Enlarge imageLONDON (Reuters) - Premier League Portsmouth were given a stay of execution on Wednesday when the club was granted extra time to fight a winding-up petition.
The south coast side faced proceedings at London's High Court over a multimillion-pound unpaid tax bill after talks with the British government's Revenue and Customs department failed.
It now has one week to draw up a statement of its financial affairs, the Press Association reported.
Portsmouth are currently five points adrift at the bottom of the league and had the club been forced to go into administration it would have faced a 9-point deduction.
The club is currently banned from buying players because of money owed to other clubs, while the players and staff have regularly had their salary payments delayed this season.
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Last Thursday Hong Kong businessman Balram Chainrai became the fourth person to own the club this season, after becoming frustrated at not receiving payments on a 17 million pound loan he made to his predecessor.
However Chainrai said he had no interest in running the club and would offload it as soon as he could find a buyer.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Keith Weir)
