Trust seeks to reassure fans its bid is credible

During a live web chat on The News website portsmouth.co.uk, Scott Mclachlan was asked by several people whether the £5m the trust is seeking to raise will be enough to cover the club’s substantial debts.

Many fans shared the concern raised by user Banker Blue, who said: ‘I must ask, what will £5m do when Trevor Birch claims £50m is required?’

Mr Mclanchlan responded: ‘TB said on Solent this morning that PFC is only worth what someone will pay for it.

‘All the figures that have been in the public domain thus far are Mr Birch’s problem. The PST are simply aiming to put forward a creditable and equitable bid.’

But not everyone was satisfied with this response. Mattyc asked whether the answer ‘makes you look like you have no proper plan in place and therefore makes you not look credible?’

To which Mr Mclachlan responded: ‘I don’t agree. Once we complete due diligence we can formulate a realistic bid figure that we think is fair. So in other words, it is what we think it is worth and what we will pay. Someone MAY think it is worth more, but we are the only ones that we are aware of that are doing due diligence.’

After the chat was over he added: ‘It was interesting to see it from the other side of the website. It was a very useful exercise from the point of view of the trust and we can put more information on our FAQ on commnitypompey.co.uk to answer some of the questions.’