Potential buyer says losing points would put him off
SELF-PROCLAIMED multi-millionaire businessman Keith Gregory expressed his intent to take over Pompey – but wants to secure a deal ahead of tomorrow’s administration hearing.
Mr Gregory, a relative of former Pompey chairmen Jim and Martin Gregory, says he has no interest in the club once it goes into administration.
Pompey’s administration hearing will be held at the High Court in London tomorrow. Administration will lead to the club suffering a 10-point penalty in the Championship.
The 57-year-old said he is keen to secure a deal with Andrew Andronikou, who will become the club’s administrator when the application goes through.
Mr Andronikou has been acting as joint-administrator of Pompey’s parent company, Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI), since November.
The latest interested bidder told The News he is a successful international businessman in the leather industry and is based in Hampstead, London.
He said he owns ‘quite a lot of different companies’ but would not divulge which.
Mr Gregory said: ‘We are not coming in to take from Pompey. We are coming in with money and we have the money to turn the club around.
‘I want to talk to the administrators as soon as possible.
‘I will put my money into the club and it will go to where I take it. But if the club loses 10 points then I am not interested.’
He added he wants to buy Pompey for his son Alexander, 27, who he said is involved in organising chess tournaments.
‘He is one of the major people in chess tournaments and he is a big football fan,’ said Mr Gregory. ‘If Pompey give him a chance, this is exactly what they want.’
Jim Gregory owned Pompey from 1988 to 1994, when ill health forced him to step down. His son Martin, who was an unpopular figure among fans, became chairman before selling the club to Milan Mandaric in 1999.
Mr Gregory added: ‘People need to forget the name Gregory and I don’t respect Jim or Martin Gregory. I feel I can do the deal, get in and stop the 10 points deduction.’
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Comments
There are 115 comments to this article
Page 1 of 8
dave3974
Friday, February 17, 2012 at 06:59 PMthe site is ideal for housing , the club is redundant , let us move on
BillyTheFish
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 09:49 PM@110. I think youll find there is already a rule for a points deduction for being in arrears to HMRC
Mike_Hunt
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 05:01 PMPut yer money where yer mouth is or feck off Mr Gregory!!
Le Critique
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 03:43 PMIf he's really interested in buying he needs to get a move on and put his money where his mouth is. The rules is the rules and we will lose 10 points if we go into administration. It's not pleasant but the Football League are unlikely to make any exceptions even though they messed up with the Fit and Proper Persons test. The way things work in Football can be so frustrating. You've got that dodgy Blatter bloke running FIFA and he gets away with murder and then you have this situation with Pompey who may go out of business but there are things that can be done to stop this happening but the rules won't bend for us.
YoureHavingaLaugh
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 03:36 PMWhy is that footballmania? That is exactly what happened when Ipswich were taken over. A deal was done with the main creditors and they were not paid in full. If a club goes into admin there is no guarantee of a buyer stepping forward and there is no guarantee of any price, so if someone steps forward with an acceptable offer a deal gets done. As I have said I can't see it happening here, but anyone can buy a business at anytime so long as a price can be agreed. If you don't agree with that then instead of just calling me an idiot perhaps you would like to explain why this is not so.
YoureHavingaLaugh
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 03:29 PMGosport Fairy Don't see your logic either. The authorities want the clubs to get richer so they spend more on players and wages and create excitement to sell TV rights etc. I can't think of much the authorities have done to show that they have a strong desire to keep their house in order. If that was the case CSI would not have been able to take over Pompey. Maybe you could come up with some examples where the FL, PL or FA have taken the side of HMRC over a club? Perhaps if they were interested they could easily impose a transfer embargo or a points deduction on any club in arrears to HMRC.
Gosport Fairy
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 03:15 PM@105 YHaL Don't get your logic . "That won't happen either as the governing bodies do not want to stop money coming into the game." The clubs get richer. The governing bodies don't, it doesn't make any difference to them who the 92 pro-teams are. There's 3 or 4 teams in L1 of equal or bigger status to PFC. If they go under an extra one will be promoted and an extra team up from Lg2, Conference etc. The governing bodies get most of their money from tv deals and sponsorship deals. So they will be more than happy to show the rest of the world they are taking whatever steps necessary to keep the footballing house in order. The last thing they want is constant accusations of financial shenanigans tarnishing the reputation of the game, making it less appealing to sponsors. I think the time has come that they will go out of their way to work with HMRC, government or any other interested parties to prove they are doing things right and unfortunately for PFC they have been found out doing things wrong at the worst possible time.
footballmania
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 03:07 PM107 YoureHavingaLaugh There is a word for what you have just written.........IDIOT.
YoureHavingaLaugh
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 02:56 PMfootballmania there is nothing to stop someone buying the club before admin and getting a good deal. For example they could agree to buy it for £1 and not take the debts as long as the creditors agreed. Unlikley to happen here owing to the very short timescales to reach agreement and the number of creditors involved.
footballmania
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 02:55 PMHaving now evaluated everything I can ...here is my version of the scenario....... Chanrai has the most to lose here.......so he has put the club back into admin....he will then buy the club back for 20p in the pound.....Nothing else makes any sense here..and it's legal. A.A. is ( in my opinion ) trying to put all other buyers off with very inflated valuations to ensure Chanrai secures the deal........that is illegal. Am I right..........who knows ??
YoureHavingaLaugh
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 02:53 PMGosport Fairy still think you are missing the point. If Pompey get wound up no club will change the way they operate because they don't think it will happen to them. Gaydamak didn't look at Leeds and think his business model looked a lot like theirs. If Leeds had been wound up he still wouldn't have. To decrease the possibility of clubs over spending and going into admin will take a change in regulation. That won't happen either as the governing bodies do not want to stop money coming into the game.
gnorty_rascal
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 02:52 PMDid this guy really say he has no respect for Jim or Martin Gregory? Theses are relatives of his, and no matter what his personal feelings I would not expect a professional businessman to say something like this. Apart from that, I don't remember really having problems with Jim at Fratton, Martin was a different thing altogether, but Jim was OK. Do I have rose tinted memory specs?
loyal number 12
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 02:50 PMA STREET seller who was assaulted in Leamington’s busiest street is furious his alleged attacker was let off because of a lack of evidence. Keith Gregory, 57, of Hampstead in London, was in the Parade on Saturday advertising leather jackets which were being sold at the Travelodge hotel nearby. As he stood outside H&M at about 3.30pm he was approached by a large man who was with another man and two women. Mr Gregory said: “He said ‘this is the second time you have insulted me and my wife’ and he headbutted me. “I had never seen the guy before the attack had happened. “One of the women he was with kept saying ‘it’s nothing to do with you’ to him. “I sometimes advertise my jackets as Big Ron’s leather jackets and he was a big guy so maybe his name was Ron.
loyal number 12
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 02:49 PMhttp:www.warwickcourier.co.uk#news#local#my_attacker_walked_free_after_i_chased_him_through_the_streets_1_3346628 replace # with a slash
loyal number 12
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 02:46 PMThis doesn't fill me with excitement, a multi millionaire businessman who stands on the street trying to sell leather jackets from a hotel!! http:www.warwickcourier.co.uknewslocalmy_attacker_walked_free_after_i_chased_him_through_the_streets_1_3346628 He won't name his companies, well here he obviously trades as Big Ron's Leather Jackets. Who else thinks this guy makes Dell Boy look like Richard Branson???
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