Fowllyd

As far as I know, Football League rules prevent a club bringing in any player(s) if they are in default of football debts. Pompey were in default, as they hadn't been able to pay installments to a few teams with their bank accounts frozen. Once those were unfrozen, they would be able to clear any debts and the FL would allow a loan signing. Chances are that's all there was to it.

Yes! Jos!

Baker Tilly were carrying out the examination of PCFC's books following its liquidation; they were also administering the CVA. I've no idea what's happened with this investigation, but I'd imagine that these things move very slowly. It's also possible that little remained by way of paper trails once the Oldco went into liquidation, which would slow any investigation pretty significantly. PKF will be examining the books of PFC2010, which is a totally different company, so they won't turn up anything from the old company. There won't be so much to go through at PFC2010, as the company has only been in existance for a relatively short period. However, they'll have plenty to get their teeth into I'd have thought; not least of this will be the question of insolvent trading, given that the business paid its staff two months running without paying HMRC. As administrators, they are duty bound to report on all that they find; unlike Mr Andronikou, they're likely to take this duty seriously.

It was reported from the court that Norris cast doubt on the validity of the debenture.

What will happen regarding Chainrai's debenture remains to be seen. If it can be shown to be invalid (which will mean that proof would have to be found that no money passed from Portpin to PFC in 2009) then presumably it is simply struck out. However, I have no idea of the niceties of such things. The other issue, as far as PFC and Portpin are concerned, is the charge over Fratton Park held by the latter. Can this simply be removed, always assuming that it was taken out in return for no money passing the other way (or no debt being incurred from PFC to Portpin)? Presumably the owners/management of PFC were willing to grant this charge at the time, but given that the owner was Al-Faraj and either Storrie or Azougy was running the show, that's not saying very much. Beyond this, there's the question of other debt - the payments to Baker Tilly, the money owed to CSI and so forth. Plus, of course, the ownership of the land around Fratton Park, which is indisputably owned by Gaydamak. And the question of whether the business can be run on a solvent basis until a buyer can be found, which itself begs the question of whether a buyer can be found. Even if the purchase price comes down to a level which looks reasonable, any buyer will have to either invest massively (ground, training ground and other facilities for starters) or simply run a lower League 1/League 2 club with what's there now. Are there any potential buyers? If there are (you've mentioned Brian Howe as a possibility in an earlier post) do they have the funds or indeed the will to part with many tens of millions in addition to the purchase price? All in all, quite a tangled mess for Birch et al to sort out - and what I've listed here may only scratch the surface.

Last time they went into administration, HMRC challenged the administration on two counts. First, they claimed that there was a close link between the proposed administrator, one Andrew Andronikou, and one of the creditors, one Balram Chainrai; second, they queried the club's ability to trade throughout the period of administration, as the considered them to be insolvent. Following an initial hearing, a meeting between Andronikou and HMRC led to this objection being dropped, while Chainrai gave a guarantee to fund the club as necessary during administration, until such time as a buyer could be found. This time around, the objections will be very similar - but there are some rather important differences. First, the suggested links between Andronikou and Chainrai look distinctly more real than they might have done two years ago, following a CVA which favoured Chainrai and Andronikou being chosen as administrator of CSI by Chainrai. This point will tell against Andronikou being appointed as administrator. Second, there is nobody (as far as I am aware) who has offered to stand as guarantor for the club in the period of administration; so, if they are currently insolvent (which they clearly are) how can they continue to conduct their business without accruing further debt? They can't sell players, so reducing costs is hardly an option; given the attendance at what could easily be their last ever game at Fratton on Tuesday, it's hard to see that they can increase revenue; and they have nobody willing to fund the club through administration. Doesn't look good, does it? If Andronikou has a rabbit to pull out of a hat, it's going to have to be some bunny. Perhaps it will wear a waistcoat and carry a pocket watch. Somehow though, I don't think it will be called Keith.

No. The first winding-up petition was heard by Mrs Justice Derrett; she had scathing words for Pompey, saying they appeared to be trading whilst insolvent among other things, but stopped short of winding them up. No doubt the level of defence they mustered (how many winding-up cases get defended at all, do you think?) swayed her; anyhow, she asked for a full statement of financial affairs to be presented two weeks later. This never happened, as Chainrai put them into administration first. HMRC contested the choice of UHY, and in particular of Andronikou, as administrator, claiming there was a link between him and Chainrai. They may also have queried Pompey's ability to trade solvently during administration. This was heard by Justice Norris, who acknowledged that there were concerns and scheduled a second hearing two weeks later (always seems to be two weeks, doesn't it?). This never happened as HMRC dropped its challenge after receiving assurances over funding and also a meeting with Andronikou. Justice Mann (Mr not Mrs) heard HMRC's case contesting the CVA in the summer of 2010. HMRC presented their case appallingly badly, and Mann never seemed to quite get what their objection was. He ruled against HMRC and the rest is history.

Good thinking, they could meet their new owner there too!

Are West Ham really appealing that sending-off, or was that just a bit of post-match huff and puff? Big Fat Sam said he'd seen it (and several other incidents) on his laptop and was certain Taylor shouldn't have been sent off, that he only caught Sharp in the chest and that Sharp rolled around holding his face. He must have a very special laptop. If they do appeal it I can easily see Taylor getting banned for an extra game.

That's how it should have read I think...

Keith Gregory, eh? This'll be him then...

So, whatever happened with that bid (the first one, as I believe you referred to it) which apparently went in a few weeks ago? Not much by the looks of it. And how about that expert opinion you quoted, to the effect that Portpin had no charge over Fratton Park, and no debenture over PFC? Those worked out nicely too, didn't they? I've asked you about these before and never had an answer, so I shan't expect one now either. For one who's so keen to argue the toss over what others write, you have a remarkable record of posting completely duff information. On another topic: in your preferred scenario, as outlined in your last paragraph, are you expecting that independent administrators would keep the original CVA as it currently stands? If so, then all creditors would have to be paid in full, as you can't favour one over the others. Given that the current level of debt is looking like £50M or more, that then would be the minimum asking price for the club. I'm assuming that you wouldn't consider this to be a 'reasonable purchase price'. The only way that such a price could be negotiated is if the current level of debt is drastically reduced, meaning that creditors will receive little or nothing anyway. Or am I missing something here?

Excellent stuff. Jeremy Hardy's take-off of Redknapp is brilliant.

Brilliant.

A far better summation than that blog article; in fact, said article reads almost like something that Ho might have written. All the usual fantasy stuff is there - far from being a bottomless money-pit, Pompey represents a decent investment for some lucky chap (or chapette), the high earners can be effortlessly shifted out of the club, Chainrai will let go of his debenture on PFC and his charge on Fratton Park for next to nothing if he's got any sense, and of course Gaydamak will part with the land he owns for a fiver or so if he's asked nicely... The only way it differs from Ho's ramblings is in acknowledging that Chainrai's debenture and charge do indeed exist - more than I've ever seen Ho do. And why is it that so many of the few find it so hard to understand that, should Pompey be liquidated, ownership of Fratton Park will revert to the charge-holder, namely Portpin? It won't be an asset of a liquidated company, it will belong to Portpin, pretty much as it does now.

Something along the lines of: "Career-ending injuries can happen so easily, if you get my drift..."

Apparently he was very good at fixing the club's PCs...

Pompey Royal was a Whitbread beer - they served it in the Cricketers in Fair Oak. I think it was a reinvention of the old Brickwoods Best Bitter, which Whitbread had tried to replace with Tankard (yuck!) but couldn't as it was too popular. So they hitched a ride on the real ale bandwagon instead and made a virtue of necessity. As I recall it was a nice beer, in spite of the name - then again, back in the late 70s and early 80s Pompey were an irrelevance to many Saints fans!

Yep, that's what I remember too. Pompey were handed advance parachute payments simply to keep them afloat (and get them off the Premier League's hands at the same time!), so that's a considerable whack gone from the total before they were even due to receive them. I assume that the remaining payments will be made according to the original schedule and that therefore they'll stop being paid early. Not that it'll make any difference if there's no club to pay them to of course...

Perhaps this is where they get their inspiration...

Nice try, but I think we all know it was the other way round. Don't remember drinking in the Angel, but I used to go to the Joiners a hell of a lot when it was still a pub in the late 70s. Which brings to mind Eldridge Pope, another lost brewery. Their Royal Oak was a glorious beer. The Eastlleigh Hotel (now converted into flats) was an Eldridge Pope pub as I recall - spent many a lunchtime in there when I was in the 6th form. Amazing how long you could make a pint last back then!

Spot on - we sold players (Surman for one) plus Leon stumped up half a million - effectively paying for Pinnacle to get their exclusivity period, but that cash kept us going at the time. Pompey have sold only one player, for not very much, and have sod all other cashflow to keep them going were they to enter administration. As you say, the end game nears. When we were in administration, a local brewer (the Romsey Brewery I think?) came up with a Saints Ale which I remember drinking in the Platform Tavern. I hope they're readying a celebratory ale for a few weeks' time - they could call it Old Morphy Richards or something of that sort. Then we can all gather together and toast the happy event...

Ah, HSB in the Bay Tree - that brings back happy memories of wasted Saturdays! I used to love the winter ale that Gales brewed between October and March as well. The Newport Inn over at Braishfield was another Gales pub, and it's still exactly the same now as it was when I first went there on my 16th birthday in 1976! Home-made ham sandwiches and HSB - heaven. As DSM has mentioned above, Gales was bought by Fullers and production eventually moved to Chiswick. Fullers make a fair number of decent beers, though sadly they've dropped all the Gales range bar HSB (and I'm sure that's not really what it was); I had a draft stout of theirs in a pub in Winchester a while back which was excellent. My girlfriend lives in Horndean, so I see the sad sight (or site) of the old Gales brewery pretty often. I gather it's a vast site, which you wouldn't know from the road, so it's hardly a surprise that it hasn't been sold.

Sounds like a very expensive sneeze...

I think it's the presence of a winding-up petition which means that dispensation has to be sought for the company to enter administration. Under normal circumstances, a business which becomes insolvent engages the services of insolvency practitioners. They in turn decide whether the business can continue to trade, in administration and thus protected from creditors, until a buyer can be found and a CVA agreed. If this is not considered to be possible (if, for example, there are no potential buyers, or if the business is losing money on day-to-day trading) then the business will simply be liquidated. And it's this which makes it difficult to the point of impossible to see how Pompey can survive. There are no interested buyers (or at least none who would have sufficient funds) and the business is clearly trading at a loss and is unable to fund itself through a period of administration. Add to this the fact that they are constrained by the winding-up petition and would be unlikely to be able to convince a court that they are a going concern. Two years ago Chainrai was willing to fund their time in administration; this time he says he isn't. They have one, forlorn, hope - that a highly wealthy individual emerges to buy them. Unless that happens, they'll be liquidated - maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of their lives (to misquote the great Humphrey Bogart).