How did Portsmouth FC become debt-free?

  • The Fighting Cock is a forum for fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Here you can discuss Spurs latest matches, our squad, tactics and any transfer news surrounding the club. Registration gives you access to all our forums (including 'Off Topic' discussion) and removes most of the adverts (you can remove them all via an account upgrade). You're here now, you might as well...

    Get involved!

Latest Spurs videos from Sky Sports

Was just reading about Exeter FC being owned by the supporters' trust and then Portsmouth was mentioned as one of those also fan-owned.

What I do not understand is:

They were in debt of over 60m pounds and yet, as of September 2014, they are now debt free?

How on Earth is that possible? They hardly could muster up 2m pounds and now they are debt free?

Do they simply not have to pay their old creditors off once the club was in administration?

Doesn't that mean, technically, that say, Manchester City could be a billion pounds in debt, the Qataris leave, and then after going into administration and not paying off anybody, the supporters could buy the club at some ridiculous price? Voila, debt free? Er...I mean I don't GAF about Qataris, Russians and etc. but surely there are other local creditors who just lose all their money??
 
Was just reading about Exeter FC being owned by the supporters' trust and then Portsmouth was mentioned as one of those also fan-owned.

What I do not understand is:

They were in debt of over 60m pounds and yet, as of September 2014, they are now debt free?

How on Earth is that possible? They hardly could muster up 2m pounds and now they are debt free?

Do they simply not have to pay their old creditors off once the club was in administration?

Doesn't that mean, technically, that say, Manchester City could be a billion pounds in debt, the Qataris leave, and then after going into administration and not paying off anybody, the supporters could buy the club at some ridiculous price? Voila, debt free? Er...I mean I don't GAF about Qataris, Russians and etc. but surely there are other local creditors who just lose all their money??
In that scenario City might be debt free, but they would also have been relegated a few times and all their saleable assets (i.e. players) would be gone. That is what happened to Pompey after administration.
 
only football debt has to paid in full in order for the golden share (or league place) to be transferred to the new holding company. all other debt (including that owed to HMRC) is paid on an agreed pence in the pound basis.

I believe it was leicester that built a stadium and then went into administration, ensuring that costs on that stadium wouldnt be paid in full (the main contractor lost about 5 million)
 
And much of the debt Pompey owed wasn't real debt anyway, the owners had saddled them and asset stripped the club. Total crooks, and the fans paid the price; the club was very close to disappearing but it was very unfair all the points deductions as only the fans got hit by that.
Anyway good they are on an even keel. Their tiny stadium by prem standards is massive for the league they're in with a decent fan base so they should climb to the Championship fairly easily I'd have thought. But bizarrely a lot of their best players are emergency short contract players from other clubs by the sounds of things.
 
a couple of there lads who had a lot to do with there rescue and are involved
with the running of the club still today at board level post on another spurs site and have been very informative
about all the trials and tribulations of pompey.
yet i doubt most on here would have nothing to do with them as youd regard them as
Neanderthal thugs from the past..
 
a couple of there lads who had a lot to do with there rescue and are involved
with the running of the club still today at board level post on another spurs site and have been very informative
about all the trials and tribulations of pompey.
yet i doubt most on here would have nothing to do with them as youd regard them as
Neanderthal thugs from the past..

More impressed they have the patience to post on a message board when typing with their massive ham like fists....

:troll:
 
As far as I understand it they agreed to pay a decreased amount of the debt upfront, a few years before it was originally due. In terms of raising the money, good fanbase and I don't think they've spent any money on transfers since 2011 or something like that. Mainly free transfers and loans.
 
My dad and two brothers are Pompey fans. Really pleased to see them get promoted. As if relegation wasn't bad enough they had to endure Tony Adams as manager at one point and all sorts. I also was out today and saw a kid wearing a Pompey shirt (in Wiltshire) and I haven't seen that since they got relegated from the prem. Think they've got a good chance of moving on up again in the next year or three.
 
Last edited:

Now that's a surprise. Eisner was notably head of Paramount during one of it's golden eras that oversaw classics like the Indiana Jones films, the conversion of Star Trek into a series of films, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Beverly Hills Cop and many others. Then went off to Disney and started another golden era with Roger Rabbit, Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Lion King et al. He's a very notable name if you're a movie buff. If he invests then Pompey will be in the Prem within five years.
 
He was head of Disney when they bought the California Angels(baseball). Sterilized the shit out of them, made them a working product from bottom of the barrel fodder, and they won the World Series.

Pompey fans might love this ownership or absolutely despise it. I feel the latter will happen.
 
Back
Top Bottom