Speaking to several pompey fans and they think the end is near. They cant see how they can survive, their debts are estimated to be over 100M and the parachute money they recieved today went straight to one of the former owners. I dont feel sorry for the club this time because they paid nearly 1M for Luke Varney and Benjani wages are 30K a week. The offer silly wages in the summer to people like David Norris. They rejected severals bids in January for Joel Ward, Stephen Henderson and Jason Pearce. Last week Birmingham signed Erik Huseklepp on loan but they probably didnt recieve a loan fee or if they did a very little one. But even if they did survive until the end of the season and got relegated to League 1 i think it would be almost impossible to survive then If they do go bust West Ham and Ipswich will be the biggest loser as they both did the double over Pompey and therefore would lose 6 points. All we would lose is 2 points and David Nugent would lose 2 goals. And if they did go bust only 2 teams would be relegated this season and the football league would have to work something out for League 1 and 2 Probably an extra team getting promoted from league 2 and the Blue square Premiership to even it out. Its a very sorry state, for the good of football someone needs to go so that other teams get the message dont spend beyond your means but its never good to see a club in trouble. It just shows how much we have to be grateful for to people like Gary Lineker, Emile Heskey and all the other people who donated to save our club
As far as I'm aware they reduce the number of relegated clubs in every affected division so that promotion battles and playoffs aren't interfered with. So we'd relegate 2 and have 3 promoted from L1. L1 would then be corrected by reducing their relegation zone to the bottom 3 instead of 4, but 4 would still be promoted. L2 down to 1 relegated but 2 still come up etc until there's no need for it. I'm pretty sure when Boston did a Leeds (at the same time) and were relegated an extra division there were reports about it saving a Conference club from relegation and it would be the same effect. As it stands, this is the Championship table if Pompey were to go tits up tomorrow: Team Played Pts So'ton 32 61 Reading 31 57 --------------------------- W. Ham 30 55 B'pool 31 54 M'boro 31 52 B'ham 31 51 --------------------------- Brighton 32 50 Cardiff 30 49 Hull C 30 48 Burnley 32 47 Leeds 31 45 Leic'ter 30 43 --------------------- Palace 31 43 Barnsley 31 39 Derby 31 39 Watford 31 37 P'boro 30 35 Ipswich 30 34 Forest 31 31 Millwall 32 31 Bristol C 32 30 --------------------------- Coventry 32 28 Donny 30 25 I'd say after Pompey it's Bristol City and Milwall that are the most threatened by it. West Ham stay looking like favourites for autopromotion with the two games in hand, and Ipswich are a midtable side also with games in hand. Bristol go from being 3 clear of Coventry on even games, and 6 clear of Donny with Donny having 2 games in hand, to being 2 points and 5 points with the same games in hand. Millwall go from being 6 clear of Coventry on even games to being 3 clear on even games.
It does effect the promotion race aswell We took 2 points off Pompey and West Ham for example took 6. Im not saying we are going to catch them because we not but we are now 4 points closer because of it.
Obviously it affects them by the loss of points, but the alternative is to default the unplayed games which would be unfair to teams like you who've played them and failed to win and then have teams around you just given 3 points. When I said to avoid affecting them I meant the changes to the numbers of teams involved. Otherwise because of the different finishing dates for different divisions you could hit the situation where a division is halfway through the playoffs and suddenly they get an extra promotion place. It makes rather a mess of it when (if it was the Championship) the 3rd placed team says they should be promoted automatically and the 7th placed team agrees because they feel they should be in the playoffs. If you don't do it that way then both teams in the Wembley playoff final would have to be promoted, which just destroys that game completely.
I´m sure the FA/UEFA/FIFA has a rule to cover this problem some where. The fairest thing would be to deduct all the points gained v Pompey as if they were never played a game this season. No matter what happens they´ll be winners & losers. I feel sorry for Pompey really, I spent 2 years in the army down in Emsworth (Thorney Island) & went quite a few times. I always looked forward to watching a game there. Shame, I hope you get a REAL buyer & soon.
This shambles is not just an indicment of the clowns who have run the club into the ground..but the football authorities... ie. the football league, premier league, FA, etc ..who have stood by and allowed this circus to continue unabated while the fans have paid their money and supported their club with no real input or knowledge of what was really happening...disgraceful. this goes to show the idiots who run our game are not fit for purpose..
Liam Lawrence is signing for Cardiff on loan. He was only saying the other day he wasnt looking to leave. While it isnt his fault he shouldnt make statements like that and gets the fans hopes up. But Pompey need to realise aswell they are still in the championship competiting. If they get rid of all their players to survive off the pitch they will get relegated and their income will be even smaller in league 1 and they will go bankrupt. Catch 22
The administrator's concern isn't to ensure the club continues, it's to ensure the best situation for the creditors. They may have already reached the conclusion that there won't be a Pompey next season regardless of relegation or survival, in which case the priority becomes reducing costs as much as possible now so they make the end of the season. That way they'll receive prize money for the season, and TV money and parachute payments for those months. I know Gaydamak is taking the parachute payments, but he is a creditor so the administrator has a responsibility to him as well and the result of him taking the payments is that less money will be written off in total. Pompey if they survive are also going to be £8M down on "income" next season as well. Their parachute payments drop down from £16M a year to £8M a year from this summer (£48M is given over 4 years as £16M, £16M, £8M, £8M). I think if they go bust the PL will try to withhold the remaining £16M (you don't get it unless you're completing fixtures so it's not technically Pompey's yet) and use it to settle the football debtors seperately, if they'd got promoted this season they'd have stopped receiving it and it would be split between everybody in the League next year like Newcastle's was last season). That'll not help the rest of the league because it's bound to piss the taxman off and make them more eager to go hardline after the rest of the clubs in trouble like Port Vale. Completely agree with you about Liam Lawrence though. Back when we were in admin we had Clint Marcelle playing for us. He did an interview with the HDM saying he didn't care about not getting paid immediately, he'd made his money earlier in his career so he'd stay with us because he was enjoying playing for us. The next week him and two other players went to Darlington. Of the four people involved (3 players, someone at Darlo signing them) it's only Marcelle that I was annoyed with.
