pedg

Not really worse as this has been known about for a while. What is surprising is that more people have not jumped on board the WUO.

Thank you, understand, I think?

I thought that with the WUO that they could not bring in their own administrators they had to be appointed by the court? Or did I misunderstand that bit?

I think he used the words 'holding them in trust' which to me implies that he is intending to hold them personally only till he can find a buyer (hint try financially incompetent but still billionaires R us) rather than explicitly setting up a trust?

Not to mention worries about his judgement.. from the guardian article.. And sources close to Chainrai have also claimed to the Guardian that it was solely because of his former business links with Gaydamak Sr that he had become aware of Faraj's ownership of Portsmouth, believing the club to be a sound investment of the £14.5m he and Kushnir had been awarded by the court. You would have thought he would have twigged something from the fact the bank wanted its money back and no one else would lend them anything?

So if he never loaned them the money where did the 17 million that they needed to keep going at the time come from? The loan fairy? Point is that they have been loaned 50 million from various sources and either Chainrai has to clear those loans and sell at a price that recoups what it cost him to clear them or has to sell pompey at a lower price with the loan repayment becoming the responsibility of the new owner. If you have a piggy bank with a tenner of your money stuck in it you are either going to want to sell it for more than a tenner or try hard to get your money out before selling it.

At least all this will not delay various tax evasion cases.

Think we can divide this into two parts: Pompey in court for the WUO Milan, Arry and Story on tax avoidance charges. For the first I think the HMRC will treat them like children trying to avoid doing their homework and will try and lay down the law. Its then a case of does Chainrai want to go double or quits on his bet? For the second I think they have less chance of weedling their way out of punishment. To some extent this also affects the first as Chainrai must know that even if he stumps up for all the bills or managed to avoid them that if there is enough proof of improprietry that they will be docked points anyway.

"The importance and priority is to stabilise the business and give the players, staff and fans of Portsmouth FC confidence that the club will go forward." Strangely I would have thought that settling the outstand bills would be better at bringing stability than constantly trying to avoid them?

Todays guardian fiver.... ANY PORTSMOUTH IN A STORM A high court judge has lifted a so-called "super injunction" obtained by the Fiver in what has been hailed as a major step towards continuing the media culture of having to take amusing "sideways looks" at the demise of Portsmouth Football Club. Mr Justice Gavelbasher decided he should lift the temporary gagging order he had granted, which prevented the tea-timely football email from reporting which shadowy Johnny Foreigner owns the south coast club today, how much money they owe, whether or not their website has been shut down, how late they are paying their wages this month, how many games David James can play before triggering that clause in his contract, how annoying the clanging noise being made by That Bloke With The Bell is and how distraught that poor girl must have felt when she saw, y'know, walk in and unbuckle his belt. The injunction – self-imposed after the Fiver felt its will to live ebb away in the wake of its last story about Portsmouth – had been heavily criticised by assorted media outlets who felt it was unfair that the Fiver was exempt from reporting on the Premier League club's meltdown when they still had to. Big Paper drew attention to concerns about the case and the judge today decided that freedom of speech, however unwanted, should take precedence over the Fiver's sanity. Sources close to the Fiver say it is "in bits" after hearing that the injunction had been lifted. "This couldn't have happened at a worse time for the Fiver," revealed a close friend of the Fiver, that the Fiver has just made up. "Portsmouth feature prominently in the news today, what with, y'know, and a company owned by a guy called Balram Chainrai having seized control of the debt-ridden club in lieu of a £17m loan he gave to its previous owner Ali al-Faraj earlier this season that was secured against the club's stadium, future television revenue and Faraj's 90% stake in the club." The source added that the Fiver will now be forced to sit slumped in a chair staring into the middle distance for several minutes, trying to figure out if having their club owned by somebody who was financially reckless enough to loan it £17m a few months ago is a good or a bad thing for Pompey fans. "The Fiver hates having to have opinions about things it doesn't understand, which is just about everything," it revealed. Sky Sports News, which is also reported to be under considerable mental strain at having to give regular hourly updates on the chaos surrounding Portsmouth, have reacted to the news of Justice Gavelbasher's decision by running a completely pointless feature explaining who can jump highest out of Everton midfielder Tim Cahill, a salmon and a gazelle. It's a gazelle.

Well you could end the season (if you get that far) with more owners than wins

Think that 17 million is a coincidence. What might happen however is the Gady might write off 17M of what the club owe him so that Chainrai can increase the price of the club by 17M as the total price, including clearing debts would then be the same.

To remind what might happen only have to look at what happened to Luton town http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/football_league/article4340138.ece The FA expressed sympathy with Luton's plight yesterday, but a three-man panel insisted that the punishment of a ten-point deduction and a £50,000 fine fitted the crime of failing to register payments to agents with the governing body.

So assuming he wants to take the club to financial stability what is that going to cost him? Assuming HMRC play hardball and the clubs 'appeal', if it really exists, fails then that's 7million there? Outstanding transfer payments come I think I read somewhere to about 14M assuming they have to be paid by the end of the season? Salaries coming down but still at least 2M a month? Large number of other suppliers (i.e. just about everyone) owed money for several months if not longer so would not be surprised if that does not come to several million? One would guess that gaddy will not be pushing for his £9M immediately. Anything else??

The insider confessed that Portsmouth still fear a winding-up order from HMRC on Wednesday. Portsmouth failed to 'strike out' the order in the High Court and have appealed, but the insider told Soccernet: "We have lodged the appeal, but it now looks possible it will all be heard on the Wednesday together with the winding-up order. We would hope our appeal will succeed but you never know." So an appeal, which could only be over a point of law, that if successful could have a major effect on VAT payments in lots of situations besides football transfers and possibly cost HMRC millions is be decided on that Wednesday morning?

The one attributed quote says: Chainrai said: 'To help Portsmouth succeed we need the support and understanding of Her Majesty's Revenue to work out a solution.' Which sounds more like trying to put HMRC off wanting full payment than actually stumping up the money. Plus again as I said above to get to the end of the season they are going to have to pay an awful lot of smaller bills along the with big ones. If they have been putting off things like the electricity bill for a considerable period then those together are going to be a very significant figure.

I think i did get my figures mixed up a bit but the point is there are two loans, an earlier larger one against the ground and a later smaller one against everything else. One would guess to claim both due to lack of payment there would have to lack of payment on both?

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Gaydamak-happy-with-new-man.6042523.jp Glenn Cooper, Sacha Gaydamak's financier said he thinks the change in ownership is good news for the club. 'He secured loans on the shares owned by Al-Faraj and now as 90 per cent shareholder of the club he owns and runs it. By law he can get rid of management or the directors. 'I think supporters will take the view that any change has to be an improvement. 'We will be talking to Mr Chainrai once he has settled in. Portsmouth City Football Limited owe the money to us. We continue to own the land which surrounds Fratton Park so Mr Chainrai will want to talk to us.' Fairly clear that he expects a lot of the board to get the boot.

So according to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1248397/Portsmouth-confirm-FOURTH-owner-season-Balram-Chainrai-seizes-control-Fratton-Park-Ali-Al-Faraj.html Chainrai's plans for the club are as yet unconfirmed but he is said to be intent on stabilising Pompey's dire financial situation before searching for new investors. Chainrai said: 'To help Portsmouth succeed we need the support and understanding of Her Majesty's Revenue to work out a solution.' No. you don't need the support and understanding of HMRC you just need to pay them the money they are due! Why is it anyone with money taking over there appears to leave their wallet at home when it comes to these things?

However, unfortunately I believe the money you are due to pay out on transfers is in the nearer future. I guess someone might lend you money against transfer income due in the future but who is to say this has not already happened as if they could it would appear to be the easiest way of clearing the debt to HMRC?

"Chainrai has a charge on the property, not a charge on the club, so I would say that he is not the owner of the club, nor is he seeking to be." That's not what the text of the second loan implies (assuming the guardian article was correct). The first loan of 20 million was against the property but the latter one was against the club. I suppose they are arguing they are late with payments on the 20 million but not on the 7 million on the club?

Sounds about right if he keeps the club but if he wants to sell he will want he 20 million back plus the 17m from the 'settlement'. So to buy them someone would still have to stump up 40+ million. Plus as I said above we are discussing only the major single debts but they have obviously run up an awful lot of smaller debts which together probably run into several millions as well. They also have £14M in delayed transfer payments to make in the near future I believe?

The question is not if he is interested in the club long term as is he interested in owning the club short term? As pointed out above to get you out of your current hole will take a fair amount of cash and its by no means certain that he would find a buyer unless the debts can be reduced substantially and its had to see how he can do all that and still come out with the money he has put in, let alone a profit.

Some money has gone to HMRC already from the transfers and some of the money on salaries could be balanced out by the next TV money (when ever that is). Personally think the killer could be that despite these main sources of debt they have racked up a large number of smaller debts which together probably comes to quite a few millions on top of the rest.

Sounds like he is the sort of person to be more interested in a profit than having a trophy premier league team. Guess there are two ways it can go: 1) He invests just enough to keep them going and if they stay up he can hope to sell them for either a profit or a minimal loss. 2) He closes the whole shebang down and tried to make a profit on the land.