THE rights of hundreds of small local firms left out of pocket by the collapse of Portsmouth Football Club are to be represented by a pair of Hampshire insolvency experts.

Andrew Andronikou, administrator of debt hit Pompey bowed to pressure to allow local representation after fierce protests that not a single Hampshire creditor was on the key committee that will have a vital say in the handling of the administration.

Up to 400 small firms, many from Hampshire are owed from £2 to more than £100,000 in the financial meltdown of Portsmouth, which owes at least £138m.

The lion’s share of the debt is owed to the taxman and previous owners such as Sacha Gaydamak, Sulaiman Al-Fahim and Ali Al-Faraj as well as current owner Balram Chainrai.

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Chainrai has vowed small creditors owed £2,500 or less will be paid in full while other creditors face receiving just 20p for every pound owed, and possibly that being paid over the next five years.

Carl Faulds, of Whiteley based insolvency practice Portland, and Steve Powell, of Southampton firm HJS Solutions, both intend to fight for a fair deal for small firms in the negotiations.

Carl, who is representing Portsmouth’s Bishops Printers, which is owed £6,000, said: “Until we took a stand, not a single member of the proposed creditors committee was based in Hampshire. We wanted to make sure that the vast majority of creditors in number, being the hundreds of local traders, had a voice both at the meeting and on the creditors committee which will oversee the administration and the proposed CVA and subsequent liquidation.

“The issue I’m now trying to handle is whether the larger creditors agree that the smaller creditors should get paid their 20p in the pound first.”

Steve Powell, whose Southampton client TWC Joinery and Shopfitting is owed £54,000, said: “I felt that the likes of Gaydamak may not have their interests aligned with a guy who runs a shop who’s owed a couple of grand. We complained how unfair it was that small creditors were not properly represented and we were shoe-horned in. We will be putting the smaller companies’ perspective and trying to influence decisions.”