Portsmouth face freefall fears as club enters uncertain transfer window

Posted Sunday, January 03, 2010 by theguardian.com

Portsmouth face freefall fears as club enters uncertain transfer window
David James is one of the likely departures from Fratton Park this transfer window, with a move to Tottenham on the cards.

Concern is growing on the south coast that Avram Grant will be unable to strengthen a threadbare Portsmouth squad as he seeks to save the club, four points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League, from relegation.

Portsmouth do not expect to be able to deal in the transfer window until 10 January at the earliest, when they are due to be paid a £7m instalment of TV money from the Premier League – and they are aware that the ban on signing players could be enforced throughout the month.

Portsmouth owe £10m to other English clubs for outstanding transfer payments. The League will do all they can to ensure the club cannot run up further debts, and may decide not to lift the ban.

Even if the embargo is lifted, Portsmouth expect difficulties with recruitment. Certain available players have been identified as possible signings, and approached, but have voiced reluctance at moving to Fratton Park because of the club's instability.

After the 1-1 draw with Coventry in the FA Cup, about 150 fans gathered outside the entrance to the Fratton Park directors' entrance to voice their anger at the current regime. They sang "Sack the board", "What the fuck is going on?", "Where's the money gone?" and worse. The owner Ali al-Faraj, has never visited the club, and was not there to hear the abuse directed specifically at him.

Portsmouth did not pay all their staff this month – the third time it has happened this season – and Grant faces the prospect of having to sell some of his best players. Younes Kaboul, Kevin-Prince Boateng and David James are among those he might lose.

The news comes as a senior dressing room source voiced his fears of the club dropping down not just to the Championship but to League One. The source urged al-Faraj to act decisively and said: "We can definitely avoid going down, the spirit is good. But no one should be sold, and we need probably three or four players.

"Everyone believes we are good enough to stay up but if this is not sorted out then we could go into freefall. If we were relegated who knows what might happen next season? It could happen again."

One of the club's campaigning supporters, Colin Farmery, said: "We are clearly at a pivotal moment for Portsmouth, but I don't believe it is inevitable that the club will go into freefall."

Farmery, a leading member of Virtual Pompey Alliance, an established coalition of supporters groups, who is in regular dialogue with the club's former owner, Sacha Gaydamak, added: "If PFC has such unmanageable debt, how come the position has only really become evident since the new owners took charge? If they bought the business knowing its debts, then it is their job to deal with them, not pass the buck to the previous regime. If they were unaware of the debts, one can only conclude that the new owners are incompetent."

Faraj took control in October, through an investment vehicle Falcondrone Ltd, though there is confusion over the roles of a number of figures said to be connected with him, and the club.

Daniel Azougy, a convicted fraudster who was sentenced to five months in prison by the Tel Aviv magistrates court in 2001 and disbarred from practising as a lawyer for 14 years in Israel, has been employed on a short-term contract to "help deal with the club's finances", the club confirmed.

Israeli businessmen Roni Mana and Yoram Yosepov are also said to be advisers, while their countryman Levi Kushnir is a business partner of Balram Chainrai, who is based in Hong Kong and has loaned Portsmouth about £18m. Previously, Chainrai and Mana have, in separate cases, sued Gaydamak's father, Arkady.

Last week the picture at the club was further muddied when Gaydamak Jnr, who claims he is owed at least £28.5m by Portsmouth, told the Guardian: "I would like to know who the ultimate beneficial owner is, what plans they have for the future, and if I am to be paid."

Farmery said: "The key problem is that there is a complete lack of transparency about the ownership position at the club. The 90% owner is a British Virgin Islands-registered company [Falcondrone]. Establishing who are the shareholders and directors of this company has proved virtually impossible."