Portsmouth FC in yet more trouble - administration again?

[Kaizero]

I don't like Pompey as much as the next bloke, I'd never wish it on their fans to see their club go out of business, though.

[Guest toonlass]

Did anyone care this much when Woolworths went out of business?

 

A lot of people did.

[NG32]

This has to end at some point, its getting totally stupid.

 

 

[nobby_solano]

Did anyone care this much when Woolworths went out of business?

 

A lot of people did.

 

aye, it was the place to get your pick and mix from before you went to the cinema in the gate  

 

and i'd hate to see portsmouth stop existing, no fans deserve to see their club disappear

 

 

[brummie]

Did anyone care this much when Woolworths went out of business?

 

The people who worked there, for starters, not to mention the people who'd shopped there for decades.

 

Interesting to see Manchester United in a slightly different form of financial meltdown, despite them having supporters all over the globe.

 

The longer football just ploughs on regardless as if it is immune to the basic principles of business, the more clubs will go to the wall.

 

I'm entirely aware football is a tribal business (and I love it as much as the next man), but it is pretty hard to adopt a "who gives a shit" attitude to fans of other clubs, when - but for the grace of God - it could be you next.

[NG32]

Did anyone care this much when Woolworths went out of business?

 

The people who worked there, for starters, not to mention the people who'd shopped there for decades.

 

Interesting to see Manchester United in a slightly different form of financial meltdown, despite them having supporters all over the globe.

 

The longer football just ploughs on regardless as if it is immune to the basic principles of business, the more clubs will go to the wall.

 

I'm entirely aware football is a tribal business (and I love it as much as the next man), but it is pretty hard to adopt a "who gives a s***" attitude to fans of other clubs, when - but for the grace of God - it could be you next.

 

Hoefully change wil happen.

[brummie]

Did anyone care this much when Woolworths went out of business?

 

The people who worked there, for starters, not to mention the people who'd shopped there for decades.

 

Interesting to see Manchester United in a slightly different form of financial meltdown, despite them having supporters all over the globe.

 

The longer football just ploughs on regardless as if it is immune to the basic principles of business, the more clubs will go to the wall.

 

I'm entirely aware football is a tribal business (and I love it as much as the next man), but it is pretty hard to adopt a "who gives a s***" attitude to fans of other clubs, when - but for the grace of God - it could be you next.

 

Hoefully change wil happen.

 

Unfortunately, I don't think even Portsmouth ceasing to exist will be enough. There will have to be more, first.

[afar]

What people need to a grip on is that there will still be a team in Portsmouth, it won't just disappear, just because the current Portsmouth Football Club is about to go bust (which I hugely doubt will happen). The smoggies are a prime example of this, they went out of business and a new club was formed that took it's place. Leeds too, went into administration with huge debts, were bought out by the bearded fool of a chairman and now are making a profit. Wimbledon's move to Milton Keys is another example in slightly different circumstances of a club that was not there anymore but AFC Wimbledon was born and are now only a step or two away from football league status.

 

Football clubs endure, they do not just go away, Portsmouth will be around, most probably not playing Premiership football, but really do their fans deserve that above fans of clubs such as Newcastle, Leeds, Notts Forest, Sheff Utd and West Brom ? They deserve a football club yes and they'll still bloody have one, despite their current plight, what level they'll be playing at is open to debate, but I'd be happy to go on record as saying there will be a Portsmouth in the Championship next year.

[afar]

I didn't see any outpouring of love for us when we went down last season, people were positively giddy with the thought that we may go bust.

 

Surely you can see there's a bit of a difference between getting relegated and being in court facing a winding up order, though?

 

I pissed my pants the last time Birmingham got relegated, it made my season. I wouldn't want them to go out of business, though.

 

 

 

Did you read my whole comment ? Or did you only just read the first part. I saw countless messages on forums from supporters hoping Ashley "finishes off the job", I don't recall too many people feeling sorry for the fans of NUFC who went through hell last year.

[brummie]

I didn't see any outpouring of love for us when we went down last season, people were positively giddy with the thought that we may go bust.

 

Surely you can see there's a bit of a difference between getting relegated and being in court facing a winding up order, though?

 

I pissed my pants the last time Birmingham got relegated, it made my season. I wouldn't want them to go out of business, though.

 

 

 

Did you read my whole comment ? Or did you only just read the first part. I saw countless messages on forums from supporters hoping Ashley "finishes off the job", I don't recall too many people feeling sorry for the fans of NUFC who went through hell last year.

 

No, I read it all.

 

I just cut out the bits I wasn't replying to rather than requote the entire thing. QUite ironic that you're going on about these people you saw begging Ashley to "finish the job off", but now you're actually sinking to their level yourself.

 

I reiterate, going through a winding up petition is a different type of hell to being relegated. Given that you've just described that as "hell", I don't know what that makes this season for them.

 

Still, as you say, they can just reform and start off in the Hampshire And District Paperboys League or some such, it's no big deal after all.

 

Incidentally, I can't believe you're citing Wimbledon and MK Dons as something even remotely positive, that's a first.

[David Icke - Son of God]

Going into admin on Friday.

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

Going into admin on Friday.

unless a new buyer is found.  Having said that, I'd be surprised if they do find one.

 

I'm getting sick of this now tbf.

 

 

EDIT: Can't go bust now due to some law with regards to going into administration.  The administrator will be put in charge of getting as much money to those of whom the club is in debt.

 

Basically, administration - relegation - summer firesale - probably not coming straight back up, perhaps even going down again.

 

 

[ikri]

Going into admin on Friday.

unless a new buyer is found.  Having said that, I'd be surprised if they do find one.

 

I'm getting sick of this now tbf.

 

 

EDIT: Can't go bust now due to some law with regards to going into administration.  The administrator will be put in charge of getting as much money to those of whom the club is in debt.

 

Basically, administration - relegation - summer firesale - probably not coming straight back up, perhaps even going down again.

 

 

 

Can they actually go into administration though?  Would HMRC not be able to block the move until their hearing is completed on Monday? 

 

Is this just a ploy by Portsmouth to get HMRC to back off?  Threaten administration where the HMRC know they'll get bugger all to try & for HMRC to negotiate some payment terms with the club.

[GG]

 

That's a really parochial, fuck-you-jack approach to fans of another club, the sort of shit you'd expect to hear from Tim Lovejoy or any other of the witless Sky media tarts who have no concept of what it is like to support an unfashionable club.

 

Who gives a fuck if they fill their stadium or if it is a tip or not? They're fans like you and me are, and through no fault of their own their club is going to shit.

 

I don't see the relevance of your attendances to Portsmouth's situation, either.

 

It'd be interesting to see how many tickets they'd have had to sell to overcome 131m pounds spaffed on wages by their clueless owner and CEO over three years.

 

Incidentally, it is quite depressing to hear that from the fan of another club which has also felt the downside of a clueless owner of late.

 

Generally.  :thup:

 

But, Tim Lovejoy does know what it feels like to support an unfashionable club. That's why he stopped following Watford and fucked off to Chelsea, the bastard.

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

Going into admin on Friday.

unless a new buyer is found.  Having said that, I'd be surprised if they do find one.

 

I'm getting sick of this now tbf.

 

 

EDIT: Can't go bust now due to some law with regards to going into administration.  The administrator will be put in charge of getting as much money to those of whom the club is in debt.

 

Basically, administration - relegation - summer firesale - probably not coming straight back up, perhaps even going down again.

 

 

 

Can they actually go into administration though?  Would HMRC not be able to block the move until their hearing is completed on Monday? 

 

Is this just a ploy by Portsmouth to get HMRC to back off?  Threaten administration where the HMRC know they'll get bugger all to try & for HMRC to negotiate some payment terms with the club.

Monday's meeting has been abandoned.  If Chainrai knew about this law that means a club in administration can't then be wound up, then yes, it is a ploy, as the club will still exist and will be able to fulfil its fixture duties.  As I said though, as SSN stated, the administrators will have to get as much money as they can through the sale of players to try and pay HMRC.

 

Could well end up with a situation similar to Darlo in that their entire squad is overturned in pre-season and becomes made up of kids and free transfers from non-league.  I need someone with a bit more knowledge on the whole thing, but would the administrators be in a poor position to negotiate transfer fees?  So if clubs put in bids of £1/2m maximum for any of their players, they'd be forced to accept should no-one top that?

[Teasy]

What people need to a grip on is that there will still be a team in Portsmouth, it won't just disappear, just because the current Portsmouth Football Club is about to go bust (which I hugely doubt will happen). The smoggies are a prime example of this, they went out of business and a new club was formed that took it's place. Leeds too, went into administration with huge debts, were bought out by the bearded fool of a chairman and now are making a profit. Wimbledon's move to Milton Keys is another example in slightly different circumstances of a club that was not there anymore but AFC Wimbledon was born and are now only a step or two away from football league status.

 

Football clubs endure, they do not just go away, Portsmouth will be around, most probably not playing Premiership football, but really do their fans deserve that above fans of clubs such as Newcastle, Leeds, Notts Forest, Sheff Utd and West Brom ? They deserve a football club yes and they'll still bloody have one, despite their current plight, what level they'll be playing at is open to debate, but I'd be happy to go on record as saying there will be a Portsmouth in the Championship next year.

 

A entirely new club being setup with a different name, no history, different ground and not even in league Football will hardly be much solace to Portsmouth fans.

[Teasy]

Going into admin on Friday.

unless a new buyer is found.  Having said that, I'd be surprised if they do find one.

 

I'm getting sick of this now tbf.

 

 

EDIT: Can't go bust now due to some law with regards to going into administration.  The administrator will be put in charge of getting as much money to those of whom the club is in debt.

 

Basically, administration - relegation - summer firesale - probably not coming straight back up, perhaps even going down again.

 

 

 

Definitely not, they'd have little chance of coming back up even without a large scale fire sale.

[Dave]

Who's this bloke on SSN?

[Dr.Spaceman]

Seen this wife on SSN now?

 

[afar]

What people need to a grip on is that there will still be a team in Portsmouth, it won't just disappear, just because the current Portsmouth Football Club is about to go bust (which I hugely doubt will happen). The smoggies are a prime example of this, they went out of business and a new club was formed that took it's place. Leeds too, went into administration with huge debts, were bought out by the bearded fool of a chairman and now are making a profit. Wimbledon's move to Milton Keys is another example in slightly different circumstances of a club that was not there anymore but AFC Wimbledon was born and are now only a step or two away from football league status.

 

Football clubs endure, they do not just go away, Portsmouth will be around, most probably not playing Premiership football, but really do their fans deserve that above fans of clubs such as Newcastle, Leeds, Notts Forest, Sheff Utd and West Brom ? They deserve a football club yes and they'll still bloody have one, despite their current plight, what level they'll be playing at is open to debate, but I'd be happy to go on record as saying there will be a Portsmouth in the Championship next year.

 

A entirely new club being setup with a different name, no history, different ground and not even in league Football will hardly be much solace to Portsmouth fans.

 

Didn't make a blind bit of difference to Middlesboro fans, in fact they came out of it much healthier, as did Leeds. Portsmouth won't go out of existence, I don't know why people keep saying  that. The company may be absolved but something will rise up out of it's ashes, mark my words.

[Ronaldo]

The Boro and Leeds situations were totally different. Boro were actually wound up.

[afar]

I didn't see any outpouring of love for us when we went down last season, people were positively giddy with the thought that we may go bust.

 

Surely you can see there's a bit of a difference between getting relegated and being in court facing a winding up order, though?

 

I pissed my pants the last time Birmingham got relegated, it made my season. I wouldn't want them to go out of business, though.

 

 

 

Did you read my whole comment ? Or did you only just read the first part. I saw countless messages on forums from supporters hoping Ashley "finishes off the job", I don't recall too many people feeling sorry for the fans of NUFC who went through hell last year.

 

No, I read it all.

 

I just cut out the bits I wasn't replying to rather than requote the entire thing. QUite ironic that you're going on about these people you saw begging Ashley to "finish the job off", but now you're actually sinking to their level yourself.

 

I reiterate, going through a winding up petition is a different type of hell to being relegated. Given that you've just described that as "hell", I don't know what that makes this season for them.

 

Still, as you say, they can just reform and start off in the Hampshire And District Paperboys League or some such, it's no big deal after all.

 

Incidentally, I can't believe you're citing Wimbledon and MK Dons as something even remotely positive, that's a first.

 

I don't disagree that Portsmouth fans have been through just as much and probably more hell than we did last year. But when's all said and done, the worst I think that'll happen to them is that they'll go into admin, be relegated from the PL and have to start a new in the championship.

 

To that I still say "so what", they've punched above their weight for a while now, they lived irresponsibly beyond their means, thinking everything would be fine because the had a rich sugar daddy, the fans were happy to go along for the ride, never questioned the situation and enjoyed a lot of success, winning a cup competition is something the majority of NUFC fans on this forum, have never seen in their lives.

 

It's all turned pear shape now, but really it only returns them to reality.

 

As for the MK Dons Wimbledon, thing, at the time it was devasting for the literally hundreds of Wimbledon fans, but from an owners point of view it was understandable that they moved to a bigger market and got their own stadium. It's worked out postively for the people of Milton Keynes, because they have their own football league club now and it's beginning to work out for the old Wimbledon fans who's new team is about where they have been for the majority of their existence, back at their own home, in Wimbledon. Will they win FA Cups again orfight at the top of the PL ? No probably not, but really with their fan base that was punching hugely above their weight.

 

[afar]

The Boro and Leeds situations were totally different. Boro were actually wound up.

 

True, but Pompey's fate is still not decided, they could be wound up or just go into admin like Leeds, at the end of the day though, there will still be a football club there, probably playing Championshiop football next year.

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8527495.stm

 

16:11 GMT, Tuesday, 23 February 2010

Portsmouth move closer to entering administration

 

Portsmouth will go into administration by Friday unless a buyer is found for the Premier League's bottom club.

 

If Pompey enter administration they will be docked nine points, but the winding up order against them due to be heard on 1 March will be suspended.

 

A spokesman for Pompey owner Balram Chainrai said: "There is now only a short window of opportunity for buyers to come in with a credible offer.

 

"Having the club wound up is not an option as far as we are concerned."

 

Portsmouth have debts of £70m and the winding up order was over £7.5m owed to HM Revenue and Customs.

 

The spokesman said: "The serving of this notice [that Portsmouth intend to appoint an administrator] means the winding up order is automatically suspended.

 

"It means the club is safe, it can fulfil its fixtures and as far as is possible it is business as usual.

 

"Administration would mean the club re-emerging as a healthy financial entity.

 

"It would then become an attractive proposition for a potential buyer who could invest new funds in rebuilding the club's future.

 

"Mr Chainrai hopes the supporters will get behind the team for their Premier League match at Burnley on Saturday and the following weekend's FA Cup quarter-final at home to Birmingham.

 

"We would like to ask the fans, staff and management of Portsmouth for their support and patience should this step be taken as we believe it is the only route left open."

 

One of the parties interested in buying the troubled club has revealed he will not be able to take over the club ahead of Monday's winding up petition.

 

New Zealand-based businessman Victor Cattermole is considering buying Pompey through his investment group but told The Guardian newspaper: "In an ideal world, we would like to purchase the club before Monday, but we will not be rushed."

 

Cattermole's group is one of three potential buyers for the south coast strugglers.

 

Chainrai recently became Portsmouth's fourth owner of the season, taking 90% of the club shares after the previous owner Ali Al Faraj defaulted on loan payments due to him.

 

Eight points from top-flight safety, Pompey's financial woes have meant their players have been paid late on four occasions this season.

 

Entering administration would leave them 17 points from safety, with only 12 matches remaining to preserve their Premier League status.

 

The club are also involved in a separate dispute with former owner Sacha Gaydamak over whether they have missed a deadline in paying a £9m chunk of the £28m they owe him.

 

The Premier League recently withheld £2m of transfer payments and a £7m slice of TV revenue to divert to Chelsea and Watford for the signings of Glen Johnson and Tommy Smith respectively.

 

The Fratton Park club are also being sued by former Pompey defender Sol Campbell for £1.7m for unpaid image rights.

 

Earlier on Monday, another former owner Sulaiman Al Fahim quit as non-executive chairman and offered his 10% stake to the Pompey Supporters' Trust.

 

Ken Malley, a member of the Football Supporters' Federation who is on the PST working committee, said: "As a fan, I'd rather we didn't go into administration.

 

"There's an awful lot of small businesses that lose out terribly if we do, so I'm not happy about that side of things.

 

"I'm just anxious that sooner or later we get some owners that are transparent and attempt to work with the community and the fans.

 

"If we get owners that do then we will be more than happy to work with them.

 

"There'll always be a Portsmouth FC, whatever happens. A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes to make sure that a phoenix would rise from the ashes in time for next season."

 

I can see their players being paid late again or not being paid at all. If that's the case they can just walk can't they?

[Village Idiot]

What time is the Inter-Chelsea tomorrow? Need to make arrangements to see it.