Administration

[grifty]

Redknap is an orrible spiv. Its about time the FA did somthing about the state of football in this country, there are too many foreign owners too many foreign players who don't giuve a a flying crud about our game, only here to line their own pockets or in Roman and that Arab at Man City case...to piss oil money up against the wall giving it the big 'I am' When really the likes of them should be turned round at passport control and told to **** off back to where they stole their oil money form.

you really havn't got a clue have you.

[Bristol Rob]

Redknap is an orrible spiv. Its about time the FA did somthing about the state of football in this country, there are too many foreign owners too many foreign players who don't giuve a a flying crud about our game, only here to line their own pockets or in Roman and that Arab at Man City case...to piss oil money up against the wall giving it the big 'I am' When really the likes of them should be turned round at passport control and told to **** off back to where they stole their oil money form.

Screw them, I hate them all, I want them out of this country, I don't care how much money they have they can **** off! They are destroying the game, and same goes for that pile of shit crook Murdock, take your Sky Sports and shove it up your annoying Aussie wrinkly arse!

I have little sympathy for Clubs going into Admin, its their own fault. Anyone who thinks running a business at a loss is acceptable needs sacking and banned from involvement in football, Spiv scum bag Redknap should be banned from the game for good, I blame players, managers, chairman, investors, and especially the foreigners blighting our game, and I blame us fans for being pathetic in allowing it to happen under our noses.

CiderHider, making a considered post and in no way generalising whatsoever, with a nice bit of 'get out of my country thrown in for good-measure'.

Next week, CiderHider gives their considered view on the British National Party.

[Redcliffe 78]

Redknap is an orrible spiv. Its about time the FA did somthing about the state of football in this country, there are too many foreign owners too many foreign players who don't giuve a a flying crud about our game, only here to line their own pockets or in Roman and that Arab at Man City case...to piss oil money up against the wall giving it the big 'I am' When really the likes of them should be turned round at passport control and told to **** off back to where they stole their oil money form.

Screw them, I hate them all, I want them out of this country, I don't care how much money they have they can **** off! They are destroying the game, and same goes for that pile of shit crook Murdock, take your Sky Sports and shove it up your annoying Aussie wrinkly arse!

I have little sympathy for Clubs going into Admin, its their own fault. Anyone who thinks running a business at a loss is acceptable needs sacking and banned from involvement in football, Spiv scum bag Redknap should be banned from the game for good, I blame players, managers, chairman, investors, and especially the foreigners blighting our game, and I blame us fans for being pathetic in allowing it to happen under our noses.

Its all Redknaps fault?, he spent money that he was told was available, managers get a thing called a budget for buying players at the start of the season Harry spent his budget whilst at Portsmouth he did not arrange players contracts, you really are a joke.

[NiceRed]

Its all Redknaps fault?, he spent money that he was told was available, managers get a thing called a budget for buying players at the start of the season Harry spent his budget whilst at Portsmouth he did not arrange players contracts, you really are a joke.

Exactly, all Peter Storrie had to say was, "Oi, 'Arry, no you can't spend another £10m and £50k per week on another Spurs reject." The same with the players, foreign or not. The only reason they are getting paid crazy wages is because someone offered it to them. Have you ever refused a pay rise at your company because you didn't think it financially wise for the company to be spending so much? No, me neither.

Having said all that, if we found ourselves languishing at the bottom of the league, or even in the league below, and SL kept banging on about how he didn't want us to overstretch, I wonder how much abuse he would be getting on here...

[cityhead]

Redknap is an orrible spiv. Its about time the FA did somthing about the state of football in this country, there are too many foreign owners too many foreign players who don't giuve a a flying crud about our game, only here to line their own pockets or in Roman and that Arab at Man City case...to piss oil money up against the wall giving it the big 'I am' When really the likes of them should be turned round at passport control and told to **** off back to where they stole their oil money form.

Screw them, I hate them all, I want them out of this country, I don't care how much money they have they can **** off! They are destroying the game, and same goes for that pile of shit crook Murdock, take your Sky Sports and shove it up your annoying Aussie wrinkly arse!

I have little sympathy for Clubs going into Admin, its their own fault. Anyone who thinks running a business at a loss is acceptable needs sacking and banned from involvement in football, Spiv scum bag Redknap should be banned from the game for good, I blame players, managers, chairman, investors, and especially the foreigners blighting our game, and I blame us fans for being pathetic in allowing it to happen under our noses.

I areed with everything you said until the last sentence. We also have to accept some of the eposnsibility.

There have been alot of threads on this board recentlly regarding our league position, performances and progression. We demand success and the only way of geting it is speculating with money we don't have.

The comparison of ourselves and west brom i interesting in that they are a yo-yo prem club. Have just enough to get int the prem but not enough to maintain their prem position. However, they and Newcastle and Middlesborough have a unfiar advantage over all other teams in this division due to £16m of parachute payments for 2 yrs. So that means the teams relegated the previous season also have an £16m advantage, so every year we are £32M behind the finances of other teams in our division. This is where perspective has to be applied. Yet, west Brom can pay £2m for a full back who was turned inside out by our FREE signing.

Whilst I can't stand the man, I applaud PULIS for what he has achieved at Stoke. They played Man City off the park this week yet their team cost a fraction of Man City. Another aspect is the cost of agents. The prem spent £75m on agents last year - the real spivs.

Whilst I don't like the idea I think the only way to protect football is for governmet legislatiion to ensure clubs keep within their revenues. The Premier league have a responsibnility also, in tat eerybody keeps spouting that the prem is the richest league in the world, it's not - it's the league with the most borrowed debts!

[Cyderman]

Think the Pompey situation's pretty simple tbh- theres no way that top flight football can be sustained unless you have either a) an average attendance of at least 30k or b) a billionaire sugar daddy. As Portsmouth have neither, this was always likely to happen. Also demonstrates why, if we ever want to get to the Prem, we need the new stadium.

[City Rocker]

Maybe this is one of the problems? In the many different places I've worked, even businesses recording profit in the billions, we've never had a tea-lady. We've always either had vending machines or kettles to make our own brew.

The reliance of football clubs to have ladies who make tea is a drain on our National Sport. The sooner clubs get rid of them, the sooner the problems surrounding the finances of football will be resolved.

Down with this sort of thing!

Careful now!

Seriously, I was shocked to learn recently that Peter Ridsdale and two other Cardiff City directors were paid bonuses of £200,000 between them "in recognition of the hard work they had put in" to complete the new Cardiff stadium. This despite the financial plight the stadium had caused the club and the fact that, as far as I understand it, the club don't even own the stadium outright. Crazy

[beaverface]

The total debt of Portsmouth amounts to about 12 months worth of repayments on Man United's debt. Liverpool aren't much better off than United.

Edit: Changed from 18 months to 12 months - source, BBC News.

The quicker one of these clubs goes bust the better! Nothing radical will happen with football finances until one of the bigs boys goes tits up, that might just open the eyes of the relevant parties!

[Economou]

In all seriousness when wil this get asked? Bournemouth, Southampton and now Portsmouth. The common denominator?

I heard that as well. West Brom, ourselves and Swansea are well run clubs. Not sure we deserve such praise considering we are making an annual loss.

Not forgetting Kevin Bond who has been Harry's sidekick for much of the time, didn't he get exposed by Panorama ?

[Northern Red]

In all seriousness when wil this get asked? Bournemouth, Southampton and now Portsmouth. The common denominator?

Don't forget West Ham.

Not Harry's fault though, definately not guv.

[CiderHider]

First of all Harry the Spiv is not responsible for the problems with wages in football, where did I say that? I just say he's a spiv and he is. He's a greasy tax dodging manipulative shit, and accepts no responsibility for his actions in helping to take clubs waaay beyond their means coz the consequences are too dire..Too dire, Harry? Pretty dire at Pompy now isn't it? Idiot.

So, Grifty and Redcliffe 78, please enjoy your stfu pie. Oh, and Bristol Rob don't confuse my mentioning of Foreigners with racism, I know its easy to do if you aint that bright, so clearly I expect no apology from you.

Simply I don't like the worlds natural resources being exploited and the profits being blown on the likes of Robinho, Terry and Cole to name just a few, you might be happy with British team becoming the latest toys of the rich to play with and discard at their leisure, but not me. Much more can be done, but isn't becuase the government is happy to slurp up the tax's it brings in at the expensive of proud football history. But when A player is paid $150k per week and one of the most powerful men in the world is paid half of that in a YEAR I have a very big problem, especially when its in the same country. Its ****ing obscene!

:disapointed2se:

[Redcliffe 78]

At least these players on obscene money are paying alot back into the tax system not like some of our British sporting hero's who are tax dodgers.

[Redcliffe 78]

First of all Harry the Spiv is not responsible for the problems with wages in football, where did I say that? I just say he's a spiv and he is. He's a greasy tax dodging manipulative shit, and accepts no responsibility for his actions in helping to take clubs waaay beyond their means coz the consequences are too dire..Too dire, Harry? Pretty dire at Pompy now isn't it? Idiot.

So, Grifty and Redcliffe 78, please enjoy your stfu pie. Oh, and Bristol Rob don't confuse my mentioning of Foreigners with racism, I know its easy to do if you aint that bright, so clearly I expect no apology from you.

Simply I don't like the worlds natural resources being exploited and the profits being blown on the likes of Robinho, Terry and Cole to name just a few, you might be happy with British team becoming the latest toys of the rich to play with and discard at their leisure, but not me. Much more can be done, but isn't becuase the government is happy to slurp up the tax's it brings in at the expensive of proud football history. But when A player is paid $150k per week and one of the most powerful men in the world is paid half of that in a YEAR I have a very big problem, especially when its in the same country. Its ****ing obscene!

PM, £133,000 a year. MP £64,000 a year. Just had a lasagne no room for pie but thanks all the same.

[Red_Chelt]

There is something dreadfully wrong with society when a footballer gets paid as much in a WEEK as our Prime minister gets in 2 YEARS!!!

I only feel sorry for the Fans who pay their hard earned money only to have it pissed away by the likes of Cole and Terry, I'm starting to go off football.

The PM gets about £194,000 p/a, add on expenses and I'm not sure who earns the most out of him and Premier League stars...

[grifty]

First of all Harry the Spiv is not responsible for the problems with wages in football, where did I say that? I just say he's a spiv and he is. He's a greasy tax dodging manipulative shit, and accepts no responsibility for his actions in helping to take clubs waaay beyond their means coz the consequences are too dire..Too dire, Harry? Pretty dire at Pompy now isn't it? Idiot.

So, Grifty and Redcliffe 78, please enjoy your stfu pie. Oh, and Bristol Rob don't confuse my mentioning of Foreigners with racism, I know its easy to do if you aint that bright, so clearly I expect no apology from you.

Simply I don't like the worlds natural resources being exploited and the profits being blown on the likes of Robinho, Terry and Cole to name just a few, you might be happy with British team becoming the latest toys of the rich to play with and discard at their leisure, but not me. Much more can be done, but isn't becuase the government is happy to slurp up the tax's it brings in at the expensive of proud football history. But when A player is paid $150k per week and one of the most powerful men in the world is paid half of that in a YEAR I have a very big problem, especially when its in the same country. Its ****ing obscene!

Worlds natural resources!? So now you're accusing Premier League stars of using the money they earn!? What would you like them to do with it?

[simon uk]

I agree with Ciderhider, which probably means I will be condemned, it is pretty clear that people like Terry and cole are scumbags who struck it rich, i wouldnt be at all surprised if Liverpool are next on the bang in trouble list, and I hope they are. Chelsea, Man city, Man Utd, and lots of others (West Ham and obviously Portsmouth are the most recent) who could or have gone to the wall run by people who have no idea about the game and have ruined their clubs, if I was a man city fan I would be bricking it at what will happen to then when their owners get bored, or the oil runs out. Is it any great surprise there are massive human rights issues in the countries these people make their billions?

I would much see us putting out a team of local lads on low money compared to paying some of the players here at the moment their wages, and if SL came out and said it I wouldnt complain one bit.

[Red Cloud]

...My own thoughts; Cardiff have banked everything on getting in to the Prem this season. If they don't, then next season could see major money probs for them...

If they do go up they not only face a massive wage bill increase but have to refund at least £4 million to the fans (10,000 @ average £400 promised refund if they get promoted)

Sounds like they're knackered if they do or don't - now thats how to run a club in to the ground!

We are SO lucky to have SL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Frenchay Red]

John "Mr Portsmouth" Westwood was interviewed earlier today on Sky, I think.

Whatever you think about him and his frigging bell, he made some good points about people (players, agents, owners and investors) just wanting to take money out of the game, ultimately at the expense of the club and the loyal fans.

You can't doubt the guy's passion for the club and he said he would support them whatever league they were in, but that football had changed and the amount of money involved in running a club compared to a few years ago was staggering.

I do wonder just how it will all end. Unlike the Banking collapse the Government will not be on hand to bail out a failing football economy.

[The Casual Connoisseur]

Ok Cardiff:

risdale is the chairman, only one of the directors isn't an associate of PR, that's Steve Borley, who is the only fan on the board.

Cardiff have just had an egm where they admitted lying to the fans and defrauding them of money paid on advance season ticket sales that was supposed to be spent (£3m) on new players in jan, which was impossible as they are actually under a transfer embargo!

They are financially ruined, they have raised minimal funds and have had to take a massive hit on land sold( the land was given to them by the council on turn the club have to build a non profit house of sport by the end of the year, which they have no money for) for a hotel development to pay hmrc, they are still apparently £400k short and are soon to be hit with a 3rd winding up order if they survive the second on march 10 th.

All their hopes are on promotion, if they fail they will have to sell half the squad.

The debt is rising and they have no income for next season as season tickets have been sold and the money spent.

Next step is unpaid wages, over £1m a month, the players and staff will be added to the coach companies and unpaid maintenance costs,

I could go on all night, for a more indepth view of our lovely neighbors situation check out their forum ccmb.......oh and I think the poster who added risdale had a bonus of 200k was wrong, more like 500k, woops

[cityhead]

Ok Cardiff:

risdale is the chairman, only one of the directors isn't an associate of PR, that's Steve Borley, who is the only fan on the board.

Cardiff have just had an egm where they admitted lying to the fans and defrauding them of money paid on advance season ticket sales that was supposed to be spent (£3m) on new players in jan, which was impossible as they are actually under a transfer embargo!

They are financially ruined, they have raised minimal funds and have had to take a massive hit on land sold( the land was given to them by the council on turn the club have to build a non profit house of sport by the end of the year, which they have no money for) for a hotel development to pay hmrc, they are still apparently £400k short and are soon to be hit with a 3rd winding up order if they survive the second on march 10 th.

All their hopes are on promotion, if they fail they will have to sell half the squad.

The debt is rising and they have no income for next season as season tickets have been sold and the money spent.

Next step is unpaid wages, over £1m a month, the players and staff will be added to the coach companies and unpaid maintenance costs,

I could go on all night, for a more indepth view of our lovely neighbors situation check out their forum ccmb.......oh and I think the poster who added risdale had a bonus of 200k was wrong, more like 500k, woops

The guy was also responsible for the fiasco at leeds and barnsley. At Leeds he mortgaged 10 years of season ticket sales to pay an extortionate amount for ferdinand.

How is this parisite able to pass fit and proper tests? He is a gambler, betting on promotion with £30m tv money and £32M of parachute payments for the next two years if relegated.

Worth the gamble?

[Jordan Tansley]

why do people think football is like football manager?

how anyone here can blame Harry Redknapp for Pompeys downfall has lost the plot!

this club is the perfect example of how ALL clubs are run;

• Johnson has list of players he likes
• He gives that list to Lansdown and Sextone.
• they do the deal, Johnson has NO say on wages or fee...

THIS IS THE JOB OF THE CEO! In this case Peter Storrie is the ONLY culprit. He must have known that Gaydamak had no money... Yet he still sanctioned the inflated wages and fee's that Pompey has splashed out over the last 3 years.

Storrie and his ilk are a cancer on football, and the sooner the money men are out of it, the sooner the game returns to the people.

[The Batman]

The guy was also responsible for the fiasco at leeds and barnsley. At Leeds he mortgaged 10 years of season ticket sales to pay an extortionate amount for ferdinand.

How is this parisite able to pass fit and proper tests? He is a gambler, betting on promotion with £30m tv money and £32M of parachute payments for the next two years if relegated.

Worth the gamble?

The Seth Johnson signing for Leeds from Derby always stuck in my mind, whether or not it's true I'm not sure

But the story goes that Resdale offered double what Seth Johnson and his agent had agreed and ended up on around £30k a week.

[simon uk]

why do people think football is like football manager?

how anyone here can blame Harry Redknapp for Pompeys downfall has lost the plot!

this club is the perfect example of how ALL clubs are run;

• Johnson has list of players he likes
• He gives that list to Lansdown and Sextone.
• they do the deal, Johnson has NO say on wages or fee...

THIS IS THE JOB OF THE CEO! In this case Peter Storrie is the ONLY culprit. He must have known that Gaydamak had no money... Yet he still sanctioned the inflated wages and fee's that Pompey has splashed out over the last 3 years.

Storrie and his ilk are a cancer on football, and the sooner the money men are out of it, the sooner the game returns to the people.

Yeah but redknap must have known the losses they were racking up, but still kept going back for more, he was just trying to secure his little bit of history by winning the fa cup, and it has ruined a club to do it. Do you think he would still be there now once the money had run out? The amount he has blown at spurs shows what he is all about.

[The Casual Connoisseur]

Cardiff have succesfully recruited players with huge signing on fees and wages parallel to that of Premier League players.

The Joe Ledley scenario baffles me, he is out if contract in the summer and refuses to sign a new deal, he is currently having one of 2 hip operations that will rule him out until the end of the season, so logic says sell him last summer or at worst sell him in January as needs must, as it is he walks away for free in the summer!

[chinapig]

Careful now!

Seriously, I was shocked to learn recently that Peter Ridsdale and two other Cardiff City directors were paid bonuses of £200,000 between them "in recognition of the hard work they had put in" to complete the new Cardiff stadium. This despite the financial plight the stadium had caused the club and the fact that, as far as I understand it, the club don't even own the stadium outright. Crazy

For the lowdown on Cardiff see here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/24/peter-ridsdale-cardiff-city-finances

I heard the interview referred to and of course Ridsdale was not challenged over his half truths and sins of omission.

[chinapig]

Yeah but redknap must have known the losses they were racking up, but still kept going back for more, he was just trying to secure his little bit of history by winning the fa cup, and it has ruined a club to do it. Do you think he would still be there now once the money had run out? The amount he has blown at spurs shows what he is all about.

For more on Redknapp and those like him I recommend Tom Bowers' book Broken Dreams (Vanity, Greed and the Souring of British Football).

[cityhead]

The Seth Johnson signing for Leeds from Derby always stuck in my mind, whether or not it's true I'm not sure

But the story goes that Resdale offered double what Seth Johnson and his agent had agreed and ended up on around £30k a week.

If true - says it all really.

Some posters have exonerated Redknapp from blame at Portsmouth. However, rumour has it that Redknapp did have a say in transfer negotiations with agents playing or paying (bung theory)Redknapp to put pressure on club owners to increase signing on fees and wages to secure a player.

My understanding is they also had a say in the financial situation at West Ham resulting in the sale to the Icelanders. brought about by Redknapp going to the then Chairman (Brown?)and saying they had been approached by a club for a player and so needed to match the wages offered to the player in order to stop the player moving to the new club.Chairman agrees to new contract for player to secure the player for further period. There was no need to negotiate a new contract as the player was contacted to west ham and so couldn't be sold without west ham's permission but chairman was weak/stupid and allowed the sitation to ge out of control. This happened on a regular basis with suspicion redknapp was acting on behalf of players for increased contracts with a bung from the players agent as a thank you. All just unsubstantiated allegations but enough to be investigated by authorities and resulting in west ham being skint and having to be sold to some dodgy 'bankers'.

Unfortunately we don't know 1% of what really goes on. The bung coulture has been in football ever since football started due to all the cash floating around, even turnstile operators and gatemen have abused the system by taking money from fans to get into games on the cheap.

The problem is us fans fuelling the fire by obsessing about our teams and demanding success and progress every year whatever the cost rather than accpeting football as a form of entertainment - nothing more, nothing less!

[kiwicolin]

It has happened. A Premier League team has gone into administration.I feel sorry for the Portsmouth fans . They could do nothing but watch there club be ruined by fat cats with big money, just wanting to own a club.They have had more owners and false promises and now their club is most likely to be playing in the Championship next season.Their owners have tried to keep up with the big boys and have failed. Even the bigger clubs are in debt by owners borrowing money,getting the club in debt , to take over.Bristol City was in the same situation not so long ago and if it wasn't for the Ashton Gate Eight we would have not had a club.Thank you to them. We owe you a great debt and I hope the club will some day pay you back for it.For me and my partner , we love this club and want to play at the highest level, but not at a cost of going into administration . We are happy at playing in the Championship and will wait until the right time comes along. There is no need to rush.We have a very good manager in Gary Johnson and avery good assistant manager in Keith Millen ( he doesn't get much praise for his good work ).We have a very good board of directors and at the helm is a very shrewed man by the name of Steve Lansdown.If it wasn't for him , where would city be?So the next time you have a go at the manager and the board, just take time to think and take stock at what has happened to Portsmouth and other clubs.We still have a Bristol City Football Club.Be proud of it and let us enjoy the Championship, then when the time is right ,we will be in a better position to take on the challenge. Good luck to City on Saturday and come home with 3 points. Remember we have a club to be proud of .

[CotswoldRed]

It has happened. A Premier League team has gone into administration.I feel sorry for the Portsmouth fans . They could do nothing but watchthere club be ruined by fat cats with big money, just wanting to own a club.They have had more owners and false promises and now their club is most likelyto be playing in the Championship next season.Their owners have tried to keep upwith the big boys and have failed. Even the bigger clubs are in debt by owners borrowing money,getting the club in debt , to take over.Bristol City was in the same situation not so long ago and if it wasn't for the Ashton Gate Eightwe would have not had a club.Thank you to them. We owe you a great debt and I hope the club willsome day pay you back for it.For me and my partner , we love this club and want to play at the highest level, but not at a cost ofgoing into administration . We are happy at playing in the Championship and will wait until the righttime comes along. There is no need to rush.We have a very good manager in Gary Johnson and avery good assistant manager in Keith Millen ( he doesn't get much praise for his good work ).We havea very good board of directors and at the helm is a very shrewed man by the name of Steve Lansdown.If it wasn't for him , where would city be?So the next time you have a go at the manager and the board, just take time to think and take stockat what has happened to Portsmouth and other clubs.We still have a Bristol City Football Club.Be proud of it and let us enjoy the Championship, then when thetime is right ,we will be in a better position to take on the challenge. Good luck to City on Saturday and come home with 3 points Remember we have a club to be proud of .

On the surface its fair to say we are very lucky because we have SL. I trust him, but only time will tell if that trust was ultimately well founded.

Under SL we have racked up a fair amount of debt and how that debt ties us down over the longer term (if we don't have success) will be an ultimate part of his legacy.

[kiwicolin]

On the surface its fair to say we are very lucky because we have SL. I trust him, but only time will tell if that trust was ultimately well founded.

Under SL we have racked up a fair amount of debt and how that debt ties us down over the longer term (if we don't have success) will be an ultimate part of his legacy.

at least he is a city fan and is the best hope we have at present.