How can anybody have sympathy of those players who are the ones that could put Portsmouth into Liquidation. If anything the fans deserve the sympathy more than anybody else. Plymouth's players sacrified their wages to keep Plymouth going, it's these players who deserve a lot of credit.
What have the players done wrong? contract put infront of them and they've signed it.
Surely they haven't played very well if they've ended up in league one ?
Surely they just need to be put on redundany consultation.
"I'm sorry Tal but we are considering making the position of immobile, error strewn, centre half redundant, should you be made redundant you will be entitled to statutory benefits. We are however, eager to find another job for you within the club and we currently have a vacancy for a turnstile operator we'd like you to consider, there is also a vacancy for ball boy but we don't consider you mobile enough for this role."
In all seriousness, I can't believe anyone is sticking up for these players. It's one thing to sign the contracts when people are stupid enough to offer them, but to be willing to send the club to the wall to extract the maximum payoff is proper scummy. No doubt they'll be back to kissing the badge the next time they score.
Going to sound harsh but I don't have sympathy for the majority of portsmouth fans. I didn't hear them complaining that the club was spending (a long way) beyond their means. They took the glory and now they can take the pain. What's the worst that can happen? They go out of business and reform as afc portsmouth and work their way back up the leagues. In the process the true fans will get their club back and make the dodgy owners a thing of the past.
But they had no say in who owned their club, did they?
If a club spends so far beyond their means then surely that should set alarm bells ringing. We are not talking about a few extra million over budget are we. Nor has the debt occurred due to overspending a little bit every season. One year they were relegation battlers and the next they were spending like they owned a money printing press (and winning the fa cup in the process). The problem with protesting (or asking important questions like 'where is the money coming from?') When a club is doing well is that most fans are not interested. They are carried along with the euphoria of success. For the fans who went with the flow I have no sympathy. For those who set up a supporters group and have been trying to save the club since I have utmost respect but feel they would be better off starting again knowing ownership (a supporters trust) would be in safe hands.
Did anyone feel sorry for us on our parachute down the divisions losing great players on the way down! Thought not,only difference our board knew u cant pay premership wages in league 1 and survive! Simples
It'd be interesting to see if some people who are chewing him out would react if they were owed a years' salary by their employer, had offered to waive that and were still being told that they were scum that was driving the company out of business. As KHA says this is a normal tactic from the administrator, particularly in a football situation. They're not "making demands" they're asking to get paid what their contracts say, it's not as unreasonable as the lowest-common-denominator media makes out.
Exactly morts but you must remember everyone here would pay as much tax as possible and give the rest away to charity and say sod looking after my family with all income above the minimum wage , no matter what any contract says
Football is a short career and at the end of the day, if I was owed that sort of back pay I would want it.
The players dont owe the club anything.
I always remember the story about Seth Johnson when he joined Leeds from Derby, his agent wasnt sure but thought he good get 20k a week if he pushed. Risdale started the negotiations at 40k which the agent with a look of shock managed to get them up to 45k a week.
You cant blame the agent or the player for taking that.
Harry left in 2008, I am not a great fan of his but the club has been in and out of administration since then and carried on in exactly the same way surely what is happening now isn't Harry's fault he didn't sign Ben Haim on 36k a week and many others on wages they couldn't hope to afford.
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All very true but he was there at the start of it all wasn't he? It was Harry that signed the likes of John Utaka for £m's and gave him a contract for £80k a week. Utaka for crivens sake!!!
Once you go down that road the whole thing spirals out of control and only now does it seemed to have reached a point where they have to start again on the playing staff front, who have largely been exempt from the effects of what has gone on.
Kanu was also a Redknapp signing & that hasn't exactly ended well either...
I agree and I loathe Harry Redknapp, but was it really all his fault that Utaka was on 80k a week ?? It's not as if Harry would be negotiating contracts would he?
Our first game back at the Valley was Portsmouth. I spoke to some of their supporters in the Anti beforehand, and they were excellent. There was even a write up from a Portsmouth fan afterwards saying it's awful to watch your team lose, but if there ever was a match you didn't that much mind losing it was the game that saw our return to our beloved home. I have lost count of the number of games I have seen between us and Portsmouth, I'm not going to give tham any of my money (gotta save that for our own implosion) but I would hate to see them go out of business.
Our first game back at the Valley was Portsmouth. I spoke to some of their supporters in the Anti beforehand, and they were excellent. There was even a write up from a Portsmouth fan afterwards saying it's awful to watch your team lose, but if there ever was a match you didn't that much mind losing it was the game that saw our return to our beloved home. I have lost count of the number of games I have seen between us and Portsmouth, I'm not going to give tham any of my money (gotta save that for our own implosion) but I would hate to see them go out of business.
Top post. Its the fans I feel for. Of course they were caught up in the 'Arry roller coaster bankrolled by Gaydamak etal. As loyal supporters we would have been swept up if it had been our club.
Now the true extent of the disastrous spending spree is known and the unthinkable is possibly going to happen.
I remember the day in 1984 when the unthinkable was about to happen to us. The long wait for news on the BBC/ITV (no 24/7 news in those days). I really thought the end was nigh and the club would fold, never to return. At least for Pompey fans there are now examples of clubs who have risen from the ashes.
Portsmouth is a great club, with great fans and whatever happens, its flame will still burn. The lesson from recent years is that you can kill off a footballing company, but you cannot kill off the club which lives on in the hearts and minds of it is fans.
Bleeding madness , but correct decision i reckon , will this see a decline generally in player salaries? maybe not at the top end , but its not sustainable.
It did seem crazy when they were in the Championship heading straight down to League 1 until players like Lawrence & Norris joined on Premiership money and kept them up - where did this money come from? Its quite true in our last season in the Premiership they were overjoyed to finally beat us at the Valley whereas very quickly they were recruiting big players on big money with Europe in their sights. But no matter what, although the fans enjoyed the ride it was not their fault and they really must now be so broken it is terrible. Last season I loved us snapping up some very good players and I would not be telling the truth if part of me was blind to the 'where is all the money coming from' question. This season for Charlton, like most on here, I just do not know what to expect but there will always be some sort of worry we could go down a similar path.
What I don't understand is if the people running the club have used the clubs own assets as collateral to borrow against why the stadium hasn't been repossessed?
Also if these owners want to invest their own money (ala Simon Jordan) that's fine but if they authorise spending while in charge I don't see how they can now be a creditor to get the money back that they blew.
Also who are the idiots lending clubs all this money? More fool them I say.
What I don't understand is if the people running the club have used the clubs own assets as collateral to borrow against why the stadium hasn't been repossessed?
Also if these owners want to invest their own money (ala Simon Jordan) that's fine but if they authorise spending while in charge I don't see how they can now be a creditor to get the money back that they blew.
Also who are the idiots lending clubs all this money? More fool them I say.
I guess they haven't been liquidated so whilst the admins try and maintain them as a going concern, they can only do so with a stadium to play in.
I read that Portsmouth have avoided liquidation - what a surprise!
I read that the administrators are quoted as saying that now they have convinced all the players to waive the money the club owes them they want to get the CVA through as soon as possible to that they can start signing new players.
Not surprised in the slightest that they've managed to avoid liquidation. Football clubs within the top four tiers seem to be the most protected types of businesses going.
How many clubs have gone into administration in the past say five years? Quite a few, and within the top four tiers not one of them has fallen through the trap door.
The only cases of it happening recently from what I call have been with Rushden & Diamonds, Chester City and Halifax Town (all of which are back with revival clubs anyway)
Comments
Ben Haim himself must be set for life or near enough, don't see how he can keep picking up the money when he knows the situation.
"I'm sorry Tal but we are considering making the position of immobile, error strewn, centre half redundant, should you be made redundant you will be entitled to statutory benefits. We are however, eager to find another job for you within the club and we currently have a vacancy for a turnstile operator we'd like you to consider, there is also a vacancy for ball boy but we don't consider you mobile enough for this role."
In all seriousness, I can't believe anyone is sticking up for these players. It's one thing to sign the contracts when people are stupid enough to offer them, but to be willing to send the club to the wall to extract the maximum payoff is proper scummy. No doubt they'll be back to kissing the badge the next time they score.
But they had no say in who owned their club, did they?
The players dont owe the club anything.
I always remember the story about Seth Johnson when he joined Leeds from Derby, his agent wasnt sure but thought he good get 20k a week if he pushed. Risdale started the negotiations at 40k which the agent with a look of shock managed to get them up to 45k a week.
You cant blame the agent or the player for taking that.
I have lost count of the number of games I have seen between us and Portsmouth, I'm not going to give tham any of my money (gotta save that for our own implosion) but I would hate to see them go out of business.
Now the true extent of the disastrous spending spree is known and the unthinkable is possibly going to happen.
I remember the day in 1984 when the unthinkable was about to happen to us. The long wait for news on the BBC/ITV (no 24/7 news in those days). I really thought the end was nigh and the club would fold, never to return. At least for Pompey fans there are now examples of clubs who have risen from the ashes.
Portsmouth is a great club, with great fans and whatever happens, its flame will still burn. The lesson from recent years is that you can kill off a footballing company, but you cannot kill off the club which lives on in the hearts and minds of it is fans.
Also if these owners want to invest their own money (ala Simon Jordan) that's fine but if they authorise spending while in charge I don't see how they can now be a creditor to get the money back that they blew.
Also who are the idiots lending clubs all this money? More fool them I say.
as a going concern, they can only do so with a stadium to play in.
I read that the administrators are quoted as saying that now they have convinced all the players to waive the money the club owes them they want to get the CVA through as soon as possible to that they can start signing new players.
It never changes does it?
How many clubs have gone into administration in the past say five years? Quite a few, and within the top four tiers not one of them has fallen through the trap door.
The only cases of it happening recently from what I call have been with Rushden & Diamonds, Chester City and Halifax Town (all of which are back with revival clubs anyway)