Pompey Earn Stay Of Execution

10 February 2010 17:11
Court hearing delayed until 19th February at least. Portsmouth Football Club have 7 days to produce a "statement of affairs" that can prove that the club can pay off its creditors. The court will then review this statement and another hearing will take place 9 days from now at the earliest.Before the hearing took place, HMRC rejected a cash offer by the club that would have saw the hearing not take place. The hearing was due to take place at around 11:30 but was delayed and didn't begin until after 12:30 and lasted around half an hour.Mark Jacob and Daniel Azougy were present and Nigel Hood, representing Pompey in this arguement, claimed that there were two serious offers on the table for the club. HMRC countered this by stating that the club have provided no evidence of being able to pay off the debt owed to them and are trading as an insolvent company.So, Pompey have seven days to prove that they are not an insolvent company and can pay off their creditors. In reality, I believe this means that Peter Storrie and co. have a week to find this club a new owner or face administration at least.However, there was another twist in the tale as a statement on Pompey's official website says that the club have paid HMRC the undisputed debt of £5.7 million, leaving a disputed debt of £4.7 million left to pay, but the club believes that they don't owe HMRC any more money.HMRC is also 1 of 11 creditors that Pompey owe money to, although the other 10 are believed to have been dealt with.My initial reaction to this news was relief, as I had seriously feared administration or worse when I discovered that HMRC had rejected Pompey's cash offer.The announcement has eased my anxiety a little but I'm wondering whether the supposed offers for PFC really are serious or if the club are just desperately trying to stall the court and buy more time to find someone who really is interested in taking Pompey over.Because a new owner is going to be our only saving grace from what I can gather. Chainrai doesn't want to put any more money into the club and nobody else associated with Pompey's current regime has any money anyway.I'll keep my fingers crossed but I'll be honest, I don't expect any good news for Pompey fans to come any time soon.

Source: FOOTYMAD