Chelsea 4 – 0 Portsmouth : Scoring Summary

Chelsea: Juan Mata (48′)
Chelsea: Ramires (85′, 87′)
Chelsea: Frank Lampard (90′)

Highlights after the jump…..

Avram Grant opens up a little bit about and discusses the current situation at West Ham as well as a little bit about his time at Portsmouth and Chelsea. There are some very honest opinions from Avram Grant in this short interview and some very valid points.

The club released a statement saying that the club faces going out of business unless a deal with former owner and creditor Alexandre Gaydamak and prospective buyer Balram Chainrai can be struck – described as “impossible” in a club statement.

Statement after the jump….

The statement said: “The process has been extremely complicated and there has been a team of people working night and day to get the deal done.

“The most difficult aspect has been trying to achieve agreement with Alexandre Gaydamak after the remaining parties have agreed the deal and executed the necessary documents, namely the new owners, the administrators, the Football League and the creditors.

“Unfortunately, despite the new owners fulfilling all the requirements of the Football League and the creditors, and agreeing and signing up to the required terms of the purchase of the club, at the 11th hour the goalposts have been moved by Mr Gaydamak and this has now made the deal impossible to complete.

“Put simply, despite being offered full payment for the secured part of his debt in accordance with the financial plan approved by the Football League, this morning Mr Gaydamak has demanded a very significant up front cash payment in order to allow the deal to proceed by releasing his security.

“All this is in spite of his lawyers going to Paris this morning specifically for the purpose of witnessing his signature to the document agreed yesterday.

“It is neither in the interests of the club nor its unsecured creditors for such a ransom payment to be made, particularly where the payment is being demanded by one of the authors of the club’s current circumstances.

“In addition, and equally importantly, all of the business plans submitted and approved by the Football League would be fundamentally damaged by such a requirement placed on the club by Mr Gaydamak.”

“It appears likely that the club will now be closed down and liquidated by the administrators as they are unable to support the continued trading of the club.”

[via]

image

Drogba’s 37th goal of the season, the eventual winner, was a free-kick in the 59th minute that found the net from 20 yards. By the way, that Didier Drogba… he’s really good.

More highlights after the jump….

Ballack Injury

Today a 70-page document was sent to all the club’s known creditors that accounts what the club owes down to the £1 claimed by Harley Street cancer clinic 108 Medical Ltd. Portsmouth are owed a total of £14 million from Inter Milan, Liverpool and Tottenham for the respective sales of Sulley Muntari, Glen Johnson and Jermain Defoe. But that money only knocks the stricken club’s gross debt down to around £105 million, which is substantially more than the administrators had originally expected.

Details after the jump…

When Portsmouth went into administration, French club Rennes were receiving over £630,000 a month for John Utaka, Udinese were being paid up to £800,000 a month for Muntari. Portsmouth still owe Chelsea money for Johnson, who was sold to Liverpool in the summer.

• The biggest single amount of money Portsmouth owe is the £38.2 million of unsecured loans to former owners, with Alexandre Gaydamak the main claimant though Sulaiman al-Fahim is owed £5 million.

• Chainrai, the fourth and final owner is owed £14 million in a secured loan.

• Portsmouth also owe HM Revenue and Customs £17.1 million in PAYE, VAT and National Insurance.

• Portsmouth owe £9.76 million to 26 agents, including £2.3 million which is due to one agent reported to be the transfer of Lassana Diarra.

• Nine players – including Muntari, Sol Campbell and Niko Kranjcar are owed a combined total of £3.04 million in image rights.

• Portsmouth also owe bonus payments to 28 players, including England internationals Peter Crouch and David James, totalling £1.86 million.

• Portsmouth owe Tottenham £1 million over Asmir Begovic despite the Bosnian goalkeeper having signed for Stoke instead.

• Portsmouth have been left owing Spurs a £1 million sell-on fee, on top of £500,000 for the loan signing of Jamie O’Hara and £3million from the signing of Kevin Prince Boateng.

• The report includes 15 pages of local business creditors which range from an outstanding bill of £87.50 with the Co-operative florists to a far more significant debt of £54,777.93 with TWC Joinery and Shopfitting Ltd.

The administrator Andrew Andronikou, of Hacker Young, needs at least 75% of the unsecured creditor base to accept reduced repayment terms and agree to Company Voluntary Arrangement.

An agreement from Gaydamak, al-Fahim and HM Revenue and Customs would be enough for Andronikou to move the club out of administration.

Portsmouth’s plunge into the deep red began in 2006 when, under Gaydamak’s control, the club went from a pre-tax loss of £912,397 to a staggering £23.4 million in 2007. Gaydamak had plans for a new stadium and wanted to develop revenue streams away from football while establishing the club in the top 10 of the Premier League.

sources : images words

It’s was a pretty dramatic couple of days following Portmouth’s Premiership Relegation and subsequent qualification for the FA Cup Final, but French side Lens have given striker Aruna Dindane the go ahead to play despite the fact that the 29 year old Ivory Coast International playing in just one more match would trigger a 4 Million Pound buyout included in his loan.

Via DailyMail

Portsmouth striker Aruna Dindane has been cleared to play in the FA Cup final against Chelsea after a deal was struck with French club Lens.

Pompey were refusing to pick the 29-year-old Ivory Coast striker again because one more appearance would trigger a clause that forces his loan deal to turn into a £4million permanent move.

After a personal plea by Dindane, Lens have now accepted a £200,000 payment to waive their right to the fee.

Image via Zimbio

After going down by a goal, Aston Villa end up winning to keep their slim hopes of finishing in the top four alive.

The public perception of Portsmouth’s Europa League situation will continue to pick up speed among the supporters, but that doesn’t mean that other Premiership head coaches won’t have their say as well.

First up, Everton’s David Moyes and Wigan Athletic’s Roberto Martinez.

Via Guardian

The Everton and Wigan Athletic managers yesterday praised Avram Grant for guiding the financially stricken club to the FA Cup final, but were adamant the penalties of administration should be accepted. Portsmouth are seeking a Uefa licence to play in the Europa League next season having become ineligible once they were unable to file audited accounts to the Football Association last month, but Moyes believes their appeal should be rejected.

“If Portsmouth earn it they deserve it but if you don’t apply to go into it, and don’t do the right things, then you can’t expect to be in there,” the Everton manager argued. “I have sympathy with the situation the club are in, and what Avram has done is nothing short of miraculous under the circumstances. You’d have to ask why Portsmouth didn’t apply.

“Did they not apply because they didn’t think they were going to make it? Then maybe they don’t deserve to win the appeal as they didn’t believe enough in their team. Did they not apply because they had done it late or not had the right people in place? Then that’s a mistake internally and they have to abide by the rules like everybody else.”

Martínez said he was “not at all surprised” as he watched Grant’s side defeat Tottenham in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final but believes a points deduction is merited for any club that slips into administration.

“It is up to Fifa to look closely at this situation and make it harder for this kind of mess to happen. Clubs are institutions that mean a lot to the community but some have begun to feel they can get away with being badly managed and you cannot allow that,” he said. “If you are mismanaging a club financially then you are trying to gain an advantage on the football pitch, so a club should be punished with a deduction.”

Portsmouth’s administrator, Andrew Andronikou, believes the club could succeed in its bid to play in the Europa League. The first step in making a case to the FA would be to agree a company voluntary arrangement with creditors to exit administration. Andronikou is understood to be finalising an offer to put to creditors. If that is agreed, all football debts have been settled and up-to-date accounts filed, the club will be a position to make a case to the FA before Uefa’s 31 May deadline.

Andronikou said: “I believe that we will satisfy all the criteria. We should be in a CVA by the deadline, all debts will have been sorted out and arrangements made with the football creditors. We should tick all the boxes. In terms of sport ethics, I think the club has had its medicine, has been taught its lesson and should be allowed to go forward, and preventing them from playing in the Europa League would be wrong.”

Rob Lloyd, the property tycoon who has been conducting due diligence on the club’s books, was believed to be meeting Andronikou last night and is understood to remain optimistic a deal can be done.