James

It is clearly been done to gain a fitness edge - there is no social esteem benefit a top flight footballer can get from anti-obesity drugs. Coke was idiocy and not cheating (and therefore he should have got off a lot lighter than the likes of Jaap Stam), but this is idiocy and cheating so no longer has any sympathy from me.

The annoying thing is lack of privacy in this deal. The administrators will probably be releasing minute by minute statements announcing who and what the current highest bid is. One thing that could go in our favour is that administrators will want the money in one big single installment. Ashley as we know favours this, yet not many other clubs can manage it.

It is worse. You are only cheating yourself with coke. You are cheating your opponents with what he has taken.

Failed another drugs test. Looks like he'll never pay off his debt to Chelsea now.

Like I said a couple of days ago, the watford board should have been man enough to sit down with Portsmouth and Newcastle and accept that they weren't going to get all the money they hoped for, but would renegotiate the clauses so everyone got something from it. Your board, by sticking to its guns, has fucked up true and proper. What a load of shite that is. Portsmouth shouldn't have spent above their means, and inserting clauses into a deal to drive the price down has bitten them on the arse, and they should deal with that. Why should Watford have to get less money - if there wasn't a x% clause stipulated in the £2m(?) deal originally then they might not have accepted it, and may have asked for more. If they get nothing from this deal, and didn't negotiate, it is their own fault. Its a typical bankruptcy scenario, a straight choice between nothing and a pittance, you should take the pittance as you will never get the full lot back. That is where Watford went wrong. Also loads of clubs were really stupid negotiating installment deals with Pompey, even after it was clear that Viduka didn't turn up to pre-season because his signing-on fee wasn't paid into his bank account clubs like watford should have realised that Portsmouth weren't a club to deal with unless it involved the full amount into the account.

Like I said a couple of days ago, the watford board should have been man enough to sit down with Portsmouth and Newcastle and accept that they weren't going to get all the money they hoped for, but would renegotiate the clauses so everyone got something from it. Your board, by sticking to its guns, has fucked up true and proper.

Nolan with legs though. I think he's better than you think having seen him play a few times this season. Now he has finally gotten into the centre and shown what he can do, I reckon he could be a player that makes the difference both this season and next before becoming more of a squad player as he was for us before.

OK, I know he has just hit the post against us so is slightly reactionary. But he has played well all season scoring plenty of goals for an average team. He is a better player than he was, and we are a worse club than we were, and I think he'd be a really useful player for us even if we get promoted. An immediate and cheaper upgrade on Nolan. In fact, if we could get him back, I'd instantly palm off Nolan to whichever desperate PL mug would take him. What are people's thoughts?

Such a promising player at Leeds. Must have more bookings to his name here than shots at goal, never mind on target. To be honest, if a player was picking up a booking per match there are some circumstances I wouldn't mind it, i.e. a player getting pulled back in their own half when about to unleash a counter attack. So for me it is more about whether the foul is going to favour us or the opposition more. Definitely something Smith needs to work on, he needs to learn right and wrong times to foul people. Shearer was an expert at this.

Even the best teams need a defensive midfielder, without Smith we would be too lightweight. Nolan here is the problem. He is a player who would never made it at this level had Allardyce not introduced 451 to the league. In a 442 he is an absolute nobody.

I personally think that the idea of Gary Neville going all eco-friendly is quite inspirational.

I heard he's had to go off and look for another pun as Llambias wouldn't sanction Big Willy.

Basically the club's worst ever goalscorer

Football club finances are like condoms really. Stretched to the limit with glory at the end for some. However Portsmouth have stretched too far to make themselves seem bigger than they are, and the condom has split out, spilling all into an STD pit. Mike Ashley has a small willy, so the condom isn't stretched enough and there is certainly no glory at the moment. Liverpool need a new condom very soon or things will get messy there. Man Utd could probably do with a new condom too, but doesn't matter so much as Fergie has shown that you can win with kids.

Maybe Ashley reckons a team of Taylor's will confuse man marking.

Portsmouth's problems today are all about people that are no longer there, leaving the problems behind for any old incapable to deal with. Harry Redknapp is just as much to blame on this one. Things are still reasonable at Manyoo and Liverpool. We got screwed over and relegated.

Without having a clue what the clauses are how can you possibly reach that conclusion? Obviously that is on the assumption that these clauses exist.

The brutal reality is that he's playing on merit and he's the least of our worries. I'm talking long term, not as of right now.

I think the Watford board need to be man enough to accept that they'll get more money if they renogotiate the clauses with Portsmouth and Newcastle

Considering how long he had to wait, I don't see Harper wanting to retire for several years yet. The brutal reality is that for this club to progress, a current/future manager of this football club is going to have to finish him.

So if it is true that they won't play him as they have to pay, and can't let him come here as they have to pay, surely Williamson could be entitled to take legal action against Portsmouth.

He's talking about if Portsmouth go out of business though, so they no longer exist as a Football club. Then 2 will go down and three up, which equals 20 PL clubs. Then there are 23 clubs in the Championship, so 4 go up from League 1, 3 down. Then 5 up from League 2, 4 down. Then 3 up from the football conference 2 down and then press AABCABBC and it is a fatality for Portsmouth

He's alright for what we are probably paying, i.e. next to nothing, but there is a reason why Blackburn and Sunderland never chose to buy him, and we best hope we have someone else to play there next season.

The most important thing is that we don't lose these types of games. And we didn't.

what makes you think he'd be a good coach. usually on here people scream "jobs for the boys" but when it's a fans fave with no experience at coaching or any rerason to suspect he'd be any good at it people lap it up. slight double standards at work..........as usual. I'm not one to scream about jobs for the boys. The reality is that on the continent, the best coaches and managers have usually started out in a junior role at a club they were associated with as a player.. It would be a good stop for everyone to take. If it turns out he isn't cut out for it, it isn't the end of the world.