I'm struggling to understand why they shouldn't be forced to turn to their youth - or indeed why they aren't turning to their youth through their own choice (only naming three subs on their bench yesterday clearly shows that they aren't turning to their youth through their own choice). Just because their youth players might only be non-league standard at best is no excuse (I'm assuming on this, on the basis that none are getting a look in). That's what you get for not bothering to invest in your youth system over the years. When we were in trouble, we had to turn to youth (as well as offloading the likes of Rasiak and John and Saganowski). We went and played the likes of James, Paterson, Lancashire & McLaggon (sp?). Now granted they were at least L1/L2 level, rather than non-league level, but that's only because we'd invested in our youth team. And besides, they still weren't good enough (OK, the likes of Lallana, Surman and McGoldrick were). We invest in our youth team over the years (and our infrastructure), rather than just the first-team, and as a result we're punished by being forced to play those youth players when times are tough - simply because we have them. Pompey don't invest in their youth team, and hence don't have any half decent kids to turn to, and so are allowed to bring re-inforcements in. Shouldn't be the case in my opinion, and hopefully the Football League make sure that Thorne is the last person in for the time being.
Claridge summed it up perfectly why oh why they felt they could spend the wages they did over the summer is beyond me. Its not the fans fault but this has been pompeys doing. Also why should they get loans for free? How would cov and the likes feel about that?
I think the reason we bought players etc over the summer was because CSI and the dirtbag Antonov let all the authorities etc think that he had money and was supporting the club. No different to any other club really, except, he didn't really have any money. To late after the horse has bolted and as usual it's the fans that are left to suffer, no matter what club it is.
I'm sure Antonov meant to put money into the club or, let us put it another way, through the club. His banking 'difficulties' prevented that happening. There is more than meets the eye, but it may take years to find out. Hopefully, by then Pompey will have broken all ties and begin to achieve stabilization.
yes, read today & finally another team or should i say the manager i.e. keith hill, says exactly how it is. spot on mate. here's hoping the other 90 start to vocalise with the same & I said 90 coz I can't ever seeing SFC state similar, even if we believe !! COYR.
Portsmouth boss Michael Appleton said: 'I spoke to him this morning and it was quite positive from my point of view, because he said that the first thing he would be addressing was to make sure we had more players in the building. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ll-Ive-got-sympathy-Pompey.html#ixzz1mq93AyM6
I think everyone involved is partly responsible including the clubs that sold the players. Why would they take the word of someone they don't know, that that person has the funds they say they do. Particuarly from somewhere that has well documented money problems. If I had defaulted on loans to banks etc, I wouldn't be able to go to another one and take out a loan because i couldn't be trusted to pay it back. Why give Pompey any sort of credit when they have a history of defaulting payments?
Taking that quote out of context somewhat aren't you. You might have a case for Appleton asking for something unreasonable if Pompey had a full squad that was fit but we dont. We have the smallest squad in the division thats wracked with injuries. Emergency Loans are what this situation is designed for and all Appleton has said is that he hopes he can bring in a few people to help the team through this. He doesn't want to risk the youth yet because he says they aren't ready and he could damage them. While I, personally, agree that more youth should be in the squad and I've never understood why they weren't brought up when the first team thinned as a result of injuries and suspensions I can understand the reluctance to rely on them while other option may be available. If the Football League and the Administrator had told Appleton that they weren't going to let him sign anyone then he would have to bring up the youngsters but they haven't, they've given him the impression that it is possible to bring in more recruits. Having a go at Appleton alone for this seems kind of petty from your side. The Administrator and the Football League have not set clear boundaries defining what options are or are not available.
The annoying thing was the Pompey did have "half-decent" kids to turn to. From Grant's tenure to now we've have Wilson, Begovic, Sowah, Ciftci, O'Brien, Hurst, Kilbey, Ritchie, Ward, Pack, Williams, Webster and Magri. Sowah, Begovic, Hurst and Ciftci went to more stable clubs - Begovic for a transfer, Sowah, Hurst and Ciftci for compensation - Wilson was traded to Stoke for Lawrence and Kitson, Ritchie, Pack, O'Brien and Williams have been sold, Kilbey was released, Webster's currently on the bench, Magri looks to be on his way to Liverpool and only Ward has broken through into the main team. Steve Cotterill shoving half of them out the door didn't help us at all.
They cheated their way to the FA cup and a top 8 finish. If their fans were willing to accept that this, I would have some sympathy. Their administration differs greatly from most others (accept for Leeds).
I had not considered that aspect before. Other clubs have been relegated whilst struggling for cash, whereas Pompey survived by using money they didn't possess. Whilst they are not the only club to do this, they have done this over a long period with no real attempt by their owners to sort it out. Mind you, a lot of big clubs do this all the time and won't come unstuck until their owners want the money back.
I'm willing to accept and recognize Pompey bought success in the top league and bought the cup. But that's no different than what Chelsea or Man City have done, or Leeds or half a douzen other former and current Premier League sides. Buying success is not cheating, it has happened for many years in football and been done by many more clubs than Pompey. The difference is we were run by Gaydamak who didn't really have the money he claimed to have and defaulted on loans, leaving us up **** creek while Al Fahim, Al Faraj, Chainrai and CSI permitted the spending to continue.
But even then, those clubs are big enough for them to have a reasonable chance of just finding another wealthy backer. I mean if Roman were to bail out of Chelsea this summer, I'm sure they'd be a queue of billionaire's worldwide lining up. They might not be able to provide quite the resources of Roman, but enough to comfortably keep Chelsea afloat and competing for a top four spot. With all due respect to them, Pompey are not a big club.
I think there was a stat a season or so ago about half the Premier League clubs being in crippling debt and were reliant on their owners bankrolling them to keep them in business. The main exceptions to this being Man Utd who made a profit every season but because of the Glaziers were in ridiculous ammounts of debt and Arsenal who made a profit every season due to Wenger's policy or relying on youth but were still paying off their stadium. The stupid thing is that there are probably only one or two clubs in the top league that operate within their means and if all the rich owners were removed most of them would be in administration within a month.
In our first accounts published last year, we had a debt presumed to be an interest-free directors loan from Markus that was needed to set us up as we had no money and no income during the summer break. Although on the same lines as those provided by Abramovich to Chelsea, the debts we had are serviceable by our income, though Nicola expects us only to break even this year. In the world of football clubs, break even is great, especially as he didn't have Oxo's money at that point. we came out of administration well, especially as ML cleared our debts in full instead of trying to negotaite them down. My point is that all clubs have borrowing needs but you must be able to service such debts. We all know that from credit cards...can be useful but in the end you have to pay.
But why should Pompey be allowed to decide not to play youth and bring players in when others in the same position have not had that luxury? Whether they are good enough or not is besides the point. Also, and i don't know the ins and outs of how it works, but surely you would only be able to bring in loans where the parent club pays 100% of the wages, the way I assume you got Thorne. Well even if clubs were willing for this to happen to give their players experience or playing time, I'm sure some of the other clubs in and around the relegation zone wouldn't be.
