of exiting administration and b) every other club in administration has had to exit administration, then wait for the next League meeting to get their share back.

So Andronikou is claiming that the league need to rubber stamp the deal before Chanrai can be given back the club, but the League won't (can't?) give the club the rubber stamp until the club exit administration?

What the hell is going on? It's all starting to sound as drawn out and as complicated as Swindon's time in administration (administrator Andrew Andronikou).

I can't pretend to know the ins and outs of the administration situation. But some observations:

1. Andronikou seems to be going out of his way to ensure Chainrai takes over again. Chainrai may be the best option we have, I don't think Andronikou is fully and fairly exploring the others.

2. We got a great deal from Stoke with Kitson and Lawrence plus cash for Marc Wilson. But I would be very interested to know the wages K&L are on. Add to that the suspicion that Nugent is still getting £30K a week and giving Kanu a three year contract: are we 'cutting our cloth' appropriately? Without seeing the wage bill we can't tell for sure - but I am certain we aren't sticking to the £10K a week wage cap Andronikou was going to impose.

3. The 20 man squad rules. We helped our cause to sign better players by releasing three players who were in the reserves for about three years and had never got near the first team. How we got away with this I don't know. The club's reasoning was they were on about £3K a week each, and had been for about three years, and they just weren't good enough. So why the hell didn't we drop them sooner?! Yet another way PFC chucked money away over the years. The league should have told us that they were on the books, so they counted towards the 20 man squad.

In short, I am still waiting for the promised new era of transparency and austerity to start at Fratton Park.

Leon Tricker wrote:
1. Andronikou seems to be going out of his way to ensure Chainrai takes over again. Chainrai may be the best option we have, I don't think Andronikou is fully and fairly exploring the others.

You see, this is the weirdest thing. Chainrai seemed to be distancing himself as far as possible from the club, any only seemed to be named in positive terms of taking the club after the CVA had been agreed - certainly no-one has publicly some forward, but then, the club is effectively assetless and riddled with debt, so it's not exactly high on selling points.

However, usually, the situation is that the CVA is put together with a prospective buyer, in terms of what they can pay and are are prepared to pay. Either Alexandrou has put the CVA together on the basis that this is what Chainrai is prepared to pay for the club, or he's put it together based purely on using the Premier League parachute payments to pay the creditors, and the club is still available.

The latter option has a big gaping hole in though. The Premier League are retaining the parachute payments for the first two years, in order to repay the Football Creditors, with three and four effectively allocate to pay the CVA.

However, the Pompey CVA has some clauses:

* You have to pay £3m by April 2011, and approximately £3.375m a year for the next four years - In otherwords £6.675m has to be found (on top of all the other costs a newly relegated club finds itself with) in two years to pay off the CVA before any parachute payments reach the club.
* The statement to creditors suggests an extra £3m could be added to the CVA "from the sale of various registrations" - as the club are still in administation, I would presume any sales to this point will have gone to the creditors.

It's the sort of thing that could see the CVA need "restructuring" (as happened previously at Swindon Town - this may be interesting reading).

2. We got a great deal from Stoke with Kitson and Lawrence plus cash for Marc Wilson. But I would be very interested to know the wages K&L are on. Add to that the suspicion that Nugent is still getting £30K a week and giving Kanu a three year contract: are we 'cutting our cloth' appropriately? Without seeing the wage bill we can't tell for sure - but I am certain we aren't sticking to the £10K a week wage cap Andronikou was going to impose.

A £10k a week wage cap isn't cutting your cloth appropriately at all. The only club we can compare Portsmouth 2010 to is Ipswich 2002 (as they are the only second tier club to have gone through a CVA without being promoted back to the Premier League in the interim). ITFC paid out their CVA payments, but had the "luxury" of also being able to pay those players who kept their Premier League wages out of the parachute payments (which by the time we exited administration were less than half a dozen players on no more than £20k a week, only one having more than one year left on their contract). The self-imposed wage limit at ITFC was £6k a week, which even after we cleared the CVA, with an average attendance of around 22,000, and some of the highest ticket prices in the division, and still saw us lose £3m a season.

£10k a week with no parachute payments, and average gates around £15,000 needs either a benefactor or a return visit to the administrators in a couple of years time.

3. The 20 man squad rules. We helped our cause to sign better players by releasing three players who were in the reserves for about three years and had never got near the first team. How we got away with this I don't know. The club's reasoning was they were on about £3K a week each, and had been for about three years, and they just weren't good enough. So why the hell didn't we drop them sooner?! Yet another way PFC chucked money away over the years. The league should have told us that they were on the books, so they counted towards the 20 man squad.

Loaning the likes of Marlon Pack and Liam O'Brien also seems to have helped your case (as does not having (m)any recent academy graduates on pro contracts). The club have clearly worked the system on that one.

In short, I am still waiting for the promised new era of transparency and austerity to start at Fratton Park.

Don't hold your breath.

Portsmouth still claiming that they need their Football League share to exit administration

"Following a meeting of The Football League Board today, Portsmouth Football Club have been informed that the League are not yet able to approve the transfer of The Football League share to the club.

The League have indicated to the club that there are four further requirements that need to be satisfied."

One of them presumably being that they need to exit administration to get the league share back, like every other club has had to - unless Balram Chainrai is failinf the FAPPT for some reason.

This is the first news that I'm aware of, since last month's League Meeting, other than a comment in Portsmouth Today last week that stated: "Mr Andronikou remains confident Mr Chainrai is the right man to take Pompey forward and that sale and purchase contracts had been drawn up. He said Mr Chainrai had been working hard to meet the Football League's Fit and Proper Persons Test, which tries to ensure any club owner has the funds necessary to become owner." Sadly no direct quote.

Other than that - what the fuck is going on?