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Post by QPR Report on Apr 20, 2010 12:27:16 GMT
Daily Mail Portsmouth debt is £119million, admits administrator Andrew Andronikou Administrator Andrew Andronikou has revealed Portsmouth's staggering level of debt is actually around £119million, considerably worse than initially reported, but believes it won't deter any potential takeover offers. Pompey are relegated from the Barclays Premier League following a nine-point deduction after the club was handed into the control of creditors by the crisis club's fourth - and last - owner of the season, Balram Chainrai, who is ALONE owed £14m. That sum is included in the astonishing £105m outstanding to numerous creditors, with an added £14m that must be repaid to clubs for three past transfer dealings. The cash-strapped Fratton Park outfit are yet to pay a series of lenders for deals involving Sulley Muntari, Glen Johnson and Jermain Defoe. But Andronikou, who is actively trying to sell the south coast club, is not surprised by the phenonemal levels of debt, despite figures being vastly higher than first reported. More...Portsmouth striker Dindane given the green light to play in FA Cup final Portsmouth and Middlesbrough at war over Gary O'Neil's final transfer fee Ups and downs: Our guide to the all the promotion and relegation drama PORTSMOUTH FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE WEB 'I do not believe that the figures will come as a surprise to anyone who has been interested in buying the club, when they do due diligence it is there for them to see,' he told ESPN Soccernet. 'So, for that reason, it is not unexpected, although, of course, the figures are vastly different from what has been reported. 'The size of the debt involved won't scare off potential buyers, far from it. 'We now have a business plan in place that is a projected target over the next three to five years to pay back the creditors, albeit with Xp in the pound. 'The creditors will get a percentage of their debts back over a number of years, rather than all in one go.' Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1267477/Portsmouth-debt-119million-admits-administrator-Andrew-Andronikou.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0lduYLZ25
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Post by QPR Report on Apr 21, 2010 6:20:24 GMT
Guardian/Owen Gibson Portsmouth reveal full details of staggering £119m club debt• Pompey owe £9m to agents, including £2.3m for Diarra deal • Andronikou hopes club will emerge from administration in June The full extent of the mismanagement that left Portsmouth owing £119m and on the brink of ruin will this week be revealed in an administrator's report that will disclose that the club were left owing more than £9m to agents, including £2.3m for a single deal. The figures, which will detail in full for the first time the club's outstanding liabilities, are expected to show that overall they are in debt to the tune of £105m but also received £14m in expected transfer fee instalments upfront. Overall, the club owe at least £119m. The document will be sent to unsecured creditors, owed around £90m, as the joint administrator, Andrew Andronikou, attempts to secure a Company Voluntary Arrangement that would see their debts settled at a reduced rate over a period of up to five years. The list includes £38m owed to former owners, thought to include £30.5m in loans put in by Sacha Gaydamak, who sold the club last August and presaged a disastrous spell as it went through four owners in the space of a season. More than £9m of the £105m debt is owed to 15 agents, reflecting the revolving-door policy and excessive fees. In one deal alone, an agent is owed £2.3m. "There are agents and scouts owed over £9m," Andronikou told Soccernet yesterday. "There are agents such as Pini Zahavi, who is owed £2m, but there is one agent who is owed £2.3m for just one deal alone, the transfer of [Lassana] Diarra. It is staggering. There must be something like 15 agents owed money, which illustrates how the club were buying and selling so many big-name players." The Guardian has seen a letter from Zahavi – a key figure in the saga, with links to their manager Avram Grant – to the insolvency specialists Vantis in which he confirms that he is owed two payments of £1.475m and €950,000 respectively. Another agency, Stellar Football, told the company, compiling a report at the behest of the high court before the club entered administration, that it was owed £320,000. Around £5m is believed to be owed to trade creditors, including the printing company that produces the club's programme, and £1m owed on hire purchase. Balram Chainrai, the club's fourth owner of a turbulent season, will not be a party to the CVA and would be repaid his £13.5m loan in full, according to Andronikou's plan. There is some dispute about his status as a secured creditor after it was queried by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, but Andronikou is expected to treat him as such. HMRC is owed around £15m and was expected to oppose the CVA on the basis that it does not agree with the football creditors rule, which guarantees payment in full to players and clubs. But it is understood that it will only oppose the CVA if it feels it has a realistic chance of success. Andronikou must convince 75% of the unsecured creditor base to agree to the CVA if he is to achieve his ambition of getting the club out of administration by the first week of June and persuade Uefa to accept its late application for a licence that will enable them to play in the Europa League. "We hope the club will come out of administration by the end of May, or the first week of June at the latest," said Andronikou yesterday. "Hopefully that will meet a lot of the criteria and our application will meet with approval. I think the Football Association and Premier League will be right behind our application." Rob Lloyd, the property tycoon fronting a consortium that hopes to take over the club, was meeting accountants last night and hopes to make a formal offer this week. But Andronikou yesterday said: "We are no nearer to a buyer than we have been for the past two months." He added: "Will one be in place for the Cup final? Who knows? Rob Lloyd seems keen to make a formal offer, but he has yet to do so, and there is one major sporting franchise group who approached me again the day after we won the semi-final. There are a few fishing around." The revelations will further anger fans concerned at the spiralling nature of Portsmouth's debt. Andronikou initially predicted the debt would "bottom out" at £78m, but since then he has claimed it would be around £100m. He recently told the Guardian that there was no inconsistency, citing a figure of £85m that he said he referred to at his first press conference. "I said at my initial press conference that the overall debt was £85m. So if you add on the charge holder's debt, that takes it to just over £100m. The CVA will only be for £85m, it won't include the charge holder's debts," he said. The £14m advanced by one of several companies that specialise in securing advances for clubs against transfer fees will not be included in the CVA and should not technically be included in the overall debt figre, Andronikou said yesterday. That is because it is effectively underwritten by the Premier League and the Football League under the football creditors rule. The details of the loan will again shine a light on the practice of borrowing against promised income. www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/21/portsmouth-119m-debt-football
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Post by Zamoraaaah on Apr 21, 2010 7:35:40 GMT
I wonder how many small businesses will suffer, make redundancies or go out of business because of them. Let the banks accept X pence in the pound but small businesses should be paid in full or the club excluded from the league.
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Dave Sexton
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Post by ingham on Apr 21, 2010 13:01:27 GMT
'It won't deter any potential takeover offers'.
Well, maybe it should. And maybe the authorities should be asking themselves why it doesn't.
If debt isn't to go on rising until it is in the the tens of billions in the English game, these figures must become a deterrent. Or are we saying that there is no limit to borrowing, the lenders just lend and lend, and no-one ever wants the money back.
But if debt isn't to go on rising, how will Clubs manage when they can no longer borrow the money to buy players and cover their short term running costs - simply adding further borrowings to the already soaring debt?
They're borrowing all this money because they believe as a matter of principle that they haven't the talent to build a decent squad on the money the Club actually earns - the only real measure of its available talent.
There seems to be a confusion in football. If Clubs receive vast sums of money, as they do from TV, for example, these sums are considered not only important but decisive. And everyone goes on and on and on about them.
Money talks.
But when they're losing vast sums of money, it is as if money doesn't have anything to say any more, the losses simply don't matter, the vast sums aren't REALLY vast sums any more.
They're just a sort of incidental expense.
And having just seen watched two 'classics' in four days at Loftus Road - this is a a QPR which somehow contrived to lose £18 million JUST LAST SEASON - I am occasionally tempted to ask myself whether something just doesn't make sense.
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Post by londonranger on Apr 21, 2010 13:07:16 GMT
What makes sense is that the teams are out of control interms of spending, and the FA is nothing but a tool for the manipulation of the wealthy owners. Other leagues, sports, countries, if a team exceeds so much debt, they have to close down and sell on, or go out of business. Until sensible and strong rules are imposed we will see this. It best come soon.
Our wonderfully paid full backs dont even know how to make a decent pass back to the goalkeeper.
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Post by saphilip on Apr 21, 2010 13:23:29 GMT
Well Man Utd are a Ferguson and Rooney away from total meltdown - the day they miss out on ECL league football is the day that the Glazer's takeover will hit them - and hit them hard.
Likewise Chelsea when a certain Russian finally gets bored bankrolling a club for millions every year (as he will). With Liverpool almost certainly missing out on Euro Champs League football next season - and they could possibly miss out on Europa League football - it will be interesting to see what happens to them next season.
I do not know what is going to happen to Portsmouth but here is a team whose imminent fall could make Leed's fall seem like a picnic.
As for QPR - it is easy to make an 18-20 mill loss. Just run the club like these clowns have down for over 5 seasons - and hey presto, you get losses approaching 20 million.
Spend incorrectly on junk & loans, go through 14 coaches & caretaker coaches in 52 months, pay so much in agent fees, compensation, changinbg the crest and upgrading the baordroom - and there you have it, an 18 mill loss. Add in interest for a loan that many fans mistakenly think has been paid off - and your troubles increase.
We are not far off from disaster ourselves - thanks to those idiots claiming to be businessmen.
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Post by QPR Report on Apr 22, 2010 6:12:19 GMT
Guardian
Portsmouth owe Spurs £1m for Asmir Begovic move that never happened• Report outlines full extent of Pompey debts • Schools and ambulance debts among £122m owed (8)Tweet this (17)Owen Gibson guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 Portsmouth will pay Tottenham Hotspur £1m over the aborted transfer of a player who has never been near the home dressing room at White Hart Lane, while hundreds of small creditors will have to settle for a fraction of what they are owed. This is just one of the shocking findings revealed in a report prepared by the club's administrator for their creditors. The dossier lays bare the financial mismanagement and chaotic decision-making that left Portsmouth £108.6m in debt and will leave hundreds out of pocket. An additional £14.2m in transfer fees are due to the club but have already been taken up front, making overall debts of £122.8m. Andrew Andronikou, the administrator, said tonight: "If you're saying the club owes £122m, yes it does. But it depends on the context. Around £90m of the £122m will be going into the CVA [the Company Voluntary Arrangement, which settles what percentage of the unsecured debts the club will have to pay]." In what could well become a pub quiz question in years to come, Portsmouth agreed with Daniel Levy, the Tottenham Hotspur chairman, to pay the seven-figure fee for Asmir Begovic, the goalkeeper sold to Stoke City for £3.25m in January. The transfer was concluded during a frenzied period when the club were teetering on the brink of insolvency, fending off a winding-up petition from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and trying to sell players during a brief window during which a Premier League transfer embargo had been lifted. Described by insiders as a "Keystone Kops" period of wheeler-dealing, the negotiations were being led by Daniel Azougy, the convicted Israeli fraudster employed to run the club's finances by the Falcondrone consortium that took control in October, and Mark Jacob, the solicitor then employed as executive director. Shortly afterwards Balram Chainrai was repaid £4m of the £18.5m he had lent the club and subsequently took full control. It is understood the club initially agreed a combined fee with Spurs for Younes Kaboul and the promising Bosnian goalkeeper, but agreed to a clause promising that if Begovic went elsewhere they would pay Spurs a £1m fee in compensation. When the club subsequently agreed to sell Begovic to Stoke City following a protracted negotiation, the £1m fee kicked in and was due to be paid by the end of last month. It makes up part of the £17.3m owed in current and future instalments on players including Sulley Muntari, Mike Willliamson and Nadir Belhadj. Portsmouth are obliged to pay the fee because of Premier League and Football League rules that protect football creditors, while unsecured creditors will be offered a settlement. Current and former players including David James, Peter Crouch and Glen Johnson are owed a total of £1.87m in unpaid wages and bonuses. A list of more than 400 trade creditors, including St John Ambulance, schools, community sports clubs, kit suppliers and local businesses including florists and builders, are collectively owed £4.37m. Agents and scouts are owed £9.76m, including £2.045m to the agent who negotiated the sale of Lassana Diarra to Real Madrid and £2.07m to Pini Zahavi. Andronikou will ask the club's unsecured creditors, including HMRC, to vote on a Company Voluntary Arrangement that would see them receiving a fraction of what they are owed. HMRC, which issued a winding-up order against the club in October after becoming increasingly frustrated at serial non-payment, is now owed £17.1m. It will oppose the CVA only if it feels it has a realistic chance of blocking it. In total, the unsecured creditors are owed £92.7m, including the sums owed to the former owners Sacha Gaydamak (£31.5m), Ali al-Faraj's Falcondrone (£1.8m) and Sulaiman al-Fahim (£5m). Andronikou said that all creditors would have to provide evidence that they were owed the money that was booked in the club's accounts. "We are asking all creditors to complete proof of debt forms, confirm how much they are owed and provide evidence. The Gaydamak trust and family will be required to provide evidence of the amount owing. We are asking them to prove their claim," he said. "At the moment, we have extracted that information from the books and records of the club. Until someone can't prove their debt, that's the situation." Creditors are expected to be offered between 20p and 25p in the pound across three to five years, although Andronikou refused to be drawn on what the final offer – to be put to unsecured creditors on 6 May – will be. It requires the backing of 75% of unsecured creditors by value. Balram Chainrai, the club's fourth owner of a tumultuous season, is owed £14.2m and will not be included in the CVA because his loan to the club was secured on the ground. He is expected to be paid in full, either from forthcoming TV revenues and parachute payments or when the club is sold. All domestic football creditors (players and clubs) will also have to be paid in full under the football creditors rule, and are also likely to be done so out of future parachute payments from the Premier League. The report's appendix also details how spending at the club spiralled out of control in the Gaydamak era as the club went from a pre-tax loss of £912,397 in 2006 to £23.4m in 2007, £16.9m in 2008 and £13.47m in 2009. According to 2009's draft accounts, the club's overall staff costs – mainly accounted for by players' wages – were an astonishing 109% of revenues. Andronikou said the club's £3.3m a month wage bill would have to be slashed at the end of the season in order to cut its overheads to an acceptable level for the Championship. He said the CVA would be self financing and he hadn't yet had to dip into the £15m facility provided by Chainrai to fund the administration. www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/21/portsmouth-tottenham-asmir-begovic-accounts
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Post by QPR Report on Apr 22, 2010 6:12:58 GMT
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Post by QPR Report on Apr 22, 2010 6:17:52 GMT
Independent Pompey creditors furious at phantom fee owed to Spurs Begovic deal leaves stricken club owing £1m – but goalkeeper has never been registered with Tottenham
By Sam Wallace, Football CorrespondentPortsmouth's creditors expressed anger yesterday over an outstanding transfer fee of £1m owed to Tottenham for a player who has never been on Spurs' books. The extraordinary payment features in the breakdown of Portsmouth's £105m debts, as revealed in The Independent yesterday, which have been published by the club's administrators. They include debts of more than £9.7m to 24 football agents; £17.3m in unpaid transfer fees to clubs and £1.86m in unpaid wages and bonuses to players. Among those transfer fees due from Portsmouth is £1m payable to Spurs for the former Pompey goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, who has never been registered as a Tottenham player. The report by the club's administrator Andrew Andronikou claims that Portsmouth owe a £1m "sell-on fee" to Tottenham for the player who was transferred by Portsmouth to Stoke City in January. Among the £4.4m of trade creditors – including everything from local taxi companies to builders, flag-makers and a Guernsey scout troop – there was anger that Portsmouth could find themselves liable for a player who had never played for Spurs. The local builder Terry Clark, whose company are owed more than £54,000 said that it was "absolutely shocking" that the club owed money for Begovic. The explanation from sources at Tottenham was that Portsmouth agreed a total fee of around £8m in January for Younes Kaboul and Begovic combined – although no specific fee was ever ascribed to either player. When Begovic refused to join Spurs the club paid the full sum to Portsmouth nonetheless and then claimed back £1m for not having signed the goalkeeper. Other creditors named in the 70-page report said they had been paid in full. One of the agents listed as being owed money by the club – who asked not to be identified – said that his six-figure debt had already been settled. The providers of the club's team bus also said that their outstanding debts – listed as £1,400 – had been paid in full. David Pitter, the managing director of Coliseum Coaches, said that a club employee had paid on her credit card. Andronikou said yesterday that the debts were by no means definitive but that the key bulk – around £80m – to former owners such as Alexandre Gaydamak, other Premier League clubs, players and agents, was broadly correct. He added that the debts are from the club's records up to when they went into administration in February which have not been updated since. "All creditors are required to fill out a form to give proof of the debt," Andronikou said. "Some say that it is more, some say it is less but if the local builder has already been paid his £200 it is not going to make much difference to the big picture – trade debts are around £4.4m of the total. We have not artificially inflated the debts. People need to get the whole situation in perspective." The club's accounts reveal that their pre-tax loss jumped from £912,397 in 2006 to £23.4m in 2007 as they began the spending that would build the FA Cup-winning team of 2008. The following two years' accounts showed losses of £16.8m and £13.4m. Portsmouth's wage bill – the majority of which is player wages – peaked at £65m in 2009's accounts, which was a very unhealthy 109 per cent of their revenue. Andronikou's report said that at the height of their spending under Gaydamak, the club employed 375 staff. His business plan involved a £12 to £15m investment every year for five years with "exceptional" player signings to be on top of that. When the global financial crisis bit in September 2008 he was forced to pay back loans to Standard Bank and the club's flimsy foundations were exposed. The Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said yesterday that the plight of Portsmouth, and the hundreds of small companies whose debts had been left unpaid was not the fault of his organisation but bad management by the club. Scudamore said that it would be "absolutely crazy" for the Premier League to bail out Portsmouth. He said: "If you start the season knowing you're going to get between £30m and £50m as a starter from the Premier League, through the year, it is entirely possible to get yourself organised so you don't get into the difficulties that Portsmouth got into. "You cannot link the distribution of income to Portsmouth's woes. I'm on record as saying in January that if a club, whilst in the Premier League, went into administration it would be down to bad management at the club. And it is." Portsmouth's creditors are expected to be offered by Andronikou between 20p to 23p in the pound for their debts at a meeting on 6 May. As revealed by The Independent yesterday, aside from the money owed for Begovic, Tottenham are still waiting for £4.5m following the sale of midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng and the loan deal for Jamie O'Hara last August. How the creditors feel Pini Zahavi – football agent Work on transfers. Owed £2.074m "What can I do? Whatever I get I will have to say 'thank you'. I hope that I will get as much as possible. I have been owed it for many years – a long time. They just postpone and delay payment. It's for transfers – many of them." Focus Rigging & Scaffolding Rigs for TV equipment. Owed £2,404 Andy McMahon, managing director: "I lost the equivalent of three men's wages for a job. They asked me because I was at the ground working for the TV companies; they must have known they didn't have much money then." Carpet & General Cleaning Office cleaning. Owed £793 Mike Aldridge, director: "I suppose it could be worse. I'm a fan and live five minutes from the ground. I think there are companies worse off than us. I heard the players will get paid in full – obviously they need the money more than we do!" Terry Clark – local builder Stadium improvements. Owed £54,778 "I'm disgusted that it is the genuine people kicked in the teeth again. They asked me to do the work on a new drugs testing room at Fratton Park because I'm a big fan of the club. It was an eight-week job but we did it in three." TJ Transport – Hampshire Waste disposal. Owed £12,078 Matt Bowles, commercial manager: "Since the club's problems we haven't had any answers. At the moment we are being asked to work on good will. The contract was very prestigious but it has become a millstone for us." Guernsey Scouts Association Provision of training facilities. Owed £697 Anne Wilkes-Green, administrator: "The local Guernsey under-sevens used our hall. Portsmouth FC were meant to pick up the bill but they haven't, so the Guernsey FA have stepped in and paid it." Interviews by Sam Wallace Portsmouth's creditors Wages owed to players £338,400 Owed to Sylvain Distin (left Portsmouth in August 2009) £282,000 Peter Crouch (left July 2009) £265,080 Glen Johnson (left June 2009) £263,952 David James (still at club) £122,670 Hayden Mullins (still at club) £84,600 Papa Bouba Diop (still at club) £84,600 Hermann Hreidarsson (still at club) £84,600 Jamie O'Hara (still on loan at club) £1.86m Total wages owed to players Fees owed to agents £2.07m Owed to Pini Zahavi, the hugely influential Israeli agent £365,000 Stellar, a respected agency which represented Peter Crouch when he signed in August 2008 and Glen Johnson when he signed in August 2007 £9.76m Total owed to football agents Fees owed to clubs £4.5m Owed to Tottenham from the signing of Kevin-Prince Boateng and the loan deal for Jamie O'Hara (both August 2009) £3.3m Italian club Udinese for the signing of Sulley Muntari (July 2007) £2.54m French club Rennes for the signing of John Utaka (July 2007) £2.4m Watford for signing of Tommy Smith (August 2009) and Mike Williamson (September 2009) £1.8m Lens for the signing of Nadir Belhadj (January 2009) £1.02m Chelsea for the signing of Glen Johnson (August 2007) £17.3m Total owed to clubs for unsettled transfer and loan deals Selected others £38m Total owed on loans from previous club owners Alexandre Gaydamak, Sulaiman al-Fahim and Ali al-Faraj £17m Owed to HMRC in unpaid tax £5m Non-football debts owed largely to local suppliers £3.04m Total owed to players in unpaid image rights www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/pompey-creditors-furious-at-phantom-fee-owed-to-spurs-1950534.html
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Post by saphilip on Apr 22, 2010 7:31:19 GMT
I watched it on SSN last night and the figures were so staggering it was beyond comprehension at times. How does a club with a gate of around 20k - and stadium to fit - end up with debts that high?
How do they end up owing Spurs 1 million for a player that was never on their books? Has the paperwork gone missing as suggested by one financial analysist on SSN?
38 million is owed to owners & former owners (nearly a third of the total debt). Is this a classic Chris Wright move - when investments suddenly became loans when the effects of their sheer incompetence came to the fore?
I feel sorry for the local small businessmen who are owed close on 5 mill, because they ain't going to see a single penny. The knock on effect of those small businesses will hit the greater Portsmouth area - and hard.
17 million in unpaid taxes? Isn't Inland Revenue going have something to say about that?
Initial estimates had total debts of "only" 60 mill. That is a staggering figure on its own but how did it double like it did from initial estimates?
What does it tell me about football in general? Football is heading for huge problems - and all off its own making. What I see here is the mere tip of the iceberg - Manure owe close on 700 million, who knows what Chelsea owe and what about the smaller clubs in the Premiership - West Ham, Wigan, Blackburn, Bolton etc?
There is clearly a rule for the so called elite, for the otehrs in the Premeirship and for everybody else. Pompey got a mere 9 point deduction. In the space of 2 seasons Luton had 40 points deducted - their total debts wouldn't even cover one of the categories on Pompey's books. Likewise Bournemouth & Rotherham got 17 points deducted, Leeds a total of 20, Southend, Wrexham & Southampton 10 each while the likes of Boston & Halifax were dropped a couple of divisions in the non league set-up.
Now of course some egg-head will come up and give me all the facts and figures to try and explain away all the disparities but that is not good enough for me. There is a lot of inconsistency in thse rules and in some cases the punishment hardly fits the crime - lenient for some, totally overboard for others. In addition, while the FA/FL were persuing the smaller clubs with zeal they seemed to have dropped the ball with the likes of Pompey.
Finally the analysist on SSN suggested that there should be a fraud investigation into Pompey's finances - I totally agree. While there might not necessarily be fraud there is clearly sheer managerial incompetence & neglet involved. Make no mistake a FC of Portsmouth's size should never be making debts of this magnitude if there were proper checks & balances in place and the club was well run. And finally finally - what do you think QPR's debts will eb if we had to go into admihn again. Some peopel reckon around 20 mill - maybe 30 mill. I think those figures are optimistic - it may be as high as 50-60 mill.
How do I base it? The last financial figures indicated that QPR is running at a loss of around 1.5 mill a month, and was probably ruinning between 1 to 1.5 mill a month in the 5 seasons that Paladini & Briatire wer ein control. Is suspect that our losses thsi time will avaerage around 2 mill a month - for the following reasons; We paid 3.5 mill for Faurlin - we never made as much money as we should have for Blackstock & Routledge. We went through 5 coaches & caretaker coaches this season - and we paid compensation to JM & his assistants (for headbutting a player remember), almost certainly paid out 5 months for PH and probbaly compesantion for others. In addition didn't we pay something in the region of 3 mill to Palace for NW? How many loan players came to QPR - weren't there 7 at one stage? These guys cost money. - and for palyers that aren't on our books? I hardly think the capital expenditure for teh Crest and baordroom has been fully depreciated,s o thsoe costs will still be there. If our debt went up by 6 million then I assume our interest payments will also go up - from approx 1 mill to around 1.5 (to maybe 2 mill) I reckon. Agent fees, signing on fees, insurance, etc for a bunch of players who at times did not give a damn.
Now those losses don't just disappear, they appear in the balance sheet somewhere (accumulating all the time). So the accountant in me is asking the next question - where? I doubt it will be as cash reserves (more likely a nice fat overdraft), the share cap figure will be taking a knock as a result. Instead take a look at our short & long term loans and liabilities - I bet that has geon, and like Portsmouth you will probably find that a third belongs to our esteemed owners (who saved QPR as some might think)
A rightb mess.
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Dave Sexton
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Post by ingham on Apr 22, 2010 17:19:03 GMT
Perhaps we always look at it from the wrong end. If the Clubs are out of pocket by millions, tens of millions or hundreds of millions, all that money is going into someone else's pocket(s).
It might make more sense to make THAT our starting point. And forget the bit about improving the team.
Why kid ourselves that signing players who've never achieved anything from Clubs which never achieve anything will improve the team?
And the £1 million in the player's or the agent's pocket is guaranteed. It's in the contract. Whether he's any good or not. Whether the team improves or not.
On this basis, I'm inclined to see the Clubs, not as an end in themselves - except to their supporters - but as a resource, a reservoir of cash.
And borrowing is the quickest way to tap into this cash reservoir and drain it off. After all, the number of football clubs which make consistent and substantial profits at the best of times must be close to nil.
So I'm not surprised to find that Clubs do bigger and bigger deals for more and more unmanageable sums. The people who get the money manage fine. The lenders own the debts. Property developers get their hands on the assets, and rake in the rent. Rubbish players and managers line their pockets and retire rich.
Like a gravel pit, the resource will be exhausted one day. But only the Club will be empty. Everyone else will be loaded, and laughing all the way to the bank at the Club's expense.
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Post by QPR Report on Apr 23, 2010 6:21:26 GMT
David Conn/The Guardian
Portsmouth save their money for millionaires while paupers go unpaid The 'football creditors' rule is again exposed as an outrage as players and agents are paid in full while charities lose outWith 54 clubs having collapsed into insolvency since English football's boom began with the Premier League breakaway in 1992, the eye becomes practised at picking out the most shameful of a club's bad debts. There it was, as ever, on page 45 of the administrator's report issued yesterday itemising bust Portsmouth's £122.8m debts: St John Ambulance, of Worthy Lane in Hampshire, owed £2,702. St John, along with schools, hospitals, the local ambulance service, HM Revenue and Customs and scores of small businesses in a total of £92.7m creditors left high and dry, will receive a fraction of what they are owed in any deal the administrator, Andrew Andronikou of Hacker Young, strikes with a new buyer. By hideous contrast, clubs owed transfer fees, and players due millionaires' pay packets, must be paid in full, according to Premier League and Football League rules, if Portsmouth are to continue as a club in either league. That is the nature of the "football creditors" rule, whose self-regarding rationale is that it would represent unfair competition if clubs signed players they could not afford, achieved success like Pompey did, and were then allowed not to pay them. But while Portsmouth were overspending on players, making losses of £23.5m in the year to May 2007, £17m in the following FA Cup winning season, and, now revealed by Andronikou, £13m in 2009, they were also taking on commitments to the tax authorities, the Scout Association of Guernsey (listed as owed £697), even Pompey's own supporters' club (owed £300), which they will now not need to pay in full. Andronikou, who said he agrees with Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs' vehement objection to this rule, said in his report: "The Premier League has developed an insolvency policy. This policy protects football related creditors as they are required to be paid in full but may allow non-football related creditors to be compromised." The list of "ordinary" creditors whose debts a new Portsmouth buyer can "compromise" runs to 15 closely typed pages. HMRC's £17.1m is the largest debt; the tax authorities are particularly bitter about the football creditors' rule because theirs is largely unpaid PAYE tax due on the millionaire players' wages which have to be paid in full. Among the players owed lump sums by Portsmouth – leaving aside the ongoing wage bill of around £1.2m a month, which Andronikou is paying the current squad – are several who have not worn a Pompey shirt for some time. Peter Crouch, now at Spurs under his former Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, is owed £250,000. Glen Johnson, a Liverpool player since last July, must be paid £235,000; Silvain Distin, who left for Everton last summer, is due £300,000. Nine current and former players are also owed a total £3m for image rights, some to companies registered in tax havens, such as the British Virgin Islands (Niko Kranjcar), and Delaware, USA (Lassana Diarra). Altogether 29 current and former players are owed £4.7m, which must be paid in full if Portsmouth are to compete in the Football League, while ordinary creditors' debts can be slashed to a proportion Andronikou has not yet specified. Other clubs are still owed a total of £17.3m in transfer fee instalments, which again must be settled in full, some for originally signing players who have long since left. Chelsea are still owed £1m from when Portsmouth signed the now departed Johnson in 2007, Udinese £3.3m for Sulley Muntari, whom Pompey bought in May 2007 and sold to Internazionale a year later. The list, running alphabetically from Belhadj to Yebda, goes on, through 15 players with instalments still to be paid. Compared with those galactic figures for football trading and wages, the list of unsecured "ordinary" creditors, who must take a hit, is a painful litany of the inexcusably unpaid. Here is the South Central ambulance service, owed £19,535.39, Portsmouth city council, £28,690 down in rates, Portsmouth Students' Union, owed £2,955. A number of schools are owed significant sums, apparently for the hire of sports facilities, including Cowplain Community School in Waterlooville, with £14,743.54 outstanding, the Priory Community Sports Centre in Southsea, owed £11,000, and King Edward School in Southampton, who will have to accept a fraction of a £41,714.01 bill the Premier League club ran up with them. Andronikou's report confirms that Pompey's owner, Balram Chainrai, has mortgages over Fratton Park and other club assets for £14.2m in loans still outstanding to his company, Portpin, which gives him priority. The Premier and Football League rules require 75% of the unsecured, "ordinary" creditors, to whom Portsmouth owe £92.7m in total, including £9.8m to 27 football agents, to vote in favour of a settlement via a company voluntary arrangement. HMRC can be expected, as ever, to vote against any which demands of them a cut in what they are owed and, if no CVA is agreed, as happened at Leeds, the League is likely to impose a further 15-point penalty. Lord Mawhinney, who retired as the Football League's chairman last month, presided over this "football creditors" rule during his seven years in charge, but when he left, he wrote to all 72 clubs asking them to consider its morality. "Talking about the moral strength of the [Football League] brand," he wrote, "are we all comfortable that, in financial and debt terms, we treat football clubs more favourably than we do our local communities and their businesses, other taxpayers (to whom we have a civic responsibility) or St John Ambulance? That is for you to decide." So far there is no sign of clubs reconsidering. The Premier League's chief executive, Richard Scudamore, has said the rule must be followed in Portsmouth's case and he argues that Pompey's collapse reflects no wider shame on his glittering league. There is, though, no sporting nobility in paying long departed players millions in full, while St John Ambulance must take another hit from this awful mismanagement of football's boom. www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/apr/22/portsmouth-football-creditors-money-millionairesThe Guardian/Owen Gibson
Portsmouth administrator questions legality of creditor regimeAndrew Andronikou says all creditors should be treated equally and powers-that-be are 'protecting their own'The Portsmouth administrator, Andrew Andronikou, has spoken out against Premier League and Football League rules that mean football creditors must be paid in full while other non-secured creditors, including St John Ambulance and the taxman, receive a reduced settlement. Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs has long opposed the rule, believing it is unfair and has the unwelcome side- effect of encouraging clubs to throw caution to the wind. There is growing pressure on the football authorities to revisit the rule, although they are likely to resist any calls for change. "I share the view of HMRC. There shouldn't be a distinction. There is no distinction in the insolvency act. My view is that all creditors should be treated equally. Unfortunately, in this strange and unique world of football, the powers that be can obviously influence matters because they control the purse strings from Sky and the distribution," Andronikou told Digger. "Unfortunately, they are championing the football creditor to protect their own community. That's not strictly legal, as I see it. I had a long protracted discussion with the Premier League and they will not listen to any rational argument for change. They look after their own." This view will not go down well with Premier League and FA figures whobelieve Andronikou's claims yesterday not to have been informed of their decision regarding the club's Europa League eligibility, were disingenuous at best. www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/23/portsmouth-premierleague
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Post by QPR Report on Apr 23, 2010 6:24:14 GMT
Guardian/Jamie Jackson
Portsmouth appeal for leniency after Europa League spot ruled out• FA and Premier League block Uefa licence application • 'Consider the long-suffering fans', says owner Balram ChainraiBalram Chainrai, the owner of Portsmouth before the club entered administration, has appealed to the Football Association and Premier League to consider "the players and loyal supporters" following the governing bodies' joint statement that the club would not be allowed to play in next season's Europa League. Portsmouth automatically qualified for the competition after reaching next month's FA Cup final with Chelsea, but were unable to apply for the club licence to play by the 1 March deadline set by the FA because they were in administration. The club had hoped to appeal to be allowed to lodge a late application next week, as Uefa's official deadline is 31 May, before yesterday's move by the FA and Premier League. Chainrai told the Guardian: "We are trying to put things right at Portsmouth by putting proper governance procedures in place and ensuring all financial matters are above board and transparent. Yet the club seem to be continually being punished for the problems created by previous regimes. "How many more times will Portsmouth be punished for that which was absolutely not the responsibility of myself, the players and most importantly our loyal supporters?" This week the full scale of the club's parlous finances was revealed by Andrew Andronikou, the joint administrator, when he released for publication the creditors' report, which exposed Portsmouth's total debt as £122.8m. Chainrai pointed to this transparency as evidence of the club's desire to move on from its mismanagement under previous owners, Ali al-Faraj, Sulaiman al-Fahim and Sacha Gaydamak. He said: "We also appointed an administrator who has proceeded in a correct and transparent fashion and so I don't see what more we can do to prove that we are determined to proceed in a proper way. "It was a tremendous effort from the players to reach the FA Cup final against all the odds, and all we would ask is for the opportunity to take up the reward for such an achievement – to play in Europe. The spirit and determination shown by the players and supporters deserves nothing less." It is understood that Chainrai, who is owed about £14m as a secured creditor of the club, may take legal advice over the move by the FA and League. The joint statement published by the governing bodies said: "The FA and Premier League have confirmed to the administrators of Portsmouth Football Club that they shall not consider any late application for the granting of a Uefa club licence for the 2010-11 season." If Portsmouth are not allowed to play then the seventh-placed Premier League club, which is currently Liverpool, would take their spot. Andronikou, who had been confident the club would be given the licence, echoed Chainrai's views. "We have spent a long time going through all the necessary steps and we had hoped to make an application next week," he said. "We felt that we would do our bit and that it would be up to the FA and the Premier League to do theirs. It's wrong for the fans that they should not be allowed to support their club in Europe next season." www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/23/portsmouth-europa-league-appeal-blocked
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Post by QPR Report on Apr 23, 2010 6:26:42 GMT
Independent/Sam Wallace
FA to probe Portsmouth's £105m meltdown
Shock move to Fratton Park by head of integrity unit will hinder investigation Portsmouth's revelations about their shambolic financial mismanagement are to be probed by the Football Association – although the FA finds itself in the extraordinary position of having just lost its chief investigator to Portsmouth.The FA's financial regulation team has already taken a keen interest in the remarkable facts and figures outlined by the club's administrator, Andrew Andronikou, as revealed by The Independent on Wednesday. However, it is hamstrung by the fact that its "head of integrity", David Lampitt, resigned two weeks ago to take up the position of Portsmouth's chief executive.The move shocked the FA, where Lampitt had worked for seven years. Yesterday sources at the FA said that Lampitt had been "removed from front-line duty" while he saw out his notice. It is understood that an acting "head of integrity" has been put in Lampitt's place and that his former team is now poring over the figures that make up the £105m debts of Portsmouth for evidence of wrong-doing.As Lampitt is a former accountant with an expertise in football governance, there was widespread disbelief in the FA that he would leave for Portsmouth. His team had worked closely with Andronikou ever since the club went into administration on 26 February. Now the FA has its most experienced investigator "crossing over to the other side", as one source put it, as it tries to untangle arguably the worst case of financial mismanagement in modern English football. It is not clear whether Lampitt, 35, knew the extent of the problems that Portsmouth face when he agreed to join earlier this month. He has taken charge of a number of FA investigations, including one into the agent Willie McKay. McKay was cleared of any wrongdoing and now, according to the Portsmouth creditors list, is owed £225,000 by the club. The FA announced yesterday in conjunction with the Premier League that it will not support any late application by Portsmouth for a Uefa licence, which means that the club will not be able to play in the Europa League. Privately both are despairing that Portsmouth missed the deadline in the first place. The club's debts also mean it would be unlikely to qualify under Uefa rules. The FA refused to comment yesterday on what part of the 70-page report into Portsmouth's debts it would be focussing on. The saga around the £1m owed to Tottenham for Asmir Begovic – despite the fact that the keeper was never registered to Spurs – would be an obvious place to start but Spurs have had no indication yet that the FA wants the paperwork for that case. Spurs yesterday defended themselves against allegations of wrongdoing. They claimed that the £1m owed to them was a reimbursement after they paid a total combined fee to Portsmouth for Younes Kaboul and Begovic – thought to be around £8m – and Begovic refused to join the London club. He eventually signed for Stoke City. A spokesman for Spurs said: "In order to assist Portsmouth with their financial difficulties we paid [them] an agreed sum of money, whilst at the same time concluding an agreement that, should Begovic be sold or loaned to any club other than ourselves, we would be repaid the sum of £1m." To add confusion, Stoke's chairman Peter Coates said that his club paid £3m for Begovic – which raised questions over why Spurs valued him at just £1m of the entire deal and could yet catch the eye of the FA financial regulations team. After Portsmouth were denied their place in the Europa League next season, which they have qualified for by reaching the FA Cup final, Andronikou launched an attack on the Premier League and the FA, accusing them of failing to support the club. He said: "We are very disappointed all round. We will go to Uefa and explore every avenue before we admit defeat. We are still a member of the Premier League for a few more weeks at least and they should be championing us. I think it's quite a shambles. There are rules and regulations but there is also football protocol and the way they have approached this subject means they must have made a significant U-turn in the last 24 hours." www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/fa-to-probe-portsmouths-163105m-meltdown-1951759.html
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Post by QPR Report on Apr 23, 2010 6:32:21 GMT
The Times/Nick Szczepanik
Portsmouth cast in poor light over £1m riddleThe mystery of why Portsmouth owe Tottenham Hotspur £1 million for a player who has never been on the books of Spurs was solved yesterday. However, the full story does little credit to the South Coast club, who also announced that they will fight a decision by the FA and Premier League to deny them a place in Europe next season. Portsmouth arranged to sell Asmir Begovic, the promising Bosnia & Herzegovina goalkeeper, to Tottenham in January in a joint deal with Younès Kaboul, the defender, and asked for a certain sum “up front” in order to help their acute shortage of cash. They agreed to repay £1 million of the money advanced if the transfer of Begovic did not proceed. But when the goalkeeper chose to join Stoke City instead, Portsmouth tried to jack up the price to Stoke in order to cover their liability to the London club. “We agreed a price of £3 million but they wanted to increase it to £4 million because of this liability,” Peter Coates, the Stoke chairman, said. “We said it was nothing to do with us and weren’t prepared to do anything other than pay the price they were [initially] asking for the player. They had accepted a deal of £3 million for Begovic from Spurs and we were prepared to match it but not pay any more.” Tottenham clarified their part of the bargain in a statement on their official website. “The transfer of Younès Kaboul [for £5 million] was completed and Portsmouth pressed for an immediate payment in order to alleviate their cashflow situation,” it read. “We were assured that the transfer of Begovic would be completed before the end of the transfer window. “In order to assist Portsmouth with their financial difficulties we paid Portsmouth an agreed sum of money, whilst at the same time concluding an agreement that, should Begovic be sold or loaned to any club other than ourselves, we would be repaid the sum of £1 million. Our intention had been to assist a fellow club in financial difficulties whilst at the same time protecting our commercial position. We shall continue to do the latter.” If this seems a strange way to conduct transfer business, perhaps that is because amateurs were in charge. The Times understands that the negotiations were conducted not by Peter Storrie, the controversial but highly experienced chief executive, but by Daniel Azougy, the disbarred Israeli lawyer who acted as an unofficial financial adviser to the club. Azougy, who had convictions for fraud in Israel, was brought in by Ali al-Faraj after his purchase of the club in October, and increasingly sidelined Storrie. According to a source close to the club, Storrie and Avram Grant, the manager, knew very little about the sales of Kaboul or Begovic and would not have sanctioned them. Meanwhile, Portsmouth have not given up on the chance of competing in next season’s Europa League despite a statement put out jointly by the FA and Premier League that they “shall not consider any late application for granting of a Uefa Club Licence for the 2010-11 season”. Portsmouth would have qualified to play in Europe after reaching the FA Cup Final against Chelsea, who will be in the Champions League. However, they had missed the FA’s March 1 deadline for applications because, being in administration, they were unable to submit accounts — a condition of obtaining the licence. Uefa held out hope last week that the FA could still submit Portsmouth’s name before its May 31 deadline, and Andrew Andronikou, the administrator, plans to fight on. “I take a bit of offence at the way that the FA and Premier League put it out on their website without speaking to the club secretary in the correct manner, especially when they told us two weeks ago to put in an application,” he told The Times yesterday. “I would like to think that, while we are still a member of the Premier League, we would still have their support. Instead they seem to be championing the cause of Aston Villa. But we’re not going away quietly.” www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/portsmouth/article7105652.ece
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Post by Zamoraaaah on Apr 23, 2010 7:15:36 GMT
Good posts saphilip and Ingham.
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Post by Lonegunmen on Apr 23, 2010 7:29:03 GMT
Perhaps we always look at it from the wrong end. If the Clubs are out of pocket by millions, tens of millions or hundreds of millions, all that money is going into someone else's pocket(s). It might make more sense to make THAT our starting point. And forget the bit about improving the team. Why kid ourselves that signing players who've never achieved anything from Clubs which never achieve anything will improve the team? And the £1 million in the player's or the agent's pocket is guaranteed. It's in the contract. Whether he's any good or not. Whether the team improves or not. On this basis, I'm inclined to see the Clubs, not as an end in themselves - except to their supporters - but as a resource, a reservoir of cash. And borrowing is the quickest way to tap into this cash reservoir and drain it off. After all, the number of football clubs which make consistent and substantial profits at the best of times must be close to nil. So I'm not surprised to find that Clubs do bigger and bigger deals for more and more unmanageable sums. The people who get the money manage fine. The lenders own the debts. Property developers get their hands on the assets, and rake in the rent. Rubbish players and managers line their pockets and retire rich. Like a gravel pit, the resource will be exhausted one day. But only the Club will be empty. Everyone else will be loaded, and laughing all the way to the bank at the Club's expense. And of course, except the fans whom have loved the club for many years in most cases - since they were small kids.
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Post by QPR Report on Apr 24, 2010 22:26:08 GMT
PORTSMOUTH STOOP TO NEW LOW TRAGIC: The late Tom Prince with Redknapp By Greg Gobere, 24/04/2010 CRISIS club Portsmouth have stooped to a new low by pocketing £14,300 of CHARITY money. The debt-ridden Premier League club have kept £12,000 raised for the Tom Prince Cancer Trust and a further £2,300 owed to Harbour Cancer Support Centre. Neither charity appears on the lengthy list of creditors published by administrators last week. The money owed to the Tom Prince Trust, named in memory of a teenage Pompey fan who died of bone Cancer, is from a pledge to donate £2 from every replica shirt sold last season. The charity were even presented with a giant cheque in front of 20,000 fans and millions watching on TV at Fratton Park ahead of a 3-1 win over Sunderland in April LAST YEAR but have still not seen a penny of the cash. Tom's dad Clint, 51, who runs the charity, said: "We have not received any of this money yet. "We have not let it be widely known because we have a good relationship with Portsmouth and did not want to jeopardise that. "However, we feel now is the right time to let those people who bought shirts in support of the Trust know the situation. "I want to assure them we have not given up trying to secure the funds." Portsmouth, who are a staggering £119million in debt, have promised to repay the £12,500 by donating 50 pence from every FA Cup final ticket they sell. Administrator Andrew Andronikou admitted: "It is terrible, but I can only include whatever is in the books. "Creditors who do not appear on the list should come forward and make their claims. "I need to get to the bottom of it on Monday but we will do all we can to make sure the charities get their money." Pompey held a raffle and auction in aid of the Harbour Cancer Support Centre in March last year. Charity director Melanie Whitfield-Tinkler said: "I have been told there was an event that we were going to be a beneficiary of, but we never received any money for it." www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/793895/Shameful-strugglers-pocket-charity-money-raised-for-Cancer.html
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Post by QPR Report on Apr 24, 2010 22:27:09 GMT
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Post by QPR Report on Apr 25, 2010 12:30:24 GMT
SkySports Hart - Pompey owe me a lot Crystal Palace boss angry at former club Last updated: 25th April 2010 Former Portsmouth manager Paul Hart has revealed that the South Coast club still owe him 'a lot of money'. The current Crystal Palace boss left Fratton Park earlier in the season amid a turbulent off-field spell for the club. Pompey released a report in midweek detailing the amount of money owed to creditors, but Hart's name was not on the list. The 55-year-old coach has had a busy campaign which also saw him take the reins of QPR for a short period, but he claims he is owed a sizeable fee by Portsmouth. "I'm not saying how much, but they owe me a lot of money - and I mean a lot," he told the Daily Express. Disgrace "It's a disgrace really." Hart's employment rollercoaster could continue at the end of the campaign as new investors are set to come in to Crystal Palace. "I'm at Palace until 2nd May and that's got my full attention," he added. "What happens after that I don't know - maybe I'll be looking for a job. "I know what I'm about and why I'm here, simple as that. But I'm ready to look for another job if I have to." Following Sheffield Wednesday's defeat to Cardiff on Saturday, Palace have their relegation fate in their own hands, although West Brom are the visitors to Selhurst Park on Monday. Hart remarked: "We must try to deliver a performance and I know that if we play as we can, we can do it." www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11674_6115070,00.html
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Dave Sexton
Posts: 1,896
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Post by ingham on Apr 25, 2010 19:01:51 GMT
It isn't just Paul Hart but perhaps he could reflect for a moment on why Clubs like Portsmouth are in such deep trouble.
Isn't it, in part at least, the inflated wage bill? And aren't people like him responsible for it? At least in part. I can understand him wanting the big money, and to hell with the effect on the Club as long as he gets it.
If he can be philosophical about the predicament managers and players wage claims leave the Clubs in, perhaps now is the time to be philosophical about the predicament he is in, as a result of the Club's inability to cope with all the financial demands placed on it.
By people like him.
It may not be his fault. But it isn't the Club's fault either. The way the League is run, the Clubs are simply cash cows for moneylenders, property developers and share speculators.
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