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Portsmouth issued with HMRC winding up order (again)

Personally, I think they've had more than enough chances. Their respective owners are a disgrace, as are the fit & proper rule nonsenses.

Portsmouth have been issued with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue and Customs over unpaid tax.

A source at HMRC confirmed to BBC Radio Solent that the petition against Pompey over unpaid tax has been published.

Chief executive David Lampitt said on Saturday that Pompey had failed to meet two payments totalling £1.6m.

Portsmouth are searching for new owners after parent company Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI) entered administration in November.

"Ensuring tax is paid on time should be at the centre of a football club's business strategy just as it should be for any other enterprise," said a HMRC spokesman.

"Any business that regards paying tax as an optional extra after other expenses are met, or that uses tax collected from employees or customers as working capital, is potentially heading for trouble.

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There is little HMRC can do for a business - be it a football club or not - whose viability is dependent on not paying the UK taxes to which they are liable
HMRC spokesman
"It is only fair to those clubs and to other taxpayers who do meet their obligations that HMRC enforces payment of tax debts owed - and if need be, issues a winding up petition or seeks to appoint an administrator.

"There is little HMRC can do for a business - be it a football club or not - whose viability is dependent either on not paying the UK taxes to which they are liable, or on special treatment not available to other customers with similar tax affairs."

Italian businessman Joseph Cala pulled out of a deal to buy Pompey on Friday.

There is an urgency to complete a deal with fresh backers, as investment is needed if Portsmouth are to meet ongoing running costs.

"This period, while we search for a new owner, was always going to be difficult from a cash flow point of view," Lampitt said on Saturday.

Continue reading the main story

We are in a difficult position and will remain in a difficult position until the ownership is sorted
Portsmouth chief executive David Lampitt
"The club does not have the funding that would have been there if our previous owner had been in place. It has been a difficult two months to balance the financial position of the football club.

"We are in a difficult position and will remain in a difficult position until the ownership is sorted.

"For the time being, it is a matter between us and HMRC and we have to manage that as best we can."

CSI's administrator Andrew Andronikou said on Friday that he hoped to finalise a deal to find a new owner within a week.

"The process of finding a new owner continues. We have got other interested parties, and we have had other interested parties all along," said Andronikou.

BBC South understands that any purchaser would need to provide £12m as proof of funds, and assurances they could meet another £20m in repayments to former creditors, Balram Chainrai and Alexandre Gaydamak
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Comments



  • Not good this time .............who will want them ???
  • Harry must have enough in the pot to buy them ?
  • his dog has ;-)
  • I hope they survive, would like to go there next season
  • Say they get liquidated, would then 4 clubs from League 1 get promotion to the Championship
  • lets nick jason pearce and benjani on the cheap!
  • edited January 2012
    They get liquidated - they will send one less down
  • Bejani wage is a thrid world debt
  • Portsmouth & Harry redknappe, Getting done by hmrc, In the same week,Bit of a Coincident.
  • The team who we have played more than any other in our history and who we seem to mirror a lot of the time(though not so much recently of course)...always had a soft spot for them.
    Guess it must have been around 60/61 that I first went on the train from Hither Green/ Waterloo to Fratton Park at the age of twelve with my pals from Catford Boys School.
    Kids had so much freedom in those days.
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  • One of my favorite teams to play, they have always seemed to try and play good football so always a good game. Good support (I have a couple of cousins who support them home and away). I hope they get out of it. Also hope it does not result in Milwall staying up.
  • Lived in Pompey for 3 years for Uni and also have a bit of a soft spot for them. Would be a massive shame if they ended up in that downward spiral of ending up in liquidation.

    Rules are rules i guess.

    Who would honestly look at them as worth a punt though...
  • If they go under will that mean that they will have used the last two seasons, since they were last in this situation, running up more debt that they cannot now pay? Does this mean that the have failed to keep to agreement made last time, and if so should they not have been wound up last time?

    Just how many times can football clubs spend the tax payers money and be allowed to get away with it?

    I feel for the fans, but at some point HMRC are going to have to close down a football club to send out a message to the rest. It is difficult to make a case for a better candidate than Portsmouth.
  • Was it worth AC Milan at home for all this 'Arry?
  • Sorry but there has to be apoint where enough is enough


    surely when they were purchased this was just a panic smoke screen how did they get duped into another toss pot who aint got cash


    AFC POMPEY is there only choice
  • The club has been poorly ran for years now, the failure to pay tax (again) was no surprise to Saints fans.

    £32m is what a new owner would need, that is a massive amount of money for a club that doesn't have a training ground, own its stadium and struggle to get 13,000 home fans.

    IMO, they will be fine for now. The Football League will forward parachute payments so they can settle the tax bill, they've already gave them a massive help in hand by not deducting them points for their parent company being in administration (the same reason we started on minus 10 in League One a few years ago).

  • Not really sure a Saints fan has the right to have a go at Pompey not paying bills do you?
  • he's not really having a go, just stating the obvious.
  • Indeed. Interesting that you say £32m which is, from memory, what you owed for your new stadium when you knocked it.
  • I feel for the fans as always but I'm with those that say enough is enough. Football clubs have got away with this for far too long.
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  • it will take one to fall and not a Darlo for teams to take note
  • It really needs to be Portsmouth in my opinion.
  • i agree sounds harsh and heartless but it can not go on any longer
  • edited January 2012
    I have every sympathy with their fans I really do, but as has been pointed out above there comes a time when the lunacy of modern day football's finance has to come to head and this may be it.

    Read a bit recently that the still owe loads of small businesses in town money. Not neccessarily large sums but a couple of grand here, a few hundred there, which to a small business in trouble itself might be enough to get them through another month and keep the taxman from their door. They still owe cash to St Johns I understand and it's just not right. Let's not forget this money is owed to us effectively.

    Also agree that the timing is more than coincidence.
  • edited January 2012
    Not really sure a Saints fan has the right to have a go at Pompey not paying bills do you?
    Why is that?

    From memory we owed nothing to HMRC because unlike that lot we still managed to pay the tax bill.
    Indeed. Interesting that you say £32m which is, from memory, what you owed for your new stadium when you knocked it.
    Wrong, the money owed to Aviva for the Stadium was £25m. This was due to be paid back over a 25 year period, it was Aviva's decision to cash it in for a cheaper price when our holding company was in administration.

    While we were in our financial situation we were forced to sale our better players and high earners, when they were in administration they were allowed to add the likes of Kitson and Lawrence who are on almost £27,000 a week....

    Let's not forget their 20p in the £1 offer to clear their £160m debt last time meaning they basically got away with not paying their £38m unpaid tax bill. They've still not paid a penny of their CVA.

    The Football League need to act, it isn't fair that they've managed to get away with a point deduction when their parent company has probably been more important to them then ours was to us, had it not been for their parent company there is no way they'd have been able to spend £4.3m in the Summer.
  • Wrong, the money owed to Aviva for the Stadium was £25m. This was due to be paid back over a 25 year period, it was Aviva's decision to cash it in for a cheaper price when our holding company was in administration.

    I don't, clearly, know the full details but Aviva took what ever they could expecting Southamption to default on the stadium that is worthless to any entity other than the club itself.

    I would also guess that without this 'discount sale' there wouldn't have been a club and they would have seen none of their money.

    Where I do agree with you 100% though is that Portsmouth should be forced out of business and their parachute money should be given to those that they owe money to.
  • Come Saints fan, you must want to save them.
    Who would you hate if there was no Pompey?
  • edited January 2012
    I don't, clearly, know the full details but Aviva took what ever they could expecting Southamption to default on the stadium that is worthless to any entity other than the club itself.

    I would also guess that without this 'discount sale' there wouldn't have been a club and they would have seen none of their money.

    Where I do agree with you 100% though is that Portsmouth should be forced out of business and their parachute money should be given to those that they owe money to.
    Maybe, but the way we settled with Aviva was better than the way most clubs in admin settle their debts with that whole "paying back 20p in the £1". From memory Aviva got between £14m-£17m + the £7m we had already paid them since St. Mary's had been opened.

    Portsmouth being forced out of business would be a good thing for the future of football in that city, if that makes any sense. A new form Pompey wouldn't have debt with the likes of Gaydamak and Chainrai. Saying that though, I hope they make it until the Summer as we play them at St. Mary's in April (should they go bust).
  • Out of interest Saints Fan do you still have the quote button?
  • Come Saints fan, you must want to save them.
    Who would you hate if there was no Pompey?
    I've not said I wanted them to go, I love the rivalry the two clubs have. I just feel a little hard done by that Saints were punished for our parent company being in admin but they haven't had any punishment yet.

    Like I said, should they go bust then I suspect a club will be formed from the ashes.
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