Post by QPR Report on Jan 31, 2010 7:47:52 GMT
Observer
Portsmouth fan told to pay club's debts• Lifelong Portsmouth fan sent unpaid bills and court orders
• Mark Dugan bought PFC Ltd company name 'for a bit of fun'
Jamie Jackson The Observer, Sunday 31 January 2010 Article
Mark Dugan has been sent court orders after buying the name of the club's former trading company, Portsmouth Football Club Limited
A lifelong Portsmouth fan has had sleepless nights and feels "stressed out and ill" after being sent bills for hundreds of thousands of pounds, and court orders that should have gone to the Premier League club.
"The whole thing is incredibly complicated and stupid," said Mark Dugan, a Portsmouth businessman who bought the name of the club's former trading company, Portsmouth Football Club Limited, "for a bit of fun".
The club now trade under the name Portsmouth City Football Club, and Dugan bought PFC Ltd "off the shelf" for a small fee a month before cheering his team to victory in the 2008 FA Cup. His partner, brother and both parents are shareholders. "My intentions were only ever to have a bit of paper, have a plaque outside my house and say: 'I own that,'" said Dugan, 40, who has supported Pompey since he was three. "It was a bit of fun that's led to a lot more."
Since last summer's sale of the club by former owner Alexandre Gaydamak, Dugan, who co-owns a mechanical and electrical business, has been caught up in Portsmouth's mismanagement. Bills and court papers have arrived every week. None arrived before Sulaiman al-Fahim briefly took control at Fratton Park last August. Since then Dugan has received countless demands addressed to him in person, for both PFC Ltd and PCFC. Some of the claims date back to 2002, when Milan Mandaric owned Portsmouth, then a Championship club.
Tax demands are among the bills, as are claims for unpaid advertising and other unsettled accounts. Although Dugan would not disclose the size of the bills, a friend and fellow Pompey fan confirmed that one was for more than £200,000. The total amount is several hundreds of thousands – and the bills are still arriving, being dealt with by Dugan's partner, Donna. "The whole thing is incredible," he said. "I bought Portsmouth Football Club Limited off the shelf for what you would normally pay for a company. It was a dissolved company. As a Portsmouth supporter I thought it was fantastic, something to put on the walls, a certificate, no more than that.
"I got Donna involved, my brother, mum and dad have got shares – we all had a certificate, it was great. The last thing you want as a supporter is to think you might be doing something wrong. It's always worried me that you'll be looked at in the wrong light. It makes you sick and has made me ill. I'm tired, stressed, and have sleepless nights."
Dugan said he had been to the Fratton Park offices to explain. "People just don't want to listen to you. I'm getting all these court orders saying I've got to go to court for this, I've got to go to court that. Since September Donna has religiously been phoning various courts, writing to companies to stipulate they've got the wrong football club. "It's not exactly helping my credit rating either. My status has evaporated. And we're still getting the mail."
Portsmouth's ongoing financial difficulties include their failure to pay this month's wages – the fourth such occurrence this season. They are due in court to face a winding-up order on 10 February, and with four successive away games coming up they are having cashflow problems.
The first of those games is at Manchester City this afternoon, where Portsmouth, bottom of the table, will be without their player-of-the-season to date, defender Younes Kaboul, who completed his transfer back to Tottenham yesterday. Jamie O'Hara, who has extended his loan period from Spurs, will play and said: "You can see some of the lads' confidence has dropped – but we have the players. We just need that confidence to be brought back in."
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/31/portsmouth-fan-told-pay-club-debts
Portsmouth fan told to pay club's debts• Lifelong Portsmouth fan sent unpaid bills and court orders
• Mark Dugan bought PFC Ltd company name 'for a bit of fun'
Jamie Jackson The Observer, Sunday 31 January 2010 Article
Mark Dugan has been sent court orders after buying the name of the club's former trading company, Portsmouth Football Club Limited
A lifelong Portsmouth fan has had sleepless nights and feels "stressed out and ill" after being sent bills for hundreds of thousands of pounds, and court orders that should have gone to the Premier League club.
"The whole thing is incredibly complicated and stupid," said Mark Dugan, a Portsmouth businessman who bought the name of the club's former trading company, Portsmouth Football Club Limited, "for a bit of fun".
The club now trade under the name Portsmouth City Football Club, and Dugan bought PFC Ltd "off the shelf" for a small fee a month before cheering his team to victory in the 2008 FA Cup. His partner, brother and both parents are shareholders. "My intentions were only ever to have a bit of paper, have a plaque outside my house and say: 'I own that,'" said Dugan, 40, who has supported Pompey since he was three. "It was a bit of fun that's led to a lot more."
Since last summer's sale of the club by former owner Alexandre Gaydamak, Dugan, who co-owns a mechanical and electrical business, has been caught up in Portsmouth's mismanagement. Bills and court papers have arrived every week. None arrived before Sulaiman al-Fahim briefly took control at Fratton Park last August. Since then Dugan has received countless demands addressed to him in person, for both PFC Ltd and PCFC. Some of the claims date back to 2002, when Milan Mandaric owned Portsmouth, then a Championship club.
Tax demands are among the bills, as are claims for unpaid advertising and other unsettled accounts. Although Dugan would not disclose the size of the bills, a friend and fellow Pompey fan confirmed that one was for more than £200,000. The total amount is several hundreds of thousands – and the bills are still arriving, being dealt with by Dugan's partner, Donna. "The whole thing is incredible," he said. "I bought Portsmouth Football Club Limited off the shelf for what you would normally pay for a company. It was a dissolved company. As a Portsmouth supporter I thought it was fantastic, something to put on the walls, a certificate, no more than that.
"I got Donna involved, my brother, mum and dad have got shares – we all had a certificate, it was great. The last thing you want as a supporter is to think you might be doing something wrong. It's always worried me that you'll be looked at in the wrong light. It makes you sick and has made me ill. I'm tired, stressed, and have sleepless nights."
Dugan said he had been to the Fratton Park offices to explain. "People just don't want to listen to you. I'm getting all these court orders saying I've got to go to court for this, I've got to go to court that. Since September Donna has religiously been phoning various courts, writing to companies to stipulate they've got the wrong football club. "It's not exactly helping my credit rating either. My status has evaporated. And we're still getting the mail."
Portsmouth's ongoing financial difficulties include their failure to pay this month's wages – the fourth such occurrence this season. They are due in court to face a winding-up order on 10 February, and with four successive away games coming up they are having cashflow problems.
The first of those games is at Manchester City this afternoon, where Portsmouth, bottom of the table, will be without their player-of-the-season to date, defender Younes Kaboul, who completed his transfer back to Tottenham yesterday. Jamie O'Hara, who has extended his loan period from Spurs, will play and said: "You can see some of the lads' confidence has dropped – but we have the players. We just need that confidence to be brought back in."
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/31/portsmouth-fan-told-pay-club-debts