Portsmouth

[walcot red]

I wish they would promote an extra team from L2.

That way, Oxford would have only missed by one place, and the recriminations on the Yellows Forum would go into total meltdown

"if Leven hadn't hit the post against Aldershot etc etc blah blah"

Fuck 'em the pox can rot in league 2

[Coca Fola]

My dad hates Pompey the most, more than Oxford, City, Rovers etc. He says it's because in the 70's/80's we had a period of playing them all the time and there was a lot of bad blood between the fans. Although I doubt that applies to many fans, probably just him, and redjed.

[Mexicano Rojo]

i remember in the 80s it always being fucking horrible against pompey inside and outside the ground.

[otanswell]

The Chanrai guy who owned it before is supposedly buying them....again

[leefer]

My dad hates Pompey the most, more than Oxford, City, Rovers etc. He says it's because in the 70's/80's we had a period of playing them all the time and there was a lot of bad blood between the fans. Although I doubt that applies to many fans, probably just him, and redjed.

Nope,nasty lot and when Kamara left them for us.....it irked them even more.

[Not that Nice If I'm Honest]

Fuck 'em the pox can rot in league 2

Exactly what I am advocating - but teasingly close to the playoffs

[Power to people]

The Chanrai guy who owned it before is supposedly buying them....again

Problem he has is that he is owned a lot of money if they go bust he stands to lose out, he done that previous then sold it to the last dodgy lot, the fans may have something to say about that this time though

[Peter Venkman]

Been a while since an update on Pompey.

Looks like they could be in real trouble next season and genuinely go out of business, somebody mentioned about their playing budget being a lot higher than Swindons, it may currently be higher but I am pretty sure it wont be higher come season start.

A quote from todays Daily Mail states about how their players on pretty high wages could bring the club down to its knees as the new bidders wont buy the club with the players they already have on their current contracts.....and to make it worse for them the players MUST be paid under the football creditors rule.

Looking bleak indeed for Pompey.

The League One player on £36,000 a week

Crisis club Portsmouth are still dealing with an astonishing wage bill as they prepare for life in League One, according to a special report in the Daily Mail.

The paper reveals that defender Tal Ben Haim is still earning a staggering £36,000 a week, while the club has 10 players on their books that are costing them a total of £11m a year in wages.

Ben-Haim also has an image rights contract worth £1m a year, while Nwankwo Kanu is picking up £10,000 a week at the Hampshire club, who were relegated from the Championship last season.

Aaron Mokoena, Greg Halford, Liam Lawrence, Hayden Mullins, David Norris, Erik Huseklepp, Luke Varney and Dave Kitson are the other big-earners at Fratton Park.

The club are still in administration, but the players are entitled to be paid in full under the football creditors’ rule.

"For the club to survive, we have to sell them," administrator Trevor Birch admitted to the Mail.

"They are on wages that are unsustainable at League One level. They are all for sale. We have already made some savings, but it isn’t enough to save the football club."

The wage bill is one of the key things stopping prospective owner Balram Chainrai from investing in the club, while he claims he is owned £19m from his previous spell in charge.

The big wages are remnants from Portsmouth's days in the Premier League, when they overspent in pursuit of glory. Portsmouth were a Premier League club as recently as 2010.

The Mail also claims that former players - such as Michael Brown, Richard Hughes, Aruna Dindane, Benjani, David Nugent, Hassan Yebda, Ricardo Rocha and David James - are all owed 'substantial sums of money'.

"We are negotiating with the (ex) players, but so much depends on whether an agreement can be reached," said Birch.

"The sums of money are so vast that it complicates the matter and the players can always fall back on the football creditors ruling, which means they must get paid."

[Paolo69]

The majority of those "big earners" were signed after they went into admin the first time. Whoever sanctioned the "second" spending policy should be taking a bullet.

[kerry red]

All very well saying they need to sell their high earners - the problem is any interested buying club wont be able to match the wages they are on at Pompey.

So unless the players themselves shake off the image of selfish rich boys and are prepared to take a wage drop, they are well and truly stuffed.

Never had much of an affinity for Pompey, but I do feel sorry for their supporters.

This scenario, of course, is what our yellowbellied friends are wishing upon us

[walcot red]

Whilst it would be a shame to see a club go bust, I don't feel sympathy for the club or the fans.

Were the fans complaining when they were winning the F.A Cup and there subsequent jollies into Europe no probably not. They wanted more success and were wanting to compete with Arsenal/Chelsea etc

The club knew that they were in finacial meltdown when they went into admin so why the hell did they sign players on stupid money?

So unless the players themselves shake off the image of selfish rich boys and are prepared to take a wage drop, they are well and truly stuffed.

Why should they take a pay cut? They signed a contract and they are entitled to it. Would you accept a pay cut if your company you worked for was in trouble? Or would you even consider working for a company that had money issues before?

Did anyone feel sorry for us when we were in admin or when Rushden and Diamonds went bust? of course not.

[Nemo]

Surely being paid 10k a week is better than being theoretically entitled to 36k a week but being extremely unlikely to ever receive it.

[ghanimah]

This scenario, of course, is what our yellowbellied friends are wishing upon us

Whilst many of our yellowbellied friends mocked our financial position surprisingly not that many actually wanted us to go out of business

[jonny72]

If they do go bust it will mean only 23 teams on League One next season and at least a year without football for Portsmouth, guess if they then reform they'll be let straight in to the Conference.

I wonder if it does happen if Rangers will try to buy them and take their place in League One?

[Flashheart]

Whilst many of our yellowbellied friends mocked our financial position surprisingly not that many actually wanted us to go out of business

And I wouldn't want them to go out of business.

The thing is with clubs like Portsmouth and Rangers is that it shows just how vulnerable clubs and all their history are to a handful of incompetent and/or unscrupulous individuals. STFC was nearly put out of existence for the benefit of a particular fat Greek cunt, for example. It's not just about the particular clubs in danger, it's about football in general.