HMRC issue winding up order for Portsmouth

That's all. No other detail given.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16706372.stm

Portsmouth are currently searching for new owners
Portsmouth have been issued with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue and Customs over an unpaid £1.6m tax bill.

The club's chief-executive David Lampitt told BBC Radio Solent on Saturday that Pompey had failed to meet their last two payments of £800,000.

Portsmouth are currently searching for new owners after their parent company, Convers Sport Initiatives (CSI), entered administration in November.

Italian businessman Joseph Cala pulled out of a deal to buy Pompey on Friday.

There is an urgency to complete a deal with fresh backers, as investment is needed if Portsmouth are to meet ongoing running costs.

"This period, while we search for a new owner, was always going to be difficult from a cash flow point of view," Lampitt said on Saturday.

Continue reading the main story
We are in a difficult position and will remain in a difficult position until the ownership is sorted
Portsmouth chief executive David Lampitt
"The club does not have the funding that would have been there if our previous owner had been in place. It has been a difficult two months to balance the financial position of the football club.

"We are in a difficult position and will remain in a difficult position until the ownership is sorted.

"For the time being, it is a matter between us and HMRC and we have to manage that as best we can."

CSI's administrator Andrew Andronikou said on Friday that he hoped to finalise a deal to find a new owner within a week.

"The process of finding a new owner continues. We have got other interested parties, and we have had other interested parties all along," said Andronikou.

BBC South understands that any purchaser would need to provide £12m as proof of funds, and assurances they could meet another £20m in repayments to former creditors, Balram Chainrai and Alexandre Gaydamak.

 

What does this actually mean? Are they going to go into admin?

 

surley this means -10 points?

 

HMRC really need to start looking at the big picture. If this goes through they are not only punishing the people responsible but also the fans and people of Portsmouth who are not to blame for this situation. Some failed investors may have owned the shares to the football club but it belongs to the fans and town as well. However Portsmouth should get an automatic 10 point deduction for the holding company that owns them going into administration as Southampton had the same thing happen to them a few years ago.

 

Only if he says 'yes' first!!!!!!!!!!!!!

looooooooooooool lmao rofl roflcopter lmfao

:naughty::naughty::naughty:

 

How many times has their finances hit the news? When are they going to get punished again and deducted points? This is getting silly. Give them a deduction, and a deadline by which to sort out their finances.

 

True and it's sad for any club to suffer this, but Portmouth gained an advantage in securing bigger name players than they could afford if they stuck to the rules. This is to the detriment of other clubs and their supporters.

 

Hopefuly either they'll get a 10 point deduction, or have to offload players. Either way, good for our survival chances.

 

Exactly Meister. Pompey have been cheating for a number of years, be it not paying taxes under previous chairman and managers to having countless mystery chairman who can not pass the fit and proper person test. They signed players last season on 20k per week, not just one but several and the fans were happy for this to happen, this with an admisitrator in charge.

They should go to the wall as far as I am concerned. There hasn't exactly been loads of their fans clambering to try and purchase the club either. I hope they go under.

 

Yeah but this could have been us post-Vialli and I know how I would feel if it was happening to us.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16701603.stm

Hartlepool United chairman Ken Hodcroft has said sentiment should not prevent clubs suffering from financial hardship from folding.

Hodcroft believes the Football League ought to step back from offering support for those clubs under threat from closure due to financial issues.

"It's time we made a stand," Hodcroft told BBC Late Kick Off.

"If a club is going to go out of business, you have to let it go. For some reason they seem against it."

Hodcroft added: "This just can't go on, the Football League have to say - if you fail you're out of the league.

"There is no points deduction, there is no rescue, you're gone.

It works in business, it'll work in football I'll guarantee you."

Hodcroft runs Pools on a tight budget, although the company makes a loss of around £1m a year on the football club.

"We try to run this club like we run the oil companies," he added.

"In the oil business there is no sentiment, we have no budget, we do not run the football club like a football club.

"The manager is not told at the beginning of the season or at any day of the week that they have a budget to spend.

"If anybody here, a manager, is interested in a player they have to follow a procedure, which is the normal procedure in the oil business for buying a piece of equipment."

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He makes an interesting point I think. I know we came v close to administration, but how many times would Portsmouth have gone under if this rule was in place? How many other clubs would have gone under?

 

The point being a football club is not a business, it is a part of the local community and a part of the locals' identity replacing religion for some. Unfortunately loads of idiots have been applying the US sports franchise model to our traditional football clubs and running them into the ground as they gamble on breaking into the big time so they can start pulling money out or selling the club on for a profit to the highest bidder even if the people buying it are not the best option for the football club.

 

Surely a ten point deduction now.

Bas should offer a tenner for Joel Ward.

 

If they're in such big trouble how can they turn down a 1.6 mil bid from Ipswich!

 

If a bogstandard PLC was in the same position, i.e. ******* money away on wages and other expenditure without backing it up with income, the workers and their families are directly affected when that company goes to the wall. So why should the HRMC make special dispensation for Portsmouth?

HRMC is pretty lenient on football clubs as it is and I don't know why.

 

Hope they go to the wall, they dont deserve any more chances

 

My sentiments exactly. HMRC want their money and they will attempt to get it back via the usual channels. Being a football club shouldn't make a difference. They're cheating the system and must pay.

 

You hope that an 114 year old club with some of the best supporters in the country go bust because of the actions of crooks that have owned them over the last few years?

 

Yes.

 

My point is that the supporters of Portsmouth Football Club and the town of Portsmouth itself are the ones who will be punished not the people responsible for running up the HMRC bill if this winding up order goes through. Imagine how you would feel if something you had no control over led to your football team going out of existence and having no control over that either.

PS But on the other hand we wouldn't have to listen to those bloody bells anymore...

 

Remember when the Pompy fans publicly opposed and criticised the £1.5m signing of Huseklepp this summer.... yer me neither

 

None of these "best fans in the country" gave a **** when they were winning FA Cup's and playing in Europe on the back of reckless financial management.

 

Remember that they've taken most of that tax directly from their employees' wages already and failed to pass it on. Or if it relates to VAT, they've taken that cash from punters and used it for their own benefit. If you or I did this personally, lived it up a bit and refused to pay when demanded, we'd likely end up in prison.

That said, it is a shame for the fans. They've been taken for a ride yet again and they will of course suffer. I doubt the majority of fans were impressed when they started signing players on £20k a week relatively recently (and £80k per week before that) and were worried if this would all come crashing around them again.

Fit and proper person test? Ha ha ha ha.

 

Why should we cut our cloth, work to a pitiful budget and have huge financial constraints that result in us losing our best players and managers over the last few seasons while portsmouth can afford to spend god knows how much on players such as Kitson, lawrence etc. Its about time something was done, and a 10 point deduction and admin is the best thing that can happen for portsmouth. YES, the BEST thing.

If they get the deduction and go into admin, then they will be FORCED to properly sorting out the mess they are in, rather than a quick sell to anyone who flashes some cash. It will force lumps such as Kitson off their wage bill and the realisation they may have to bring in a wage structure.

Enough is enough, I want pompey to survive, but it is completely unfair that they have been in huge debt for years while clubs such as ourselves have struggled on. Sorry Pompey, but its about time someone was the example for other clubs, and it should be you.

 

Wow! To be fair, being from Pompey, the majority of fans that live in Fratton are farkin stupid, so its no wonder they didn't realise!

 

Pompey's winding up order

Just how many lives have Portsmouth FC got? For years now Pompey have been mis-managed as they have stumbled from crisis to crisis and yet the Football League have done little to bring them into line. I know as Watford supporters we can say that there but for the grace of God but surely with this latest winding-up order from HM Revenue we should say enough is enough.

 

I think there's a good chance they'll be liquidated. 800k per month PAYE bill = £1.6m a month wages. 18 man squad. I don't see why their admin staff costs should be any higher than ours - less in fact if you take Harefield into account. Ours admin wages are about £4m - which would mean that Pompey are paying an 18 man squad about £15m a year. Crowds of- what?- 20,000?- would mean around £4m more income than us - say £15m. All things being equal I would guess they lose about £10m a year before player sales. They ower previous owners a total of £32m. You would need to stick in around £60m to get them on an even keel - I'm sure there are much better bets than that for a lunatic wanting to 'invest' in a football club.

That PAYE bill puts it all into perspective really. If they got the buckets out on matchday, every home fan would have to donate £50 just to pay the tax on the players wages. Every month. No chance. Fooked.

 

They had a chance under admin to sort it out, and messed it up. For those saying "how can you say you want them to go bust" what if we got relegated because their million pound players got a point more than us? The teams that play as fair as they can shouldn't be punished. The leicester city thing yet again. Hope they get relegated to conference but not cease existence.

 

Pompey have broken the rules time and again. They won the cup with players they could never have afforded. What makes it worse is that they brought the likes of Kitson and Lawrence when they were broke and paid them more than we could dream of paying players. The league should deducte 10 points as a starter. A line needs to be drawn that no more will this type of wild mismanagement be tolorated.

However I do feel for their fans...how would we feel?

 

There are only 3 options for Pompey.

Sell, the club to an owner who can pay not only the tax to HMRC , but clear all outstanding debts.

Admin , points deduction , with the sale of any assests.

Cease to exist , as it says no longer able to trade as a business.

Questions ?


How does it effect the league table and are only two clubs relagated ?

 

If they get liquadated and their results get expunged us, Milwall and Ipswich will all lose 3 points and Bristol City 1, Donnie and Coventry won't lose any.

 

..........But we will gain a game in hand over all of them because we've played them twice, all the rest will have one game less to play with Pompey gone.

 

We'd still have to win that game though.