10:26am Monday 8th March 2010
Pompey could be thrown out of the FA Cup because of their massive debts, according to reports today.
The FA's rules state that they must look at any club going into administration and decide whether to expel them from the competition - in much the same way as the Premier League and Football League punish clubs by deducting points from them.
Pompey reached the semi-finals and booked a badly needed lucrative trip to Wembley by beating Birmingham 2-0 on Saturday.
But the FA's rules state that if a club "becomes subject to an insolvency event" then they will "decide whether to allow that club to continue to compete."
The FA will likely have to wait for the result of next week's High Court hearing before making a decision.
It would be an unprecedented step to kick a club out of the competition in such a fashion, especially at this late stage.
And the FA would not want to see a team unable to fulfil a semi-final fixture, for fear of losing the cash they would receive for the match.
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