A much higher than anticipated amount of £119 million is owed by Pompey to a fleet of owners, players and agents.
Andrew Andronikou, Pompey’s administrator is floating a document that will settle on a lower amount of debt from the unsecured creditors like the owners and agents. Amongst them Sacha Gaydamak, the previous owner owed to the tune of £30.5 million and Pini Zahavi, the super agent who has £2m in pending fees. In all 15 agents are owed something like £9m in fees alone, an indication of the club’s living way beyond its means.
The HMRC is owed about £15m in taxes while Balram Chainrai, the Hong Kong businessman bankrolling the players is not part of the agreement and his debt will be paid in full.
If 75% of these creditors come to an agreement with the administrator, then the club takes a crucial first step towards coming out of bankruptcy. If that happens as planned by early June, then Pompey can apply for a license to play in the Europa.
After their FA Cup heroics, it would be a shame if the players were denied a chance to prove themselves in Europe.