Portsmouth may fold before the end of Championship season says administrator of cash strapped club
Portsmouth face the most critical six weeks of their 113-year history after the insolvent club’s administrator warned yesterday they could face liquidation before the season’s end.
revor Birch, whom the High Court appointed as administrator last month after HM Revenue and Customs issued a winding-up petition against the club, has told key staff there is only enough cash to cover Portsmouth's running costs until mid-April.

As an officer of the court Birch will be obliged to cease trading when it becomes clear that no alternative sources of funding can be made available.

“We are looking at all possible options for raising further revenues in the very short term but we realise there is only so much that can be realistically achieved,” he said.

“Unless something significant happens, there is a real possibility we may not be able to fulfil the season’s fixtures.”

Birch told the club’s manager, Michael Appleton, he will again review the situation next Friday.
Appleton said: “The situation is bad enough that we won’t be able to see the season out unless something is done to sort everything out.”

A senior source at Fratton Park added: “There is a big risk this club stops trading. Whether in two weeks or three weeks the prospect is there we won’t finish the season. It’s an unholy mess.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/portsmouth/9116030/Portsmouth-may-fold-before-the-end-of-Championship-season-says-administrator-of-cash-strapped-club.html
This tipping point has been reached after it emerged that the first of four monthly £550,000 instalments falls due next month on what was previously a £2.47 million debt to the club’s former owner, Sacha Gaydamak.

The debt cannot be deferred since it has been assigned from Premier League parachute payments, money that had been included in the club’s cash flow planning as income.

The League will pay the funds directly to Gaydamak’s vehicle in accordance with legally binding agreements struck by the club’s former administrator, Andrew Andronikou, at the time of the last insolvency in May 2010.

Andronikou and Birch are in dispute as to whether the repayment terms were made clear prior to the latter’s appointment.

Birch hopes to cover the shortfall with player loans and is understood to be exploring a number of alternative investment strategies but no one at the club would elaborate on what these are.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one staff member told of the atmosphere at the club.

“Trevor Birch sent out an in-house email setting out what’s happened with the parachute payments going to the previous owner and that we’re not likely to receive anything from the Premier League.

“The majority of the staff say they’ve had enough. In all of this you can only support the club so far because there are families involved and you realise you can’t give everything any more because you don’t now how long it will last.

"But we want to see the club survive and get through this period.

"The positive side of me says we’ll come through it come what may.

"But then every day you hear more realism and that the club could go out of existence. But without seeing the facts, you don’t know.”

John Westwood, whose tattoos and distinctive trousers have made him Portsmouth’s most famous fan, articulated how fans’ despair is turning to distrust.

“It’s like seeing a family member on life support,” he said.

“Trevor Birch has been refreshingly honest but there is real cynicism among fans.

"This club is the heartbeat of the city and a big part of people’s lives. The foreign investors don’t realise that communities survive on the identity of their football club.”

It has been chaos at Portsmouth since shortly after they lifted the FA Cup under Harry Redknapp’s management in 2008.

Assets belonging to Gaydamak’s father, Arkady, were frozen by an Israeli court and in parallel the son’s funding for the club dried up.

With a cash flow shortfall of around £10 million a season at the dilapidated Fratton Park, Pompey soon collapsed.

If insolvency and administration turns to liquidation and they are finally extinguished in mid-season, it would have a significant impact on the Championship table.

Results and points accrued in matches involving Pompey would be expunged.

West Ham United, who occupy the second automatic-promotion slot, would lose six points and be supplanted in second place by Reading.

It would also have a damaging effect on the six clubs who are still due to host Pompey. The fixtures would not take place, producing a deficit of around £500,000 in budgeted income for each club.

However, a source close to Balram Chainrai, the former Gaydamak business partner to whom Portsmouth defaulted after a previous insolvency, confirmed to Telegraph Sport that his Portpin vehicle is ready to assume control again rather than to see Pompey liquidated.

Chainrai claims the club owe him £29 million.

The validity of those claims is the subject of a legal challenge but even if the valid debts are reduced he is certain to remain a significant creditor.

Andronikou, who works as administrator to the club’s parent, Convers Sports Initiatives, said: “This club has got a better income than most of its competitors.

"You can’t say it isn’t sustainable. We control 80 per cent of creditors and so we won’t allow them to trash the club.

"We’re trying to protect the club and them.”

Kanu still D̶̲̥̅̊ε̲̣̣̣̥γ̲̣̣̥ play ball?

Let them borrow Ibori looted money stacked in UK to move on nah  

^^^^^ Hahahahaha

They should get an Arab investor to pump in oil money.

, Someone should please save Portsmouth from folding up!

easy! he should move to the middle east

What a clueless post! Please change your heading! When did portsmouth become Kanu's club? Has Kanu not retired from football Get your facts right next time!

Why will they not fold when they refused to abide by Arsenal principle. 'Buy less,Pay less and Sell high'

eazyman:

What a clueless post! Please change your heading! When did portsmouth become Kanu's club? Has Kanu not retired from football Get your facts right next time!

@eazyman

See pot calling kettle black, You need to get your fact right. Read this link below

http://www.punchng.com/sports/kanus-fitness-worries-pompey-coach/

ibori,pls save portsmouth

Let Ibori save himself first