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Goodbye Portsmouth


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If fat Fred was still here could this have been us?

 

Portsmouth FC faces the end of its 112-year history at the High Court today after eleventh hour talks with the taxman failed.

 

Sky sources have revealed that the HMRC will push for a winding-up order for Pompey, signalling the death knell for the club.

It owes £7.5m to the taxman and a winding-up order will take the club into liquidation, effectively the end of the line for any business.

Sources said last minute negotiations had broken down over a deal to pay a portion of the money back and reschedule further debt.

The Barclays Premier League's bottom club is expected to ask for an extra 28 days to put together their case.

 

But if the club fails in its bid for a stay of execution, Pompey could go into liquidation.

Manager Avram Grant made an impassioned plea to the courts after last night's last-gasp 1-1 draw against Sunderland.

He said: "Football is not one plus one is two, it is a passionate game.

"It is not a clear business where there are no feelings - there are feelings of fans, players and my own. There are problems, but football is more than this."

 

He added: "This club needs to stay alive. That is more important that football. It is 112 years old.

"It is a traditional English club and in these circumstances I am doing everything to keep this club alive, but I cannot do it alone."

Grant added: "I don't know about the financial situation but we are trying to fight and keep it."

If Portsmouth, who won the FA Cup in 2008, go into liquidation it will be the first time that a Premier League club has done so.

 

 

Sky's Business Correspondent Joel Hills said: "In theory the difference between adminsitration and liquidation is the difference between intensive care and burial.

"Liquidation would mean the immediate end to Portsmouth's season, the death of the club (formed in 1898) and the immediate termination of the contracts of all players and staff."

Sky's Enda Brady, at the High Court, said: "Portsmouth may be hoping for some last minute adjournment, some stay of execution for them to get their house in order."

Portsmouth owner Balram Chainrai has said that more than 600 jobs could be lost if the club goes into liquidation.

 

Former owner Ali Al Faraj

Chainrai is the club's fourth owner this year, following Alaxandre Gaydamak, Sulaiman Al Fahim and Ali Al Faraj.

In the same court, after Portsmouth, will be League One club Southend United and Championship outfit Cardiff City, also both face winding-up petitions.

It is the second time Cardiff, who lost to Pompey in the 2008 FA Cup final, have faced a winding-up order over an unpaid debt to the taxman.

The Bluebirds have been in discussions with HMRC over a reported £2.7m tax bill in an effort to reach an agreement before the court action.

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Sources within The Premiership have told us off the record that their decision is that the team currently at the top of the Championship will gain instant promotion, with guaranteed no relegation.

 

Wouldn't that be just soooooo NUFC if it were true :jesuswept::P

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Sources within The Premiership have told us off the record that their decision is that the team currently at the top of the Championship will gain instant promotion, with guaranteed no relegation.

 

Wouldn't that be just soooooo NUFC if it were true :jesuswept::P

 

Echoes of 1990 shuddered through me after reading that.

 

Remember the old argument who should have been promoted instead of Swindon (who won the play off final but then were demoted to Div 3 after an illegal betting scam - in a match against us incidentally)?

 

Choices were:

 

Newcastle (who'd finished 3rd in the league and therefore were the highest placed non-automatic promoted club).

Sunderland (who'd lost a very one sided play off final to Swindon).

 

The league chose the unwashed....

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They'll just do a Boro so it won't make any difference.

 

Another Hall lie was that NUFC would have ended in 1991 - especially since the two-headed vermin had shown the way forward in 86.

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Despite being a bunch of south coast scruffs you have to feel a little sorry for them and also for Grant, who despite looking like the appropriate party to preside over what's happening to Pompey - i.e. an undertaker - seems to genuinely care what happens to them.

 

No club should ever have to face this. And 'Appy 'Arry's laughing all the way to the bank.

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I can't say I'm too sad to be honest. Mouthy scruffs, shit ground, shit fans (14000 for a premiership game last night on one hand people saying they're England's best fans on the other), possibly the worst place in the south of England.

Edited by Stevie
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They'll just do a Boro so it won't make any difference.

 

Another Hall lie was that NUFC would have ended in 1991 - especially since the two-headed vermin had shown the way forward in 86.

More like a Maidstone United.

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I can't say I'm too sad to be honest. Mouthy scruffs, shit ground, shit fans (14000 for a premiership game last night on one hand people saying they're England's best fans on the other), possibly the worst place in the south of England.

 

I have to say my lack of sympathy relates to charging £30 for seats bolted on to an open terrace with no plans for a new ground for years until recently.

 

Also got a minor kicking/chasing in 84.

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I can't say I'm too sad to be honest. Mouthy scruffs, shit ground, shit fans (14000 for a premiership game last night on one hand people saying they're England's best fans on the other), possibly the worst place in the south of England.

 

I have to say my lack of sympathy relates to charging £30 for seats bolted on to an open terrace with no plans for a new ground for years until recently.

 

Also got a minor kicking/chasing in 84.

 

All the same, football fans are in serious danger of losing the club they love because of financial fuck ups. Whether their ground is shit, some of their fans don't turn up in their masses or that some are mouthy is irrelevant.

 

If the boot was on the other foot we'd be devestated quite frankly. Football should still be a sport first and foremost, NOT a business.

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I can't say I'm too sad to be honest. Mouthy scruffs, shit ground, shit fans (14000 for a premiership game last night on one hand people saying they're England's best fans on the other), possibly the worst place in the south of England.

:jesuswept:

 

If they do go out of business, I'll be pleased purely because of this freak:

portsmouth-fan-john.jpg

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shame really and I expect we'll see a lot of similar cases over the next year as the megarich get bored and jump ship

 

I don't care about who they are or their fans, like craig says, we'd be devastated, wouldnt want it for any club

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shame really and I expect we'll see a lot of similar cases over the next year as the megarich get bored and jump ship

 

I don't care about who they are or their fans, like craig says, we'd be devastated, wouldnt want it for any club

Agreed.

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