SoccerNet Live

This is a guest post by Nick Walsh.

Premier League club Portsmouth have been accused of damaging the game by one of the leading football authorities as problems mount for the south coast side.

The club failed to pay their players’ wages from December on time and seem to be mired in financial turmoil. They are reported to have debts of £60 million and last week the Premier League used Portsmouth’s share of TV money to pay transfer fees owed to other clubs.

The threat of a winding-up petition from HM Revenue and Customs also hangs over Fratton Park. Furthermore, despite earlier assurances, it has now been revealed that Portsmouth paid their non-playing staff before their footballers.

This has angered the Professional Footballers Association, which claimed that Portsmouth’s players are “entitled” to be angry and ask questions of the club as this is the third month in a row that their pay has been late.

Nick Cusack, senior executive of the association, told the Daily Express that the situation at Portsmouth “questions the very integrity” of the Premier League and his organisation plans to speak to the players affected.

He said: “When two teams take the field, it’s 11 versus 11 and you would expect all 22 players to have been paid.

“If one set of 11 has not [been paid]  then that can call into question the commitment of that team and therefore the integrity of the game itself.”

With many people in football betting that things at the club will only get worse, a players’ revolt could be on the cards.

The chief executive of the Premier League club has admitted that the financial situation is a massive problem and the owner Ali al-Faraj cannot help Portsmouth’s cashflow problems.

A number of players may have to leave Fratton Park in order generate much-needed cash at the club. The likes of David James, Younes Kaboul, Nadir Belhadj and Kevin-Prince Boateng have all been linked with moves away from Portsmouth.

“If the way to keep this club alive is to sell a couple of players again, we will have to do that – but it will be an owner’s decision,” said Peter Storrie.

“It will look doom and gloom but what is the other side of that? The other side of that is if you do not sell, then you could well be going into administration.”

Portsmouth’s owners and board are currently working to solve the situation at Fratton Park by raising a short-term loan to meet the sums owed to both the players and HM Revenue and Customs.

It is a worrying time for the club and there is a real possibility that they could be the first Premier League club to go into administration, so the next few weeks will be vital.

Players are highly likely to leave Fratton Park during the January window, and with a transfer embargo currently placed on the club there will be no new faces coming in.

This will do nothing to aid the side’s ambitions to avoid relegation from the Premier League and Portsmouth really need to start winning games as they are currently five points from safety.

Their next league game is at home to Birmingham, and Portsmouth have a tricky run of fixtures on the horizon during which they face title-chasing Manchester United and their neighbours City in the space of seven days.

Given the state of Portsmouth, there wouldn’t be many willing to bet on the Premier League side avoiding the drop.

It could be a long season for Portsmouth fans and many won’t care if their team is in the Premier League or Championship next term as long as it still exists in some form.