Portsmouth deploy parachute but still in for a big fall?
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 8:34 PM | by Adam Gray 
As the wily Harry Redknapp managed to escape the clutches of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs like a fox in a Staffordshire field, it is one of his old clubs that now appears to be in danger of being caught by the nasty, burly old taxman.
Issued with a winding-up petition on January 3rd, Portsmouth are set to appear in court on February 20th to fend it off, and they have been helped by the lovely Premier League who have loosened the Pompey purse strings by issuing the latest instalment of their relegation parachute payments, believed to be around £2.5 million, to help for the short-term.
Portsmouth’s parent company CSI which is Convers Sports Initiatives for those who need to know, went into administration in November and the club owe around £1.9 million in tax. There is also a hangover of at least £4 million from previous owners.
It is a desperate state of affairs at Fratton Park as a search for new owners leaves them struggling to rub two pound coins together. The club’s bank account is frozen so the staff are going unpaid whilst the players are still awaiting January’s wages, meaning they’ll have to borrow of the missus when it comes to a spot of grocery shopping.
Relief will come in the form of the £16 million-a-season parachute payment from the Premier League but most of that has gone straight to creditors and upstanding bank-men, to use a colloquialism as this page must admit that we don’t really know enough about finances.
That will keep the taxman away for a bit, but according to sources, Pompey could bite the bullet and fall into administration for the second time in three years, later this week.
That would mean the inevitable ten point deduction or whatever the FA decides to do with a harsher punishment considering they have not managed to fix their finances in the recent past, conveniently, they are ten points above the drop zone and that minimum deduction would leave them fighting relegation as well as the banks.
Portsmouth, with support from local MPs have tried to hold amicable talks with HMRC about attempting to stave off the winding-up petition, but these could all be rendered irrelevant by the end of the week. Trouble ahead for Michael Appleton and the lot on the South Coast, as the chant goes, “pay up Pompey, pay up!”
@AdamGray1250
