Mcd says we haven't got any cash....

[rob the royal]

the answer is still the same though. pompey are still on the verge of going under.
we are just a bit short of cash.

a bit short? when you can't afford to fill a glaring gap in your squad... that's a financial crisis isn't it? oh no hang on we're a well run club.

[Big Foot]

I can't believe this has reached 7 pages, are people really that surprised?

When - particularly in a bidding war for a player - have the club ever come out and said "we've got loads of cash" ??

[brendywendy]

I think the point is: our Chairman was interviewed a week ago and he said (I quote) "I am desperate to get back in the Premiership".

We now have 1 fit centre back (Alex Pearce ) and we are apparently not looking to get any new players in.

It wouldn't take a huge amount of cash to bring in an experienced (unwanted at his current club) CB.

"I'm desperate to get back in the Premiership...."
"We need to cut our cloth...."

Please just make your mind up one way or the other.
Please stop bullshitting us. We're not stupid (Well, I am, but must of us aren't).

yes you are.


where is the contradiction between -
"i am desperate for us to go back up"
and
"we do need to cut our cloth"
they arent mutually exclusive.
if you read the 1st as actually saying - madejski is willing to bankroll a spending spree then you were even sillier than i thought

[brendywendy]

Another rant from the fickles. Do you think it's their money they're spending? Like you say they don't have it so where do you think it's coming from the tooth fairy, Santa? The club do appear to be making a gamble but just because they put something out to the wider world doesn't mean it's true. A few days before Griff signed McD said there was no chance of it happening and hey presto he signs.

Until the window shuts I wouldn't rule anything out.

No he didn't you buffoon, he said we were trying to do something.

£30 million X 2
plus
£11 million X 2
plus
£15 million
plus
wages saved on getting rid of our top earners, probably another £5 million plus a year

...you do the sums...do you really think we wouldn't have any money spare to pick up Zurab and one or two more if Madejski hadn't been taking back out of the club? We weren't spending mega money for Alan Bennett, Ulysees De La Cruz and all the other shit players on shit wages Coppell brought in when we went up, that's for sure. We also got some pretty decent gates both years since we went down in addition to selling out every week in the Prem.

massive LOL at anyone trying to do the business sums, but only counting the incoming money.
just read the books

[brendywendy]

Oi, De La Cruz wasn't that bad ...

in fact not bad in any way whatsoever

royalee=spasmo

[Terminal Boardom]

Oi, De La Cruz wasn't that bad ...

in fact not bad in any way whatsoever

royalee=spasmo

I see that the intellectuals are out and about early today.

[rob the royal]

If we're near the bottom of the table at Christmas with an injury ravaged back four I wonder if we'll still be too broke to afford any more players then.

Either this is the club's way of telling Blackburn lower your price or it's Madejski's way of telling McDermott - you worked miracles last season - do it again because any money I spend now will eat away at whatever I get for the club when I finally manage to sell it to someone...

[brendywendy]

the answer is still the same though. pompey are still on the verge of going under.
we are just a bit short of cash.

a bit short? when you can't afford to fill a glaring gap in your squad... that's a financial crisis isn't it? oh no hang on we're a well run club.

we couldnt fill that gap in 05/06 either going into the season with ivar and an unproven sonko as our only CBs
so it just doesnt necesarily follow.

[brendywendy]

and one last word on royalee.


still thinks brendan rodgers is one of the best managers weve had, and wishes he was still here.


the end.

[yuomi]

so i go away for six months and it turns out that royalee's expertise is still confounding the most ardent of royals' fans with its insight and levels of understanding hitherto unimaginable?

my opinion, for what its worth, is that as far as RFC could be considered to be a money making enterprise, they are one of several that SJM has at his disposal. knowing him (as i admittedly dont personally) as far as i do, he likes to spread the wealth about in order to try and keep all the books balanced. to suggest he wouldnt take money out of the club in order to save or prop up one of his other investments is naive. considering then a large portion of his investments are construction/builing sites which, now more than ever, might need a little £ ballast beneath them, its a fair assumption that anything close to a profit posted by the club might not be going back into the club. this is just out chairman and, tbf, i wouldnt expect much else from him and his penny pinching, self serving attitude. hes that type of fella. but to come out and say we'll be fighting for promotion having done it is a bit cheeky....

[rob the royal]

the answer is still the same though. pompey are still on the verge of going under.
we are just a bit short of cash.

a bit short? when you can't afford to fill a glaring gap in your squad... that's a financial crisis isn't it? oh no hang on we're a well run club.

we couldnt fill that gap in 05/06 either going into the season with ivar and an unproven sonko as our only CBs
so it just doesnt necesarily follow.

I'll just about give you that... although both ivar and bryn are 5 years older now and likely to be even more prone to injury than they were back then. Didn't we also have a few academy players who could play centre back as well like peter castle, jonny mullins was supposedly able to play across the back four, not sure who else was in the academy back then. But yeah, I suppose it's not that different.

[CMRoyal]

The most annoying thing is that we NEED another CB because it is the one position where we are seriously short on options.

This is the real point, in my view. Forget JM's motivations, or what happened in the past. Arguably, we have the midfield and strikeforce to at least compete in this league. But we don't have the defence, so we really do have to bite the bullet and fork out for someone, even if only on loan. My, admittedly uninformed, view is that the club is expecting to lose one or two more players before the end of the month, thus freeing up some dosh to strengthen in the centre of defence. Meantime, fingers crossed that we're on a reasonable number of points by the time that happens.

[rob the royal]

although with Mills picking up an injury and Ivar not actually back yet... I don't know this still seems A LOT worse to me. Especially as I rate Pearce as being pretty poor and as I think Mick Gooding mentioned good cb pairings are often one athletic one and one who reads the game well - e.g. Sonko and Ivar - as opposed to what we have now - which is a good solid cb in mills perhaps with a bit of lack of pace, and Pearce who is poor and more importantly slow and poor in the air.

[CMRoyal]

So Hull can potentially find the money to sign Robert Koren (his wages won't be that cheap and nor will the signing on fee) but they can't afford to pay us for Hunt.

THe sooner the FL place immediate transfer embargoes (loans and frees included) on clubs who default on transfer payments to other clubs the better.

Hull are taking the piss. They are in serious financial difficulty but continue to spend like a sailor on shore leave. It's a massive gamble, but let's see if they get away with it.

[bigmike]

[Royals-lad14]

McDermott has said that Mills,Long and McAnuff all should be fine for pompey. Also ingi is going to play for the reserves next week so he has almost returned to full fitness, so maybe ingi and mills will be a partnership after the forest game?

[brendywendy]

he likes to spread the wealth about in order to try and keep all the books balanced. to suggest he wouldnt take money out of the club in order to save or prop up one of his other investments is naive.

at the time of the last books, and then the subsequent statement that came out in response to all the "wheres all the money gone"ing
he had not taken any money out of the club to prop up other businesses.
its possible he has since then.

[Snowball]

WITHOUT slagging off Alex Pearce, ie presuming he IS good cover, no club can go a whole Championship season
without four recognised, up-to-standard Centre-Backs and expect to do well.


Mills, definitely up to standard, but prone to too many cards. So we could lose him even if this injury is non-serious.
He's by no means certain to be FULLY fit by next Saturday, may play at less than 100%.

Pearce, decent cover, but not (yet)(it appears) fully up to the job.

Ingi, recently badly-injured, not fully fit, almost certain to be slower, likely to be more injury prone and take longer to recover.

Gunnar, a decent old work-horse but surely only COVER for the centre-back spot. Older, slower, more likely to get injuries, and will take longer to recover.

Griffin, EMERGENCY CB cover, but that means bringing Tabb to RB or trying Cummings. All this seriously weakens the defence.

All the blather about promotion-or-not is hardly the point.

We surely NEED a Centre-Back. We might need TWO by season's end.

So why let Cisse go? (I know, for the money, but the CB situation was a disaster waiting to happen)


I think we have to consider selling McAnuff, or Long, or maybe Kebe, and, sadly, Gylfi AND SERIOUSLY STRENGTHENING THE BACK FOUR.

Make the back four, seriously strong (for this level) and hope the other 6 players can nick some 1-0 wins.

Or let Fedders go, maybe swap for a good CB?

If we don't get at least one GOOD Centre-Back we will surely struggle. It isn't just letting in a few. We're a"confidence" side, great in full flow (look at the opening of the Scunny game) but a stupidly-conceded goal can deflate a side so quickly, especially if the front men and attacking midfielders feel let down by the defenders and/or management.

[brendywendy]

WITHOUT slagging off Alex Pearce, ie presuming he IS good cover, no club can go a whole Championship season
without four recognised, up-to-standard Centre-Backs and expect to do well.

106 points with Ivar and sonko only



not saying its idealm, or that it will happen again.
just attempting to give some balance

[Snowball]

Sonko Superman before his injury, Ivar at his peak.


Can you seriously compare that to Mills and Pearce?