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Thread | Minutes of Fans' Conference Meeting 1 Sept. 2012
at 18:08 6 Sep 2012
Those present: Steve Tovey (Chair), Bill Gillon (Minutes), Carl Paddon, Sue Maskell, Vern Rickman, Mike Fulcher, Nigel Tressider, Andy Gaffney, Pam Wilkins, Mick Williams, Johnny Moore
It was stated that the Fans Conference would now bear the name of Tony Goodall, in honour of his memory and of the fact he was central to the Conference, being its Chairman at the time of his passing.
Johnny Moore explained Trevor Birch's absence. When the Conference was first arranged, two or three weeks ago, there was only one bidder (the Trust) involved with the club, so the picture and information to be discussed was clearer. However, of course, this isn't the case any more, so Trevor did not want to put himself into a position where something he said could be misconstrued or quoted at such a sensitive time.
Tickets
There is a new ticket manager, Fawaz 'Fred' Almumen, and the Conference wishes to put on record formal congratulations to Fred, the club and Trevor Birch for listening to fans and acting on tickets and pricing. Just short of 8,000 season tickets have been sold as of the current time.
It was stated that the club has tried everything it can to get tickets out to fans, the club and Trevor Birch doing all they could to ensure tickets are available to supporters who wish to purchase. Fans are also encouraged to buy tickets, if possible, in the days before the game to ensure that queues for tickets at the booths on match days are kept to an absolute minimum.
Carl Paddon stated that he knows people who are holding back on buying tickets because of Portpin's presence around the club. Will the club be able to make season tickets available to fans on a pro-rata basis once the ownership situation at the club is sorted? Johnny and Mick Williams answered that this hadn't been considered, but could be an idea. An opinion from others was that, if the Trust took over, woudl people really care about reduced prices for season tickets?
Community Mascots
As things stand, we cannot do what we did last season with community mascots because of the lack of kit availability, and the fact the players helped with sponsorship last season whilst no players in the current squad, for obvious reasons, have been approached as yet. The Conference still aims to have a sponsorship scheme for this season. Johnny Moore suggested that somebody go to the training ground to speak to Michael Appleton, and Pam Wilkins has volunteered to take this forward as a result.
Catering
The pricing of food and drinks from the kiosk had been up for discussion, with the Conference suggestion of a pound for hot drinks taken to Lindleys, the Caterers, by Steve Jones, the Sales Manager. Lindleys had rejected the idea, but the club will keep pushing the proposal.
A meeting had been held with the club about the overall catering, with the corporate membership catering for the first game of the season against Bournemouth discussed. For the fans, Alan Taylor, Steve Tovey and two representatives from the Chimes bar had attended. Corporate catering for the first game was thought of as under par, with no chilled wine, poor air conditioning and poor quality of food. Overall, it was thought to be very poor value for money, and the quality of catering from Lindleys is an ongoing one. It was pointed out by Mike Fulcher that Lindleys held the justice licence to sell alcohol at Fratton Park, which explains the ongoing contract for catering at the club, but that licence ends in October. It was noted that, if the Trust took over the club, that existing contracts, many of which are thought to be detrimental to the club, will be looked at.
Betting Licence
A report on Twitter had mentioned that the club had not renewed their betting licence for the stadium. Nobody at the meeting was aware if the licence had not been renewed, Johnny will make further checks as regards the situation.
Stewarding
Steve Tovey had made Derek Stone aware of an incident at the previous home game as regards a fan and a drinks bottle.
It was thought to be an idea that representatives from Conference should meet with Derek to gauge comments from matches, and to raise any comments and concerns with him directly. Pam Wilkins and Sue Maskell to take this forward.
A discussion about standards of stewarding at Pompey and other clubs took place. It was noted that, at Colchester, a certain section of Portsmouth fans had purposely antagonised home stewards who, it was felt, had done nothing but made Pompey fans more than welcome at the ground.
Any other business
Steve Tovey and Johnny Moore will look at the Conference email listing in order to tidy it up, update email contacts and remove anybody who no longer comes to Conference.
It is recognised that Conference meetings are not open public meetings, so journalistic attendance, for example, is not encouraged. Any requests for attendance should go through the chairman of the Conference at the time.
Update from Mick Williams, Pompey Supporters Trust
Mick gave an update to Conference on the position of the PST bid for the club. It is recognised that only so many details, for reason of confidentiality and sensitivity of the situation, can be made public at this time.
The Trust have revised their bid for the club, and have matched Portpin's figure of £8.4 million for player compromises.
The Trust are working with Stuart Robinson as regards his potential purchase of Fratton Park and the surrounding land, although he isn't the only option and the Trust are also talking to others.
The option is still there for the Trust to buy the ground outright themselves, but more pledges are required and the Trust urges fans to pledge as much as they can, with pledges coming into the Trust all the time.
Date of next meeting
To be arranged |
| Forum
Thread | Andronikou advising Ben Haim: Snooze
at 08:32 25 Jul 2012
No green light for Pompey
By Neil Allen
Published on Wednesday 25 July 2012 08:01
David Norris is today expected to follow Luke Varney out of the Fratton Park exit — but Michael Appleton’s Pompey rebuilding will remain on hold.
The midfielder is anticipated to finalise a move to either Leeds or Sheffield Wednesday, helping drive down the Blues’ wage bill to £7m.
Just as encouraging, Erik Huseklepp is nearing a switch to Brann, although the sticking point centres on £1m Pompey still owe his former club Bari.
In addition, Liam Lawrence has interest from two Championship clubs, although former suitors Cardiff are not believed to be one of them.
Greg Halford has also voiced his intention to do best by Pompey and met members of SOS Pompey on Monday.
Yet, while it looks brighter on the player departure front, the ongoing situation with Tal Ben Haim, Dave Kitson and Kanu — the Blues’ three highest earners — is continuing to apply the brakes.
That not only prevents Appleton from signing players but continues to put the club on liquidation watch, with Balram Chainrai’s Portpin unwilling to take over while the trio remain.
The News understands Ben Haim was offered his most recent compromise deal a week ago. The club has yet to receive a response.
The Israeli international, who this week insisted he is eager to help the club, still wants around £1m to quit.
Agent Pini Zahavi is no longer representing him in negotiations, although it is believed former Blues administrator Andrew Andronikou is advising instead.
Ironically, Andronikou failed to remove Ben Haim from the wage bill the last time Pompey were in administration.
In addition, in post-administration, former chief executive David Lampitt also couldn’t persuade the defender to quit the £12.5m contract he penned under Peter Storrie in 2009.
That figure for the four-year deal includes includes national insurance, agent fees, wages and image rights. Ben Haim was the only player who refused to accept an open letter from SOS Pompey at the Wellington Sports Ground on Monday morning.
Despite the Israeli’s criticism of administrators PKF’s wages this week, it is believed they have taken around £180,000 out of the club for their work since arriving in February. Further fees are expected once the club has found a new owner.
Meanwhile, it is understood Kitson’s agent was made a compromise offer three weeks ago.
There has yet to be any interest from other clubs for the 32-year-old, who has 12 months still to run on his existing deal.
Kanu is also proving to be a headache, with his barrister Samuel Okoronkwo asking the Football League for £3m he claims the player is owed.
At the centre of the dispute is the three-year contract Kanu signed under Lampitt in August 2010, which at the time settled a dispute over a verbal agreement for a new £35,000-a-week 12-month deal.
The News understands Okoronkwo is now questioning the legality of that contract, despite the deal being approved by the Football League at the time.
As it stands, Portpin will not be buying the club while the wage bill continues to be so high — conditions which are included in the CVA. Similarly, the Pompey Supporters’ Trust have been vocal over how they cannot afford to inherit such player salaries going forwards.
Now it’s up to Birch to come to compromise agreements with Kanu, Kitson and Ben Haim in order for Pompey to have a future.
Andronikou and Okoronkwo were unavailable for comment when contacted by The News.
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/pompey-past/no-green-light-for-pompey-1 |
| Forum
Thread | POMPEY TRUST STATEMENT ON LIQUIDATION
at 07:39 25 Jul 2012
PST STATEMENT - PST READY TO DO THE DEALS TO SAVE POMPEY
Portsmouth Football Club stands on the brink of extinction.
In a frank and open meeting between representatives of Pompey
Supporters Trust and the administrator, Trevor Birch, on Tuesday it
became apparent that there was an unbridgeable gulf between the claims
made by the players and the amount that a new company run by the local
community could afford to pay. It is increasingly unlikely that
Portsmouth Football Club will be sold as a going concern.
The administrator has become frustrated in his negotiations with
players and their agents and has said that unless they are prepared to
agree to a much lower level of claim the Club will go into
liquidation.
He has set a deadline of Friday 10th of August 2012.
If the Club goes into liquidation it will lose its league position,
and its right to the £11 million of parachute payments from the
Premier League. It will also mean that the players who, on a going
concern sale are treated as “football creditors” and must be paid,
lose all such rights and will be treated as ordinary unsecured
creditors in the liquidation. It is unlikely that there will be any
significant dividend in a liquidation.
PST has been working on its bid for four months, having organised the
most successful fan pledge scheme of its type, which has raised a
substantial seven-figure sum. The Trust is ready to do what is
required to save Portsmouth FC, but we urge the players to see the
reality of the situation and sit down with our representatives so we
can explain our deal.
Unless they agree to this it is clear that the players will get
nothing if the club is Liquidated on the 10th of August by PKF.
“We are ready and able to see this process through and buy the Club.
We have made a good offer and are making good progress in raising
funds. The one remaining hurdle is the payment of football creditors,
but if they don’t shift we simply cannot do a deal outside
liquidation.” said Ashley Brown, Chair of PST.
Anthony Fanshawe of Begbies Traynor, who is advising the Trust bid
team added: ‘I have two messages for the players. Number one is that
if you do not agree a sensible deal the Club will go into liquidation
in a couple of weeks and you will get nothing. Number two, we are
willing to meet you at any time to discuss terms and put the deal to
bed as soon as possible.
Meet with us and together we can save Portsmouth Football Club"
END
http://www.pompeytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=417:pst- |
| Forum
Thread | Our Players are not the villains here ...
at 10:18 23 Jul 2012
SJ MASKELL: Halford has the right attitude to make the players legends
Mon 23rd Jul 2012 09:45 by SJ Maskell
I like Greg Halford. I like his attitude, I like the way he comes across as a genuine bloke. I have enjoyed watching him play for Pompey, despite his lapses at times. I am not about to abuse him for the situation he is in that is not directly of his making. This club is fans and team together and no matter how mercenary some players may be, there is no purpose to the club without them...
More here: http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/portsmouth/fb_news.php?storyid=17605&title |
| Forum
Thread | Fiasco Friday:
at 11:10 21 Jul 2012
GIB 4 POMPEY 0: Fiasco Friday leaves Pompey in need of Jules Verne
Fri 20th Jul 2012 23:00 by Colin Farmery
Right. Let's get the excuses in first. This group of players had never met one another until Monday at the airport. Check. It was a plastic 3G pitch with a bounce and a half. Don't come across them very often. Check. It was pretty hot at 32 degrees. Check.
Oh. 4-0 probably flattered Gibraltar too.
More here: http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/portsmouth/fb_news.php?storyid=17593 |
| Forum
Thread | Antonov's Tangled Web
at 10:44 6 Jul 2012
Looks like it will take sometime for Antonov to come out of the 'mess' he is in!
"Vladimir Antonov, the Russian banker whose holding company claimed in 2011 to have $7 billion of assets, and his Lithuanian business partner Raimondas Baranauskas face extradition to the Baltic country. Snoras was the nation’s third-biggest deposit bank until regulators seized it on suspicion cash had been siphoned off to pay for high-end property, luxury cars and a U.K. soccer club."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-05/russian-banker-fights-extradition-as-gl |
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