Post by QPR Report on Jan 8, 2010 7:08:23 GMT
I guess for Hart, QPR are a picnic compared to Portsmouth! If there was an anonymous player at QPR speaking out...?
Guardian/Jamie Jackson
Portsmouth player blasts 'complete mismanagement' under Ali al-Faraj• Anonymous player says situation is 'a farce'
• Wages paid late for third time this season
A senior Portsmouth player has blasted the regime of the club's owner, Ali al-Faraj, accusing it of "complete mismanagement across the board" and demanding that the squad be told the "truth" regarding the direction of the club. Portsmouth paid the players their delayed December wages today.
The player, speaking on condition of anonymity, said continuing uncertainty over salaries was affecting the morale of the players, particularly those who were desperate to pay their rent or mortgages.
Speaking before the wages arrived in players' accounts late this afternoon, on what was the club's third, self-imposed deadline for such a payment, the player said: "It's complete mismanagement across the board and whoever's guilty is going to get away with it. We were told yesterday that all wages would be in our accounts today – except for those with international bank accounts. But we still haven't been paid. It's a farce. The players just want to be told the truth.
"The perception is that every footballer earns millions of pounds but they're not all making that kind of money. You've also got the reserve-team players and the youth team who haven't been paid, so it crosses the whole spectrum. If a player is earning a few hundred pounds a week and he's old enough to have moved out so he's paying rent or a mortgage, then he's going to encounter the usual problems that normal people have. And this has all happened over the Christmas period."
Avram Grant's team are bottom of the Premier League, four points from the last survival spot. The player said that morale had been seriously affected by the missing salaries, which have gone unpaid on the due date in three months. He said: "The lads do mention it. In our players' meeting the other day one player voiced his unhappiness about losing games and then even when you go home you're not getting paid so what is there to be positive about? That's how he felt. It's not easy."
Portsmouth have debts of at least £60m and are subject to a player registration embargo, due to their inability to pay transfer instalments to other English clubs.
Sources connected to Fratton Park have told the Guardian that a major source of finance that had been promised to the club was withdrawn in November. One claimed that this was a bank facility of £35m. The source said: "The problem is they were supposed to get £35m from the bank – [but it] refused to give it to them. They promised in November the money." Asked if the facility was still potentially available the source said: "If they will show stability – and I believe they will."
On Tuesday Daniel Azougy, the Israeli lawyer who has been employed by the club to restructure the debt and raise finance, confirmed that Portsmouth currently have no bank facility. The club cleared their previous facility, of £35m with South Africa's Standard Bank, by selling players in the summer.
The club's executive director, Mark Jacob, said: "When you take out a huge amount of money from the club in the summer, which is long-term debt, and you have a situation where you need to deal with refinancing and you can't get that refinancing automatically – it's like if someone asks you to repay your mortgage overnight. What are you going to do? You're going to struggle, aren't you?"
Jacob defended the appointment of Azougy, after Portsmouth supporters raised concerns over his convictions on several counts of fraud and his having been disbarred in 2002 from practising law for 14 years in Israel.
"He reports to the owner and he reports to me," Jacob said.
Asked if he could reassure supporters that, with regard to Azougy, the club were in safe hands, Jacob said: "Anything that I'm involved in I can assure the fans that the club is in safe hands and we want what's best for Portsmouth Football Club."
Jacob said the players would not miss being paid again. He said: "I don't think so, there's a lot of goodwill going on, it's been a short-term problem. We've been dealing with so many side issues and we've inherited a lot of issues."
It is also understood that once Portsmouth have stabilised, Jacob will consider meeting supporters to explain the difficulties since Faraj took over the club in mid-October.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/07/portsmouth-ali-al-faraj-players-wages
Guardian/Jamie Jackson
Portsmouth player blasts 'complete mismanagement' under Ali al-Faraj• Anonymous player says situation is 'a farce'
• Wages paid late for third time this season
A senior Portsmouth player has blasted the regime of the club's owner, Ali al-Faraj, accusing it of "complete mismanagement across the board" and demanding that the squad be told the "truth" regarding the direction of the club. Portsmouth paid the players their delayed December wages today.
The player, speaking on condition of anonymity, said continuing uncertainty over salaries was affecting the morale of the players, particularly those who were desperate to pay their rent or mortgages.
Speaking before the wages arrived in players' accounts late this afternoon, on what was the club's third, self-imposed deadline for such a payment, the player said: "It's complete mismanagement across the board and whoever's guilty is going to get away with it. We were told yesterday that all wages would be in our accounts today – except for those with international bank accounts. But we still haven't been paid. It's a farce. The players just want to be told the truth.
"The perception is that every footballer earns millions of pounds but they're not all making that kind of money. You've also got the reserve-team players and the youth team who haven't been paid, so it crosses the whole spectrum. If a player is earning a few hundred pounds a week and he's old enough to have moved out so he's paying rent or a mortgage, then he's going to encounter the usual problems that normal people have. And this has all happened over the Christmas period."
Avram Grant's team are bottom of the Premier League, four points from the last survival spot. The player said that morale had been seriously affected by the missing salaries, which have gone unpaid on the due date in three months. He said: "The lads do mention it. In our players' meeting the other day one player voiced his unhappiness about losing games and then even when you go home you're not getting paid so what is there to be positive about? That's how he felt. It's not easy."
Portsmouth have debts of at least £60m and are subject to a player registration embargo, due to their inability to pay transfer instalments to other English clubs.
Sources connected to Fratton Park have told the Guardian that a major source of finance that had been promised to the club was withdrawn in November. One claimed that this was a bank facility of £35m. The source said: "The problem is they were supposed to get £35m from the bank – [but it] refused to give it to them. They promised in November the money." Asked if the facility was still potentially available the source said: "If they will show stability – and I believe they will."
On Tuesday Daniel Azougy, the Israeli lawyer who has been employed by the club to restructure the debt and raise finance, confirmed that Portsmouth currently have no bank facility. The club cleared their previous facility, of £35m with South Africa's Standard Bank, by selling players in the summer.
The club's executive director, Mark Jacob, said: "When you take out a huge amount of money from the club in the summer, which is long-term debt, and you have a situation where you need to deal with refinancing and you can't get that refinancing automatically – it's like if someone asks you to repay your mortgage overnight. What are you going to do? You're going to struggle, aren't you?"
Jacob defended the appointment of Azougy, after Portsmouth supporters raised concerns over his convictions on several counts of fraud and his having been disbarred in 2002 from practising law for 14 years in Israel.
"He reports to the owner and he reports to me," Jacob said.
Asked if he could reassure supporters that, with regard to Azougy, the club were in safe hands, Jacob said: "Anything that I'm involved in I can assure the fans that the club is in safe hands and we want what's best for Portsmouth Football Club."
Jacob said the players would not miss being paid again. He said: "I don't think so, there's a lot of goodwill going on, it's been a short-term problem. We've been dealing with so many side issues and we've inherited a lot of issues."
It is also understood that once Portsmouth have stabilised, Jacob will consider meeting supporters to explain the difficulties since Faraj took over the club in mid-October.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/07/portsmouth-ali-al-faraj-players-wages