By Andrew Warshaw
April 11 – After years of pain, heartache and broken dreams, the biggest fan ownership in the history of English football has finally been rubber-stamped after administrators of Portsmouth football club struck a last-minute deal for the sale of the club’s ground hours before the High Court hearing was to rule on its value.
A takeover by the Pompey Supporters’ Trust (PST) can now be completed for a club that is £60m in debt and has been in administration for 14 months.
Former owner Balram Chainrai’s Portpin company claimed they were owed £12m by the club and held Portsmouth’s home as security. The PST had offered £2.3m for the ground but with Portpin unwilling to sell at that price, administrators went to the High Court. But just as Wednesday’s hearing began, it was announced that a late agreement had been reached out of court on a figure thought to about £3m plus add-ons.
“Now the next chapter of hard work begins to transform our club into something the community of Portsmouth can be proud of,” said Ashley Brown, PST chairman . “It’s taken a lot longer than we wanted but in the end we got the result. Of course we believed it was possible otherwise we would not have put so much effort into it. There have been times where we thought we would definitely do it and times where we thought we wouldn’t.
“This moment should be something special for all fans, not just Pompey. This should give a belief of what is achievable. We like to say we are the biggest community club in the country and we hope other clubs will follow. This is an historic day.”
Administrator Trevor Birch, who has been to the brink during months of tortuous negotiations, added: “I’m completely relieved. My reaction is relief that it is all finally over. It’s taken quite a bit out of me personally. It’s been a very difficult and complex case. It’s been hugely frustrating, but at the end of the day it’s all been worth it and Pompey are alive and kicking.”
The club had been in grave danger of being thrown out of the league completely having been warned they must come out of administration before the end of this season. The PST have raised around £2m in pledges with fans’ donating £1,000 each but there was nevertheless a grave risk of Portsmouth being liquidated.
The deal marks the end of a sorry saga of constant mismanagement for an iconic club that has been in administration twice in three years and suffered back-to-back relegations.
On a day of drama at the High Court after two previous adjournments, the case lasted a mere few minutes as Katharine Holland QC revealed an “agreement in principle” had been struck. It means Chainrai’s four-year hold on the club is at an end and Birch will now start the process of bringing the club out of administration, expected to be completed by 22 April.
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