Source: Team_Talk
Pompey face wait for new manager
Portsmouth administrator Andrew Andronikou will only seek to appoint a new manager when a chief executive is in place some time next week.[LNB] Portsmouth have been without a manager since Avram Grant's resignation last week.[LNB]The Israeli seems sure to be appointed as Gianfranco Zola's successor at West Ham, but Pompey fans will have to wait a while longer to discover the identity of his replacement.[LNB]Speculation has linked Steve Cotterill with the post and he has confirmed he will leave Notts County when his short-term contract expires on Sunday.[LNB]But Andronikou said: "The managerial position will be decided by the incoming chief executive.[LNB]"I don't expect there to be much news on that position until he comes on board, which I'm hoping is going to be next week.[LNB]"I don't think it's for us to be choosing managers, the ultimate decision has to be the chief exec's."[LNB]Of more pressing concern to Andronikou is the need to trim players from Pompey's wage bill, but he is determined to also hold out for fees which represent their "market value".[LNB]"We've had offers but they haven't come up to scratch in terms of our valuation," he added.[LNB]"There's no fire sale. We've had lots of agents ringing up trying to advise us that we can't pay their players their salaries so they'll move them for nothing.[LNB]"That's not the position. We've got cashflow, we can pay their wages and we are going to sell them for their market value."[LNB]Andronikou's firm, UHY Hacker Young, on Friday released a proposed Company Voluntary Arrangement offering the club's creditors 20p in the pound, but even that would see a total of £16.5million owed to non-football creditors.[LNB]That would be paid over a five-year period, with the first £3million due during the nine-month period of the CVA.[LNB]While the £22.4million due to football creditors would be deducted directly from the parachute payments due following Pompey's relegation from the Premier League, this £3million would have to be funded by player departures.[LNB]"We've got numerous agents trying to move a few players, who I hasten to add want to leave in any case," Andronikou said.[LNB]"We need to sell those players to thin down the wage costs for next year and to create working capital for the club going forward, and also to create some cashflow in order to pay the first dividend to creditors.[LNB]"We're just working with the players' agents trying to move things on as quickly as possible. Most of the players involved are internationals and there's an increased urgency in their minds to get their destinations sorted before they play in the World Cup.[LNB]"The principle two are Kevin-Prince Boateng and Nadir Belhadj, those are the two main targets who we're looking to move on.[LNB]"We've had no direct contact. We've got to find a club that want to buy them and we hope that club will be a preferred destination for the player. The players will have their own ideas of where they want to play."[LNB]Papa Bouba Diop is another player linked with the exit door, with Greek side AEK Athens reportedly one possible destination.[LNB]But Andronikou said: "There's lots of conjecture, but there has been no contact."
