That is the announcement delivered from the club today to delight the Fratton faithful. The News understands the club has paid off around £7m within the last 18 months â almost two years ahead of schedule. It has wiped out the legacy debts inherited by the community ownership after taking it out of administration in April 2013. The landmark has been achieved through early settlements with all 24 former players owed money by previous regimes. That includes Dave Kitson, Tal Ben Haim, Liam Lawrence, Michael Brown and Richard Hughes. In addition, four foreign football clubs have reached agreements, in addition to the paying-off of various other legacy debts, including money to Portsmouth City Council. And delighted chief executive Mark Catlin is plotting a promising future ahead. He said: âPompey is completely legacy debt free â but that is just the start. âIt is a fantastic achievement and a weight hanging over the club since coming out of administration 18 months ago has been removed. âWe are at ground zero now. This club was in a crater and we are out of that now with foundations built. âThe club has turned itself around and got itself on a level playing field. We are debt-free and keep moving forward and progressing, never taking our eye off the ball. âIt is important we stay under the microscope and cannot allow ourselves to go to that level again. âThis has taken a lot of hard work and dedication from everyone. I cannot overstate the effort of the staff, the leadership of chairman Iain McInnes, the tremendous board support and, of course, the magnificent fans. âOur finance director Tony Brown has done a fantastic job, and it has been under his stewardship this has been made this possible. We are in complete control of the clubâs destiny. We start here.â The Professional Footballersâ Association signed off the settlement deals with its members in the past week. Originally, repayments were scheduled to end in July 2016. Pompey also repaid a loan to Point Estates Ltd director Stuart Robinson in July. http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/pompey-clear-debts-1-6326146
I'm massively jealous of what they've done and I'd swap our position for their's every day of the week. They could - if they do it right - achieve somehting truly wondereful there. Fair play.
Agreed. What they have now is what everyone in this country wished they had. What an excellent effort by all at Pompey. They looked dead and buried 4 years ago.
Not being an expert on such things, does that mean debt from previous owners has been paid but they still have outstanding debts with current owners? Have the current owners increased current debt in order to pay off legacy debt? Is it as great news as it sounds?
Current owners are people like other forum users and I. Maybe they've chucked a tenner in that they'll claim in expenses but that's about it. "Portsmouth football club is officially debt free" Do you understand that quote? Or do you need Assem Allam to spell it out for you and validate his nonsense by demanding you check his CV?
Portsmouth is currently owned by the Pompey Supporters Trust, 2,300 fans who raised around £2.5m through individual pledges of £1,000 and now own the club outright, they have absolutely no debt. It's really quite an achievement.
Perhaps you should read the full comment, not just the headline. They've wiped out the £7 million debt they inherited, did they do that by taking out new loans? If they did, it's not as great as it sounds.
It's the term 'legacy debt' thats thrown me. It suggests they've paid off old debts, but not new ones. If so were the new debts used to pay off old ones. Like I said, I'm no business expert, but I wonder how they've paid off substantial debts two years early. Maybe I'm getting cynical in my old age.
In administration "legacy debts" are those that must be paid in full, usually the football debts. All the other debts are paid out by the administrator, usually at a lot less than 100p in the £. If there isn't enough money to pay them in full they are written off. Its why the tax man went to court to stop the administration of Portsmouth. The new company would have had to pay the legacy debts but not the other debts of the administration. I suspect the footballers, with the help of the PFA, have agreed to accept less then they are owed in order to let Portsmouth continue its rise from the ashes.
You've written haven't you about attending press conferences at City? In what capacity then have you done that?
Yes Ive attended hundreds and I dont need to tell you in what capacity. Not everyone who attends a press conference is a journalist and it's sufficient to say I'm not one. Cue joke about me being the tea boy.
Milk, no sugar for me Bummers. Sweet enough. What happened to all the small businesses that were left pissing in the wind when Pomps went tits up? I recall at the time they were offered something daft like 5p in the pound. Poor sods.
Sound man ? Boom operator ? Italian expert ? Table wiper ? Chairman (in the sense of stacking them at the end ) ? C'mon you can't tease us like this....
