To read or Not to Read Part II

Now the chances are if you’re reading this then you will probably have read the first part of the blog and had your curiosities aroused. If you gave up after the first part then I’m going to wave my fingers off the end off my nose like a child at you and once again you will be none the wiser and nothing will have changed in that time. If however you’ve stumbled across this blog having not read the first one and are thinking what am I on about then I shall do a brief surmise of what I was trying to say in the first blog; namely that choosing to read every single bit of information you find on the current situation at Portsmouth FC day to day will probably end up being quite detrimental to your health if you’re not careful. Part One of the blog centered on two players; Tal Ben Haim and Liam Lawrence, the two remaining senior professionals on the book who were required to have left the club by the time last Friday’s August 10^th deadline imposed by administrator Trevor Birch had passed. Unless you’ve been caught in a time continuum since last Friday (and lucky you if you have) you will now have learned that both players have indeed left the club. The point raised in the first blog however is that if you follow blind faith alone and read into things too much or you miss pieces of information that are reported in different circles that you don’t always check, then the bigger picture may always remain lost as you search to work out what is really going on behind closed doors.

The last blog looked at how the local press reported throughout the week how Liam Lawrence could potentially stay (Monday 6^th August) to announcing his departure from the club (Monday 13^th August) and how words used like ‘could’ stay and ‘re-negotiating’ had been taken by fans in some quarters to mean there was actually a chance that the player would sign a new contract at reduced terms with the Fratton Park outfit. It ended with a link from the Daily Telegraph in which it’s claimed that Tal Ben Haim had instructed his agent to stay away from the negotiating tables. It’s worth remembering at this point claims were strongly made by his agent the so labelled ‘Super Agent’ Pini Zahavi or should that now be ex agent? (You decide) that his client would not be playing League One football next season with Portsmouth. He was totally adamant that this wouldn’t be the case whatsoever after relegation into League One. So consider the following points or questions;

Following relegation from the Championship the world’s most famous agent states categorically that his client will not be playing for Portsmouth come the new season.

Why did TBH as reported in the Daily Telegraph ask his agent to stay away from the negotiating tables?

Why did Andrew Andronikou claim to be representing the player in negotiations when he is not a registered Football agent with the FA?

Why did the clubs administrator Trevor Birch continue with claims against TBH in the media when TBH claims that he approached all the players after relegation where they all agreed in principle that they would do whatever was necessary to protect the club and safeguard it’s future then heard nothing back from the administrator who kept up his claims in the press?

If you had the world’s most connected agent in the game worldwide and were TBH ask yourself if the story published in the Daily Telegraph is true then why would you not want him representing you if only it was the case that the deal would be quite easy to conclude?

Looking at the last point in particular it makes no sense other than to suggest that a deal could be concluded that easily without the need for a registered agent to be in place yet this is the one player who was vilified by certain sections of fans as being public enemy number one by the administrator Trevor Birch. If Pini Zahavi didn’t conclude the end package as an agent and Andrew Andronikou didn’t have the authority to conclude the deal because he’s not a registered football agent with the FA then the deal could have only been done by two parties, namely TBH and Trevor Birch. So after a week of publically calling each other out in the public via the media the deal was done just like that. Seems a bit too easy after all those months of supposedly dragging his heals over a deal don’t you think? Maybe it’s just me?

So cometh the hour, cometh the man and we all expected Mr Balram Chanrai to walk back into charge of the club this week. I expect you are all awaiting some big long winded diatribe at this juncture especially following yesterday’s announcement that he’s walked away from the deal. Well, you’d be wrong. The point of these blogs is to try get you to start to think and not run blindly into things on a day by day basis and just accept the first couple of things that you read or to forget what had happened a day earlier, a week back or even a month or so. It’s quite easy to get caught up in the moment and to forget things when everyone is so fired up. So instead I am going to back track a month instead and look at something else that was reported but was by and large either missed or warranted not worthy of discussion at any time after.

It probably seems a long time ago now but way back in 2005 the then Pompey owner Sacha Gaydamak purchased part of the land that surrounds Fratton Park. The car park alone was purchased for £3.5 million and the offices in Anson Road are said to be on prime development land despite muted notes to the contrary that have been expressed by some quarters in the past 24 hours. This land is joined by other areas that are dotted around the ground.

The land is being sold after Mr Gaydamak and the other Directors in the firm put the holding company Miland Development 2004 Limited into administration.

So what does that have to do with Portsmouth if we don’t actually own the land? Well here comes the twist because remember it’s not only Trevor Birch that is currently working on the best deal as an administrator. On Wednesday the 11^th of July The News reported that Administrator Glyn Middleton of David Rubin and Partners would be approaching Trevor Birch of PKF to see whether a deal could be done to include the land in the sale of the football club. If successful the land added to the sale of the club could attract more bids from potential owners eager to develop the area. At that juncture Mr Middleton was quoted as saying;

‘We’re in the process of instructing agents to assess the value of the land around the football club.

‘Our intention would be to have a meeting with the administrators of the football club to potentially combine any sale of the land with the sale of the club, if that’s what the club’s purchasers want to do.’

Mr Birch confirmed he had been approached about the issue, but said it was still very early on in the process.

He added: ‘We will be meeting with the administrator of Miland Development to discuss the situation.

So what ramifications would that have for the club and its value? Well if the land was sold alongside the club as a package it would open way for long-mooted plans to redevelop Fratton Park and thus enable shops and restaurants to be build on the site. As always with Pompey there’s another twist in the tale. Baker Tilly (remember them?) have begun proceedings against both Miland Developments and Sacha Gaydamak personally in order to be able to seize the land and to sell it off in order to benefit Pompey’s creditors from 2010 (remember them  also?) Baker Tilly also claim that Mr Gaydamak is not the legal owner of the land and it should belong to Portsmouth Football Club.

Baker Tilly have begun proceedings against both Miland Developments and Mr Gaydamak personally in an attempt to seize the land which will enable them to sell it off in order to benefit the Pompey Creditor’s owed money back in 2010 from the previous administration. The proceedings have been confirmed by Geoff Carton-Kelly who is handling the liquidation who would not comment on the situation however Mike Dyer representing Verisona Solicitors was quoted as saying ‘The land could still be sold with the permission of the liquidators, so a deal could be done.’

Unsurprisingly at that time Mr Gaydamak was unavailable for comment on the matter.

Remember this was reported in the news on July the 11^th of 2012 not half a year ago or a year ago but little over a month ago. So what does this mean? Well I can only tell you what I understand it to mean and please hold in thought before reading on that I am not a trained solicitor or the such like so if I am proved wrong by someone eminently far more qualified and is happy to be quoted at such times then I will happily republish this blog with some glorious legal terms for you all.

So here’s how I take Baker Tilly’s undertakings to mean for the club;

Basically if Baker Tilly are successful in their attempts to seize the land back then the best solution for them in trying to gain the best deal for their clients from the previous administration will be to see a deal done whereby the land is given back to Portsmouth FC which would make the club a far more attractive proposition to any potential buyers. This land at the time was brought in a deal worth close to £5 million and as I mentioned the car park alone was purchased for a sum of £3.5 million. Far from being as has been suggested in some quarters quite worthless, the land in the right hands could be the clubs potential lifeline if reunited as one package. To refute suggestions that the land is worthless you have to only ask yourself why back in 2005 that so much was paid for it in the first place. Currently focus is only being given to the value of Fratton Park which is valued at around £2 million. Whilst I appreciate that land prices have depreciated greatly there are companies always looking for prime locations especially inland and the name of Tesco’s has been muted on more than one occasion as a potential purchaser of the land, whilst other suggestions have been made that campus’s could be built and rented back to the University of Portsmouth which would guarantee the club an income through the months of the off season. Having seen the Portsmouth County Council grant a loan to the Supporters Trust for once we as fans might believe that they could also grant planning restrictions in the area that would help safe guard the long term financial stability of the club and see the club become self efficient.

So as I said this isn’t a diatribe to the arguments that rumble on elsewhere. I have no wish to get involved in any such discussions I am here to point out some of what else is going on around the scenes that may have been overlooked.

But just in case you’re curious, I very much doubt we have heard the last of one Mr Balram Chanrai no matter what he might have us all belief in his press statements made yesterday.

One final note if you will and cast your mind’s back to the team of youngsters that played against Plymouth on Wednesday night and performed so well in such difficult circumstances. Most quarters were quoted as saying that we’d have to field the same side against AFC Bournemouth in our opening games this Saturday yet reports are now suggesting we will have signed 10 players on non contract terms before the game. Funny how things change so quickly in 24 hours isn’t it… 

17:02 16th August 2012 Update.. As promised above any errors admitting to any statement I had made will be noted for those who are reading. The land registry values Fratton Park in the region of £7.5 million and not as is stated in the figures above. I do however keep the original figure in to reflect the honesty of what the two blogs have been trying to put across.