Portsmouth ownership issue to be decided next Thursday

The Football League will be meeting next Thursday to determine whether Balram Chainrai can takeover Portsmouth, reports euFootball.BIZ.

Andrew Andronikou, the Fratton Park club administrator, says that if this takeover is approved, it will be a "watershed" moment for the club which has been working its way out of administration.

Andronikou said: "The board will sit to decide whether to approve Mr Chainrai's takeover and whether the club's golden share in the league should be transferred to his company or not. I hope they say yes.

“They absolutely should do. But everything about this club has been like pushing a cart up a hill. But if it goes through it will be watershed. I can see blue sky ahead, the club will effectively be out of administration and out of the clutches of the Football League. It will then be down to the management and current board and playing staff."

Andronikou spoke of March as a sort of deadline. "That's when the first payment of £3 million is due. If Mr Chainrai becomes the new owner he will have to pay the amount by then.

Under the terms of the Company Voluntary Agreement, nine months after it was agreed, the current company that owns Portsmouth will be no more, the CVA ends, and Mr Chainrai's new company takes over under a sale-and-purchase-agreement, which states he must pay the balance of around £13 million over the next four years."