Pompey to avoid points deduction by football league

POMPEY will not be docked any points next season for remaining in administration.

The football club’s administrator, Trevor Birch of PKF, has been discussing the issue with the Football League ahead of its annual summer conference meeting this week.

There were fears that if Pompey were not able to get out of administration by the time the meeting was held, the Football League could decide to dock as many as 17 points from Pompey next season.

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But while the Football League is publicly staying silent on the issue, Mr Birch and his team have been told that they will begin their season in League One without any deductions.

Andy Konieczko, PKF’s spokesman, said: ‘Trevor has been in constant contact with the Football League and letting them know what is likely to happen at the club.

‘He knows there will not be any further points deduction for Pompey, so that’s some good news.’

The summer conference, which will take place from Thursday morning to Friday lunchtime, officially marks the end of the old season and the beginning of the new.

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It has been seen as the deadline for Pompey to get a new owner in place or risk being thrown out of the Football League and, just three seasons after being relegated from the Premiership, being forced to play non-league football.

As previously reported in The News, former Pompey owner Balram Chainrai has come forward with a proposal to buy back the club.

That bid was today still being finalised by his lawyers.

The bid was presented to PKF more than a week ago, and outlines how much money the club’s creditors can expect to get back if Mr Chainrai’s company, Portpin, buys the club.

Once the lawyers have finished thrashing out the details, the bid documents will be sent out to all Pompey’s creditors.

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They will then get the chance to vote on whether to accept his proposals or not.

A second bid to buy the club may come from the Pompey Supporters’ Trust.

Members of the trust held a crunch meeting last night with an insolvency specialist in order to get their bid up and running.

Trevor Birch was not involved in the meeting.

But The News understands some of Pompey’s richer fans, who have pledged sums of five-figures or more to the trust’s cause, were in attendance.

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There are fears that without a successful takeover bid, the club will run out of money entirely before the end of May.

If no buyer is accepted and the cash runs out, the administrators would have no option other than to liquidate the club and sell of its assets to the highest bidders.