Search: Portsmouth administration
Debt-ravaged Portsmouth football club will not go out of business, the club's administrator promised.
The south coast club became the first Premier League outfit to go into administration - effectively ensuring a drop out of top-flight English football. It is a momentous collapse for a club which won the FA Cup only two years ago.
Owner Balram Chainrai took the decision on Thursday night after talks with four interested groups failed to lead to a takeover. The club, which is £60-£70 million in the red, will be automatically docked nine points as a result of going into administration. They prop up the Premier League, now 16 points behind their nearest rivals.
Administrator Andrew Andronikou, of insolvency experts UHY Hacker Young, said the club should be able to play the rest of this season's fixtures but spending will be "cut to the bone".
"There is a great gap between the club's revenue flows and its spending and I have to cut costs," he said. "It's going to be a very difficult road ahead." He explained he could not give a 100% guarantee the club will survive but it was close to that figure. "I am very confident Portsmouth will be playing football next season," he said.
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Mr Andronikou explained there would be no fire sale of players but that one or two might be sold and he was in negotiations with the Premier League to see whether the club can do this, despite the league saying earlier this month it was not an option. Mr Andronikou said staff and players were paid on Thursday and that Portsmouth's situation was not dissimilar to other clubs who have gone into administration and that he had "seen worse".
Ominously, he added that Portsmouth would not be the only Premier League club to seek administration. "Portsmouth has been a great smokescreen for everyone else," he said.
The administrator said manager Avram Grant had given his support and said he would stay until the end of the season. "Avram has done an admirable job," he added.
He told fans to get behind the club and promised them he would save it. He explained the first job would to be cut spending and then talk to a number of interested parties - this season alone the club has had four owners.
Portsmouth fans were saddened but defiant about the news. Joyce Tynan, 76, a fan since 1946, said: "It's heartbreaking. It's a good club with good staff and now I hope they carry on. If they carry on then I will." Mrs Tynan blamed former owner Sasha Gaydamak, former manager Harry Redknapp and chief executive Peter Storrie for plunging the club into financial chaos.
