Source: Telegraph
Portsmouth delay player wages again
With fresh investment being desperately sought to tackle a debt mountain of around £60 million, the latest setback came just 24 hours after Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs issued a winding-up petition against the club in relation to around £3.5 million of disputed payments. [LNB]After a chaotic 2009 that included two takeovers and three managers, supporters now begin 2010 fearing that Portsmouth could become the first Premier League club to go into administration. [LNB] Related ArticlesPortsmouth timeline: a year to forgetPortsmouth fight winding-up order from RevenuePortsmouth 1 Arsenal 4Transfer TalkPremier League: transfer window guideSport on televisionAs of Thursday night, the club were facing demands from a range of creditors. The staff and players have been assured that they will be paid on Monday and Tuesday next week. [LNB]As well as the winding-up petition that is being served by HMRC, former owner Alexandre Gaydamak claims he is owed £28 million, while Gervais Martel, the president of Lens, has called on Portsmouth to be shut down if they do not pay their debts. [LNB]Both Gaydamak and Martel have also questioned the club's ownership structure. Martel has been in contact with Fifa and the Premier League over an alleged unpaid transfer fee for defender Nadir Belhadj, and says Portsmouth have a deadline of next Monday to pay for Aruna Dindane. [LNB]'We can't go on like this with clubs which don't pay their debts,' Martel said. 'I'm really fed up. We've been very transparent in our business affairs for more than 20 years. [LNB]'If we're dealing with normal clubs, there are no problems, as they give us bank guarantees straight away. That wasn't the case with Portsmouth, even if they gave us what they call in England a gentlemen's agreement. [LNB]'Unfortunately, Portsmouth is a very troubled club. We don't even know who's the current owner.'[LNB]Asked what legal action he would be taking, Martel said: 'Everything has been launched. I'm working on every front.'[LNB]Gaydamak says he is owed £9 million by the end of the month, then a further £19 million in May 2012. He also claims that he paid £2.5 million to Barclays Bank in December to prevent the club going into administration. [LNB]Portsmouth dispute whether there was a genuine threat of administration at that time, while advisers to new owner Ali al-Faraj have pointed to the desperate financial situation they inherited in October. [LNB]'I would like to know who the ultimate beneficiary of the club is, what their plans are and whether I am to get paid,' Gaydamak said. 'If the club goes into administration I lose everything. I am a passive creditor and I would not act against the club.'[LNB]Chief executive Peter Storrie said he was in ongoing discussions with 'various parties' over fresh investment and stressed that steps were being taken to tackle the financial problems. 'Ali al-Faraj and his associates are doing their very best to refinance the club so we can once again operate the business as we all want to,' he said. [LNB]The club also hope to generate funds by selling players during the transfer window but there has been little interest even in their more valuable assets, such as Younes Kaboul, David James, Dindane and Belhadj. [LNB]Portsmouth are banned from making signings but there is confidence that the shorter-term debt can be cleared and HMRC will withdraw their demands. [LNB]Yet with Portsmouth bottom of the Premier League, concern about the club's plight has spread to the dressing room. 'No one really seems to know what is going on,' defender Steve Finnan said. 'It worries us, it's not nice for the fans — it's just not fair on them. The players obviously talk about what is going on — about getting paid.' [LNB][LNB]Five steps to possible liquidation[LNB]If Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) continue with their proceedings, Portsmouth will request that the High Court orders them to withdraw their claim. If the High Court determines that the petition is reasonable and the disputed tax remains unpaid, HMRC's case will be heard by either the High Court or the Bristol Registry Court, probably in February. A copy of the winding-up petition would also be formally served on Portsmouth and, once advertised, the company's bank account may be immediately frozen and other creditors of the company can also join the proceedings. The court then has the power to appoint a liquidator to wind up a company. If that happened, the Premier League would almost certainly issue a nine-point penalty. The liquidator's main aim would be to realise the company's assets to pay its creditors. In the case of a football club, the most obvious assets are the players, the stadium and the training ground.
