Portsmouth players assured wages will be paid

Fears that Portsmouth could be on the verge of financial meltdown mounted on Thursday when the Premier League club confirmed that some players have not been paid this week.

The club insisted the delayed salaries would be paid by the weekend once funds have been made available by new owner Sulaiman al Fahim, who has promised to provide a 50-million-pound re-financing of the club but has yet to complete the process.

Portsmouth were left without sufficient operating cash to pay all the players’ salaries for September as a result of being forced to hand over the proceeds of player sales and broadcasting revenues to their main creditor bank, according to chief executive Peter Storrie.

“Whatever we spend on a monthly basis comes channelled through from the new owner,” Storrie said.

“He has promised to re-finance, and he has shown me all the documentation, but I have no idea about the conditions of the 50 million pounds he says will be arriving in a few weeks.

“We need to re-finance, it is as simple as that. As for the players wages for the last month, I would imagine it’s a blip and they will be paid, but I have spent the last nine to 10 months fighting fires on a daily basis, I’m not giving up.”

The financial crisis will do little to help Paul Hart’s squad drag themselves off the bottom of the Premier League after seven straight defeats in their first seven matches.

But Hart insisted morale remained good among the players.

“You put one fire out and another starts up in the corner. That’s how it has been in my tenure as manager,” he said.

“But you can spit your dummy out and throw your toys out of the pram, or take it as another fire, put it out and get going again.

“It has been a particularly interesting day from about 8.30 this morning. But you have choices. You either stick together and get through it or stamp your feet.”