Portpin unveil fresh plan for Pompey

The Blues’ former owners, led by Balram Chainrai, have vowed to ‘convert a significant amount of Portpin’s debt into equity to further capitalise the new company’ for Pompey.

And they have also ensure all of the club’s unsecured football creditors will be paid.

Their full statement read: ‘Portpin have today revised their bid in response to the questions and comments received from The Football League regarding details of its bid proposal submitted last week, specifically regarding the level of debt being carried forward.

‘It is a Portpin board level decision to address and incorporate the suggestions from The Football League to ensure that the club is well-capitalised and financially solvent from day one following acquisition, and remains so throughout the business plan forecast period over the next five years. This is the long-term vision of Portpin ownership, which it is prepared to support and fund.

‘Balram Chainrai announced “We are committed to own Portsmouth Football Club and build it back up to its rightful place. This does not mean spending lavishly on short-term player contracts as the former owners did. It means stabilising the core business and rebuilding the club and its real estate so that it can trade on a financially secure footing.”

‘He went on to say “Do not judge us on our words but on our actions. Portpin is looking to take decisive steps to deliver this objective. We are offering a multi-million pound, multi-year overdraft facility to The Football League to give the business a cash flow safety net and ensure all unsecured and football creditors are paid. We are prepared to convert a materially significant amount of Portpin’s debt into equity to further capitalise the new company. We are committed to ensuring that not one penny of the parachute payments will be taken out of the club but will be used to fund the business going forwards. We strongly believe that Fratton Park and the Club must stay together as one entity. There will be no cash drain for lease payments to a third party for the use of Fratton Park.

“As the senior secured creditor of Portsmouth Football Club (2010) Limited in administration as well as one of the largest creditors to the club, we categorically do not want to see the business stripped of its principal asset to fund the acquisition or the day to day running of the business. This will only end in tears. Sadly it has happened before to Portsmouth under previous ownerships. Four years on and we are still trying to unravel that tangled inherited real estate web and enable the club to own all of the pieces and put them back together again. This is the reason why we have been steadfast in saying no to all of the property developers and distressed capital funds who have approached us about buying the Portpin loan. Look at what happened to Crystal Palace when their ground was stripped from the club – or Coventry City. We have always stated that the only way forward for any club is to keep the stadium and the club under common ownership. Anything short of that would be fiscal suicide for the business.

“We believe Portsmouth is a fantastic football club with the most passionate supporters in the land and it deserves to be restored to its former glories. We want to work together with the supporters to make sure that Portsmouth never falls back into the financial black-hole of administration again. Our aim and commitment of capital is to put in place the foundations which are so desperately needed at our club. Our main objectives are:

- To make the club run on a sound financial base with realistic targets and objectives

- To ensure the Club is never put in this position again.

- To maintain ownership and rebuild the infrastructure of the club based on strong financial foundations – including our own training ground, a stadium fit for the future, and an academy to furnish our club with home-grown talent.

- To restore the community pride in Portsmouth Football Club – locally and nationally.”

‘Chainrai concluded by saying: “Portpin aims to successfully finalise its discussions with The Football League and PKF without delay so that the club can exit administration and move forwards as soon as possible. Under our ownership we intend to demonstrate the same heartfelt passion and support for the club that has been shown throughout by Michael Appleton, the players, the employees and all of the loyal fans of Portsmouth FC”.’