Pompey - feel so sorry for them.

Portsmouth near liquidation, say fans group SOS Pompey

Portsmouth supporters group SOS Pompey say the financially stricken club are approaching closure and have called on the remaining players at Fratton Park to be "part of history" and save them.
The club have eight senior players left on their books and their salaries are preventing a takeover of Portsmouth.
The article makes for quite a sad & scary read!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18958234

I agree Rhys - very very sad, and disturbing.

They have been keen rivals of yours for as long as I can remember. Fratton Park was one of my first ever away trips and it was scary back at the station. But they are loyal fans who deserve better.

After the 2008 Final I sat on the tube next to a guy who goes to every cup final and he said that the Cardiff and Portsmouth fans were the best ever at the new stadium - in his words 'proper fans'.

I can't help think that we could so easily be in the same position, yet some are still giving VT such stick over a colour.

Yup, very harsh on the fans and when it boils down to it I'd much rather play in red than see this happen to City.

lol I don't. And not because of the cup final. Because they overspent disgustingly for years, thought they could away with it, the fans were arrogant tossers bleating on about how their dire fans were some of the best in the land, nobhead players running amok there..... revolting operation there for years. laughing at them.

Harsh but quite fair. They were overspending hugely on players like Kanu, Crouch, Defoe, Muntari, Diarra and Glen Johnson etc. whilst they werew stupid to think they could get away with it. Too have Ben Haim there still on a reported £36,000 a week just goes to show how poorly run they are. When they were relagated they should of dropped his wages or sold him, as £36,000 a week is clearly way too much for a Championship and they would never going to do themselves anygood by continuing to pay ridiculous wages.

I do feel sorry for the fans though, naturally, as I would hate to be in their position whilst on the other hand they probably should of seen it coming.

I hate to say it , The Lad, but you could be describing us to some extent. Sam overspending and piling up debt. Fans gloating about signing Bellamy.

I have tried to imaging having to ask (beg) say Gerrard to take a pay cut to keep the club afloat - it does't bear thinking about. And the pro-blue brigade think that we have lost our dignity.

Great fanbase & they dont deserve this.

I bet they would change the colour of there shirt at this moment in time

I think it's unfair to say they deserve it. Many, many people stand to lose their jobs and in turn have their whole lives thrown into crisis. The club may have made horrible decisions regarding player wages, signings, all of that, but that's not everyone's fault. You can't blame the guys in media for paying players too much, you can't blame the security and kiosk staff either.

The people to blame should stand up to the punishment and be racked with guilt they've potentially ruined hundreds of staff's lives. Since when did football get so serious anyway?

But they do deserve it. The jobs of the staff- it is unfortunate but a necessary price to pay for their employers' blatant moral and financial cheating. They work(ed) at a club that did all of these things. I am not blaming them. But the whole thing needs to go, as a punishment and a lesson.

thewelshfella wrote:Great fanbase & they dont deserve this.

I bet they would change the colour of there shirt at this moment in time

Clearly the end of an era and this could quite easily have been us. I do wonder if the KCB brigade really believe they are as hard done by as the fans of Pompey

I am wondering whether Liam Lawrence might make a return to us?

He was quoted as that being a possibility at the end of his loan spell. Could be that canny old Malky is biding his time there.

I think LL would be a brilliant squad player to compliment the talented youngsters that are being picked up.

Rhys wrote:Portsmouth near liquidation, say fans group SOS Pompey

Portsmouth supporters group SOS Pompey say the financially stricken club are approaching closure and have called on the remaining players at Fratton Park to be "part of history" and save them.
The club have eight senior players left on their books and their salaries are preventing a takeover of Portsmouth.
The article makes for quite a sad & scary read!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18958234

'Arry Redknapp - say no more!

In the mists of time I can remember similar circumstances almost bringing Bristol City down. After a decent run in Division One (Top Flight then) they were relegated, a bit of a shock at the time, just after putting their players on five year Div 1 contracts. Almost ruined them, and they have never returned to the top flight.

Breaking News:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18977953

Pompey Gone in August

No need to feel sorry for anyone. Maybe yourselves if you are setting about to read a rant just when I happen to be in rather a verbose mood.

This is a scenario that was always going to happen sooner or later especially when you stick dodgy people at the head of a club. The supporters on the whole are sheep that don't care about what's going on behind the scenes as long as there's something to cheer on. You can't say the supporters are blameless, they are irrelevant, other than for a bit of colour and atmosphere on a match day. Those who feel we do matter tend to be those with a rather bland life with little else in it.

We would have been long gone had it not been for a boy from Malaysia, who having spent some time with us, told his father what a great club we are and how well he'd been treated. This co-incided with the boy's father having connections to some big players in Malaysia's economy who were looking towards football to create a social bonding in the country something that CCFC were doing on a local scale back home.

This was why these Malaysians saw us as a club to invest in. The loss leader (us) was going to make money in government contracts to deliver football facilities, but that was the thin end of the wedge as behind those government contracts lay more lucrative money spinners in gambling and television rights. The club suddenly became a very small part of a much bigger enterprise that the supporters could ever truely understand. From being the only thing living for in the fan's eyes to being a very small part in a massive business scheme that had very little to do with CCFC.

It's only natural for some fans who have a totally unrealistic view of their world to feel uncomfortable in such circumstances. Really big money has a habit of intimidating those who don't understand it and those who have never managed more than a weekly domestic budget. Such people suddenly realise how small their world is and want to cling to something familiar. (sound familiar? ).

Quite by chance CCFC suddenly got picked up by big money, just as fans had dreamed of for decades, but due to previous experiences they started to question the apparent saviours of the club as to their motives and more importantly their competence. And this still after the "saviours" had continued to plough in many millions of pounds just to keep the club afloat. Can you believe it? You'd have thought it was the fans who were coming up with the money.
There was so little understanding of what was going on they talked of administration, so quickly forgetting how close we had once come to liquidation. They couldn't comprehend that the club had entered a much larger world where the club was now a plaything of someone who could afford to throw it aside if they wanted so. The fans were no longer a consideration. They felt betrayed and some started to vent their anger on the very people who had funded four extra years of football and two Wembley cup finals and four play off finishes. The best performance this club has ever shown bar maybe a couple of years back before any living supporters were born.

Such chances don't come round too often. Fortunately the majority accept the changes as a payment for future prosperity where one day the owners might be persuaded to change back to blue. By the time we have experienced success with the big boys of football, future generations may well see this as a dawn of a golden age for CCFC and associate it with the red strip. Will there be any less one time supporters who vowed never to come back as there were when we sold Toshack? Probably more but in a timeline of who knows thirty - fifty years will anyone care?

Pain comes from resistence to change so one can say it's self inflicted. Going with the flow is an easy option even though one might be averse to it. New horizons mean new opportunities and new dreams for those not clinging to a past that has already gone by and only exists in fading memories toned by one's own filters. The side shows we're getting from zealots of both sides are amusing. The cause they're fighting for doesn't exist in reality. It's all a figment of an unbending imagination that believes it's world is real.

My dream of the past forty five years is coming true. Who cares what's going on on the side. I'm settling down to enjoy the popcorn.

Oh! by the way hasn't red always been the colour of revolution?

Top post there Judge.