PKF's charges are currently £2.16m for 7,295 hours of work, while legal fees to lawyers Pinsent Masons total £1.25m. However, PKF may decide not to submit a claim for the full amount and the creditors' committee will have a say in how much is actually paid. Meanwhile, former owner Sacha Gaydamak has agreed a settlement figure of around £1.1m, according to the report. Gaydamak was assigned £2.2m of parachute payments from the Premier League to meet part of his debt, but a settlement for 50% of that figure has now been reached. Portsmouth have been in administration since 17 February 2012 and the latest report to creditors covers the period up until 2 January of this year. The report also reveals that the club's football creditors, including former players, are now owed £11.4m and they will have to be paid in full by the new owners. Portsmouth are currently the subject of a takeover bid by the Pompey Supporters' Trust, but approval is conditional on the group taking control of the club's Fratton Park stadium. Another former owner, Balram Chainrai, claims he is owed £12m and holds the stadium as security through his company Portpin via a fixed charge. The PST has offered Chainrai £3m for the ground, but the Hong Kong businessman has so far refused to sell. PKF are attempting to force the sale of Fratton Park at the High Court and that case will be heard by 19 April at the latest. The Football League has warned the club must exit administration before the end of the season or face expulsion. In January PKF were granted a six-month extension to the administration, ahead of the 12-month deadline, but said at the time they did not expect to need this amount of time to complete the sale of the club. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21574331 Where in the hell will the PST find around 20m at least?.
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Even if they could somehow bargain it down to one-quarter of that amount, it's a crippling debt for a League Two outfit. Really cannot see a way back for them.
With the size of their fan base this should be a doddle ... but I suspect that PST are about to find out some harsh truths. I genuinely say without malice, it's just a fact. It is time to say goodbye and start afresh, surely. It would be a sad day for their true fans, but if a phoenix club were to be created and started winning matches in whatever league they would have to start in the feel-good factor would return - and wouldn't that be welcome. They could do worse than discuss the future with Chester City Football Club fans. Bookies have paid out on CCFC gaining promotion to the Conference Premier League and this will make their 3rd successive promotion/championship. They get gates bigger than they did when they were struggling along in the League with leech like owners, and their fans are really enjoying life again. Of course Pompey fans would aspire to more than simply re-gaining league status, which will probably represent the peak of ambition for Chester, but the principle remains the same.
Christ they have done well... Chester P31 W26 D4 L1 Making 82 points. I agree that Portsmouth would be better placed to start again, they will never escape this debt otherwise.
Oh and in the the last 5months of admin Pompey made a £430k loss, I thought it was illegal to have losses while in admin?.
That may be able to be the case with the non-football creditors, but I think the football creditors have to be paid in full under the football creditors rule. And £11m is a lot of money.
They do. I was thinking of a scenario where, out of the goodness of their hearts, the football creditors were convinced the majority of their debt. Even then, the debt is too large for them to reasonably repay, especially as they are unlikely to find financial institutions willing to extend generous lines of credit.
I'm not surprised at the costs of administration...it's a complicated job involving lots of work by highly trained accountants and managers. For comparison, can you imagine how much you'd have to pay a garage for a year's worth of work on your car and mechanics haven't the same qualifications or wage costs. The books will never balance and any court with sense would have wound them up last year. The supporters group could then have spent the last year setting up a new team and be all set to have some fun.
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/pompey-s-administrators-ask-for-extension-1-4824674 PKF obviously looking for a chance to fleece them for some more cash, who exactly is going to pay them?
Do you know I had forgotten completely about poor old Pompey. Well I'll be blowed I didn't think they were still around. How have they managed that? We have more important things to concern ourselves with these days such as teams like Reading and Brighton - clubs with ambition, gsmart new stadia and of course successful teams who win games.