My niggling optimism of late..

Quick short blog this time, as I've not much to say in the closed season. Playing cards close to my chest about our expectations next season, I'd like us to just enjoy the ride and not push for promotion. Enjoy the Johnstone Paint Trophy and get through at least ONE season without mishaps. Just to see a smile back on the fans faces after so long being lied to.

Appy's dream of a youthful and hungry team looks like it could well be possible, the amount of young talent being let go from clubs of late has been interesting to follow, I'm intrigued as to who is going to be signed, as I've said before we need a good mixture of old and wise professionals with youthful prospects who will blossom over time and won't cost the club a lot of money.
Same with transfer dealings, the club need to be clinical and prudent in their sales, I feel we should offer a player to Derby and part exchange Maguire to come back to Fratton Park after his very impressive loan spell at the club. His passion and hunger to play is the exact sort of player we would need to lead us to a successful season next year.

Sad to see Ricardo Rocha and Jamie Ashdown leave the club, but they can find clubs again and play once again I feel, and it would be unfair to stop them doing so, all the best in the future lads!
With Matthew Gledhill leaving the club as well it leaves the club without any goalkeepers for now. We shall see how the overhaul of the club will shape up. But one thing I do hope is the rapid fire sale of the high-earners, as so far only the lower earners have gone i.e. Henderson and Pearce (fetching around £900k in sales) and Ward could soon follow for £450k.

Might look up a few players I think could fit into the squad well next season, one I did get excited about was Izale McLeod who is a free agent now, after a great season with Barnet scoring 23 goals in 72 appearances would be a good addition I feel!

Transfer Spending in the entire Football League

After my last blog looking into the transfer spending across the nPower Championship I thought I'd look at the spending across the Football League, and whether it has a similar or different patter. What I found was surprising and encouraging for Portsmouth whom I support going down into the third tier of the league pyramid.

From the findings you could almost call the Championship the 'mini Premier-League' as they spend more money on transfers then League One, League Two and the Blue Square Premier combined!

So first up is the Championship which I did last time, here is the graph;

 

Click to enlarge

It may not been that expensive in this day and age of high spending Premier League clubs, but it shows how fiercely competitive the Championship is, in that investment is the only way of surviving, whether that may be beyond the financial means of the club or not.

Middlesbrough are the frugal club of the division by spending nothing on players, choosing to stick with the squad they already have, which saw them finish just out of the play-offs in 7th.

Portsmouth were one of the highest spenders and finished 22nd and were relegated due to a 10 points deduction after going into relegation in February 2012.

Leicester were the biggest spenders in the league with a whopping £15.78m almost 3 times more than 2nd place Southampton and 10 times more than title winners Reading. The Foxes finished the season top mid-table and hoping for a better season next year, after beginning as title favourites.

Transfer Spend;

Barnsley- £1.14m

Birmingham City- £500k

Blackpool- £660k

Brighton & Hove Albion- £5.32m

Bristol City- £350k

Burnley- £1.65m

Cardiff- £1.94m

Coventry- £0.48m

Crystal Palace- £590k

Derby- £3.02m

Doncaster Rovers- £120k

Hull- £1.42m

Ipswich Town- £2.89m

Leeds United- £810k

Leicester City- £15.78m

Middlesbrough- £0

Millwall- £1.21m

Nottingham Forest- £1.08m

Peterborough- £1.75m

Portsmouth- £4.23m

Reading- £1.75m

Southampton- £4.5m

Watford- £1.04m

West Ham- £10.85m

League One

Onto League One which this year has been crammed full of some big clubs that have fallen from grace, such as Charlton, Sheffield United/Wednesday and Preston North End, all vying to try get promoted back to the Championship. Surely then they are the biggest spenders? Not necessarily, it's actually surprising which teams ended up more eager to splash the cash and those being frugal. With some clubs being relegated they sold more than they spent. 

The chart is a bit different because the place where I make my graphs wouldn't accept the data, so had to change;

 

 

 

Click to enlarge

 

It is very different to the Championship graph, the maximum data number entry has gone from £20m to only £2m, the fact that the transfer spend is ten times less than the Championship shows how the financial spending is far smaller in the third tier.

There are some big spenders though, only two teams have gone over the £1m mark which is Huddersfield and Bournemouth, the latter was taken over by a Russian businessman in mid-season and purchased expensive players to strengthen the squad and avoid relegation.

It is surprising the amount of teams who have spent nothing, they still brought in players, but on free transfers and loans. I was excited to hear this as well, as Portsmouth is relegated to this league it shows promise that we could assemble a squad without having to break the bank at the same rate as a Championship squad, it could be done for a frugal price.

League One Transfer Spend:

AFC Bournemouth- £1.35m

Brentford- £0

Bury £50k

Carlisle- £0

Charlton Athletic- £800k

Exeter- £0

Hartlepool- £0

Huddersfield- £1.84m

Leyton Orient- £0

Milton Keynes Dons- £0

Notts County- £0

Oldham- £0

Preston North End- £150k

Rochdale- £0

Scunthorpe- £0

Sheffield United- £150k

Sheffield Wednesday- £560k

Stevenage- £0

Tranmere- £0

Walsall- £0

Wycombe- £0

Yeovil- £0

League Two

League Two is similar to League One in the respect of a lot of clubs utilising the free transfer market to bolster their squads over the transfer markets. There were a few clubs that did spend money but it wasn't much, but that is the smaller financial side of the fourth tier of the Football League. A lot of clubs that fall into this league find it hard to move out of it, or usually yo-yo between league's one and two.

Click to enlarge

Again the data entry is slightly different with the highest transfer spend being £1m, half of what League One was and twenty times less than the Championship graph. The spending is more prevalent in this league but is much smaller in value. There are big spenders in this league, with Gillingham being the most prevalent, looking for promotion, same as Swindon Town. Crawley Town were big-spenders in their first season in the Football League as they were in the non-league, spending £220k on players, but they did make a large earning on Tyrone Barnett (£1.1m from Peterborough)

Transfer Spend:

Accrington Stanely- £0

AFC Wimbledon- £70k

Aldershot- £0

Barnet- £0

Bradford- £0

Bristol City- £0

Burton- £20k

Cheltenham- £80k

Crawley- £220k

Crewe- £0

Dagenham & Redbridge- £0

Gillingham £490k

Hereford- £0

Macclesfield-  £60k

Morecambe- £30k

Northampton- £0

Oxford- £0

Plymouth- £40k

Port Vale- £0

Rotherham- £140k

Shrewsbury- £0

Southend- £240k

Swindon Town- £280k

Torquay- £50k

Looking at the graphs collectively it shows how financially different the leagues are, especially the void between League One and the Championship. The TV money is different in that you get a bigger share of it, but apart from that there are no other financial benefits. The nPower Championship overall spent a whopping £63.08m on transfers during the 11/12 season, if you then compare this to League One which is £4.75m is thirteen times less than the Championship spending. League Two spent £1.72m on transfers in 11/12 season which is almost equivalent to one player that a club paid for in the Championship!

Overall League Two spent 37 times less than the Championship, a massive difference, the Premier League is vastly different, it's an eye watering number, £563m was spent (that is known) on players in the 11/12 transfer windows, here is a graph showing retrospectively the spending across the leagues:

Click to enlarge

Overall Transfer Spending:

Premier League- £562m

Championship- £63.08m

League One- £4.75m

League Two- £1.72m

The Championship spent nine times less than the Premier League. 

League One spent 118 times less than the Premier League

League Two an eye watering spent 326 times less than the Premier League

It shows how much the leagues are getting further and further financially smaller than the Premier League, many clubs have left the league and fallen from grace, going through administration, once such team Bradford is an example. The club has been recently looking into leaving their ground because it's too big for their current attendance which is a remnant from their Premier League days.

Hope you've enjoyed this review, sorry if I haven't gone into too much detail, but didn't want to waffle on too much about this subject. Felt it needed touching upon and explained simply.

Dave

 

nPower Championship Transfer Spending

The nPower Championship is over, another mixed emotions year, with my own club starting as possible mid-table fodder ending with relegation amidst administration. For other clubs it was either missing out on play-offs, title chases or merely a write-off of a season. Now the season closes to an end with Reading emphatically taking the title back to Berkshire, Southampton are also promoted once again finishing in 2nd place.

With the play-offs still to be played I thought it was time to reflect on the transfer spending, I felt this would be an interesting one to researching as it would give a good observation on how much money has been spent and the comparison between that and the clubs league position at the end of the season. For some clubs it's surprising, for others it isn't.

Here is the graph I compiled using stats from Transfermarkt.co.uk, these use the most accurate transfer fees you can get (minus the undisclosed fees, as they are listed as '?'), the graph was compacted due to 24 entries on the X axis!

Click on picture to see the full size graph

Transfer Spend;

Barnsley- £1.14m

Birmingham City- £0.5m

Blackpool- £0.66m

Brighton & Hove Albion- £5.32m

Bristol City- £0.35m

Burnley- £1.65m

Cardiff- £1.94m

Coventry- £0.48m

Crystal Palace- £0.59m

Derby- £3.02m

Doncaster Rovers- £0.12m

Hull- £1.42m

Ipswich Town- £2.89m

Leeds United- £0.81m

Leicester City- £15.78m

Middlesbrough- £0

Millwall- £1.21m

Nottingham Forest- £1.08m

Peterborough- £1.75m

Portsmouth- £4.23m

Reading- £1.75m

Southampton- £4.5m

Watford- £1.04m

West Ham- £10.85m

On the final Championship table with the net spend displayed alongside the league table makes for an interesting read into how much investment went into the teams and where they ended up, most notable being Leicester;

 What the relation between the chart and the final table shows is that teams with relatively little funding put up a good fight in this season, with many clubs going for more astute free transfer signings over potentially expensive ones. Middlesbrough have finished just below the play-offs and their frugal transfer policy nearly paid off, with a large squad full of quality players it is easy to see why they finished so high and without needing much investment.

On the flip side large investment hasn't garnered success, as previously mentioned Leicester have invested a huge amount into their squad, buying expensive players into the squad by Sven Goran-Eriksson. Their policy lead to them stuttering this season, finishing a respectable 9th place, and I'm sure hoping to push on next year for promotion, they were hot favourites at the start of the year.

Portsmouth are the biggest casualty of the big spenders, after the collapse of CSI and administration in February 2012 the club tumbled down the league with the 10 point deduction and was unable to salvage another Great Escape. As a Pompey fan I'm still bemused that the £4.23m spent on players only got us around 5/6 players, utterly ridiculous, as when Steve Cotterill left we had a squad of 18/19 players which left hardly any cover for injuries or rotation. Very bad business by the club, thankfully those involved have duly left. 

West Ham have invested heavily after falling from grace from the Premier League, they have invested a whopping £10m into the squad with Sam Allardyce at the helm, they lead the division for much of the season, but poor home form cost them the automatic promotion spots as Reading romped past them in the second half of the season. January transfer window saw West Ham invest heavily again in players after their stuttering forwards couldn't find the goals, dipping their toes they bought Maynard and Vaz Te for a combined fee of £3m. Earlier in the season they signed Sam Baldock from MK Dons for a £2.2m deal, but the young lad has found it difficult after the January arrivals only playing 23 times this season.

A lot of the clubs on the list have used this season to consolidate or build for the next season, I've noticed a few clubs who have had players leave the club on large fees and the club investing those funds to either pay debts or invest back into the club, i.e. Oxlade-Chamberlain going to Arsenal for £12m and Middlesbrough selling £4.2m of players without spending that immediately back into the playing squad and still finishing 7th is commendable and astute.

So there we go, another quick little blog, apologies if I've skimmed over a few clubs and their transfer activity, I'd love to go into detail about all the clubs, but I've neither the time or the patience to go over it at this moment in time. I may make another blog similar to this comparing the spending over the Football League (and Premier League) and perhaps mix in the sales market as well.

Dave

League One anyone?

All is not well down at Fratton Park at the moment, administration, deducted points, administrator informing fans that the cash will run out in 6 weeks. It's all becoming all too real again, the threat of our club and it's future hangs in the balance, 30 staff were made redundant this week including Chief Executive David Lampitt. Another casualty of the administration is Erik Huseklepp who was our best player (and top goalscorer) has been loaned to Birmingham with a view to a permenant transfer in the summer.

Huseklepp celebrates after scoring against Blackpool
(Photo from The News)

It's such a shame he's left, his commitment was easy to see, if you saw the Barnsley highlights he rushed back to try stop the impending Barnsley second goal. His touch and technique was a welcome addition to a stifled and somewhat ageing squad.

Gloomy sky picture gets a run-out again

But it leaves us fans with a pessimistic outlook, relegation seems all too real now, it's like rewinding the clocks 15 years! Back in the Division One days when every season was almost a scrap to stay in the league, this time I fear we may not be able to get out. We have 15 games until the end of the season and in that we still face Southampton, Birmingham, Leeds and Reading still to come. Most importantly we have a important final game against Nottingham Forest which could decide our fate.

But would relegation be that bad? Yes we'd lose a lot of income in terms of TV money, but it could mean a fresh start, there a few players whom their contract runs out in the summer i.e. Mokoena and Mullins who earn a hefty wage. We may also be able to shift the high-earners who wouldn't want to drop a division or drop wages, and maybe even shift Ben-Haim off for good!
Long as kept players such as Pearce, Ward, Henderson and Futacs who have all come through recently and shown their pride and commitment to the team, and don't particularly earn massive wages. If we kept hold of them into League One I would see us with good foundations to build upon a new squad, especially if Appleton was at the helm! It would see a properly organised approach to building a team, as opposed to Cotterill's 'quality not quantity' approach which has backfired on us spectacularly!

Futacs has been a welcome addition to the striking line up, favoured over Dave Kitson

It could also open up opportunity for investment, with League One not being as difficult as the Championship it would give us enough time to invest in areas of the club that need strengthening, i.e. the youth system, the infrastructure of the club without affecting the squad itself.

Obviously this is a somewhat fanciful dream of mine, because we'd need owners first, which I'm sure there is someone waiting in the wings out there, just I'm sure they were dealt with rather poorly by Andronikou and might of been put off by his demands. Hopefully when the club is sold the new owner will allow the Supporters Trust to buy a stake in the club (or even donate 10% for example) to allow the fans to have a say in the running of the club for a change.

But for now let's concentrate on the Championship before I get ahead of myself! Leeds coming up next, don't see much coming out of this game with our threadbare squad, could be a draw, but it's going to be scrappy!

Play up Pompey!

Reason why it might not be doom and gloom after all!

A lot of scare-mongering is going on in Portsmouth fan circles. With 2 weeks until the HMRC wind-up petition is taken to court many fear the worse. Some are pushing for a new club to be formed already as they've 'lost faith in the club' etc.
Now personally I'm open to all opinions and will listen to everyone's feelings on the matter, but I think we will get out of this. When you think about who we owe money to i.e. Chanrai and Gaydamak (plus the other CVA creditors) they are not going to take pennies from their debts if the club get liquidated.

Chanrai will probably step in to keep the club going, if it costs him more to get his money back he will. He's not a idiot, it does not mean he'll takeover the club, more a benefactor I suppose? I'd imagine this could be because a snag might of come up in the takeover process at the moment, or he's getting worried himself over his investment into the club from the supposed Al-Faraj takeover in early 2010.

Savior once more?

If he does step in I hope he puts enough money into the club to get it to the end of the season, promising the fans to keep tickets prices the same etc. As the last thing we want is Chanrai to be chairman again, he's a businessman with no football knowledge, he's said many times before he has no interest in being a football club owner. He made this clear when he went over fans heads and upped season ticket prices and on the day prices, this caused a lot of uproar, but hardly unexpected to be honest!


Some mis-management going on down Fratton Park at the moment with another attempt to pay players wages goes wrong, which is a mess and our club are looking an utter joke. If it's that 'simple' to get a validation order why hasn't it happened already?! I hope after this financial mess is all sorted they re-shuffle the club from top to bottom, starting with a CEO, I'm losing patience with David Lampitt! But I'm not a believer in utter transparency at the club, well only on important issues which has a knock on effect, i.e. financial problems. But for some that's not enough, they'd want Fratton Park and the offices made of glass until they are completely satisfied, probably even then they'll complain!

Reflecting on past transfer dealings! With GRAPHS

While watching the Watford vs Tottenham game on ESPN I read a interesting tweet by Neil Allen, reporter for The News;

It got me thinking about how much money has been spent over the seasons and how much has gone out of the club. This can be explained by totalling the known expenditure via Transfermarket.co.uk (these do exclude loan fees and undisclosed fees, as these are unknown). So without beating around the bush too much lets knuckle down to the expenditure.

ALL THE STATS ARE APPROXIMATES!

Here is a line graph tallying the expenditure since Harry Redknapp took charge of his first full season in 2002/03 title winning season right up to the current season.

As we can see there is a steady increase for 3 years and then a large spike. In the early days Redknapp signed a lot of free transfers, astute signings, such as Merson, Festa, Hislop, Sheringham etc.
Then as Gaydamak starting influencing the club with his part ownership the money started to be splashed, with a whopping £51m being spent in the 2007/08 season, the year we won the FA Cup. In that season was such large signings such as David Nugent (£8m), Jermain Defoe (£8.84) and Sulley Muntari (£8m). Large signings for a club with a stadia of 21,000! Alarm bells should've been ringing around this time, but the FA Cup glory and the prospect of playing in the then UEFA Cup was quelled by this.
The gradual change towards the end of the Premier League glory days is noticeable, in 2008/9 this high £23m transfer spend would've been smaller if Crouch hadn't cost a highly inflated £12m! The best season for signings is 2010/11 with Cotterill and Lampitt's good transfer savvy bringing in free's and loans that helped get the club through the season. Then this season it's spike through the investment of Convers Sports Initiative which helped strengthen the squad but without getting rid of the high-earning deadwood that it inherited causing problems after the companies collapse in November 2011.

I will come onto signings later in another blog, that might take some more time to research.

So now moving onto the sales over the past 10 years! This is a lot more different to the first graph, a lot of players were released on free's rather than sold, maybe due to the nature of their contracts back then.

As you can see the outgoing sales starts of very small, there are a lot of releases in the earlier part of the graph and starts spiking around the FA Cup winning season and after it. The 2008-2010 period saw a lot of the huge talent in the Pompey squad leave, Diarra leaving for Real Madrid for £19m, Glen Johnson to Liverpool for £18m, Defoe for £15m etc. These helped ease huge loans taking out against the club by Gaydamak in the run up to the FA Cup triumph, it also helped 'manage' debt after the Russian's sudden lack of financial input after the 2008 financial crisis. After relegation from the Premier League the club shaved it's high earners and talent to the highest bidders, some players did well after leaving, some not.

Now lets look at the two graphs together, they make for an interesting comparison;

That shows how the club gradually peaked in the 2007/8 season with the FA Cup winning side, one of the best Portsmouth sides to grace Fratton Park since the Double First Divison winners in 1948-50! But this quickly fell apart since 2008. From buying £51m worth of talent in 2007/08 we then almost sold the same amount of money in the next season! The huge amount of money going out is mind-boggling, it shows how much of a financial black hole the club was in, if £105m worth of player sales still create a £80m debt hanging over the club it does raise issues of where the money went, or how bad our debt levels were to begin with!

It does show the sad decline of the club over the past few years, seeing the names that we bought and the players we had playing for us over the years make me wish we could do it all over again sometimes. I will always take the FA Cup win over being relegated allways, the way it made the whole city proud of the club, it was pure estatic pride when Sol Campbell lifted the FA Cup to the sound of 'Play Up Pompey' ringing in the background, the sight and sound of that will stay with me forever!

When Sol went up to lift the FA Cup! We were there! We were there!

After compiling this followed a few tweets talking about the worst signings made by Harry Redknapp which a few were pinged about like Chalkias, Karadas, all worthy names, but not Redknapp signings. Then compiling this made me remember some, here's my contribution;

 

and the reply!

 

Felt quite satisfied by that bit of banter!
If anyone is wondering who I compiled into these graphs here is the list and their approximate transfer price;

Transfers In

2002-03

Richard Hughes- £70k

Matthew Taylor- £530k

Vincent Pericard- £530k

Deon Burton- £330k

Total £1.45m

2003-04

Eyal Berkovic- £660k

Ivica Mornar- £530k

Richard Duffy- £400k

Dejan Stefanovic £2.2m

Amdy Faye £1.95m

Sebastien Olszar- £176k

Petri Pasanen- £260k

Total £6.2m

2004-05

Valery Mezague £440k

Aliou Cisse- £396k

Ricardo Fuller- £2.2m

Lomana LuaLua- £1.98m

Total- £5.1m

2005-06

Brian Priske- £660k

Benjani- £5.3m

Emmanuel Olisadebe- £440k

Franck Songo'o- £330k

Andrew O'Brien £2.64m

Dean Kiely £220k

Jhon Viafara- £2.11m

Total £14.498m

2006-07

Andrew Cole- £660k

Lauren- £484k

Niko Kranjcar- £3.96m

David James- £1.5m

Djimi Traore- £1.2m

Total £8.08m

2007-08

Jermaine Defoe- £8.14m

David Nugent- £8m

Lassana Diarra- £6.2m

Glen Johnson- £4.8m

Papa Bouba Diop- £4.4m

Danijel Subotic- £350k

Adda Djeziri- £27k

Arnold Mvuemba- £1.7m

Sulley Muntari- £8.8m

John Utaka- £8.8m

Total £51m

2008-09

Younes Kaboul- £5.5m

Nadir Belhadj- £3.9m

Hayden Mullins- £2.1m

Peter Crouch- £12m

Total- £23.5m

2009/10
Kevin Prince Boateng- £3.9m

Mike Williamson £2.1m

Tommy Smith- £1.76m

Total- £7.76m

2010-11

All free transfers

2011-12

Luke Varney- £750k

Jason Pearce- £400k

Erik Huseklepp- £2.2m

Greg Halford- £880k

Total- £4.2m

Transfers Out

2002/3

Shaun Derry- £530k

2003/4

Boris Zivkovic £176k

2004/5

Kevin Harper £66k

Rowan Vine £330k

Nigel Quashie- £2.77m

Amdy Faye- £2.65m

Total sales- £5.82m

2005/06

Yakubu 8.58m

Ricardo Fuller 132k

Total sales- £8.71m

2006/7

John Viafara £220k

Brian Priske £880k

Total sales- £1.1m

2007/8

Gary O'Neil £6.60m

Benjani £4.57m

Matty Taylor- £4.2m

Lomano Lua Lua £3.6m

Collins Mbesuma £330k

Dejan Stefanovic £1.3m

Total sales- £20.6m

2008/09

Pedro Mendes- £3.3m

Lassana Diarra- £17.6m

Jermain Defoe- £14.43m

Sulley Muntari- £13.2m

Total sales- £48.53m

2009/10

Sylvain Distin- £5.72m

Younes Kaboul- £5.2m

Asmir Begovic- £3.3m

Niko Kranjcar £2.46m

Glen Johnson £18.04m

Mike Williamson £968k

Peter Crouch £9.24m

Martin Cranie £880k

Total sales- £45.81m

2010/11

Kevin Prince Boateng £5.02m

John Utaka £440k

Nadir Belhadj £3.7m

Marc Wilson £3.2m

Papa Bouba Diop £270k

Matt Ritchie £265k

Tommy Smith £1.65m

Total sales- £14.55m

2011/12

Nadir Ciftci £160k

Cue the Gloomy Sky Picture

Portsmouth are yet again in a financial disposition, so here is a guide to how the media like to portray these 'harrowing' times down at Fratton Park...(this is a tongue in cheek blog)

We start with an inevitable shot of a dark gloomy sky looming over a game at Fratton Park;

Dark clouds are gathering over Fratton Park, as they often do, as it's weather in Britain, and it's sunset.

 This over used shot to indicate a sense of dark clouds are gathering and bad news is coming for this club. The over darkening of the stands is another tongue in cheeky reference to how the fans are almost 'kept in the dark' over the clubs financial mismanagement.

Then we cut straight into a bi-polar sandwich of facts and history, starting with the fact we are the first Premier League club to enter administration in 2010 with debts of up to around £120m, a eye watering amount for a club with a small 21,000 stadia. Before getting on to a slice of positive action we need another gloomy photo;

Portsmouth up for sale, again, again, again, again

But for this huge amount of debt they have something to show for it, in 2008 Pompey won the FA Cup after pretty much buying a new squad mid-season (not that we fluked our way there, apart from that Man Utd game) and to the FA Cup Final in 2010. Quick time for a photo of the FA Cup triumph before the next stage;

Portsmouth celebrate their FA Cup triumph over Cardiff in 2008 with their newly formed squad

 But with big signings such as Peter Crouch for £12m and the departure of god-like figure Harry Redknapp to stuttering Tottenham Hotspur the future didn't look great, then Tony Adams took charge, and it got worse. Despite a dream 2-2 draw at home to giants AC Milan the club teetered on the brink and the big names were sold, for a hugely inflated price, i.e. Lassana Diarra leaving for £20m to Real Madrid, Jermaine 'I've got a cold' Defoe for £16m, overall by the end of the 2008/9 season Portsmouth had raked in a transfer income of £80m which vanished, but we'll gloss over this fact by adding another picture.

This was un-noticed by the supporters of the club, if I'm not mistaken are very passionate about the club, so they protested;

Grr I'm angry!

Life long supporters were interviewed as they conveniently gathered outside the ground, including casual latecomer and mega-nutter-pompey-fru-and-fru-geezer John 'middle name here' Westwood says it's all caused by the 'big men at the top', cue a nutty picture of him;

Fru and fru

The owners take no notice and continue being crooked etc. An example of this was the appointment of Daniel Azougy, a fraudulent accountant (even convicted) was allowed to come in, rape the books, sell Asmir Begovic to Stoke and collecting a £1m up-front payment for him (gullible fools), he left the club in quiet circumstances before Chanrai came in.

Far into the 2009/10 season brought four new owners and managers alike, all perfectly innocent people, but they have no money or managerial savy! Until the 4th owner comes in the shape of Balram Chanrai who realises it's gone tits up and puts the club in administration and places narcissistic Andrew Andronikou as administrator of the club, here's a picture;

'Yes I do have a modeling contract with Administrators GQ'

Relegation befouled Portsmouth and even more financial uncertainty faced Portsmouth! Who knew? The whole dreaded saga continued right up to October 2010. In that time about 30 players departed the club leaving only 5 players remaining at the club, strangely some of the over-paid players such as Ben Haim who earns a reputed £38k a week! Savy-geezer Steve Cotterill is appointed manager to rabble a team with no money together in time for the season, here he is;

 

 

"Remember lads, no attacking movements and long balls to Kitson! Sorted"

On the 24th October the club came out of administration after agreeing with creditors on how it was going to pay them back, taking 20p in the £1 on the debt, making it around £20m(ish). So no more sad pictures of Pompey. Bad news for pathos photographers;

A photograph no longer seen in papers and websites alike, a sad day

But after a mediocre first season in the nPower Championship the second would have a promise of playing bitter rivals Southampton and the investment of the new owners CSI. This paved the way of Chanrai to exit the club once for all, we'd hope;

"I'm leaving now, I hope you enjoy your fairly priced season tickets this year"

With heavy investment in the squad taking it up to a whopping 17 players! Keeping high earners like Ben Haim and racking up a transfer investment of around £5m the talk of play-offs and promotion loomed!
BUT then it came crashing down in November when Vladimir Antonov was arrest for assest stripping Snoras Bank in Lithuania! I mean a crooked owner at Pompey?! NEVAR!
The 'operating company' CSI went straight into administration within days, paving the way for something amazing, not narcissist Andrew Andronikou! But GLOOMY SKIES!

 

 

Gloomy and mysterious, ooooo

No but seriously Andronikou was appointed administrator of the CSI group and tasked with finding another owner! Here he is again in case you've lived in cave;

"Do you like my impression of Gareth Bale? I can do other impressions too! Available for hire also!"

David Lampitt expressed disappointment with the CSI group for what had happened and tried to reassure fans, but the see-saw of intelligence tipped into the knee-jerk reaction stage.

"Mate, that money wasn't yours!? Fuck"

This leads to more precarious photographs of Pompey looking somewhat on the brink of a media journalists wet dream and when football fans either berate of use this as a crusade for football. Another gloomy photo, with relief but with fans;

"It's as if the club is a bunch of clowns to be honest mate..."

The fans are reassured once more that there is suitable interest in the club and hope to take it forward Lampitt says recently, despite news of a £1.7m tax bill which the HMRC will come armed and aiming for the jugular this time. Bleak for those 'long suffering' fans of Portsmouth.

But this must end of a positive, for all the debt the club has won the FA Cup in 2008, finalists in 2010 despite being relegated and had a good selection of world class talent through the years. Some supporters are talking of AFC Portsmouth (which sounds like a pub team) the future could be bright(ish).....

Lampitt has said that we won't be selling any players in the mean time, it's not in the clubs best wishes to deplete their squad to a bear minimum, as I mean sensible ones wouldn't. But sensible clubs don't give the club to people who claim to have money but don't, wasting resources instead.
Here's Joel Ward celebrating after equalising against Southampton in December 2011

"'ave that scum"

I conclude by saying Pompey buggered up with money, again, then buggered it up again after more Russians had dodgy money and got out quick without a problem. Thus leaving us in the capable hands of the devil himself to find us a new owner, and not Chanrai;

"So you've got my good side yeah?"

Thank you for reading, I hope this was fun, as I intended it to be a little light-hearted in all the heavy discussions and news coming out of the club of late.