Pompey are apparently 48 hours from liquidation

It is kinda fitting, that after all the time that has passed, things come to ahead while HR & MM are in court together.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16710949.stm

This article is good and seems to spell things out in plain english quite well. Seems the 3 options for Pompey are: 1. Pay HMRC the £1.6M 2. Don't pay HMRC, but go into administration, (take the standard points deduction) and then allow the administrator work on paying off the debts. 3. Get liquidated for trading insolvent

The 1st option is obviously the best for Pompey - so i guess to achieve this they need to:
- sell players to raise the £1.6m, or
- get Portpin to provide the £1.6m or
- find a new owner who will pay this.

Options 2 or 3 aren't attractive at all - must be last resorts (esp 3!)

 

What? Just fork out for tax! Really, surely theres another way, surely thats avoidable!

 

In theory, if the club was forced to close and then the fans with some backing were able to show that they could run the club effectively they could take over the same club albeit with a slight name change. Something like PFC2012 maybe.

Maybe the council could even slap a compulsory purchase on the ground and surrounding area to remove that problem as well.




Forgive me if I am way off target but just trying to find alternatives to folding.








Now for the posts of incredulity and scornful laughter.

 

It's been at least 48 hours, I'm getting impatient

 

In the grand scheme of things £1.6 mill doesn't sound a lot. Why tf are HMRC in such a hurry to recover a paltry sum like that when Tony Blair has rolled em over for gazilions?

 

HMRC have a bee in their bonnet. This was in the post about 30 seconds after the first payment was missed.

 

Because what Tony did was legal!

Yes, there are bigger problems than PFC!

 

You know it's bad when all of the local MP's start jumping on board.(Obviously really in it to win some votes)

 

They're gagging to make an example out of reasonably high profile football club.

 

In that case can they please leave us alone an make an example of one

 

£1.6m is a lot, considering they aggressively pursue, and shut down businesses over, any sum over £750!

 

Trouble is - nobody wants to invest in a club that has been insolvent for about 4 years now (at the very least).

I heard someone the other day make the point that the club may have been better off losing the 2008 FA Cup final, as the huge bonuses paid to the squad for the win triggered a hugely damaging spell. Money that was owed to HMRC and other companies was being used to pay the wages, something that is hinted to in the Official Statement made yesterday.

The £30m of debt that would be taken on by new owners MUST be paid back too as a priortiy, so any potential investor will be extremely put off even before considering putting any other money into the club. Thankfully, Markus paid off all of our debts, but he was a Billionaire, and they are rare to find.

If Cala was the preffered bidder, I'd be concerned if I was a Pompey fan. He, like the previous, seemed a dodgy character, so the other bidders can't be promising.

Reading have obtained investment because they are stable and don't need huge sums to sustain and grow the club. They have a fairly new stadium in place and a good squad, neither of which Pompey possess and need badly.

Andronikou could easily put the club into Administration, but that's the easy way out. The on-the-field circumstances that would occure because of that would be dramatic. A 10 point deduction, damaging morale within a already thread-bare squad would surely relegate Pompey, no matter how poor the other teams in and around the relegation zone are. Our revenue in League 1 dropped massively, despite having the best average attendance and bringing in new signings to attract good football.

The Football League will do everything in their power to prevent the club going bust I'm sure, but the situation has got beyond a joke for the whole of football.

I wouldn't want any club to go bust, but the league have to punish Pompey properly. A pheonix club would just not bring the same banter and rivalry that we experience on here and in the stands as it does now, which would be a shame. However, any other resolution looks out of sight right now.

As the BBC have entitlted their article on the current state of the club: Pay up Pompey, Pompey pay up.

And quick.

 

I really think a phoenix club could be the best outcome for the Pompey fans in the long term. Look at Wimbledon, founded in 2002, and already they're playing in league two, only one division behind MK Dons.

Portsmouth is a well-supported club, they could do the same. The council could buy Fratton Park and the new club could use it. If the fans stick with them they could be back to their natural level within ten years or so. Obviously our ambition is to be a top-half of the premier league side, so the rivalry might not be the same no matter what happens to Pompey. But then again, Saints dropping to league one didn't seem to damage the rivalry.

 

The HMRC should take the ground, PFC should go out of business completely... and then the council should work with the supporters trust to found a new club outside of the football league, and should then HMRC rent the ground to that new club and be done with it.

fund raisers can bring in players, fans events can make more money... PFC 'pay' for their mistakes but also don't die completely...and those owners are got rid of.

HMRC can then use the rental profits to cythen off whatever they need to pay off the old tax bill, and then that money should be used to pay off the local businesses that lost out.

it sounds crazy but it's the only credible way that PFC can face justice, but the community doesn't lose it's football team, HMRC and local businesses get a better (even if unfair) deal than if it was wound up.

 

I see your mellowing out, Comrade. Also, doesn't Chanrai own Fratton Park?

 

I'm pretty sure it would be ultra vires for HMRC to own a plot of land/football stadium. That's the first hole in your suggestion.

 

Chanrai owns the land around FP I believe. Question is, how patient will be with the money he is owed? As Raj Singh (Darlington Owner) called in a percentage of the money he was owed last week at a crucial moment on the club.

 

Presumably the HMRC could take the ground and sell it to cover their own tax bill?

so, HMRC sell fratton park for what... 20 mill? they take 1.7m and then split the rest of that money amongst the other creditors (small businesses given the priority in this) so HMRC aren't keeping the asset, they're selling it and taking their percentage out. Sounds beneficial for the tax payer to me.

Fratton park being sold then... but to whom? well... the council. So the HMRC sell to the council who now have a plot of land and a stadium that can't be turned into housing and a football club that doesn't exist... yet!

so with local businesses paid off (more so than the winding up would ever do), the old company destroyed, all the old madmen gone and a stadium that needs using... a phoenix club outside the football league would do just fine.

HMRC could even just take over the ownership of the whole club and sell the players as well... raising more money.

the council could offer the club a cut price rental fee which will increase depending on the clubs success.

Council benefits: ownership of an asset, election benefits (pompey fans would vote for them surely?), long term profits, benefits to the local economy
PFC: are punished severely but still have a club, have fratton park so less of a history loss, a stable club (even if in league 2 or below), and a club that it's fans can take pride in.
SFC: we have someone to hate
HMRC benefits: their tax bill settled
local businesses: get a **** deal, but then it;s better than the other deal they could get.


basically... justice + opportunity.

 

double post