Pompey possibly two months from administration exit
Reuters - Tuesday 16 March 2010, 12:32
LONDON - Premier League Portsmouth could
come out of administration in six to eight weeks, administrator
Andrew Andronikou said on Tuesday after a High Court winding up
order was suspended.
The troubled club was back in the High Court to address
revenues and customs concerns about the process in which it
entered administration last month - a move that prevented it
folding up under a mountain of debt.
"The hearing occurred and the administration continues as
normal," Andronikou told Reuters by telephone. "The cloud has
been lifted. We had to go to court as a reference point but the
administration has now been rubber-stamped."
Andronikou, who last week announced 85 redundancies at the
club which is bottom of the Premier League, said the winding up
order would be removed once the club came out of administration.
"I think that will be in six to eight weeks," Andronikou
said, adding that on Monday he had met Cheshire-based
millionaire Rob Lloyd who is heading a consortium interested in
buying Portsmouth.
"I met him last night and set out a few ground rules and we
have agreed a way forward," Andronikou said. "There are still
some boxes for him to tick."
HM Revenue and Customs' formal acceptance of Portsmouth's
administration means the club is almost certain to be docked
nine points under Premier League rules but Andronikou said he
would fight against such a move.
"The odds are stacked against us," he said. "I feel that
other clubs feel that we should take our medicine but I feel
that we should be judged on results on the pitch.
"Yes, it is a Premier League rule but that rule has never
been tested and that's what I will do."
If Portsmouth are relegated and do not come out of
administration they would also incur a 10-point Football League
penalty, which Andronikou said would be a "disaster."
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