Administrators 'seeking clarification' over new bids for Pompey (From Daily Echo)

Administrators 'seeking clarification' over new bids for Portsmouth FC

1:27pm Thursday 21st February 2013 in News

Administrators 'seeking clarification' over new bids for Pompey

Accountants managing the affairs of troubled football club Portsmouth are expected to ask league bosses today about future ownership possibilities.

Portsmouth's administrators said they would be ''seeking clarification'' about the Football League's position on bids for the club - which is struggling at the foot of League One - as a ''matter of urgency''.

Earlier this month, league bosses said they would only consider an existing bid from a group called the Pompey Supporters Trust.

But accountancy firm PKF, which is acting as Portsmouth's administrator, said there may be indications of a change in the league's stance.

A PKF spokesman said today that the firm had been aware of correspondence which seemed to lead to ''some ambiguity'' about the league's view.

He added: ''We will be seeking clarification from the league as a matter of urgency.''

A league spokesman was not available for comment.

A High Court judge placed Portsmouth into administration in February last year after being told the club had an unpaid tax bill of around £2 million and owed other creditors about the same.

In recent weeks administrators have given the High Court detail of a problem concerning the ownership of the club's Fratton Park stadium.

The PKF spokesman said it was hoped that the ground problem would be solved before the end of the current season in May.

League officials suggested later that their position had not changed.

''The board of the Football League is not considering alternative applications for the transfer of Portsmouth's share in the Football League,'' said a spokesman.

''Instead, it remains focused on a successful transfer of share to the preferred bidder, the Pompey Supporters Trust.''

Earlier this month, league officials said they had been told by administrators that the ''preferred bidder'' was the Pompey Supporters Trust.

They said any late change of ''preferred bidder'' would create uncertainty and was not in the wider interests of the league.

Officials said, therefore, if the trust bid failed and Portsmouth did not ''exit administration'' by the end of the season then the club would lose its membership of the league.