Goodbye Portsmouth

[Kitman 2207]

And football generally needs a good clearout and wages cap. The PFA should lead the way, but don't hold your breath.

 

That's like turkeys voting for Christmas, it won't ever happen. I think realism is already coming into transfer fees in the PL, and wages will follow. Presumably budgets will have to be slashed if Sky don't put as much money in. Maybe Mike Ashley is a visionary and ahead of his time after all

[khay 10]

Pompey allowed to sell players outside transfer window

 

Portsmouth have been given special permission by the Premier League to sell players outside of the transfer window to ease their financial crisis.

 

Pompey, who had nine points deducted for going into administration, can sell stars on condition they cannot play for their new club before next season.

 

The south-coast club have debts of about £60m and have laid off 81 staff in an attempt to cut their costs.

 

Pompey are bottom of the Premier League and virtually certain to be relegated.

 

More to follow.

 

Portsmouth players have stepped in to save the jobs of four of the club's training ground staff, manager Avram Grant has said.

 

The debt-ridden club laid off 85 staff in a bid to cut costs after going into administration in February.

 

But players and staff have rallied to cover the wages of the club groundsman, a masseur and two others.

 

"The players, me, the staff and everybody contributed, and I must say we were happy to do it," said Grant.

 

"Most of these people were here before me and the players, and they will be here after. We need to keep them."

 

Among those whose jobs have been saved by the gesture - reported to be costing each player around £1,500 - is former Royal Navy sailor Tug Wilson who now works as groundsman.

 

"Tug has done a lot of years here and works from the morning until the night on very low wages," said Grant.

 

"He does a great job and I'm happy he's here. I think the moment the club loses its human side is the first step towards it being finished."

 

"You read a lot of bad things about footballers these days," Wilson told the Daily Mail. "But what's been happening here has been amazing."

 

Pompey boss Grant, whose side host his former club Chelsea at Fratton Park on Wednesday, insisted that staff whose jobs had been saved and those who were carrying on without their former colleagues were key members of his team.

 

"We have a kit man who works from the morning until the evening and takes care of 11 teams alone," he added.

 

"He was with two assistants but they are not here now because of the situation. I look at him and I don't know what to say. I admire him.

 

"I admire these people because they are not in the spotlight but, without them, there is no team.

 

"Even at Chelsea, where you have players coming and going, you cannot succeed without these people helping us. These people are very special and we live with them day by day.

 

"I'm very happy the players and staff did what they did. It means a lot to me personally because football is not just a cold business."

 

The south-coast club employed 166 staff full-time and 154 part-time before it became the first Premier League side to go into administration. The subsequent nine-point penalty has left them 14 points from safety in the Premier League and all-but certain to suffer relegation.

[Guest Barrack Road]

Joke that like, surely that opens the door for every club in the football family to do the same if they're in trouble. Pathetic. If this was a Maltese club this wouldn't be allowed.

[Andrew 4863]

who've they got worth any money though? most of their first team players are loanees

[Besty 4]

Kevin Prince Boateng

Nadir Belhadj

Tal Ben Haim

David James

Hermann Hreidarsson

Papa Bouba Diop

 

Should be atleast asking about how much they want for their players like.

[acrossthepond 878]

Kevin Prince Boateng

Nadir Belhadj

Tal Ben Haim

David James

Hermann Hreidarsson

Papa Bouba Diop

 

Should be atleast asking about how much they want for their players like.

 

KP Boateng/Belhadj/James won't want to go anywhere as they want to be in their World Cup squads. Ben Haim and Diop might fetch a fee, Hreidarsson is getting on, isn't he?

 

EDIT: Ah, I see they'll be loaned right back to Pompey, so never mind. Any of those could move.

Edited March 24, 2010 by acrossthepond

[Guest Barrack Road]

Belhadj could play for anyone in the world, it annoys me that I'm the only one who thinks he's world class, he is though.

[Anth 113]

Kevin Prince Boateng

Nadir Belhadj

Tal Ben Haim

David James

Hermann Hreidarsson

Papa Bouba Diop

 

Should be atleast asking about how much they want for their players like.

 

Would anyone take Tal Ben Haim? I also remember Chris Coleman slapping a £14m price tag on Boupa Diop a few years ago, as he was in the same bracket at Vierra! Is he any good? I cant say Ive seen much of him.

[acrossthepond 878]

Belhadj could play for anyone in the world, it annoys me that I'm the only one who thinks he's world class, he is though.

 

As an attacking left-back he's one of the best, can't defend to save his life though. Rather have Enrique.

[Andrew 4863]

hes getting on, 32 now

[Guest Barrack Road]

hes getting on, 32 now

Belhadj is 27.

[Andrew 4863]

hes getting on, 32 now

Belhadj is 27.

 

sorry, I was supposed to be quoting Anth then

[Anth 113]

hes getting on, 32 now

Belhadj is 27.

 

sorry, I was supposed to be quoting Anth then

 

 

Which one, Haim or Diop? Also didnt Haim choose portsnouth over us when he left Chelsea?

[Andrew 4863]

hes getting on, 32 now

Belhadj is 27.

 

sorry, I was supposed to be quoting Anth then

 

 

Which one, Haim or Diop? Also didnt Haim choose portsnouth over us when he left Chelsea?

 

bouba diop, and I think he chose Man city over us before eventually leaving them for portsmouth

[Anth 113]

hes getting on, 32 now

Belhadj is 27.

 

sorry, I was supposed to be quoting Anth then

 

 

Which one, Haim or Diop? Also didnt Haim choose portsnouth over us when he left Chelsea?

 

bouba diop, and I think he chose Man city over us before eventually leaving them for portsmouth

 

Ah yeah, for got he was at City and at the makems on loan before pompey!

[Craig 6700]

The right thing to do - any business that is in financial difficulty should have the freedom to liquidate their assets at any time.

 

IMO it should spell the end of the 'transfer window' for everyone as it is a restriction of trade.

[Barney 0]

I think Ben Haim has been found out after moving from Bolton.

 

Belhadj looks quality when I've seen him, unfortunately he shares the position as our best player.

 

Bouba Dioup looked very good at Fulham. I think he's a big strong Makelele type breaker. No idea what he's been like over the last few seasons though.

[Andrew 4863]

I think Ben Haim has been found out after moving from Bolton.

 

Belhadj looks quality when I've seen him, unfortunately he shares the position as our best player.

 

Bouba Dioup looked very good at Fulham. I think he's a big strong Makelele type breaker. No idea what he's been like over the last few seasons though.

 

agree with the first two points

 

as for diop, hes managed 10 games this season and not loads last season either

 

think he might be on his way out tbh

[Sima 0]

Belhadj could play for anyone in the world, it annoys me that I'm the only one who thinks he's world class, he is though.

 

 

Worse than my Cacapa comment tbh, and that was horrific.

[acrossthepond 878]

From http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id...and&cc=5901 :

 

Portsmouth administrator Andrew Andronikou has told Soccernet that the club will be on the lookout for a completely new team based on free transfers this summer.

 

Following the news that the Premier League has granted Pompey permission to sell players before the window reopens this summer, Andronikou has revealed that the entire squad is now available to interested parties, with around ten expected to be sold and several more to leave at the end of their contracts.

 

The club hope to raise almost £30 million in player sales as well as drastically cutting the "monstrous" wage bill before bringing in a deluge of free transfer players in the summer.

 

Andronikou told Soccernet: "The major assets of this football club are the supporters who pay to watch their team, and then comes the players. My job is to maximise both.

 

"First of all, I must reassure the supporters that we will start next season with a completely new team, one that we believe will be able to compete, but most importantly we will have secured the future of the club for next season and the season after that, at least.

 

"We have got to be clever in the way we maximise the value of the club's greatest asset: the players themselves. We need to sell between eight and ten of our first-team squad. We currently have a first team squad of 28, we have 40 players at this club.

 

"We will have as many again who will be coming to the end of their contract, and we will be letting them go. The reason is that the game as a whole will be shedding hundreds if not thousands of players this summer, and we can pick up some top talent on free transfers.

 

"It is not just realising a capital gain from the sale of players but we will also be reducing our overheads - we will be making big inroads into reducing a monstrous wage bill.

 

"The object is to raise between £20 million and £30 million in player sales, and we know we have ten players who will attract clubs and are already attracting clubs.

 

"We cannot sell to our Premier League rivals, of course, but with the Premier League giving us the concession to sell outside of the transfer window, we can sell players now and keep them.

 

"However, there are also some markets whose windows are open, such as Russia and the Middle East, and we are already negotiating to sell one player to the Middle East, although not for a great deal of money."

 

Keep in mind that this Harry Harris clown who wrote this piece is a massive gobshite and an old Fleet Street hack who's been making shit up for English rags for years. But it does paint a sobering picture. They already tried the "boatload of free transfers" strategy once and it failed. I wouldn't be surprised to see them go down a second time in succession.

[Andrew 4863]

I remember seeing a team shown at the start of the season that was all free transfers and it looked alright, if they can bring in a lot of PL frees for their next season they should at least survive the season comfortably

[Guest Barrack Road]

Belhadj could play for anyone in the world, it annoys me that I'm the only one who thinks he's world class, he is though.

 

 

Worse than my Cacapa comment tbh, and that was horrific.

Not even in the same statosphere as the Cacapa comment, that was like describing Hufty as one of the best looking living Newcastle fans. He'd be Liverpool's best left sided player by a mile for instance. Never seen him have a bad game.

[ewerk 31216]

I remember seeing a team shown at the start of the season that was all free transfers and it looked alright, if they can bring in a lot of PL frees for their next season they should at least survive the season comfortably

 

Aye but most of the good free transfers will be looking for good wages to reflect the fact that they're on frees. Pompey won't be paying over the odds or probably even the going rate while in administration.

[Sima 0]

Belhadj could play for anyone in the world, it annoys me that I'm the only one who thinks he's world class, he is though.

 

 

Worse than my Cacapa comment tbh, and that was horrific.

Not even in the same statosphere as the Cacapa comment, that was like describing Hufty as one of the best looking living Newcastle fans. He'd be Liverpool's best left sided player by a mile for instance. Never seen him have a bad game.

 

That's a bit of a backpedal

 

He isn't fit to lace Evra or Ashley Cole's boots for example

[Guest alex]

I'd have him here and play him wide left with Ricky instead of Gutierrez.