Portsmouth's Debts Revealed
The state of Portsmouth FC's perilous finances have been laid bare for all to see. Administrators UHY Hacker Young have published a 70 page document, detailing what the club owes. The headline figure is a total debt of £119m. The club owes £17.3m in transfer fees, £9.7m to players' agents and scouts, £17.1m in unpaid tax and national insurance contributions and £38.2m in unsecured loans. They also owe £35,000 to Saints and just under £42,000 to King Edward VI School in Southampton. The document also reveals Fratton Park is officially valued at £7.7m - although the administrators consider it to be worth £15m while the club's playing squad is valued at a total of £30m. All the non-playing staff at the club have agreed to defer wages in an attempt to help the club operate on a day-to-day basis, although no mention has been made of the players themselves. The club also owes £3m to current and ex-players for so-called image rights. The administrators predict that without any player sales or deferring of player wages, there will be a shortfall of £7m between the club entering administration and the end of the season. Meanwhile, boss of the Premier League, Richard Scudamore has said that there is no chance of the Premier throwing Pompey a lifeline and that their predicament is purely down to mismanagement of the club. Speaking on Radio 5 live, Mr Scudamore rejected the idea as "absolutely crazy", pointing out that the distribution of TV rights money already provided clubs with at least £30m per season. "You cannot possibly link the distribution of our income with Portsmouth's woes," he said. "If a Premier League club falls into administration it is down to bad management at the club. "If you start the season knowing you are going to get between £30m and £50m as a starter fund from the Premier League… it is entirely possible to get yourself organised so that you don't get yourself into the difficulties that Portsmouth got into." He added that the priority was to see Portsmouth survive as a football club.
Posted at 01:11PM Apr 21, 2010 by Marc Stenton in Insolvency | Comments[0]



