Portsmouth FC

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• Founded:1898
• Manager:Steve Cotterill

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Fourth new owner for Pompey

04 Feb 2010 - 09:33:27

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Portsmouth are set to have a fourth new owner of the season, with the Portpin company headed by Balram Chainrai poised to take control at Fratton Park.

Chainrai will take over from Ali Al Faraj, whose 90 per cent stake in the club has been frozen after debts payable to Portpin and another former owner Sacha Gaydamak were defaulted on.

Chairnrai told The Guardian: "Portpin have made substantial loans to Portsmouth to try and ensure the club's future. Portpin will continue to work for the best interests of the club.

"To help Portsmouth succeed we need the support and understanding of Her Majesty's Revenue to work out a solution."

BBC correspondent Gordon Farquhar explained the situation on Radio Five Live, adding: "Chainrai drew up legal documents that said if the loans he gave them were defaulted upon, he was entitled to take on 90 per cent of the stakeholding.

"He had given them between £15million to £20million to sort themselves out and now the loans have not been repaid, we understand he's saying he's the new owner of the club on that basis.

"The thing is for people like Chainrai and former owner Sacha Gaydamak that the money they have put into the club would be lost if Portsmouth went into liquidation.

"That's the real risk for them, so they need to keep the club afloat by doing whatever they can."