Portsmouth on the brink of collapse
Posted Saturday, October 23, 2010 by theguardian.com
Portsmouth moved to the brink of oblivion last night after previous owner Alexandre Gaydamak demanded £2.5million that the club cannot afford.
Pompey’s match at Hull today will go ahead as planned but it could be the last in the 112-year history of the famous old club.
They seemed to be on the verge of salvation after finding a way out of the £130m debts which threatened for six months to submerge the former league and FA Cup winners.
After going into administration at the end of February, Portsmouth agreed a CVA – a creditors’ voluntary arrangement in which every creditor was paid back one pound in every five.
Just when it looked certain they would come out of administration and also escape a transfer embargo, Franco-Russian Gaydamak demanded a Paris meeting near his home to demand the extra cash.
Portsmouth administrator Andrew Andronikou flew to speak to Gaydamak, who was owed a fifth of his £28m debt under the terms of the CVA, only to discover he wanted more money.
The problem centres around £2.5m Portsmouth borrowed at the height of their cash crisis from Barclays. Gaydamak paid the bankers and now wants his money back.
Potential new owner Hong Kong-based Balram Chainrai, who put the club into administration, is refusing to find the extra cash. But, as a secured creditor, Gaydamak must agree to the CVA for it to go ahead legally.
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