Rob Draper told the Sunday Supplement he can't see a way for Portsmouth to get out of their financial mess.
Administration fears grow for Premier League's bottom club
Rob Draper told the
Sunday Supplement he can't see a way for Portsmouth to get out of their financial mess.
Portsmouth have announced they expect to pay their players' December salaries on January 5 after the club delayed wages day for the second time this season.
That news came in the same week that they were forced to issue a statement to deny the club had been served with a winding-up petition by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.
The club are also continuing to operate under a transfer embargo imposed by the Premier League over unpaid transfer debts - and there were protests from supporters during Saturday's FA Cup draw with Coventry City.
And Draper, of the
Mail on Sunday, is extremely concerned about the way in which the club's finances are being handled.
"It's a real mess," he said.
"I'm not sure anyone really knows what's going on. I get the impression that the owners don't really know what's going on!
"I can't really see a way out for them at the moment. Peter Storrie was saying that they're going to borrow some money to pay the wages on Tuesday, which is five days late.
"But if you're allegedly £60million in debt and you're then having to borrow money just to meet your normal running costs, that's a dire situation.
"They've got the Inland Revenue on their back, they were due to get some TV money from Sky in January but the Premier League have made it clear that money will have to go to pay off transfer debts.
"They're literally running out of money. To me it seems borrowing money to pay wages is like reaching your household costs on your credit card; you can do it once or twice but you can't keep doing that."
Cost
Under former manager Harry Redknapp, Portsmouth won the 2008 FA Cup and secured back-to-back top 10 finishes in the Premier League.
But expensively assembled players such as Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Lassana Diarra have since been sold and Draper feels they are now counting the cost of buying beyond their means.
"In Peter Ridsdale's words they lived the dream," Draper continued.
"They were way beyond their means and in the summer the bank asked for their loan back. I don't know the exact amount but it was in the £30million to £40million amount.
"That was the credit that potentially bought those players and paid the wage bill. They bought players that were better than they otherwise could have afforded and they had a great team."
Rules
The club is now owned by property tycoon Ali al-Faraj, but he does not appear to have been able to pull the club out of their financial problems.
And Draper insists there needs to be tighter rules in place to ensure potential football club owners really possess the money that they claim to have.
He continued: "It seems to me a lot of people come into football now and say 'I've got this fantastic foreign investment' and they kind of get away with it.
"Whether those people never had any chance of getting foreign investment or whether they're just hoping they might get it somewhere along the line and it falls through, English football is allowing itself to be held hostage to a lot of these characters who come along and claim the world.
"Everyone's desperate for another Roman Abramovich who, as we know, was the real deal and did spend the money.
"I just think there should be more regulation over it. They should be examined more before they come in.
"In France and Germany you have to put a bond down show you have this amount of money."
And ultimately, Draper fears the future is bleak for Pompey fans.
"If you pushed me I would say it looks like it's heading towards administration," he concluded.
"We don't know what's going on behind the scenes. Maybe they've got a new loan, a new owner... but if you look at all the facts that are available in the public domain it looks like it's going to be administration."
