Generic clubs in financial crisis Thread

[Stranded]

Makes total sense then as SFers says then. HMRC are owed money, Pompey have one month to find it by selling players - HMRC get paid, Pompey continue on their merry way to relegation.

[buzzby]

Players wages not paid on time again at Portsmouth.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8435997.stm

[soggy biscuit]

Lens lodge complaint with UEFA against Portsmouth after they fail to pay their installments for Nadir Belhadj and Aruna Dindane. Lens President Gervais Martel says he will be seeking discussions about getting Pompey kicked out the league.

The Premier League has put into place contingency plans to divert from Portsmouth the £7.5 million TV installment due in the first week of the New Year directly to Spurs, Chelsea and Watford.

[ZacNaloen]

Why those three teams?

[winchester_royal]

Or, mebbe, Pompey owe money to those 3 teams.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Indeed - Watford are still owed money for Tommy Smith, there's quite a few ex-Spurs players at Pompey and I'd guess that Chelsea added a sell on percentage to the deal involving Glen Johnson.

[Big Foot]

Lens lodge complaint with UEFA against Portsmouth after they fail to pay their installments for Nadir Belhadj and Aruna Dindane. Lens President Gervais Martel says he will be seeking discussions about getting Pompey kicked out the league.

The Premier League has put into place contingency plans to divert from Portsmouth the £7.5 million TV installment due in the first week of the New Year directly to Spurs, Chelsea and Watford.

Wasn't it also Lens who reported Chelsea to FIFA over Kakuta? Grassing bastards

[Ian Royal]

The PL need to stop trying to keep Pompey alive. It's just dragging it out and making everything worse. Sometimes you've just got to turn off the life support when the patient is brain dead.

Unless they're just trying to keep them afloat until they're the FL's problem again to maintain the "PL is wonderful" bullshite.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Unless they're just trying to keep them afloat until they're the FL's problem again to maintain the "PL is wonderful" bullshite.

Well you've just hit the nail on the head.

[Dirk Gently]

The PL need to stop trying to keep Pompey alive. It's just dragging it out and making everything worse. Sometimes you've just got to turn off the life support when the patient is brain dead.

Unless they're just trying to keep them afloat until they're the FL's problem again to maintain the "PL is wonderful" bullshite.

Yep - spot on. Never forget that much of the PL is all about marketing. They're desperately trying to protect their "brand", which is vital to their whole business plan.

[Royal Rother]

Liverpool would be better.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

I agree, let them go bust. Perhaps a high profile case like this will finally show clubs they can't keep spending more funds than they actually have.

apparently pompey fans were singing "where's the money gone" at their last game, which rather goes to show that fan stupidity is pretty endemic.

[Southbank Old Boy]

I agree, let them go bust. Perhaps a high profile case like this will finally show clubs they can't keep spending more funds than they actually have.

apparently pompey fans were singing "where's the money gone" at their last game, which rather goes to show that fan stupidity is pretty endemic.

Why???

Have you seen how much money player transfers have made them in the last couple of season? Thats a lot of money irrespective of the wage bill they had when Arry was in charge

[handbags_harris]

Two stories on the Beeb that are worthy of this thread, the first concerns Palace and their delayed wage payments for the second month:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 438106.stm

The second conerns Cardiff, a couple of days after Dave jones was going on about a £3 million transfer kitty as a result of an early season ticket renewal plan. Now, call me a cynic, but clubs are only offering new season tickets now because they have no cash at the present time, like Sheffield Wednesday. Where Cardiff are finding £3 million from is anyone's guess. Anyway, the NOTW has claimed Cardiff are to become the 2nd club in a few days to face a winding up order from HMRC over a £2.7 million unpaid tax bill:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 438393.stm

[PieEater]

It looks like shifty dealings from the Cardiff board, getting 10,000 mug STH to pay their tax bill when they thought they were funding a transfer kitty to get them to the Prem.

http://www.cardiffcity-mad.co.uk/news/t ... ndex.shtml

[Royal Rother]

Boy-o-boy.

So many are teetering. When one goes there could be a veritable avalanche following.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

I agree, let them go bust. Perhaps a high profile case like this will finally show clubs they can't keep spending more funds than they actually have.

apparently pompey fans were singing "where's the money gone" at their last game, which rather goes to show that fan stupidity is pretty endemic.

Why???

Have you seen how much money player transfers have made them in the last couple of season? Thats a lot of money irrespective of the wage bill they had when Arry was in charge

it's only a lot if it's a profit, which I doubt it is.

[Royal Rother]

Yes, it pretty much is cheating - and I'd suggest it is possibly in breach of insolvency rules as well.

Not my area of expertise but I believe that strictly you cannot take deposits off people for future work / services (which is surely what next year's ST's are) without informing them in writing that the company is insolvent. I doubt that was done.

I also think that the deposits received are supposed to be ring-fenced so they cannot be used to settle current debts.

Might be too literal there, someone will know more I'm sure....

[Dirk Gently]

It's simpler than that - you just can't trade if the company is insolvent.

Lots of clubs do it but for some reason very few seem to be pulled up for it - although this is one of the things Mike Lewis was found guilty of at Exeter.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-458762/Businessman-jailed-Grecians-fraud.html

[Dirk Gently]

Yep - although The Sunday Times's version of this story is a bit more revealing.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/leisure/article6973929.ece

For instance :

The club insists the debt is not a problem because the annual interest on the various loans is covered by its operating profit. In 2008, net interest on all its debts was £69m against an operating profit £72m. The main concern for the club’s owners is the £175m of loans that the Americans are personally responsible for and which “roll up” interest at an annual rate of 14.25%.

The so-called payment in kind (Pik) notes borrowed from Perry Capital and Citadel, two American hedge funds, initially stood at £138m in 2006, but have since accrued £40m of unpaid interest.

This all supports the suggestion that the Glazers wanted to come in for a year or two and then sell at a profit, but the Credit Crunch has scuppered them completely.