Portsmouth FC in yet more trouble - administration again?

[Robster]

Of all the clubs that have writing in their seating areas, Portsmouth's is by far the shoddiest. Totally amateur.

 

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6834/portsmouthaerial2.jpg

[Doctor Zaius]

Peter Storrie has walked out on them now, said he coulsnt tolerate anymore abuse. I always thouht he came across as a good guy who genuinely wanted the best for them.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/mar/12/peter-storrie-leaves-portsmouth

[Stifler]

Peter Storrie has walked out on them now, said he coulsnt tolerate anymore abuse. I always thouht he came across as a good guy who genuinely wanted the best for them.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/mar/12/peter-storrie-leaves-portsmouth

 

Wasn't his job made redundant because of the adminstrators coming into the club?

 

 

Anyway have the cunts still not not be deducted the 9 points?

[Rob W]

Lets just hope he nivvor turns  up at SJP.........

 

:knuppel2:

[Stifler]

I see they have now been deducted the 9 points.

[Incognito]

They need snookers now.

[David28]

Even with that 9 points deduction they still could reach over 40 points. Would be marvellous for them and their fans to achieve that.

[jdckelly]

portsmouth to field weakened sides starting against hull as they focus on the fa cup semi. Bet scudamore and co love that

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Portsmouth-set-to-field-weakened-side-against-Hull-and-prioritise-the-FA-Cup-in-response-to-Premier-League-s-nine-point-penalty-article359713.html

[brummie]

Presumably the docking of the points is a punishment for spending beyond their means and gaining an unfair advantage in the league by doing so over clubs who haven't done the same.

 

The same overspending hasn't been punished in the FA Cup though here they now have a place in the semi final.

 

However, most other clubs have overspent just as much, they've just used better financial management to handle their debts.

 

 

Wouldn't that suggest that most other clubs haven't overspent?  If they've spent within their means to repay their debts then that's not really overspending. 

 

What Portsmouth did was spend far beyond their ability to ever repay, even if they'd managed to get into the Champion's League their earnings wouldn't have covered their expenditure.  They might point to their plans for a new stadium, but they've not been filling their current one so it's debatable that they'd have been able to meet their best possible income projections.

 

Yeah, fair point. I think there will be other clubs where the debt levels turn out to be unsustainable though, Pompey are just the first and worst example.

Spot on. Feel sorry for the fans yes, but I don't think the club itself is hard-done by the punishment, don't think it's unfair either, I think it's definitely fair presuming, if they hadn't spent beyond their means they might be in the championship instead of us. As harsh as what I am is saying, and the Villa fan before commenting that it's glass-housed for a newcastle fan, well if we overspend like them, we'll come under the same punishment, so don't see how Portsmouth are being treated unfairly, and don't see why we need to feel sorry for them. The only people I feel sorry for are the fans, not the club itself.

 

You're entirely missing my point, which was that it is sad for the Portsmouth fans to see their club tottering on the verge of extinction.

 

I have absolutely no synpathy for the likes of Storrie (who, lest we forget, was the one signing the 80k a week contract for the likes of John Utaka and has more blame to shoulder than anyone in this situation).

[brummie]

Peter Storrie has walked out on them now, said he coulsnt tolerate anymore abuse. I always thouht he came across as a good guy who genuinely wanted the best for them.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/mar/12/peter-storrie-leaves-portsmouth

 

Wasn't Peter Storrie  the highest paid Chief Executive in the PL, earning more than the likes of Gill and Kenyon?

 

Wasn't Peter Storrie the last hurdle of approval in the unsustainable contracts dished out to mediocre players?

 

How noble of him to jack it in now his salary has been slashed.

[Village Idiot]

portsmouth to field weakened sides starting against hull as they focus on the fa cup semi. Bet scudamore and co love that

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Portsmouth-set-to-field-weakened-side-against-Hull-and-prioritise-the-FA-Cup-in-response-to-Premier-League-s-nine-point-penalty-article359713.html

 

They penalised Wolves for doing that, didn't they (which was an utterly ridiculous decision).

[Stifler]

Even with that 9 points deduction they still could reach over 40 points. Would be marvellous for them and their fans to achieve that.

On the other side of the coin they could be relegated as soon as easter.

[Liam Liam Liam O]

Cash-strapped Portsmouth have been fined by the Premier League for breaching rules and regulations over the course of the season.

 

The penalty of about £1m relates to a number of issues, including the late payment of wages and transfer fees.

 

The money will be taken from the south-coast club's share of TV revenue.

 

Pompey, who have debts of about £65m, were deducted nine points last week after becoming the first Premier League club to enter administration.

 

Now 11 points adrift at the foot of the table and 14 behind fourth from bottom West Ham, they have been late paying wages to players and staff several times this season.

 

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

 

On Sunday, the club revealed that on-loan striker Aruna Dindane was left out of their side for the home win over Hull the previous day as it would have cost them £4m to play him.

 

Pompey could not afford the fee, stipulated in the player's contract by his parent club Lens, should he play another game.

 

Property tycoon Rob Lloyd, meanwhile, told BBC Sport he is representing an unnamed UK businessman, who is considering buying the club.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8580360.stm

 

The Premier League getting their bills in before they completely wash their hands of Portsmouth's problems in the summer.

[jdckelly]

right you lot at prem hq pay no attention to what clubs have been doing (and portsmouth havent ended up like this overnight) and now you decide to fine them £1m and take it out of the tv cash before they get it which means in all probability 1m less to the taxman thus every single person and all for bursting the bubble that was the scudamores deluded bubble that nothing can ever go wrong for a prem team.

they really make me sick

[Liam Liam Liam O]

Dunno if it's been mentioned in here already, but I read over the weekend that Storrie's contract included win & draw bonuses similar to what players get.

[jdckelly]

Dunno if it's been mentioned in here already, but I read over the weekend that Storrie's contract included win & draw bonuses similar to what players get.

thank christ freddie never thought of that-in fact im surprised he didn't

[Liam Liam Liam O]

Here's the article

 

The road to contrition is always a difficult one. Peter Storrie accepts he made mistakes as Portsmouth's chief executive but wants to set the record straight, to explain in forensic detail the astonishing saga that led to the south coast club touching the void.

 

"The responsibility is predominantly down to three owners in the last 15 months who haven't put finance in,'' said Storrie, "but I'm always going to be known as the chief executive that took the first ever Premier League side into administration.

 

 

"That really hurts because I've done so much to keep the club alive. Last summer, I got an offer from a Premier League club for a lot more money but I couldn't leave. I didn't want to let anyone at Portsmouth down.

 

"We've had promotion, seven years in the Premier League, won the FA Cup, got into Europe and it has to end like this. I'd love to stay. Most people in the club would want me there. But I couldn't come home and have Fran [his wife] upset over all the abuse I was getting. I thought 'enough is enough'.''

 

So Storrie stood down but continues as a consultant. He loves Portsmouth so much he will attend Saturday's game with Hull City.

 

"I've always had a very good relationship with the fans but it's got personal. It's only a minority but the abuse is vile. Pure hatred has been put around about me which revolves around my salary.'' So let's get down to numbers.

 

"OK, I'm on £600,000 a year basic. That's very reasonable with 21 years' experience in football, being in the Premier League. Sacha [Gaydamak, owner from 2006-09] gave me a substantial bonus two years running, performance-related. When we won the Cup and did well in the league, he gave me a £750,000 bonus but I was only on £450,000 basic then.

 

"In January 2009, we were in a mess financially and I brought in an awful lot of money so Sacha gave me a £500,000 bonus. Because of cash-flow problems I didn't take that until August 09. Because I had a big, big role on the football side, they included me in the win/draw bonus. It's about £3,000 a win and £1,500 a draw.''

 

Sitting in his conservatory with Fran at his side, Storrie recalled the revenues he generated, the attempts he made to stop Gaydamak overreaching in the Harry Redknapp era as the wage bill peaked at £52 million on a £70 million turnover.

 

"The mistake I made was I should have been even stronger with Sacha and said: 'If you're going to carry on doing this I'm off'. Harry wanted to build a big, great side and you don't have the likes of Sol Campbell, Lassana Diarra and Sulley Muntari playing down at Fratton Park unless there's big money.

 

"Clearly the income from the club couldn't get anywhere near that. Several times the board and I pointed out that 'we are way, way overspending here'. But Sacha was going to cover it similar to what Roman Abramovich did at Chelsea and Randy Lerner at Aston Villa.

 

"The classic was Younes Kaboul. The board said to Sacha: 'We cannot afford him.' I love Harry to death but when Harry came into the board meeting, Sacha just said: 'Mr Redknapp, what do you need?' I just rolled my eyes. Why bother? That's not Harry's fault. He wanted the best squad and the owner said he was going to back it.''

 

Pompey's gravy train hit the buffers in October 2008 at the same time as Gaydamak's father Arcadi, a former arms trafficker, suddenly moved home from Israel to Russia.

 

"Sacha always said it was him owning Portsmouth and not his father. The reality is that there had to be some backing from him. Sacha's a young guy, where's he got all that money? Maybe he just borrowed it from his father.

 

"I think one of the reasons why they bought Portsmouth was because the Premier League was so high profile. Because the father had had some bad publicity, they saw this as a way of protecting the son and cleaning the Gaydamak name a little bit.'' Arcadi's exit from Israel sent waves rolling up the Solent.

 

"Everything got frozen in Israel. Sacha used Standard Bank in the UK and they got collywobbles. They wanted money repaid. Barclays wanted their money. Sacha told me there were no more funds.

 

"'How the hell are we going to survive?' I asked. 'We have this massive wage bill. There are loads of transfer fees to pay.' I had to find £44 million to pay the banks – plus the players' wages, which were running at £4.5 million a month.''

 

Diarra and Glen Johnson were the most lucrative sales, generating £15 million. "We got good money but BBC Match of the Day ran a sheet of all the monies that had come in and asked 'where's all the money gone?' But what about transfer fees? Sell-ons?

 

"Take Diarra. He cost us £5 million and we got €18.5 million from Real Madrid – the rate was £16-17 million – but £4.5 million add-on had to go to Arsenal. We still made £8-9 million. We paid £4 million for Johnson, sold him for £15 million [to Liverpool] but there was a £4.5 million sell-on to Chelsea.

 

"Some of the add-ons we put into agreements were winning the Cup and getting into the Uefa Cup, things you'd never in 100 years think would ever happen! A club would say: 'Give us £500,000 extra if you win the Cup.' 'OK. No problem.'

 

"I never thought it would happen. It happened with Chelsea and Johnson. We had it on John Utaka with Rennes. The FA Cup final cost us £3-4 million. I got calls from clubs saying: 'Congratulations! Pay us the add-ons!'

 

"Sacha sold to Sulaiman Al-Fahim, which was an unmitigated disaster. Sulaiman had a genuine desire to make the club successful but he didn't have the funds. Sulaiman said: 'I've got £60 million.'

 

"Yet he put only £5 million in. We went through September, October and half of November 2009 with no money coming in. The accounts department were fighting fires but people, even the Revenue, were understanding, were helping us. The players were outstanding.

 

"Michael Brown, Jamo [David James] and Hermann Hreidarsson said to me: 'Look, we want to help.' I said: 'Can you help by just being paid basic and we hold back your appearance money.' It's about £3,000 a win and £1,500 a draw – times 18 in the squad. They all agreed.''

 

Storrie paused for a sip of coffee, allowing his wife to make a point. "I heard Peter struggling on the phone, keeping everyone a little bit sweet each month, hoping that somebody would come in,'' said Fran.

 

"The only thing Peter is guilty of is trying to be a hero and saving that club. We've been living a nightmare but we'll get through it. Us EastEnders are made tough.''

 

Peter smiled and resumed. "Sulaiman had no choice but to move it on very, very quickly. So they sold to the Ali Al Faraj crowd. But why buy the club when they hadn't any funds? I think they were going to 'package' it up in a month and sell it.

 

"I had instructions from Al Faraj that I was not to be involved in the finances any more. It was all to be done by Danny Azougy, who they described as a 'debt restructuring expert' and who I didn't get on with from day one. He came in with Mark Jacobs from Fuglers.''

 

The pair set about deciding which bills should be paid first, including the vexed issue of fees to agents such as Willie McKay.

 

"When Danny didn't pay him, Willie got really quite stroppy. They never paid any of the agents but I felt because there was animosity between Danny, Mark Jacobs and me that they were deliberately not paying Willie to make life difficult for me.

 

"Bear in mind, this guy can clear me in two seconds in this police case. The charge relates from the non-payment of tax and PAYE. It's an agent's fee paid to McKay that he then paid some money to the player. I have been charged in my capacity as chief executive. It's not my 'personal tax evasion'.''

 

As he moves into an uncertain future, Storrie takes heart from the messages of support. "I had a lovely text from David Gill. I want to stay in football. I've a lot to give. I had a phone call from someone saying: 'it wouldn't surprise me if you get a call from the Government, who want to look into the financial structures of football'.

 

"We have to look at ownership in more depth. If the Premier League called, I'd be only too happy to help. Yes, the Premier League do checks on people who want to take over but there should be a financial structure like in America and France where you prove you can trade through the season. I don't want anybody to go through what Portsmouth and I've been through.''

 

In response to Storrie's comments, a spokesperson for Sacha Gaydamak said: "We read with astonishment the statement made by Peter Storrie in the media today.

 

"It is clear that Peter is making fantastical and potentially defamatory allegations in order to deflect criticism of him regarding the running of the club.

 

"Rather than indulge in mud slinging, Sacha remains completely committed to helping Portsmouth find a solution to the club's current position and is ready to work with any credible entity who can put the club on a firm financial footing."

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/portsmouth/7481807/Portsmouths-Peter-Storrie-pure-hatred-has-been-put-around-about-me.html

[Ocho]

"Because I had a big, big role on the football side, they included me in the win/draw bonus. It's about £3,000 a win and £1,500 a draw.''

 

That's disgraceful. 

 

It would be intersting to know what he thought he did that was so important in how well the team performed on the pitch?

[Dr.Spaceman]

What an absolute cunt.  He should be in politics with thievery like that.

[Guest Stephen927]

"Some of the add-ons we put into agreements were winning the Cup and getting into the Uefa Cup, things you'd never in 100 years think would ever happen! A club would say: 'Give us £500,000 extra if you win the Cup.' 'OK. No problem.'

 

 

So they were paying big wages without even expecting European football? It's so bad it's laughable.

[ElDiablo]

4m appearance fee for a loan singing? What on earth were they doing?

[Dr.Spaceman]

No sympathy like.

[Liam Liam Liam O]

What an absolute cunt.  He should be in politics with thievery like that.

 

"I had a phone call from someone saying: 'it wouldn't surprise me if you get a call from the Government, who want to look into the financial structures of football'.

 

[Guest toonlass]

No sympathy like.

 

not even for their fans? It's hardly their fault Portsmouth are in the shite. One thing I always hate is when the media or other fans say "it serves those Newcastle fans right. They deserve to go down." I feel sorry for their fans.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

No sympathy for the club, but loads for the fans.

 

Also, Avram Grant has started to get really annoying with his "football should be decided on the pitch not in an office" line... completely ignoring the fact that Pompey would probably have been relegated a long time ago if they hadn't been recklessly overspending.