Can Portsmouth FC be Revived from 130 million Debt
Portsmouth has been given permission to sell players before the Summer Transfer Market reopens by the Premier League.
For those not familiar with the story, Portsmouth has amassed around $130 Million of debt and faced multiple cash flow problems including paying its players' wages late more than once. The south-coast club became the first Premier League Club to go under financial administration and in consequence was barred from selling and/or buying any players. Did I mention that Pompey was also docked 9 points as a penalty which puts the club in the relegation zone and in a deep hole to avoid that same relegation?
To add insult to injury, the hard-working Ivory Coast International and Portsmouth Striker, Aruna Dindane had to be dropped from the squad and not appear once as a squad member or else the club would be liable to a ₤4M fee due to a clause in his loan deal (loaned from French club RC Lens). We can see that this sums up pretty well the poor financial state of Portsmouth FC.
Portsmouth administrator Andrew Andronikou (pictured above) hopes to raise around ₤30 Million worth of player sales and signing new players via free transfers to rebuild the club.
A Premier League statement in regards to Portsmouth FC read as follows:
'' The Premier League Board meeting that convened last week to consider the administration of Portsmouth FC dealt with a number of matters beyond just the application of the sporting sanction (deduction of nine points).
In accordance with Premier League rules, postponement of the suspension of Portsmouth FC as a member Club was conditional on a number of undertakings being given by the administrators.
These have now been received to the satisfaction of the Board and therefore it has decided to allow Portsmouth FC to make player sales under the following circumstances:
1. Players may be sold to other Premier League Clubs but may not play first team football for the new Club before the end of the season.
2. Players may be sold to a Football League or foreign club, subject to FIFA's approval.
3. Portsmouth FC may enter into an agreement with another Premier League, Football League or foreign club that a player will be transferred to that other club in the summer.''
Identifying Portsmouth FC as a financial troubled club is an understatement. I ask myself many questions including:
Will the Premier League change its laws and regulations so it can avoid having clubs getting into deep financial trouble?
Shouldn't the EPL be worried about these clubs overspending and trying to become the new Arsenal overnight?
The Premier League will be passing on the Portsmouth Dossier to the Football League as Portsmouth will be relegated at the end of this season. This bulky and complex dossier will be handled by the Football League and the club will also have the pass the test which includes total transparency. This does not guarantee the survival of Portsmouth as many owners have passed through Pompey and no one knows the future of Portsmouth's ownership.
This club has been run more like a nightclub than a professional football league part of a prestigious elite football league.
With Michel Platini's UEFA seeking to bring in new Financial Fair Play rules that would force clubs to break even, aside from investment in stadiums and facilities, this situation could have been avoided or identified earlier if the Fair Play rules could have been ratified. No owner would be able to put X amount of money to sustain a club shedding money.
The Premier League admits that it has been tarnished by Portsmouth's situation but still disagrees with Platini's proposed financial rules as it gives Fulham as an example of why club owners should be given more autonomy than suggested by the current UEFA president. It is calling the proposed UEFA financial system as an ''overly regulated, overly bureaucratic, and tight-down, centrist system''. This attitude from the Premier League seems alarming as it seems to ignore the roots of the problem as not all clubs can be saved by Roman Abramovich and drown the club with money on demand.
Too many questions unanswered, too many loopholes. See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil
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