28.01.2010
Fears for Pompey mount as website closed down
Portsmouth fans sit in half-empty stands during an FA Cup fourth round match Portsmouth v Sunderland at Fratton Park in Portsmouth on January 23.
Portsmouth's official website was closed down on Thursday, intensifying fears that the cash-strapped club is on the verge of going into administration.
The website went offline after the club failed to maintain payments due to Juicy, the company that runs www.portsmouthfc.co.uk, a spokesman confirmed.
The announcement was greeted with dismay by the club's supporters with Ken Malley, a spokesman for The Portsmouth Supporters Trust, admitting it was a very worrying sign.
"It's hard to explain how you feel as a Portsmouth supporter when it becomes apparent the website is down simply because they haven't paid the bills," he said.
"On the scale of things one would have thought the rental on a website would cost peanuts when compared to other things that money has to be spent on.
"I'm really surprised Portsmouth's financial problems are affecting items of this nature."
Despite selling players like Glen Johnson and Peter Crouch at the start of the season to reduce their debts, Portsmouth have been unable to pay their players on time three times this season.
Outstanding debts to other clubs resulted in the Premier League diverting seven million pounds of television revenues directly to creditors as well as imposing a transfer embargo which was only partially lifted last week.
The club is also subject to a winding up order from the tax authorities regarding an alleged unpaid bill of 7.5 million pounds and their former owner, Alexandre Gaydamak, claims he is owed 28 million pounds.
Things have not been going well on the field either with Portsmouth currently bottom of the league and looking virtually certain to be relegated from the top flight at the end of the season.
Source: © 2010 AFP - Glyn Kirk
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