Gorgiesaint

As Weston saint has pointed out, this is a really important piece given that it comes from ESPN, whom up to now have been the most supportive of Pompey Portsmouth put in their Statement of Affairs to the High Court moments before the 4pm deadline on Wednesday, and are submitting more information on Thursday. That follows Portsmouth becoming first club to be formally declared "insolvent" by accountants in their statement to the courts. Pompey are taking measures to prove they are solvent, including the sale of a player outside of the window. Now they just have to allow a few more rules to be broken and they'll be ok for at least, I would say, 24-48 hours!! I really cannot see why this should drag on until the 1st March - surely if it only took 4 minutes to wind up Kings Lynn FC then Pompey should be done and dusted in even less time. They must be able to make room for it in the schedule.

Aha, found it. Some very interesting lessons in this - perhaps Sorrie teller might have learnt something if he'd taken the time to read it. http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=1549

Actually Pompey may well have struggled to sell some of their players in January. I remember an article that was published about Newcastle towards the end of last season which explained why they might struggle to sell some of their top earners. Basically, because the player has not asked for a transfer - he will still be due compensation for moving (a proportion of his remaining contract) & his remaining image rights. The article also indicated that any outstanding monies due to other clubs also become due - but this is something that Pompey certainly have not done with monies still outstanding for Glen Johnson & Sulley Muntari to name but two.

Don't think they bother paying them, according to Sol. Blimey if Utaka says his wages are only £27k, he must be on some massive image rights which will make Sol's look like a bit of loose change!!

I think that you'll find that £1.8m was your players wage bill, the total wage bill was closer to £3m per month. But of course it will have reduced after the massive sales that you made during January - remind me again of who left because I can't remember as there were so may: Williamson, Begovic and ....

lol, yeah thats what concerns me. They'll do whatever they can to get Pompey to the end of season, relegated and out of their hands. Edit: loving the reference to the cheats charter

Let's hope the PL stay strong over this, would be a disgrace if Pompey have the rules changed to suit them. They had all of January to sell players and they made no effort - and since then they've brought in more!! Interesting stuff in that article PES.

I thought it said he owned some land in Midriff when I first read it - no wonder that shirt looked so f***ing tight!!

Now if only the courts did that with monies owed to the HMRC - that would make them pay!!!

Good work!! Although this sentance caught my eye: 'This triggered a takeover by the Saudi Arabian property magnate Ali al Faraj.' Property magnate - really?

Then, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a jailbird of the family cheateus pompious on our hands.

I have to say that it was I thought, but presumably the SOA needs to show the position as at last Wednesday. Any changes since then will have to be ignored unless they can be proven to be in place already. Now the court won't take the word of a verbal contract so unless they can find a dubious lawyer to back date a bit of paperwork, now where did Pompey put one of those.... (I know Azougy isn't allowed to practice in this country)

They will have insurance in place as long as they have continued to pay for it. You would hope that the PFA have checked that the players insurance is still in place, and I'm sure we would have heard from the players if it wasn't in place. Regards the public liability insurance, I would assume (although not 100% certain on this) that they are breaking the law by not having that in place.

Didn't their local rag - the Evening News or whatever its called - report that someone in Hampshire FA had been contacted about getting a club into the Wessex League?

I would agree and no accounting company would risk its reputation & licence by bending the figures any more than accountants do. Although as I highlighted yesterday, Vantis have form in tax scams.

If I remember correctly according to the reports, the HMRC barrister was looking for either the WUO to be granted or a short term extension. I cannot fathom why they offered this extension option and its been bugging me since. I am sure that a better option would have been to solely request the WUO, and then if that was not granted argue that only a short term extension was viable. In my view the HMRC did give PFC a temporary escape route - even if it results in them being torn apart by the dogs at a later date. I also believe that it was confirmed in one report that I read that their bank accounts are frozen (not 100% certain but think it was the Guardian).

"Confidentiality clauses have been signed so it would be improper for me to discuss the identity of a new owner, but I can say that whoever takes over next will be someone of substance." so its not Al Mirage then!!

I would be much happier if the accountants investigating weren't such experts at avoiding tax themselves!!! http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/news/2250997/vantis-execs-charged-219m

You're right, we've not seen the evidence yet but then again we never will. The fact that you only paid wages after taking short term loans - and the only source you could find was Chainrai as the mainstream lenders wouldn't touch with a bargepole - would tend to indicate that you are insolvent. £750 per week or £75k a week - no difference if you never have to pay it

This would be a dilemna for the PL. Would they allow him to pass the F&PP test after previously owning the club for 46 days & not being able to pay the wages?

Thats what I was getting at - and they apparently want to sign Shabani Nonda on wages of £20k per week :smt119 They really are giving the proverbial two fingered salute to the courts. The sooner they are shut down, the better. They are an embarrassment - to the game and to their fans.

Now here's an interesting discussion point just raised on Talksport... If Pompey went into liquidation then one of the biggest winners would be Liverpool having lost to them this season. This could possibly cost Manchester City a champions league place at the end of the season. Would it be beyond the realms of possibility that Man City's owner (to whom £11.5m is lose change down the back of only one sofa) would help Pompey out - and doing so help his side get to the Champions League? My problem with this is that the PL should be doing everything in its powers to stop that kind of activity (to me its the same as match fixing) but would they in reality to keep their brand image going?

You may well be right, but given the way PFC deal with 'legalities', I think the quesstion should be asked. You have the right to sign free transfers because the PL gave you back that right - but do you believe its morally right to increase your wage bill given your record of being able to pay your current debts? I know where I sit on that issue, unfortunately the PL failed to grow some (as some would put it on here) when they needed to. I also believe that the PL have an awful lot to answer for in how they have let PFC (and potentially other PL clubs) continue to trade without restrictions coming in. If you have any doubts, look at the differences between how the FL and the PL have dealt with similar situations - Us and West Ham (parent co in admin) and also how clubs in financial problems get dealt with in the FL - Bournemouth & Luton would be prime examples.

No source, thats why I said the question needs to be asked. How many times does a player buy himself out of a contract? It just doesn't happen that often. I am speculating but all I'm asking for is for someone (i.e. FA/PL) to check that no money has changed hands.

Questions need to be asked about this - a club cannot buy any players but sign free transfers and all of a sudden, thats at least two players (Tosic & Rocha) who have bought themselves out of contracts. Maybe a coincidence. On another matter, just listening to the breakfast show on Talksport, they have just mentioned that Vantis are also in financial trouble and a couple of their directors have also been looked at for cheating the public revenue. Seems they might be the ideal insolvency practitioners to be looking at Portsmouth.