A new Era dawns...........!

With all the news emitting from FP today, it seems the PST at long last are nearlly home ad dry, PKF are lodging docs to the high court to force the sale of our shrine through.........with the added bonus news that sasha's administrators are to sell the land surrounding FP to Stu Robinson one of the PST investors all in all a jolly good day at the office..........

So, hopefully with a little more concrete poured back into our some what recently subsided footings we should start to see some changes on the pitch too............especially with some much need recruits joining us today.

Good times ahead, slowly but surely..........see you all at FP Saturday for what I feel could be a noisy affair!

PUP, BP

 

So close now.

 

Once every-thing is settled we can start our "x points from safety" thread, which will hopefully become out-dated pretty sharpish.

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT TO KEEP US UP

thus saving us from this....

[video=youtube;ACMcjbmniC8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACMcjbmniC8[/video]

 

Congrats lads, never nice to see football clubs in danger of folding

 

Happy for you guys, hope it works out.

[video=youtube;lwESraWEpSU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwESraWEpSU[/video]

 

After today's result I wonder just how much the new fan-backed takeover will save Portsmouth from relegation to the Second Divison. Whilst I can appreciate that the accetpance of the PST bid will stablise the club, I doubt that anything will be tied up this side of Christmas and even if there is money available in the transfer window, I think that it will probably be too late for Pompey. A few weeks back, I posted on here my admiration for Michael Appleton and how he should be able to guide you to a play-off place. With his departure, I think you are really in trouble and although I am pleased that the club appears to have been rescued, I don't think that you would have been pleased had the club been financially stable. Because the existence of the club was so parlous, you seem to be accepting your team's failure on the pitch.

I was looking at the tables tonight and see that , after 10 points have been deducted, you will be on 8 points and nine points from safety. To me, you appear to be cut off from the other teams in the relegation zone. I can't see Whittingham improving the situation even with the addition of the likes of Rocha. Whilst fan-owned clubs have had varying fortunes in Scotland with the likes of St Mirren and Motherwell, do you think this will leave you at a disadvantage for the remainder of the season and do you think relegation is now inevitable? I'm afraid that I don't think your coaching staff will be able to reverse the situation and the paper talk about Lee Bradbury leaving H&WFC doesn't inspire confidence if thie is the calibre that Portsmouth are now looking for.

 

I think when the dust settles on this season if we have escaped the drop we will be ecstatic - the facts are since Wes Thomas returned to B'rnmth we haven't looked like scoring and that for any side regardless of our parlous predicament is not a recipe for success. We are hampered in our attempts to secure anybody really until the takeover is complete, if we can somehow hang onto the coat-tails of lower mid-table then who knows who may fancy playing for us in January. I think Rocha would be a marvellous influence at the back and a great captain - we need to find loanee's in the meantime who can find the net - I really hope that GW and AA are given a proper chance by the fans and that we all stay patient. Hard as it is for me to say it but if I take my blue-tinted glasses off we may well go down this season and then it really will be a long road back - but I look at Swansea, a club I really admire both on and off the pitch and see that it is possible to re-build - we need too stay strong and stay together because we really are at the dawn of a new era - no-one is going to save us now except us - so here's to the future of a fans owned club.

There were 35K of us at Wembley a few years ago - and nigh on 100K watching the cup paraded - a tenner each twice a year - it's a lot of money for a League 1 club and maybe a fair request of the PST for all can't afford a 1K bond.

 

How are you going to get any money out of people who cant even be bothered to turn up on a Saturday?

What was the gate yesterday?

 

Why do you care?

 

Eastney

That was a well considered reply. The example of Swansea is a good one although they haven't been shackled by doubt as monumentous as Portssmouth nor have experienced the limited funds to run the club as a supporter's trust. I think Portsmouth has huge potential and whilst the ground is probably well past it's "sell by" date, I agree that the support could provide the incredient to get the supporter's trust working effectively. However, I belive that St Mirren tried something similar and it caused a riff amongst the supporters. I don't feel that the Supporter's Trust is going to be the panacea to Portsmouth's problems as it won't generate the revenue to put the club on the kind of footing the club should be on. However, I do like the notion of the supporter's owning the club even if it is too much of an idealistic model in these days of clubs having turnovers in millions / tens of millions. I fill be fascinated to see just how democratic the PST takeover transpires to be and whether the scenarion of too many chiefs ultimately hamstrings the club through inertia. As a non-Pompey fan, it will be a fascinating exepriement for the neutral and it it can be shown to be a success, it will be intriguing to see how many other clubs follow suit. My guess is that you will now be more likely to get relegated and spend a few seasons in League Two before things revert to a more traditional model once a business man comes in you can put the club on the kind of footing it should be on.

cheers

Ian

 

I think you guys need to take 1 step at a time.........Lets get Pompey on a steady footing. Get all the debts paid and start again. Yes I can hear the groans but in truth the trust is not at the moment in a position to buy you out of trouble. A new manager and a steady ship will help and with players more assured of a future at Fratton will also help. Ok if that means you have to wallow in the lower division for a while so be it...but you will be alive as a club which for now is the important thing is it not?

 

The first part of his post does raise a valid point.

As I remember, the trust quoted 12,000 attendances for break-even.

 

And I will still ask the question - why the hell does he care? There is nothing valid in the post - it's just another one of his negative digs at the club that he hates and adds nothing to a debate.

As I mentioned on another post (might have been on your board) when Chanrai withdrew his bid a few weeks ago the attendance shot up again to 18k and a whole load more season tickets were bought - within days the grinning shark was back in and deflated the air of optimism that was around the club. Such is the lack of trust that there are still a lot of people who aren't going to go to the games if there is any chance of him getting his hands on the club, and at the moment he has only "postponed" his bid to get his hands on the club again.

One other thing that people haven't got their heads around yet either is that there are a lot more people involved in the share offers - about 1700 (at last count) putting in £1000 but many others, who can't raise £1k, have contributed to syndicates, others have just made donations.

Once the issue of the ground has gone to court will be the time to see what the gate attendance will be.

 

Thanks Ian....I expected nothing less from LDH tbh....I don't deny that under his dig there is some truth though. I agree that it will be a very long and hard slog to get anywhere near the Championship in the next 2-4 years being realistic - but not impossible. A lot will depend on how the next few months progress - clean and transparent ownership will I believe bring some additional fans back to the club and then it will be like any other club - our finances and attractiveness to players will be based on how we are doing on the pitch.

I'm all for property development around FP and I liked the rotated ground idea that was floated some time back. I always felt that when we were in the EPL we could have filled a 35K stadium most weeks....and if we get to re-develop I hope it is built in a way that allows us to grow in increment's of 5K or so - so start with a 20 or 25K and then if all goes well increase as we can.

Anyway that is all a long way off - we will be back, in the meantime enjoy yourselves up the road - nothing lasts forever.