Portsmouth FC fail to block winding-up petition

Portsmouth FC has failed to block a winding-up petition from HM Revenue & Customs at the High Court.

HMRC had applied for the petition against Portsmouth on 23 December but the club argued the VAT part of its tax bill was too high.

The High Court judge dismissed Portsmouth's claim and the hearing is expected to go ahead on 10 February, however he said the issues involved in the case were "difficult" and granted the club permission to appeal his ruling. If this were to go against them, it would push Portsmouth a step closer to administration.

However, a statement from Portsmouth said the judge "considered that any appeal to the Court of Appeal would have a 'real chance of success'".

If it were to succeed, the club said, "this would result in the judge's ruling being reversed and HMRC's petition being struck out, without the petition proceeding to the final hearing".

Portsmouth now has seven days to lodge at appeal and if the club were to go into administration, it would face an automatic nine-point deduction

Posted at 07:18PM Jan 20, 2010 by Kelly Board in The Economy  |  Comments[0]