Post by QPR Report on Aug 21, 2009 6:24:43 GMT
David Conn - The Guardian
Storrie saga shows depth of Portsmouth's financial crisisIt is obvious to everybody that in all matters Pompey, doubt, caution and pinches of salt should be clung to tightly until a deal is done
So, the Portsmouth saga has delivered another twist, with the news that Peter Storrie, the club's chief executive, is now himself heading a consortium to buy the club from his boss, the club's owner, Alexandre Gaydamak.
Sulaiman al-Fahim, the branding guru of Dubai, who promised to buy the club himself and became Portsmouth's chairman last month, will now not take over alone but "may partner" Storrie's consortium, which is "very positive about the talks and confident that the deal can be completed".
It is, surely, obvious to everybody now that in all matters Pompey, doubt, caution and pinches of salt should be clung to tightly until a deal is done and players stop spinning out of the Fratton Park exit doors. Storrie has done his best to talk up the club's position for months while clearly, desperately, seeking a rescue for a club in serious financial trouble. Portsmouth have been facing meltdown ever since the enormous wage bill taken on under Harry Redknapp, who signed quality players which a club with a 20,000 ground capacity simply could not afford, became too expensive for Gaydamak to support. Portsmouth lost £17m in the year to May 2008, the most recent accounts, which followed a £23.5m loss in 2007. And at some point still unspecified, Gaydamak decided he could not or did not want to fund those losses any longer.
Standard Bank, a South African institution with an office in the City, loaned Pompey £24m in July 2007 and to secure it, took out a mortgage over the TV money the club would receive from the Premier League for the forthcoming 2007-08 season, which was beginning just a month later. That season came and went – and Pompey won the cup, Redknapp's finest hour – yet the mortgage remains in place, the bank apparently still unpaid, along with around £20m thought to be owed to Barclays. In the accounts, the club stated there were "key summer 2009 repayment dates" to the banks and that £36m of "fully secured bank loans" were committed only to August 31 2009 – just 11 days away.
When the reports began earlier this year that Pompey faced a fire sale of players this summer, Storrie denied it. When I talked to him at the end of the season, he said that as the club had survived in the Premier League, the TV and other money the club would receive meant the pressure was largely off and they would have to sell only one player this summer. Since then, Portsmouth have released five and sold Glen Johnson for £18m, and Peter Crouch back to Redknapp at Spurs for £9m. When Crouch was sold, Portsmouth admitted they needed the money to "repay scheduled debts". The sales follow those of Pedro Mendes and Sulley Muntari last summer, and Lassana Diarra and Jermain Defoe in January, sold also to pacify the banks. The total money received for players is £77.7m but transfer fees are paid in instalments and it is unlikely that even this wholesale disposal has brought in enough to pay the banks back.
When Sulaiman al-Fahim first announced that he was to be the man to save Pompey, he said the money was coming from Middle East and Asian investors. Then, after questions were asked about whether one of his backers was Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai prime minister and owner of Manchester City who has been convicted of corruption, Fahim, although denying Thaksin was involved, said he would be providing the money from his own resources.
His spokesman, Ivo Ilic Gabara, one of the few characters in this soap opera prepared regularly to speak on the record, maintains that Fahim does have the money and access to it. The idea now appears to be that the other investors Storrie hopes to bring in will enable a deal to be done more quickly, not only with Gaydamak but the banks who have to be repaid in 11 days time or otherwise approve any takeover.
"Sulaiman al-Fahim has agreed to forgo full ownership in order to quickly secure financial stability for Portsmouth Football Club," Ilic said. "Sulaiman al-Fahim is engaged in constructive talks with the new consortium and remains very committed to the takeover, the club and its supporters."
The club, now trying to concentrate on a season begun under a beleaguered-looking Paul Hart with a threadbare squad, said yesterday it will "make no further comment until any purchase is complete".
Fans, who have watched the parade of stars leave while being assured there is no crisis, will hope that before too long, their club does have something to comment about.
www.guardian.co.uk/sport/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2009/aug/20/peter-storrie-sulaiman-al-fahim-portsmouth
Storrie saga shows depth of Portsmouth's financial crisisIt is obvious to everybody that in all matters Pompey, doubt, caution and pinches of salt should be clung to tightly until a deal is done
So, the Portsmouth saga has delivered another twist, with the news that Peter Storrie, the club's chief executive, is now himself heading a consortium to buy the club from his boss, the club's owner, Alexandre Gaydamak.
Sulaiman al-Fahim, the branding guru of Dubai, who promised to buy the club himself and became Portsmouth's chairman last month, will now not take over alone but "may partner" Storrie's consortium, which is "very positive about the talks and confident that the deal can be completed".
It is, surely, obvious to everybody now that in all matters Pompey, doubt, caution and pinches of salt should be clung to tightly until a deal is done and players stop spinning out of the Fratton Park exit doors. Storrie has done his best to talk up the club's position for months while clearly, desperately, seeking a rescue for a club in serious financial trouble. Portsmouth have been facing meltdown ever since the enormous wage bill taken on under Harry Redknapp, who signed quality players which a club with a 20,000 ground capacity simply could not afford, became too expensive for Gaydamak to support. Portsmouth lost £17m in the year to May 2008, the most recent accounts, which followed a £23.5m loss in 2007. And at some point still unspecified, Gaydamak decided he could not or did not want to fund those losses any longer.
Standard Bank, a South African institution with an office in the City, loaned Pompey £24m in July 2007 and to secure it, took out a mortgage over the TV money the club would receive from the Premier League for the forthcoming 2007-08 season, which was beginning just a month later. That season came and went – and Pompey won the cup, Redknapp's finest hour – yet the mortgage remains in place, the bank apparently still unpaid, along with around £20m thought to be owed to Barclays. In the accounts, the club stated there were "key summer 2009 repayment dates" to the banks and that £36m of "fully secured bank loans" were committed only to August 31 2009 – just 11 days away.
When the reports began earlier this year that Pompey faced a fire sale of players this summer, Storrie denied it. When I talked to him at the end of the season, he said that as the club had survived in the Premier League, the TV and other money the club would receive meant the pressure was largely off and they would have to sell only one player this summer. Since then, Portsmouth have released five and sold Glen Johnson for £18m, and Peter Crouch back to Redknapp at Spurs for £9m. When Crouch was sold, Portsmouth admitted they needed the money to "repay scheduled debts". The sales follow those of Pedro Mendes and Sulley Muntari last summer, and Lassana Diarra and Jermain Defoe in January, sold also to pacify the banks. The total money received for players is £77.7m but transfer fees are paid in instalments and it is unlikely that even this wholesale disposal has brought in enough to pay the banks back.
When Sulaiman al-Fahim first announced that he was to be the man to save Pompey, he said the money was coming from Middle East and Asian investors. Then, after questions were asked about whether one of his backers was Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai prime minister and owner of Manchester City who has been convicted of corruption, Fahim, although denying Thaksin was involved, said he would be providing the money from his own resources.
His spokesman, Ivo Ilic Gabara, one of the few characters in this soap opera prepared regularly to speak on the record, maintains that Fahim does have the money and access to it. The idea now appears to be that the other investors Storrie hopes to bring in will enable a deal to be done more quickly, not only with Gaydamak but the banks who have to be repaid in 11 days time or otherwise approve any takeover.
"Sulaiman al-Fahim has agreed to forgo full ownership in order to quickly secure financial stability for Portsmouth Football Club," Ilic said. "Sulaiman al-Fahim is engaged in constructive talks with the new consortium and remains very committed to the takeover, the club and its supporters."
The club, now trying to concentrate on a season begun under a beleaguered-looking Paul Hart with a threadbare squad, said yesterday it will "make no further comment until any purchase is complete".
Fans, who have watched the parade of stars leave while being assured there is no crisis, will hope that before too long, their club does have something to comment about.
www.guardian.co.uk/sport/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2009/aug/20/peter-storrie-sulaiman-al-fahim-portsmouth
