Cash-strapped Portsmouth fail to pay players for third time

zocoss SG

Avram Grant

Centre of attention: Avram Grant has a difficult job at cash-strapped Portsmouth

Portsmouth must sell to survive next month after they were stunned by a £6million tax bill and the threat of bankruptcy.

Pompey will launch a desperate fire sale to off-load David James, Younes Kaboul, David Nugent, Kevin-Prince Boateng and John Uutaka in a bid to generate funds to keep them in existence until the end of the season.

Already suffering with huge debts, a crippling wage bill, a transfer embargo and lack of points, they became the first Barclays Premier League club to be served with a winding-up petition, which was issued by HM Revenue and Customs.

The worst-case scenario is that a club formed in 1898 will be ordered to cease trading at a High Court hearing early next year but, after his representatives met Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore on Wednesday, owner Ali Al Faraj is confident this outcome will be avoided.

Al Faraj is also determined to keep the club out of administration, a move which may make it easier to restructure the debt but would mean an automatic nine-point deduction under current rules.

The club issued a statement ahead of their 4-1 home defeat to Arsenal and denied receiving the winding-up petition — although this is put down to an administrative mix-up — and disputed figures in the hefty VAT section of the £6m bill.

The statement said: ‘Portsmouth FC ... are shocked and surprised this action has been taken in respect of VAT, PAYE and National Insurance contributions which either have been, or are about to be paid, or are disputed.

‘The club are disputing the VAT amount outstanding and has formally notified HMRC of this. We expect HMRC to withdraw their demands forthwith. Otherwise we anticipate a hearing being held in early January 2010 during which we will request that the High Court order to withdraw their demands.’

Despite such defiance, Portsmouth are in severe financial peril. They are due a payment from the Premier League of almost £10m next month but most of this money will be sent directly to the bank accounts of other clubs, owed money from previous transfer deals.

Other creditors, including former owner Alexandre Gaydamak, several agents and foreign clubs, are still waiting for their money and the club’s monthly wage bill far outweighs normal income despite summer sales.

Al Faraj, who took over from Sulaiman Al Fahim in October, hopes to raise enough money from sales in the January transfer window to clear some of the debts and keep the club running as a going concern.

It will leave manager Avram Grant short of numbers and quality as he tries to steer the Premier League’s bottom team out of the relegation zone.

However, it is a risk judged to be worth taking by the new regime at Pompey, who lay the blame for the current plight firmly at Gaydamak’s door.

‘It is well known that the business has been in a difficult position following former owners’ decisions and the current owner is committed to resolving this and moving forward,’ added the club statement.

‘Since the takeover by Ali Al Faraj in October 2009, extreme efforts have been made to reach payment arrangements with HMRC to allow the owner time to deal with inherited debt. To date, the new owner has injected a total of £9.7m of new funds to HMRC — £5.7m paid and security to the value of £4m.’

Portsmouth, who invested in players before winning the 2008 FA Cup, have had three owners since August and failed to pay their players on time twice this season.

Y_Shun SG

If they do sell, then I think they are getting prepared to get relegated.

zocoss SG

Better to get relegated than to cease to exist as a football club... More than 100 yrs of history will go down the drain if they don't work on it... They can still make a comeback after spending a few seasons in the Championship League... Getting shut-down is like, dead... All over, never coming back at all.

Source: France Football

zocoss SG

Portsmouth players

Where's the money gone? Portsmouth players have not been paid on time again

Crisis club Portsmouth have again failed to pay their players on time, after revealing in a statement that they expect December salaries to be paid on January 5.

Pompey officials had hoped the outstanding player salaries would be processed today, but the monies will now be cleared after the Bank Holiday.

A statement from Portsmouth read: 'Portsmouth Football Club expect to pay their first team squad's December salaries on Tuesday, January 5.

'The club has been speaking to the Professional Footballers' Association and the players have been informed. 'The club has been assured of receipt of funds by Tuesday and the owner and board have been working hard on resolving the short-term delay.'

This is the third time in the space of Portsmouth have been unable to pay players' wages on time.

Other members of non-playing staff at Portsmouth have been told they will also not be paid on time, and are expected to be paid on Monday. A club spokesman told the Portsmouth News: 'The problem was due to a file not being loaded properly at the bank. It wasn't processed properly.

'The club apologise and if there are any knock-on effects financially for employees the club will reimburse them.'

The south-coast club head into 2010 rooted to the bottom of the Barclays Premier League, following the 4-1 home defeat by title-chasers Arsenal on Wednesday night, and beset by financial worries.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pompey had issued a statement to deny the club had been formally served with a winding-up petition by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs in relation to disputed VAT, PAYE and National Insurance contributions of a reported £3.5million.

A High Court date has been set for early next year, but Portsmouth - who continue to operate under a transfer embargo imposed by the Premier League over unpaid transfer debts - are expecting to have the matter resolved before then and the threat of possible administration lifted.

The Fratton Park faithful are becoming increasingly frustrated at the dire financial plight of their club, who in May 2008 were celebrating a famous FA Cup win at Wembley under former boss Harry Redknapp.

Chants of 'Where's all our money gone?', 'Sack the board' and 'You're not fit to run a club' rang out around the ground during Wednesday night's match, as fans sent a clear message to Saudi Arabian owner Ali Al Faraj.

However, chief executive Peter Storrie - himself charged with tax evasion by HMRC, and accused of concealing a signing-on fee for Amdy Faye by paying it via the midfielder's agent William McKay - used last night's programme notes to try to allay fears Pompey were set for imminent liquidation.

'Off the field, the financial issues of the club have been prominent in the media once again,' he said.

'While we would prefer to keep this in-house and deal with the situation, third parties are ensuring that certain issues are played out in public.

'The majority of the reports are ill-informed, but such is the confidential nature of finance that we are not at liberty to put the record straight all of the time.'

Storrie continued: 'It has been a very difficult year, but one thing you must believe is that Ali Al Faraj and his associates are doing their very best to refinance the club so we can once again operate the business as we all want to.

'At Ali's request I have also been in discussions regarding further investment with various parties, and these are ongoing.

Main men: Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie (centre) insists owner Ali Al Faraj (left) is doing his best to refinance the club

'The priority, of course, is to get the transfer ban lifted - especially with four of our players away at the Africa Cup of Nations.

'The current squad have already shown they have what it takes to compete with any side in this league, and if we can add even more quality, we will have every chance of surviving.'

Aruna Dindane is one of the four Pompey players heading to the Africa Cup of Nations. The Ivory Coast striker signed on loan from Lens during the summer, with a view to a permanent move.

However, the French club could look to take the player back should a fee be unable to be paid.

Lens president Gervais Martel told L'Equipe: 'I don't want to speak about details in that case but it is very clear - if they don't pay, I want to get my player back.'

Meanwhile, Steve Finnan has urged Pompey not to dwell on their Arsenal hammering and told his team-mates: 'We need to forget that performance quickly.'

sand king SG

They're going down, and no one can stop it!

Wills SG

Avram Grant got his work cut out trying to save 2 things, save the club from being relegated and his marriage...

Bus&Soccer l0v3r (VO3x 1) SG

well

e owner .............

omgukilledkenny SG

Idk whats going on at Portsmouth.

Having new owners seem to make their situation worst only.

zocoss SG

They got the short end of the stick by getting a no money foreign owner... They are living from hand to mouth and it can't be good... At least Pool fans will now know there are worse foreign owners than theirs... lol.

Y_Shun SG

TBH i think they should get relegated then.

Rooney9 SG

if you are not rich enough like roman, please do not take over and be a laughing stock. the EPL is also a laughing stock, for allowing people not rich enough to own over their club. will there be a change of ownership for the third time for portsmouth?

Poignant SG

they just need another arab

iveco SG

Later end up like Gretna FC in SPL.

iveco SG

Roman set the standard for EPL, didn't he? Anyway, Pompey had trouble back in the late 90s when Terry Venables was there. They were in admin and nearly escaped relegation to the then Div 2.