Pompey have been assured they will not face a further points deduction if the club begins next season still in administration.

Trevor Birch, the man in charge of the club while it is in administration, claims he received the assurance from the League.

The administrators, PKF, claim the club is £58m in debt, less than two years after a previous spell in administration.

Under Football League rules, clubs cannot start successive seasons in administration - but Portsmouth did not enter administration until part way through 2011-12.

Furthermore, Pompey went into administration before a cut off point, which meant their penalty would have carried over to the following season, as it did with Saints in 2009.

In Portsmouth's case, the 10 point deduction meant they were relegated, whereas in Saints' the team were have been demoted even without the deduction being applied, hence why it carried over.

Other clubs have received penalties for going in administration for a second time, soon after the first.

However, this will not apply to Portsmouth as the first time it happened since the rules came in, the club was in the Premier League, which as different rules to the Football League.

Portsmouth owner Balram Chainrai is the only party to have made a firm offer to buy the club back through his company Portpin, although fans are split over the Hong Kong businessman's potential return.