Will Pompey fold? (merged threads)

[Pinkie Brown]

My heart bleeds for them....

Anyone with half a brain can see what Chainrai is up to - Not it seems, Appleton. If Chainrai takes control, he will try to claw back as much cash as possible that he has tied up with this shower of shysters. Once he has control of the club, he'll bleed them dry. He wants as much of his dosh back as possible, by fair means or foul.

He's holding a gun to Birch's head re his firms fee. (which I actually think is quite funny) Now he has said he will slash Appletons playing budget. His purchase of Pompey is no more than a damage limitation exercise for his cash. Why would he invest in the squad? Portsmouth FC are a complete basket case and he knows it.

Appleton is as naive as many of their supporters if he thought he was going to receive a big playing budget. Not that they deserve one anyway.....

 

[binky]

£1.5m is no fortune. Equates to a squad of 20 players on £1,400 a week each.

Honestly, an average of ove £70,000 a year for a player in league 1 (or 2)
I'm sure you could put together a competent squad to survive in league 1 without having to pay that much. Aspirations of promotion might find you having to pay more I guess.

 

[halbpro]

Appleton probably should have been a bit more cautious with the budget he was given, but then again if he was told £4 million then the blame is hardly entirely on him. Having £2.5 million slashed from the budget would piss anyone off, particularly this late in the day. And, to be fair to him, even if he thought "Ok, they've said £4 million, but I'll probably only get half of it" he's still £500k below that. The ownership pulling the rug out from under him is certainly deeply unprofessional.

 

[catfish]

Quite frankly it beggars belief to think this excrescence of a club is allowed to continue in the footbal league.

 

[Superphil]

£1.5m is no fortune. Equates to a squad of 20 players on £1,400 a week each.

I honestly think he thought he had £4M to spend on bringing players in, i.e. transfer and signing on deals, not wages. It is ambigous wording (to me) as it says "for new player aquisitions" not mentioning ongoing wages. He has a lot less, £1.5M but if it is for the whole season, then welcome to the world of L1 & L2.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Portsmouth boss Michael Appleton has called the potential new owners of the club "unprofessional" after being told his transfer budget has been slashed.
Appleton was believed to have been promised a budget of £4m for new player acquisitions in May, but that figure has now changed to around £1.5m.
"It's slightly unprofessional," Appleton told BBC Radio Solent.

"I'm not pleased about it but what can I do about it? I can't do anything about it but get on with it."
Portsmouth are currently in administration with Balram Chainrai in the process of taking control of the League One club.
On Friday, Liam Lawrence became the last senior player to leave the club and Appleton has been waiting patiently to start bringing new faces in.
He says he already has several new faces lined up having played triallists in pre-season, but believes those plans will now to be scrapped having had his budget cut by around 60%.
"It's not an ideal situation," Appleton continued. "I thought I would have 20 players going on the pre-season tour to Spain so I could get the team organised.
"But here we are with a day to go and I haven't got anyone.
"I have been recruiting all summer, working on the basis that the budget was a certain amount. What you do is get the best 20 players you feel can fit that budget.
"If the budget is what is being reported at the minute then it makes the job very, very difficult. Those players I've recruited, a lot of them I won't be able to sign because we won't be able to afford them.
"The problem you've then got is trying to find players to fit the new budget. All the best players will be gone and all you're left with are players who aren't good enough for that level."
Appleton has urged Chainrai to meet with him and revealed he has not been involved in the decision over the player budget.

"The most important thing in any business is dialogue between the people that count and I'd like to think at some point the manager of a football club will have a say on what happens," he said.
"It's difficult and has made my life 10 times harder. It's not as if I needed it to be any harder."
Pompey travel to Plymouth in the League Cup for their first competitive game of the season on Tuesday and Appleton is set to field a youth team.
Administrator Trevor Birch says everything is being done to ensure they can field a team at Home Park.
"I realise that many supporters are concerned about the size of the squad ahead of the start of the new season," Birch said in a statement.
"I've been working with Michael Appleton and the coaches to ensure that we have enough players to start the campaign, regardless of what happens off the pitch over the next few days.
"If a new owner is not in place shortly, then we will use a combination of players from the development squad and players signed on non-contracts [effectively short-term deals].
"We're also talking to the Football League to see if there's any additional support that they can give us until the ownership situation is resolved."

I have to say I do feel some sympathy for Appleton - he's been very loyal and has constantly been shat on.

The last sentence is interesting - what are they hoping the league can do ? Allow them to break the rules ? AGAIN !

Poor old Pompey having to live in the real world. I am so gutted for them.

 

[Jack Daniels]

£1.5m is no fortune. Equates to a squad of 20 players on £1,400 a week each.

Which I read somewhere (no source available at present) is the league one average.

Think it was a piece on the bbc or club website actually. So should be able to find 20 average players.

They will have to find grinders. Players that are determined not to get relegated and work from there.

A decent manager can do a lot with very little in league one/two. Is Appleton not up to the challenge?

 

[TottonSeagull]

If Pompey was a horse the kindest thing to do would be to put it out of its misery and shoot it!

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

£1.5m is no fortune. Equates to a squad of 20 players on £1,400 a week each.

Honestly, an average of ove £70,000 a year for a player in league 1 (or 2)
I'm sure you could put together a competent squad to survive in league 1 without having to pay that much. Aspirations of promotion might find you having to pay more I guess.

I'm with HKFC on this, £1.5m is very low; if you look at the Albion's published accounts the total wage/salary bill has been greater than £3.5m every year since 2005. Normally it's been over £4m.

 

[severnside gull]

Embarrassing that Appleton not only believed Chanrai but actually planned to spend the money he was never going to have (and which he must have known - if only historically - they could not afford). Disgraceful they would ever have contemplated a budget that size but says it all I guess about the state of their thinking even now

 

[sparkie]

Looks like Chanrai has simply deducted the administrators fee from the playing budget. As it should be.

 

[Ernest]

Get 10 decentish players and the rest loans with the salaries paid by their clubs and development squad/youth players should give them a team

 

[Superphil]

I'm with HKFC on this, £1.5m is very low; if you look at the Albion's published accounts the total wage/salary bill has been greater than £3.5m every year since 2005. Normally it's been over £4m.

The budget they are referring to, however it is interpreted, is clearly stated as being specifically for players, not the total club wage bill. As Some have said, 20 players on £70K a year should be more than enough to sustain them in L1.

 

[bassking]

Maybe he's angling for the sack and some compensation? He might get lucky on one front there

exactly what i was thinking, had enough already and take the easy way out.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

The budget they are referring to, however it is interpreted, is clearly stated as being specifically for players, not the total club wage bill. As Some have said, 20 players on £70K a year should be more than enough to sustain them in L1.

Fair enough, my mistake; I really couldn't be bothered to fully read all the sanctimonious hand wringing. Seems that we would have struggled to sustain a L1 team on £1.5m though?

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Looks like Chanrai has simply deducted the administrators fee from the playing budget. As it should be.

Chainrai was moaning about the £1.8M administrator's bill. On the basis he manages to get the fee reduced by £200k , a £100k payment deferral repaid in 2013 , a £100k deferral repaid in 2014 and Appleton's budget is cut from £4M to £1.5M there is about £1M still floating about as loose change.

 

[Superphil]

Seems that we would have struggled to sustain a L1 team on £1.5m though?

And we did, often, but good management, and good directors saw us through it, it was only when TB came along that we were really in a position to step up a gear.

 

[portslade seagull]

Should be put under a transfer embargo until ALL debts are paid off.

Totally totally agree but the FA just haven't got the bollocks unless it is a smaller club

 

[seven stands]

their protests seem to be gaining pace now Viewing a thread - Protest march before Bolton match

 

[binky]

I'm with HKFC on this, £1.5m is very low; if you look at the Albion's published accounts the total wage/salary bill has been greater than £3.5m every year since 2005. Normally it's been over £4m.

From which we can only conclude that footballers get paid too much!