Portsmouth get 7-day stay of execution!

[dantuck_7]

Portsmouth have been given a seven-day stay of execution after getting more time to fight a winding-up petition.

The club now have until 1600 GMT on 17 February to file a "statement of financial affairs" proving they can pay their creditors.

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs had taken Portsmouth to court over an unpaid tax bill amounting to £7.4m.

If Pompey file the statement, the earliest the case could return to the High Court is Friday 19 February.

Court registrar Christine Derrett said she feared the company would continue to trade and build up more debts that would not be paid.

"I am very concerned about the financial status of this company," she said. "It seems to me there's a very real risk that this company is undoubtedly trading while it is insolvent.

"I'm obviously conscious that, by making a winding-up order, it would have very severe consequences not only for the company as a business but for the supporters themselves, but that's not a consideration that I strictly take into account."

Gregory Mitchell QC, who represented HMRC, said: "It's quite clear, beyond any doubt at all, that this company is insolvent.

"They have failed to provide any evidence at all as to their solvency. There are many debts and they are unpaid."

However, Pompey were granted extra time to settle their tax debt after arguing they had received two serious offers to buy the club.

As well as the VAT bill Portsmouth is disputing with HMRC, it also owes £4.7m in unpaid PAYE and National Insurance which were not part of the court petition on Wednesday.

Last week Balram Chainrai, a Hong Kong-based businessman, became the club's fourth owner of the season.

He is looking to sell the club quickly and has no wish to see it go under as he has made substantial loans to Portsmouth.

Bottom-of-the-table Pompey have debts of £60m and are five points from safety following a 1-1 home draw against Sunderland on Tuesday.

Their financial woes have meant their players have been paid late on four occasions this season.

Portsmouth are also involved in a separate dispute with former owner Sacha Gaydamak over whether they have missed a deadline in paying a £9m chunk of the £28m they owe to him.

The Fratton Park team are also being sued by former defender Sol Campbell for £1.7m for unpaid image rights.

More to follow.

Does anyone here know what the ruling would be if they were liquidated? Speaking to someone last night, he claimed that all games that were played against them would be wiped out from the PL table. If so, this would mean that teams that have dropped points in the title race against them could have a better position in the league after their results are taken off?

Noticeably....

Saturday, 19 December 2009
Portsmouth 2-0 (HT 1-0) Liverpool
Belhadj (33)
Piquionne (82)

[shadow]

out of the cup on sat 13th and out of buisness on 19th !!!!! i am so happy.....[sfc]

[dantuck_7]

Or it could go the other way... Southampton get soundly beaten on Saturday and then on the 19th Portsmouth go bust. In that case Southampton and Portsmouth would both be out of the cup and then someone (Harry Redknapp's THFC maybe!) would have a bye through to the semi-final.

Got to love these conspiracies!

[legod]

out of the cup on sat 13th and out of buisness on 19th !!!!! i am so happy.....[sfc]

ditto....SFC here in NZ

[dantuck_7]

Looks to me that Portsmouth are playing for the draw, just so that they can get a replay and some more revenue in.