2009–10 Portsmouth F.C. season

Team kit

The team kit is produced by Canterbury of New Zealand and the shirt sponsor is Jobsite. On 8 April 2010, Portsmouth FC announced a new five-year kit supply deal with Kappa. They wore the Kappa strip for the first time in the FA Cup Semi Final on 11 April 2010.

Ownership changes

The club started the season with great expectation after Sulaiman Al-Fahim bought the club from previous owner Alexandre Gaydamak for a fee around £60 million, but Al-Fahim's ownership only lasted 40 days until Ali Al-Faraj and his business Falcondrone Ltd. bought 90% of Al-Fahim's stake in Portsmouth; as part of the deal, Al-Fahim became non-executive chairman at the club until the end of the 2010–11 season.[1] However, at the start of February 2010, al-Faraj lost his stake in Portsmouth to a debtor as part of a repayment agreement on one of his loans.[2] In 2010, Balram Chainrai loaned former owner Ali al-Faraj £17 million, secured through collateral of Fratton Park grounds and the club itself. When the owner failed to pay meet a scheduled loan repayment, Chainrai took over control of the club. He intended to sell the club as soon as possible, and in the meantime he leased Fratton Park back to Portsmouth, with possible future rental yields of nearly a million pounds annually. On the morning of 26 February, a formal announcement was made that the club had entered administration and would be docked 9 points once three directors of the Premier League board had met to agree when the points should formally be taken. Andrew Andronikou, Peter Kubik and Michael Kiely of accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young were appointed by the club as administrators.

Financial problems

Already before the season began Portsmouth saw a net transfer spend in the far negative with key players such Glen Johnson going to Liverpool, Peter Crouch and Niko Kranjčar to Tottenham Hotspur and Sylvain Distin to Everton. Although a team was assembled through cheap deals and loans it soon became clear that Portsmouth had been depleted of quality and the team began sliding down to the bottom of the table, with the first seven league matches being lost.

As the early stages of the 2009–10 season progressed, the finances dried up and the club admitted on 1 October that some of their players and staff had not been paid. On 3 October, media outlets started to report that a deal was nearing completion for Ali al-Faraj to take control of the club. On Monday 5 October, a deal was agreed for Al Faraj and his associates via the British Virgin Islands-registered company Falcondrone to hold a 90% majority holding, with Al-Fahim retaining 10% stake and the title of non-executive Chairman for two years. Falcondrone also agreed a deal with Gaydamak the right to buy, for £1, Miland Development (2004) Ltd, which owned various strategic pockets of land around the ground, once refinancing was complete. 2 days after the Al-Faraj takeover was completed Portsmouth's former Technical Director Avram Grant returned as Director of football.

On the pitch, Portsmouth's late transfer of funds called for a flurry of transfers at the end of the window, including the loan signing of Ivorian international Aruna Dindane, who would go on to score a hat-trick against Wigan Athletic. An opening run of seven defeats raised fears Hart would be sacked, but at the eighth attempt, at Molineux, Hassan Yebda (another loanee) headed the first win. Portsmouth were beaten 4–2 at Fratton Park by Aston Villa in the quarter finals of the League Cup, having beaten off Premiership high-flyers Stoke City; yet another loanee, Frédéric Piquionne, was on target twice. However, because of the financial problems, the Premier League placed the club under a transfer embargo, meaning the club were not allowed to sign any players.

Paul Hart was sacked by the board on 24 November 2009, based on the poor results that left Portsmouth at the bottom of the league. He was offered the role of technical director responsible for players aged 18–21, but he declined. Coaches Paul Groves and Ian Woan took temporary charge of the team. On 26 November 2009, Portsmouth F.C. announced on its official website that Avram Grant had been appointed as manager.

On 3 December 2009, it was announced that the club had failed to pay the players for the second consecutive month. On the 31st it was announced player's wages would again be paid late on 5 January 2010. According to common football contracts, the players then had the right to terminate their contracts and leave the club without any compensation for the club, upon giving 14 days notice. Despite the financial difficulties, Grant's time as manager was initially successful, having won two of his first four games in charge (against Sunderland and Liverpool) and only narrowly missing out on a point against league leaders Chelsea.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) filed a winding-up petition against Portsmouth at the High Court in London on 23 December 2009. Initially, the club denied the winding-up order and a statement was released via the club's website, in which the club stated that they expected the winding-up order to be retracted as the matter had been sorted, with the club co-operating with HMRC over all points raised in the winding-up order. The High Courts dismissed the claim, and a statement from Portsmouth said the Judge "considered any appeal to the Court of Appeal would have a 'real chance of success'".

It was announced on 5 January 2010 that the Premier League were to use Portsmouth's share of the latest installment of television broadcast monies to pay off the club's debts to other top-flight sides. Chelsea, Tottenham and Watford were all owed money by Portsmouth (as were Udinese and Lens). The Premier League split £7 million between them. The action is allowed within league rules to protect clubs that are owed money from transfers.

On 26 January, The Premier League partially lifted the transfer embargo, and allowed the club to sign and register loanees and players not registered to other clubs. Portsmouth managed to sell a few players, garnering the hope that bills and staff might get paid on time. On 28 January, the club's deep financial trouble was further highlighted by the temporary closure of the Portsmouth website, after the club failed to pay their bills for its upkeep to their Bournemouth-based digital agency Juicy. The website was back live several hours later, after Juicy announced a new financial arrangement with Portsmouth. It appeared on 2 February 2010 that staff and players were not paid their wages on time for the fourth time in five months, causing Portsmouth's PFA representative to call for more openness from within the club.

On 4 February, Portsmouth was taken over by its fourth owner in one season: Balram Chainrai. A Nepalese businessman based in Hong Kong, Chainrai took over Portsmouth as part of a clause in a loan deal he made with the previous owners. He is thought to have given the club between £15 and £20 million, but the debts were not repaid.

A full court hearing was held on 10 February 2010 and the club was given a "stay-of-execution" for a further seven days with a view to securing a new buyer. If the club did not enter administration or the HMRC did not recover its money, the club could have been wound up by the Court and a liquidator appointed.

On 26 February 2010, having not secured a new buyer before the 25 February deadline, they prepared to enter administration, and appointed UHY Hacker Young as administrators. On the morning of 26 February, a formal announcement was made that the club had entered administration and would be docked nine points once three directors of the Premier League board have met to agree when the points should formally be taken. The Premier League decided to delay their decision until the Court case on 15 March decided the clubs fate, After beating Birmingham City 2–0 on 6 March, Portsmouth once again made the FA Cup Semi-finals, to face Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley on 11 April. On 11 March, the HMRC withdrew their winding-up order, having contested the validity of the administration that was implemented on 26 February, after receiving documentation proving its validity. On 12 March Peter Storrie stepped down as the club's CEO, though he remained at the club in the short term as a consultant to the administrator.

On 15 March, a consortium fronted by Rob Lloyd entered a period of exclusivity to buy Portsmouth FC. Rob Lloyd met 19 invited Portsmouth fans at the Hilton Portsmouth on Sunday 14th to outline his group's plans and to answer questions from the fans.

On 17 March 2010, Portsmouth were docked nine points for entering administration. That only confirmed a relegation that was always inevitable, with Portsmouth being last in the league on actual points as well. Portsmouth reached the 2010 FA Cup Final against Chelsea, losing the match 1-0, but would have normally been qualified to the UEFA Europa League as Chelsea had qualified for the higher ranked Champions League. However, Portsmouth was denied entry due to its financial state, with Premier League's 7th-placed team Liverpool taking over its place.

On 24 March 2010, administrator Andrew Andronikou revealed that the club would be looking to start the next season with a whole new squad. Players with expiring contracts would be allowed to leave and Portsmouth FC were looking to sell between eight and ten players. Overall, up to 20 players could leave at the end of the season. The club would be looking to build their team from free transfers in the summer transfer window to save money.

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

In

Permanent

Loan

Out

Permanent

Loan

Matches

Portsmouth-Fulham 0-1

0-1 Bobby Zamora  13'

Birmingham-Portsmouth 1-0

1-0 James McFadden  90' (pen.)

Arsenal-Portsmouth 4-1

1-0 Abou Diaby  18'

2-0 Abou Diaby  21'

2-1 Younès Kaboul  37'

3-1 William Gallas  51'

4-1 Aaron Ramsey  68'

Portsmouth-Manchester City 0-1

0-1 Emmanuel Adebayor  30'

Portsmouth-Bolton 2-3

0-1 Tamir Cohen  13'

1-1 Younès Kaboul  25'

1-2 Matthew Taylor  43'

2-2 Kevin-Prince Boateng  63'

2-3 Gary Cahill  89'

Aston Villa-Portsmouth 2-0

1-0 James Milner  34' (pen.)

2-0 Gabriel Agbonlahor  43'

Portsmouth-Everton 0-1

0-1 Louis Saha  42'

Wolverhampton-Portsmouth 0-1

0-1 Hassan Yebda  19'

Portsmouth-Tottenham 1-2

0-1 Ledley King  29'

0-2 Jermain Defoe  45'

1-2 Kevin-Prince Boateng  59'

Hull-Portsmouth 0-0

Portsmouth-Wigan 4-0

1-0 Aruna Dindane  35'

2-0 Frédéric Piquionne  45'

3-0 Aruna Dindane  65'

4-0 Aruna Dindane  90' (pen.)

Blackburn-Portsmouth 3-1

0-1 Jamie O'Hara  15'

1-1 Jason Roberts  53'

2-1 Ryan Nelsen  73'

3-1 Jason Roberts  86'

Stoke-Portsmouth 1-0

1-0 Ricardo Fuller  74'

Portsmouth-Manchester United 1-4

0-1 Wayne Rooney  25' (pen.)

1-1 Kevin-Prince Boateng  32' (pen.)

1-2 Wayne Rooney  48'

1-3 Wayne Rooney  54' (pen.)

1-4 Ryan Giggs  87'

Portsmouth-Burnley 2-0

1-0 Hermann Hreiðarsson  65'

2-0 Aruna Dindane  84'

Sunderland-Portsmouth 1-1

1-0 Darren Bent  23'

1-1 Younès Kaboul  90'

Chelsea-Portsmouth 2-1

1-0 Nicolas Anelka  23'

1-1 Frédéric Piquionne  51'

2-1 Frank Lampard  79' (pen.)

Portsmouth-Liverpool 2-0

1-0 Nadir Belhadj  33'

2-0 Frédéric Piquionne  82'

West Ham-Portsmouth 2-0

1-0 Alessandro Diamanti  23' (pen.)

2-0 Radoslav Kováč  89'

Portsmouth-Arsenal 1-4

0-1 Eduardo  27'

0-2 Samir Nasri  42'

0-3 Aaron Ramsey  69'

1-3 Nadir Belhadj  72'

1-4 Alex Song  81'

Portsmouth-West Ham 1-1

0-1 Matthew Upson  52'

1-1 Danny Webber  76'

Manchester City-Portsmouth 2-0

1-0 Emmanuel Adebayor  40'

2-0 Vincent Kompany  45'

Fulham-Portsmouth 1-0

1-0 Jonathan Greening  74'

Manchester United-Portsmouth 5-0

1-0 Wayne Rooney  40'

2-0 Anthony Vanden Borre  45' (o.g.)

3-0 Richard Hughes  49' (o.g.)

4-0 Dimitar Berbatov  62'

5-0 Marc Wilson  69' (o.g.)

Portsmouth-Sunderland 1-1

0-1 Darren Bent  12' (pen.)

1-1 Aruna Dindane  90'

Portsmouth-Stoke 1-2

1-0 Frédéric Piquionne  35'

1-1 Robert Huth  50'

1-2 Salif Diao  90'

Burnley-Portsmouth 1-2

0-1 Frédéric Piquionne  25'

1-1 Martin Paterson  31'

1-2 Hassan Yebda  76' (pen.)

Portsmouth-Birmingham 1-2

0-1 Cameron Jerome  16'

0-2 Cameron Jerome  42'

1-2 Nwankwo Kanu  90'

Liverpool-Portsmouth 4-1

1-0 Fernando Torres  26'

2-0 Ryan Babel  28'

3-0 Alberto Aquilani  32'

4-0 Fernando Torres  77'

4-1 Nadir Belhadj  88'

Portsmouth-Hull 3-2

0-1 Caleb Folan  27'

1-1 Tommy Smith  37'

1-2 Caleb Folan  73'

2-2 Jamie O'Hara  88'

3-2 Nwankwo Kanu  89'

Portsmouth-Chelsea 0-5

0-1 Didier Drogba  32'

0-2 Florent Malouda  50'

0-3 Florent Malouda  60'

0-4 Didier Drogba  77'

0-5 Frank Lampard  90'

Tottenham-Portsmouth 2-0

1-0 Peter Crouch  27'

2-0 Niko Kranjčar  41'

Portsmouth-Blackburn 0-0

Wigan-Portsmouth 0-0

Portsmouth-Aston Villa 1-2

1-0 Michael Brown  9'

1-1 John Carew  16'

1-2 Nathan Delfouneso  82'

Bolton-Portsmouth 2-2

1-0 Ivan Klasnić  26'

2-0 Kevin Davies  28'

2-1 Aruna Dindane  54'

2-2 Aruna Dindane  68'

Portsmouth-Wolverhampton 3-1

1-0 Aruna Dindane  20'

1-1 Kevin Doyle  35'

2-1 John Utaka  39'

3-1 Michael Brown  67'

Everton-Portsmouth 1-0

1-0 Diniyar Bilyaletdinov  90'

Topscorers

Aruna Dindane 8

Frédéric Piquionne 5

Younès Kaboul 3

Kevin-Prince Boateng 3

Nadir Belhadj 3