Chainrai insists administration is best option for Portsmouth
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Your support makes all the difference.Portsmouth owner Balram Chainrai insists administration will see the club's finances restored to good health despite the certainty of relegation.
Pompey are set to become the first Premier League club to go into administration after Chainrai served notice of his intention to put the club into the hands of insolvency experts on Friday unless a credible buyer comes forward.
Chainrai said it was now unlikely that a takeover deal would be done before the end of the week and administration - which carries a nine-point deduction - will prevent the club from being wound up in the High Court on Monday.
Chainrai's spokesman, Phil Hall, said none of the four consortiums involved in talks had made a credible offer and that administration was the best route for the future.
Hall said: "Mr Chainrai is looking for absolute credible proof of funds and trying to avoid the mistakes the previous regimes have made.
"Administration would mean the club re-emerging as a healthy financial entity and it would then become an attractive proposition for a potential buyer who could invest new funds in rebuilding the club's future.
"The serving of this notice means the winding up order is automatically suspended. It means the club is safe, it can fulfil its fixtures and as far as is possible it is business as usual.
"Mr Chainrai has agreed to continue funding the club going forward until its long-term future is decided and he will also pay for the administration process out of his own pocket."
Administration and the nine-point deduction would leave Portsmouth on just seven points, 16 behind their nearest rivals.
After that there is the prospect of a continuing player exodus and a long period of rebuilding.
One possible big loser from the club going into administration is former owner Sacha Gaydamak, who says he is still owed £30million.
The £17million put in by Chainrai and Portpin as a loan to the previous owner may also be difficult to reclaim, though he has suggested a deal where the club would pay him £1million a year rent for Fratton Park until he has recouped the cash.
Some fans have blamed chief executive Peter Storrie and former manager Harry Redknapp for overspending on players and wages, but the current Tottenham boss claims it is "extraordinary" that Portsmouth are in such debt.
"It never entered my mind when I was there, that there would be problems. The club was run well.
"When Sacha [Gaydamak] came in, all I knew about him was him and his family were mega-rich people from Russia. It never enters your mind the club could end up in debt."
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