Portsmouth Axe 85

How on earth do you need to employ that many people to run a football club?

I wonder if their "stars" are prepared to take severe pay cuts and stay with the club or is it rats leaving a sinking ship time? Maybe we could send Paladini there, he can run pretty much anything, why not run Portsmouth on 10 staff with Gianni doing most things??

Independent

£80,000-a-week footballers fail to take pay cuts to save club cleaners

On the day Portsmouth announce they are making 85 staff redundant, it emerges only two players offered to help out

By Ian Herbert, Deputy Football Correspondent

The reputation of football's playing fraternity was not enhanced yesterday when it emerged that 85 people had been shown the door by financially stricken Portsmouth while only two players had offered to take pay cuts to save the fate of the less well-off.

David James, the England international goalkeeper, is understood to have been one of the players who told the manager, Avram Grant, a week ago that he was willing to take a drop in salary, though it appears that Portsmouth, the first Premier League side to enter into administration, have not yet been able to take up that offer. Administrator Andrew Andronikou is of the view that it will be easier to sell the club on if he maintains the core of the playing staff and keeps them contented, though he hopes the Professional Footballers' Association – the players' union – will encourage players to take lower wages.

Mr Andronikou announced the redundancies – including those of the training ground manager, youth academy coaches and warehouse staff – at a press conference late yesterday afternoon.

He also revealed that the chief executive, Peter Storrie, whom many had expected to see on his way out of Fratton Park, has taken a 40 per cent wage cut and will now earn "significantly less than half a million pounds".

The biggest spectre hanging over Portsmouth remains the High Court proceedings brought by HMRC. Mr Andronikou met HMRC on Tuesday afternoon and expects to receive a letter this morning telling him whether Customs are willing to allow the club to reschedule its outstanding debt or reach a settlement figure, ahead of a High Court hearing next Monday.

That much is inconsequential for Tug Wilson, the training ground manager, who lost his job yesterday. "It's been a very bad day for a lot of people but some of those laid off need the [salary] to pay mortgages, although I'm not in that position," he said.

A staff member from the club's youth academy emerged from a meeting to be told he was being axed with immediate effect. He had offered what many players had not – to no avail. "I asked them if there was any dialogue about possibly taking a pay cut and they told me that hadn't been considered," he said. "I'm still taking it in. I hope there's a buyer found [for the club] – there might still be a chance of getting my job back. I'm absolutely gutted."

Warehouse worker Mike Crawford walked out before his scheduled meeting as he said he knew he was going to be axed. He said the staff members who were being fired were being taken into the boardroom, while those who are staying were ushered into Mr Storrie's office to renegotiate their contracts. "What they're doing is going past all common decency. I've just been kept hanging on – I had to find out about my meeting yesterday in the local paper," he said.

The club's media-relations manager left last week, dismayed by the events which have befallen the 2008 FA Cup winners. The switchboard staff evidently followed him out of the door, as calls to the club switchboard elicited an "unobtainable" dial tone last night

www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/16380000aweek-footballers-fail-to-take-pay-cuts-to-save-club-cleaners-1919453.html

Sickening really that the PFA, led by the highest paid trade union rep in the world and chief nose bagger Gordon Taylor, move heaven and earth to protect their millionaire players yet the Trades Union structure offer no such similar protection to admin and back office staff who probably earn an average of £20k a year. And Gordon Taylor wonders sometimes why his "members" get such a hard press.

Those part time staff referred to will comprise of matchday stewards, catering staff etc etc and is quite low for a PL club in my experience. Their full time roster will similarly include safety personnel, community staff, retail workers, grounds staff etc etc. Seems a tad large for a club of Pompey's size but not a vast number given the turnover and reach of the club.

Now chipping in to save four jobs

BBC

Portsmouth players to pay wages of four employees

Pompey are the first Premier League club to enter administration
Portsmouth players have stepped in to save the jobs of four of the club's training ground staff, manager Avram Grant has said.

The debt-ridden club laid off 85 staff in a bid to cut costs after going into administration in February.

But players and staff have rallied to cover the wages of the club groundsman, a masseur and two others.

"The players, me, the staff and everybody contributed, and I must say we were happy to do it," said Grant.

"Most of these people were here before me and the players, and they will be here after. We need to keep them."

Among those whose jobs have been saved by the gesture - reported to be costing each player around £1,500 - is former Royal Navy sailor Tug Wilson who now works as groundsman.

"Tug has done a lot of years here and works from the morning until the night on very low wages," said Grant.

"He does a great job and I'm happy he's here. I think the moment the club loses its human side is the first step towards it being finished."

606: DEBATE
Have your say on the players' gesture of support
Wilson, who earned £60-a-day for taking care of Pompey's training pitches in Eastleigh, said he was amazed by the move, thought to have been suggested by goalkeeper David James.

"You read a lot of bad things about footballers these days," Wilson told the Daily Mail. "But what's been happening here has been amazing."

Pompey boss Grant, whose side host his former club Chelsea at Fratton Park on Wednesday, insisted that staff whose jobs had been saved and those who were carrying on without their former colleagues were key members of his team.

"We have a kit man who works from the morning until the evening and takes care of 11 teams alone," he added.

"He was with two assistants but they are not here now because of the situation. I look at him and I don't know what to say. I admire him.

"I admire these people because they are not in the spotlight but, without them, there is no team.

"Even at Chelsea, where you have players coming and going, you cannot succeed without these people helping us. These people are very special and we live with them day by day.

"I'm very happy the players and staff did what they did. It means a lot to me personally because football is not just a cold business."

The south-coast club employed 166 staff full-time and 154 part-time before it became the first Premier League side to go into administration. The subsequent nine-point penalty has left them 14 points from safety in the Premier League and all-but certain to suffer relegation