Source: Daily_Mail
The lesson of Pompey: A football club is no place for any ego trip
The story goes that after taking over as Chancellor of the Exchequerfrom Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling was wont to wander the corridors ofthe Treasury joking to staff that he was 'still trying to find whereGordon has hidden the money'. [LNB]As the likes of Crystal Palace, Notts County and Chester City trydesperately to make it to the end of the season, there are plenty infootball also wondering where it has gone.[LNB] Harry Redknapp led the voices as he contemplated the plight of hisformer club, Portsmouth, ahead of another trip to the High Court onFriday. He had bought and sold players for profit, he insisted, duringhis tenure as manager before moving on to Tottenham, who even paidPompey compensation. He couldn't understand it. [LNB] [LNB]Cause for concern: Pompey chairman Alexandre Gaydamak sits next to Avram Grant[LNB] More from Ian Ridley - Mail on Sunday Sports Reporter... IAN RIDLEY: Now John Terry can focus on the real game, not the blame game06/02/10 Ian Ridley: Football is fiddling while the finances go up in smoke30/01/10 IAN RIDLEY: Forget Neville and Tevez, cocky Cook is the real villain here23/01/10 Ian Ridley: Steven Gerrard must stick or twist at Liverpool as Rafa Benitez wavers on the brink16/01/10 IAN RIDLEY: After Togo shooting, let players decide if they go to World Cup09/01/10 IAN RIDLEY: Smarten up, Carlo, or risk becoming a fashion victim02/01/10 Ian Ridley: Protect Lionel Messi and he could become greater than Pele and Diego Maradona26/12/09 IAN RIDLEY: Don't blame Wolves manager Mick McCarthy, greedy Premier League are the problem 19/12/09 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE The problem was, and remains, the wages Portsmouth paid, now coming back to haunt them, as can be shown by the debt to the Revenue that was thought to be £7.5million but which was stated in the High Court last week to be 50 per cent worse at more than £11m.[LNB] Pompey have made the time-honoured mistake - one common to the majority of clubs these days - of deducting the tax from their employees but putting off paying it to the taxman. Instead, it has been used for cashflow purposes in a business unlike any other where such setbacks as injuries to players and postponements can mean financial plans going out of the window. [LNB]Redknapp is no different to most managers, who simply want to win and leave the finances to others. [LNB]They go to the chairman or owner and explain they can get a certain player but it is going to cost. The chairman decides if the club can afford it. [LNB]Simple enough? It should be unless you are an impressionable young owner like Alexandre Gaydamak, who wanted to show his father, Arcadi, that he could succeed in his own right.[LNB] Gaydamak Jnr should have realised how lucky he was that the clubwon the FA Cup but he considered it merely a stepping-stone to the realprize of the Champions League and so sanctioned the club living beyondtheir means. [LNB]The belief was that he - or his father - was bankrolling it all.Instead, it all amounted to that other traditional problem for thegame, the director's loan. [LNB] Troubled times: Portsmouth Chief Executive Peter Storrie faces the media at Fratton Park[LNB]Gaydamak claims he was owed £50m when he got out, with the finances suddenly too frightening for him, and that he wrote off £20m. He still wants £30m, however: the £9m due last month and the balance in 2012. [LNB]Meanwhile, the Premier League are contemplating riding to the rescue by advancing £11m from next season's TV money. It is a dangerous tactic and one that many clubs are indulging in by borrowing against future income. [LNB]In this case, sadly and reluctantly, it may well be the sort of short-term crisis management that is needed, however. [LNB]Once Pompey are saved, there is sure to be a buyer for the club.They should not need to go into administration and, having paid offfootball creditors and the Revenue, should again become a going concernthat can take care of other debts with regular payment plans.[LNB] Fan support: Portsmouth fan David Maples outside the High Court[LNB] If they are relegated and tread water for a while, so be it. At least fans will have a club to support and a team to watch. [LNB]Even Gaydamak may get some of his money back. But the former owner should be made aware by the Premier League that they will save the club only if he agrees to waive a large percentage of the debt to him. [LNB]If they don't and the club are liquidated, he will, after all, get nothing. [LNB]It should serve as a lesson to those who take on clubs either looking to make money or seeking glory for their own ego rather than serving a club. If you can't afford it, like a Roman Abramovich, don't do it.[LNB] The former owner got Pompey into this mess, enjoying the adulation of the fans along the way with the FA Cup win, and he should pay plenty for that.[LNB][LNB][LNB]West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has been claiming credit for his new club's midweek win over his ex-club Birmingham City, saying that he fired up the team with talk of pay-cuts. [LNB]Sullivan appears to be an interview waiting to happen, ready to spout about West Ham's problems at the ring of his mobile. [LNB]Having got his result, perhaps it is now time to keep his head down and simply get on with the job rather than talking about it. As one wise pundit once observed to me: 'You know a club's got problems when the chairman's face is on the front of the programme.'[LNB][LNB] Southampton 1 Portsmouth 4: Pompey cash in with late flurryDES KELLY: Portsmouth are cheats, so let them go to the wallPremier League urged cash-strapped Portsmouth to accept administrationPORTSMOUTH FC
