Where it started going wrong?
Fans
Many people at Portsmouth, particularly the fans, will be asking how on earth this could have happened, particularly with the amount of money coming into the club from the Premier League, Sky TV and player transfers. That is an argument for another day and one in which I am far from qualified to join in.
The administrators pointed out that the club is still owed £14 million from other clubs, but even so, the debt of £119 million is still huge, especially when compared to the debts of £60-£70 million declared when the club entered administration in February.
Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore is hardly sympathetic. He told the BBC,
“Back in January, I said that if a club enters administration while in the Premier League then it would be down to bad management of the club, and it is.”
The fact that the debt is not far short of double that which was previously announced will cause anger and shock-waves.
In a letter to all known creditors the figures are broken down. £38 million is owed to
former owners of the club and £9 million is owed to various agents. Nine players are owed a total of £3 million in image rights, whilst almost £2 million is owed in players’ bonuses. The unpaid tax bill amounts to over £17 million.
Debts
The administrator needs at least 75% of the unsecured creditor base to agree to a Company Voluntary Arrangement that would see all of the club’s debts settled at a reduced rate over the coming years. If he does not manage to win the agreement of that percentage of the creditor base, it is unlikely he will meet his target of getting Portsmouth out of administration in the first week of June.
In a thinly veiled attack on former owners and high-ranking employees of the club, the administrator went on to say,
“There are question marks and those questions I’m sure will be answered in time. At the moment I don’t want to be too dismissive or evasive. We are just really focused on getting the club out of administration.”
Peter Scudamore of the Premier League was even more scathing about the mismanagement at Portsmouth and moved quickly to dissolve the Premier League of any blame and place it squarely on those involved in the management of the club.
“If you start the season knowing you’re going to get between £30m and £50m from the Premier League throughout the year, it is entirely possible to organise yourself so you don’t get into the difficulties that Pompey have got into. You cannot possibly link the distribution of our income to Portsmouth’s woes. All the money is distributed evenly, so Wigan and Burnley this season will have earned as much international television exposure as Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal. That’s an important redistribution mechanism and that’s what stands us out from the other leagues in Europe, particularly the Spanish. You can’t actually say it’s about the way we redistribute out money that has caused Portsmouth’s problems.”
Pompey fans are asking for those responsible to be held to account for what has happened. As a fan it is difficult to watch people come to your club, mess it up and then walk away. Sadly, in the current climate more and more fans of more and more clubs are seeing just that.
Mess
It would seem that the mess at Pompey is the worst one that has come to light so far. When Leeds hit all their problems the board were authorising huge transfer fees and wages despite knowing the club was already heavily in debt. That ended in disaster for the club and the fans. Surely, we thought, nobody else would be daft enough to do the same again.
It really does beggar belief that anyone could allow this to happen. I sincerely hope that Portsmouth recover from the terrible position they are left in and that those who caused it happen are forced to account for their actions.
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