Portsmouth’s game against Hull City on Saturday will go ahead despite the South Coast side being on the brink of liquidation (Hull 13/10, draw 23/10, Portsmouth 21/10 – Match Betting).
On Friday evening, Pompey released a statement saying that they faced going out of business unless they could strike a deal with major creditor and former owner Alexandre Gaydamak. This was described by the football club as “impossible” due to an upfront cash payment that was being demanded by Gaydamak. This was described by Portsmouth as a “ransom payment” as it would secure Pompey’s exit from administration.
The news will come as a bitter blow to Portsmouth fans at a time when things were looking up for the club. Results on the pitch have improved after a poor start to the campaign whilst the club admits that “extensive efforts” had been made to try and resolve the situation behind the scenes.
Explaining the position, Portsmouth say these efforts have “now been undermined by the self-interested actions of one individual. Mr Gaydamak has provided confirmation several times that terms were agreed. However, he has continually changed his position in an attempt to exploit the goodwill of the other parties to the transaction.
“By now doing this he has shown complete disregard for the supporters, the club and the City of Portsmouth, who had granted him freedom of the city in 2008.
“His earlier comments when the club went into administration about doing everything possible to save the club’s future do not appear to reflect his current actions.”
Despite the grim news, things took another dramatic twist when Portsmouth’s administrator, Andrew Andronikou, admitted he was still hopeful that the club could exit administration and that talks over the weekend could reach a “satisfactory conclusion”.
He expressed his disappointment that Portsmouth had released a statement so quickly and stressed that “within the next 24 hours we can get the parties around the table and we can renegotiate to everyone’s satisfaction.”
He went on to admit: “We are as close to coming out of administration as going into
liquidation. It is a fine balance and I want to say as little as possible at the moment.”
If Portsmouth does cease to exist, it will have significant ramifications for British football, particularly this season’s Championship. However, there have been so many twists and turns in this saga, it is difficult to predict what will happen next.
Uncertainty reigns this evening but the game at the KC Stadium could well be the last in Pompey’s illustrious history.
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