Cash-strapped Portsmouth, FA Cup winners in 2008, could yet go out of business after Hong Kong-based businessman Balram Chainrai withdrew from buying the club for a second time.
Portsmouth have been struggling to cope with huge debts since crashing out of the Premier League and administrator Trevor Birch has been selling their biggest earning players in a bid reduce their wage bill.
That resulted in Pompey, playing in the third tier of English football this season for the first time in 29 years, taking the field with nine teenagers in their starting XI during a 3-0 League Cup defeat by Plymouth on Tuesday.
And on Wednesday, Chainrai and his company Portpin pulled out from taking over at the south coast club.
He told Sky Sports News in a statement: "Portpin Ltd regrets to announce that it is withdrawing its bid for Portsmouth Football Club.
"Unfortunately, our efforts to save the club once more from extinction have hit a wall of rejection and lacking co-operation from the administrator and other interested parties."
He added: "As history has recorded, we sold the club over a year ago after saving it from liquidation and unfortunately found ourselves again fighting to try and save the club from another liquidation."
Chainrai was angered by the Football League's decision to deduct the Fratton Park club 10 points before the forthcoming season after a similar deduction contributed to their relegation from the second-tier Championship last season.
He also said that manager Michael Appleton's reported assessment that the club would be relegated again this season were "the final straw".
"We have zero support to save the club therefore we formally withdraw our bid and our honest attempt at saving the club. We will sleep well knowing we did our utmost to save the club," he added.
Now only the Pompey Supporters Trust (PST) remain as prospective buyers and they welcomed Chainrai's withdrawal.
"We call on Mr Chainrai to do the decent thing and accept the PST offer to purchase his charge on the club and therefore walk away from Pompey, regaining some of the money he has lost and leaving the club in the hands of the people who will truly cherish it and ensure that it continues as both a business and a legacy for the future," PST said.
Source: AFP
