So, I get up from a brief kip – taking into account that my train back from London did not get back into Plymouth until 5am, and by the time I got a bus back to my place it was around 6.30am – to find, not that it is all over the shop that Pompey have been taken over AGAIN…
Balram Chainrai, the Hong Kong businessman that has loaned the club £20m, apparently, has ‘seized control, subject to passing the Premier League fit and proper person test,’ through his company Portpin, along with his Israeli partner Levi Kushnir.
There was something breaking on this news late on Wednesday, but with Chainrai said to be ‘angered by Portsmouth’s failure to make the repayments, despite Portpin continually extending the deadlines’ and as his ‘patience ran out on Wednesday’ he has moved in…
Speaking to The Guardian he said: ‘Portpin have made substantial loans to Portsmouth to try and ensure the club’s future.
‘Portpin will [now] continue to work for the best interests of the club.’
‘To help Portsmouth succeed we need the support and understanding of Her Majesty’s Revenue to work out a solution.’
Although a ‘Pompey board insider’ has been talking to ESPN Soccernet denying this suggestion: ‘it is not clear what is happening as there is now a dispute. I don’t think either side has fully complied with the agreement upon which loans were made to the club.
‘Chainrai has a charge on the property, not a charge on the club, so I would say that he is not the owner of the club, nor is he seeking to be.’
Nothing is being said officially – now there is a surprise, so in many ways none of us are one any the wiser I must say…
But, and working on the assumption that this has happened, you would HOPE that these guys cannot be any worse than Ali Al Faraj and co, fingers crossed although this is seen as a ‘short-term’ move, he has come in to make sure that we get debts sorted out and we settle the issue with HMRC.
It does seem that it is in his best interests to have done this, some ‘stability’ will come, at least in the short-term…
PLAY UP POMPEY!
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