by Joe McHugh Reports are breaking that a winding up order has been issued on Portsmouth due to unpaid tax debts.
Sky Sports are carrying the story with a statement expected shortly from the club who play Arsenal tonight.
The 2008 FA Cup winners have been dicing with trouble for some time and are currently banned from transfer activity due to continued financial problems.
Over £50m of players have been sold by the club this year but despite that incoming cash players wages have twice been paid late this season.
The possible demise of any club is unfortunate but equally unfortunate for Celtic supporters has been the constant frustration of seeing clubs like Portsmouth, Bolton, Hull City and others inflate the transfer market as they blow their Premiership Golden Ticket.
Earlier today Chelsea seemed to be pleased to announce losses of ‘only’ £44.4m on a turnover of £206.4m.
Losses are continuing to be reduced with the previous years figure being £65.7m.
Without being a captain of industry it’s hard to pass comment but any business that spends £250m in a year on a turnover of £206.4m requires a serious and committed sugar-daddy which Chelsea have with Roman Abramovich.
The Chelsea financial model sees a popular one in the Premiership with Manchester United and Liverpool having a combined debt close to £900m under the guidance of their American owners.
Despite the record money flooding into the Premiership the clubs have never been in more debt with relegation an almost certain one-way ticket to administration with clubs like Leeds United and Southampton suffering points losses as they plunge down the divisions.
Joining the Premiership- or more accurately getting their hands on television millions- is the unmistakable goal of the Celtic board.
While that would be very welcome on the football field the financial problems that Portsmouth are experiencing seems almost to be part of the Premiership package.
A new footballing environment would be a fantastic boost for the new year but digging a financial hole as players, agents and dubious owners cash in is as welcome as a freezing night out in Kilmarnock.
I’ve no doubt that there are other potential Portsmouth’s out there, hopefully Celtic can be beneficiaries somewhere along the line if common sense returns to the footballing markets.
Although football players earn a lot of money and by all rights they should have something tucked away if they do not get their wages, but if we were to look at it in perspective and we were to lose a months wages it would hit hard, even two weeks worth that players seem to be disciplined with would hurt. This was always going to happen to some football clubs, they knew a year ago that we were in recession, they then should have begun cutting back on things, perhaps even including clauses in contracts for cut backs should anything go wrong, everyone can be affected by redundancy so why not footballers? With everything that is going on down south the best online bookmakers have now made Portsmouth favourites to go down with prices around the 5/4 mark. Heavy times.