Pompey - on the brink??

[Barry the bird boggler]

I bet Southampton fans are loving it....

[Deathy]

Nice

[Stranded]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 329673.stm

Hit with a transfer ban now due to footballing debt - tried to sign a free agent but the FA refuse to register him

[Thaumagurist*]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8329673.stm

Hit with a transfer ban now due to footballing debt - tried to sign a free agent but the FA refuse to register him

I wish they had done the transfer ban before they signed Tommy Smith.

[wolsey]

Seems like Hull maight be applying to join the club

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/oct/28/hull-city-accounts-losses

Hull City warned by accountants of struggle to remain a going concern• Hull require £16m surplus to meet current liabilities• Players sales recommended as way to raise funds

Hull City have been warned their uncertain financial position threatens the club's "ability to continue as a going concern". The club's accounts, filed five months late to Companies House, say that in the event of relegation the Premier League club will need to generate a £23m surplus just to meet their existing liabilities.

The grim forecast from the club's accountants, Deloitte, emphasises the need for a financial overhaul during the next 12 months to safeguard Hull's future. Although the figures for their first season in the top flight will not be available until next year, the independent auditors' report, with its stark warning, does cover the club's current financial situation.

In the accounts for the year ending 2008, which were due on 31 May but only filed this month, the club made a £9,764,850 loss during a period that culminated in winning promotion to the Premier League.

Most telling, though, is Deloitte's prediction that Hull will need to raise an additional £16m should they retain their Premier League status this season and a further £7m again if the club, currently ensconced in the bottom three, slip back into the Championship.

The report proposes that Hull might seek to recover those sums through a combination of player trading, commercial activities and/or a cash injection. However, Hull have already sold their best player, Michael Turner, who joined Sunderland for around £6m this summer, and there are few other significant assets within Phil Brown's struggling squad.

It is significant that the auditors, in these latest accounts, do not suggest that the Essex-based property investor Russell Bartlett, who took over from Adam Pearson in 2007, will invest further in the club to make up the shortfall, as often is the case with football benefactors.

"These forecasts demonstrate that in order to operate within the company's finance facilities Hull City AFC will need to generate a surplus £23m during the next 12 months through player trading, match day and commercial income and/or through additional finance raising," the report said.

"In the event that the club retains Premier League status for the 2010-11 season, the additional funding required for the 12-month period will be in the region of £16m. This is reduced as a result of the guaranteed level of Premier League distributions that will be received ...

"As is common with all football clubs, Hull City AFC will make player purchases and sales during the course of the season to manage the company's cash flow as and when required. The directors acknowledge that player purchases and sales are uncertain in terms of timing and quantum and some uncertainty exists over the availability and quantum of additional facilities should such be required.

"These conditions indicate the existence of a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern."

Although Hull supporters might point to the pot of gold that accompanies winning promotion to the Premier League as a reason to believe the accounts for the year ending 31 May 2009 will be more encouraging, much of the money is likely to have been swallowed up in salaries and transfer fees. Paul Duffen, the Hull chairman, claimed last month that the club had spent £19m buying players in January and the summer, while receiving at most £10m from the sales of Turner and Sam Ricketts to Bolton Wanderers.

Duffen also said at that point that "there are no problems here, the club is properly financed" when questioned about why the accounts had not previously been filed with Companies House.

He went on to say: "We are in discussions with our auditors about the wording of the notes to the accounts." No one at Hull City was available to make any comment last night.

[TBM]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8329673.stm

Hit with a transfer ban now due to footballing debt - tried to sign a free agent but the FA refuse to register him

I wish they had done the transfer ban before they signed Tommy Smith.

Why? - he's shit!

[Thaumagurist*]

Seems like Hull maight be applying to join the club

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/oct/28/hull-city-accounts-losses

Hull City warned by accountants of struggle to remain a going concern• Hull require £16m surplus to meet current liabilities• Players sales recommended as way to raise funds

Hull City have been warned their uncertain financial position threatens the club's "ability to continue as a going concern". The club's accounts, filed five months late to Companies House, say that in the event of relegation the Premier League club will need to generate a £23m surplus just to meet their existing liabilities.

What a fucking surprise. People on the Team board very often whinge about how the likes of Hull and Wigan are able to spend a lot of money when we are not. It's simple. They are spending beyond their means, i.e. they don't have the money and are borrowing it!

[Dirk Gently]

Seems like Hull maight be applying to join the club

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/oct/28/hull-city-accounts-losses

Hull City warned by accountants of struggle to remain a going concern• Hull require £16m surplus to meet current liabilities• Players sales recommended as way to raise funds

Hull City have been warned their uncertain financial position threatens the club's "ability to continue as a going concern". The club's accounts, filed five months late to Companies House, say that in the event of relegation the Premier League club will need to generate a £23m surplus just to meet their existing liabilities.

What a fucking surprise. People on the Team board very often whinge about how the likes of Hull and Wigan are able to spend a lot of money when we are not. It's simple. They are spending beyond their means, i.e. they don't have the money and are borrowing it!

Wigan have debts of £22m whcih they'll never, ever, be able to pay off.

[Vision]

Seems like Hull maight be applying to join the club

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/oct/28/hull-city-accounts-losses

Hull City warned by accountants of struggle to remain a going concern• Hull require £16m surplus to meet current liabilities• Players sales recommended as way to raise funds

Hull City have been warned their uncertain financial position threatens the club's "ability to continue as a going concern". The club's accounts, filed five months late to Companies House, say that in the event of relegation the Premier League club will need to generate a £23m surplus just to meet their existing liabilities.

What a fucking surprise. People on the Team board very often whinge about how the likes of Hull and Wigan are able to spend a lot of money when we are not. It's simple. They are spending beyond their means, i.e. they don't have the money and are borrowing it!

Wigan have debts of £22m whcih they'll never, ever, be able to pay off.

Surely DW just signs a cheque doesn't he?

[Dirk Gently]

Surely DW just signs a cheque doesn't he?

If he was going to, why didn't he do it immediately, instead of letting it build up as "debt".

Any what if he dies or goes bust?

[Hoop Blah]

Wigan are in a very similar position to us before we were relegated though aren't they?

We had what, £11m on our overdraft? They have a bit more.

We owe £25m to the Chairman, they a bit more. Same situation but obviously a little more so. They also have another few years of the mega mega bucks from the Premiership as opposed to us who left if before the numbers got really really silly.

[handbags_harris]

I can't believe Wigan are in a similar position to us. The main difference between Reading and Wigan is that Wigan habitually spend big money on players who so obviously demand big wages for the level they are at. You can go back to them spending £2.5 million on Nathan Ellington, getting promoted, spending big money on the likes of Alan Mahon, Jason Roberts, Geoff Horsfield, and then getting promoted and promising Paul Jewell £40 million to spend as he wished. They have habitually spent big, and recklessly so for the smallest club in the Premier League. Or in other words, we were a profitable outfit in the PL, Wigan have never been.

[Terminal Boardom]

I can't believe Wigan are in a similar position to us. The main difference between Reading and Wigan is that Wigan habitually spend big money on players who so obviously demand big wages for the level they are at. You can go back to them spending £2.5 million on Nathan Ellington, getting promoted, spending big money on the likes of Alan Mahon, Jason Roberts, Geoff Horsfield, and then getting promoted and promising Paul Jewell £40 million to spend as he wished. They have habitually spent big, and recklessly so for the smallest club in the Premier League. Or in other words, we were a profitable outfit in the PL, Wigan have never been.

There is also the tidy profit that they have made in the transfer market on the likes of Chimpbonda, Palcios and Valencia.

[handbags_harris]

I can't believe Wigan are in a similar position to us. The main difference between Reading and Wigan is that Wigan habitually spend big money on players who so obviously demand big wages for the level they are at. You can go back to them spending £2.5 million on Nathan Ellington, getting promoted, spending big money on the likes of Alan Mahon, Jason Roberts, Geoff Horsfield, and then getting promoted and promising Paul Jewell £40 million to spend as he wished. They have habitually spent big, and recklessly so for the smallest club in the Premier League. Or in other words, we were a profitable outfit in the PL, Wigan have never been.

There is also the tidy profit that they have made in the transfer market on the likes of Chimpbonda, Palcios and Valencia.

Which is another difference - Reading in the PL wouldn't have had to have sold their best assets for financial reasons. Wigan have to.

[weybridgewanderer]

wigan have more or less broken even in the transfer market from 1992 to 2010, mainly due to making £18M in the transfer market so far this season

only current premier league teams to have made a profit in the transfer market over that period are Pompey and West Ham, argueably 2 of the teams most in trouble

http://transferleague.co.uk/data/data.html

[Vision]

Surely DW just signs a cheque doesn't he?

If he was going to, why didn't he do it immediately, instead of letting it build up as "debt".

Any what if he dies or goes bust?

Sorry Dirk I was being facetious.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Wigan are lucky though, they have chairman whose raison d'etre is football...

[Barry the bird boggler]

From the BBC

Portsmouth have been banned from making new signings until they settle transfer debts owed to other English clubs.

The Premier League blocked Pompey manager Paul Hart's attempt to sign midfielder Eugen Bopp on Monday.

And they will not lift the ban until the club, who are bottom of the Premier League, have settled their debts.

Portsmouth spokesman Gary Double said the problem "should be resolved quickly" but the ban will raise fresh questions about the club's finances.

"This is in the process of being sorted and we are confident the situation will be sorted by the end of the week," Double said.

Saudi businessman Ali Al Faraj took over at Portsmouth three weeks ago, buying a 90% stake from previous owner Sulaiman Al Fahim.

Last week, Al Faraj was quoted in the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat as saying he was "no billionaire", knew nothing about sport and wanted to sell the club quickly.

Israeli mogul Levi Kushnir and Hong Kong-based Balram Chainrai have subsequently emerged as potential investors in the club and have attended Pompey's last two matches, Tuesday's 4-0 Carling Cup win over Stoke and Saturday's 0-0 league draw at Hull.

Another short transfer ban was imposed on the club at the end of August because of debts they owed, BBC Sport understands.

With seven players unavailable for the Stoke game, Hart was eager to sign Bopp, who he had managed at Nottingham Forest.

The 26-year-old, who was a free agent after being released by Crewe in the summer, had been training with Portsmouth for the last few weeks.

However, the Premier League refused to register the player because of Portsmouth's debts.

The transfer ban is the latest in a long line of off-the-field problems for manager Hart.

There was a delay in the players' wages being paid in September, while the club was on the brink of administration in August.

"A club needs to know where it is going and have a long-term plan," stated Hart ahead of the game with Stoke.

"I wouldn't like to go any further with that because I haven't had these conversations with the new owners. I would anticipate this would be in the next month."

[Hoop Blah]

Which is another difference - Reading in the PL wouldn't have had to have sold their best assets for financial reasons. Wigan have to.

Who said it was because of the money?

They make some astute moves in the transfer market and then players want to move on. That's not neccessarily because of financial reasons, more that players see them as a proving ground and often only go there as a stepping stone.

There is nothing wrong with selling players at their peak market value to keep the club funded, Wenger does a similar thing at Arsenal and even the likes of Man Utd have to let players go when they have their heads turned by another club.

[Dirk Gently]

I understand that I'm told that three PL clubs are subject to detailed financial monitoring by the PL - Pompey, West Ham United and Liverpool.

All are struggling to make the payroll, pay PAYE, NICs and VAT to HMRC and transfer fee instalments.

Pompey are in particular are likely to have £5 million deducted from the next £12 million payment from the PL to go to Arsenal, to cover the remaining £1 million owing on the transfer of Lisanna Diarra and the £4 million owing to Arsenal from a sell-on clause following his subsequent move to Real Madrid.