From the Snooze (Thursday)

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THE Pompey Supporters’ Trust have signed a conditional agreement with the club’s administrator to allow them to take over the club.Trevor Birch, PKF partner and joint administrator of Portsmouth Football Club (2010) Ltd, said: ‘We can confirm that we have signed a sale agreement with the PST to acquire the business of Portsmouth Football Club.

‘Portpin has rejected the Trust’s offer for Fratton Park, so the sale has to be conditional on receiving the Court’s permission to sell the ground. We are therefore in the process of submitting an application to the Court.

‘I’m sure every member of staff, every player and every supporter will join with me in wishing to see a speedy resolution of what has been a protracted administration.

‘Everyone involved in the transaction has worked incredibly hard to get the deal to this stage and, although there is still much that needs to be done, today’s announcement marks what is hopefully the beginning of the end of the process.’

Ashley Brown, chairman of the PST, said: ‘We are thrilled and proud to have signed a sale agreement with the administrator to buy and run Portsmouth Football Club. We hope to finalise the sale by Christmas, and go into 2013 with a fresh start for our great club. This is a special day for the thousands of Pompey fans who have stood by their club and stood up to be counted.

‘We thank everyone for their support so far, and look forward to many more Pompey fans joining us, and being part of history, as we create the biggest community owned club in this country.’

Iain McInnes, proposed chairman of Portsmouth Football Club, added: ‘This truly is fantastic news and the start of a new chapter for Portsmouth Football Club. The hard work will continue during the court application process to ensure that we are in the best position possible to drive the club forward and build for the future ahead of the important January transfer window.’

TODAY the people who intend to be Pompey’s new owners are calling for all fans to join them.The ink was last night drying on agreements which will see the Pompey Supporters’ Trust become the new owners of Portsmouth Football Club.

And the trust, backed by The News, is calling on fans who have pledged to buy a full share to become part of Britain’s biggest community-owned club to step up.

The trust was today due to launch its share prospectus at Fratton Park – which details its plan to bring Pompey back to financial stability as well as how fans can help in that process.

Trust spokesman Colin Farmery said: ‘We’re absolutely delighted at this news and it is a reward for the huge amount of work many people have put in to save Portsmouth Football Club over the past few months.

‘The challenge of creating Britain’s biggest community club is hugely exciting but there is still a lot to do.

‘The next stage will be for the fans to fulfil the pledges they have generously made and how they can go about doing this will be released today.’

Yesterday the trust entered into an exclusivity deal with PKF, and signed agreements that would see the football club sold to it as long as two conditions are fulfilled.

The first is that the Football League approves the trust’s business plan, which The News understands is likely to present no problem.

It is also hoped that condition will be done and dusted by the middle of December – when the Football League’s next monthly board meeting is due to take place.

But the second condition could prove more problematic for the trust.

That condition is that the High Court approves PKF’s plan to sell Fratton Park to the trust against the wishes of Balram Chainrai and Levi Kushnir’s Portpin, which has a legal say over how it is sold, and for how much.

The High Court also needs to value the stadium at a level the trust can afford, rather than the £11m value Portpin place on it.

Whilst the trust will buy the club, it is Pompey fan and property developer Stuart Robinson who will have to find the money to buy Fratton Park.

He will put up up the money to buy it, and then lease it back to the trust until the money can be raised to buy it from him outright.

The News understands an application for the court hearing will be lodged today, in the hope that it will happen before Christmas.

These developments now mean PKF and the trust are working exclusively together and Portpin’s hopes to buy the club back have died.

And now it is time for those fans who pledged to buy a share, and who paid the trust £100 as a promise, to find the other £900 that makes up each of the trust’s basic shares.

The trust is also urging those fans who were waiting to see whether the trust bid had legs to come forward and pledge to be part of Pompey’s new ownership structure.

James Mathie, from Supporters’ Direct, said fans becoming shareholders ‘first and foremost’ will be helping save the club.

He added: ‘By collectively owning Pompey we believe we have the potential to achieve more – building stronger partnerships with the local community, representing a new level of appeal to sponsors, increasing attendances and match day spend, making more of the goodwill from supporters with projects and volunteering opportunities.’


HOW TO GET YOUR SHARE

Want to know how to send the trust the remaining money to get a share?

It’s simple. Prospectuses are being sent to everyone who has sent in their £100 fee, and all you need to do is follow the instructions in there, or see communitypompey.co.uk.

If you want to become a new investor, there are a number of things you can do.

Simply see the four-page pullout from p38 in today’s News, which has an application form.

Is £1,000 is too much to spare?

The trust has teamed up with DotComUnity to launch a finance scheme, which can be found at dotcomunitycreditunion.org.uk/members-support/pompey-supporters-trust.

Alternatively you can always form a syndicate of, say, 10 people to spread the cost.

You can also invest more than £1,000, and to find out how, email info@pompeytrust.com for more information.

Pompey have been handed a goalkeeping headache with Mikkel Andersen set to return to Reading next week.The 23-year-old had originally been lined-up for a season-long loan at Fratton Park.

But the Blues’ on-going administration problems ensured when he arrived on August 18 that it could only be a month-by-month deal.

In turn, the inability to have a loan from one transfer window to another saw it classified by the Football League as an emergency loan, which lasts a maximum of 93 days.

It means Tuesday night’s home clash with Leyton Orient will be Andersen’s final Pompey appearance.

Simon Eastwood is the only other recognised keeper registered with the first team, while Connor O’Hara represents the Academy.

Andersen has been the club’s regular stopper, with 17 appearances during his time at Fratton Park.

Whittingham is on the lookout for another new number one to come in as a loan replacement, focusing on the Championship.

And he is hopeful of securing a replacement for the Dane in time for the trip to Coventry City (November 24).

‘Mikkel has got to go back. We can only keep him for 93 days so are in the process of sorting out a goalkeeping loan,’ said Whittingham.

‘It will be his last game on Tuesday. That’s his time up so he has got to go back to his parent club. We can’t keep him.

‘I think it’s a blow. He has brought competition for sure with Easty and is a good lad who has done decent for us.

‘Hopefully we helped him out by giving him that experience as well.

‘We brought him back into the team at Bury. Easty hadn’t done a great deal wrong but I rely on John Keeley (goalkeeping coach) and what he says.

‘He said Mikkel looked superb in training and that is the way I want it to be with a lot of players.

‘If they are doing well in training and doing well in games then they will play.’

Eastwood himself has played four times so far this season, all in different competitions.

And Whittingham is looking for a new arrival from the Championship to provide a challenge.

He added: ‘We are looking at players in the Championship who are second choice or third choice.

‘With the money we have we haven’t got a lot of choice.

‘We’ve scoured the country – John has done a great job – and I’m hoping we can pull something off in time for when Mikkel goes back.

‘We are not looking at the Premier League. The problem you get there is obviously the money.

‘A few Premier League clubs have been kind to us and let people come at hardly any cost, but they are usually younger and they usually say they want them to play.

‘It’s just a case of trying to find the right one.’

Guy Whittingham is closing in on a new loan recruit.And the caretaker boss is hopeful a move can be completed before the weekend.

Whittingham has at present two free spaces in his squad, which is restricted to 20 players.

He has earmarked those to be filled by a striker and central defender on loan.

Rumours of an approach for AFC Wimbledon’s Christian Jolley have already been ruled out by the former first-team coach.

Although he is seeking out a number of targets in time for Saturday’s visit of Doncaster.

Whittingham said: ‘Hopefully we will know more by today. We are working hard.

‘Luke Dowling has contacts, Awfs has contacts and I’ve got contacts. We’ve all got contacts.

‘There are three or four things out there and you hope that one will come off.

‘Hopefully we can get one in before Saturday’s game with Doncaster Rovers.’

The need for a partner for Izale McLeod has never been more pressing, considering the current goal drought.

The Blues have not scored in the past 399 minutes of first-team action.

However, Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe has ruled out a return for Wes Thomas, who was in the Pompey team the last time they scored against Stevenage (October 23).

In addition, Whittingham wants an experienced centre-half to challenge Gabor Gyepes and Lubomir Michalik.

Josh Thompson has already gone out on loan to Colchester to create that space.

Talks with Ricardo Rocha are continuing, although Whittingham has said it may be January until that potentially comes to fruition.

The only cover he has is Johnny Ertl, who filled in during the second half of the Bury defeat after Gyepes went off ill.

Ashley Harris has been backed to carve out a career as a striker.That’s the verdict of Guy Whittingham, who has wasted no time in utilising the 18-year-old in the role he believes suits him best.

The caretaker boss employed Harris alongside Izale McLeod as part of a front two at Bury last weekend.

The Blues went on to lose the fixture 2-0. Nonetheless, there were flashes of an understanding between the pair.

Apart from the Capital One Cup clash at Plymouth, former Blues boss Michael Appleton used Harris solely in midfield.

The Purbrook youngster himself has long insisted he would prefer to serve as a forward.

Now Whittingham has indicated he is ready to give him that chance – and he believes he can flourish.

‘I think up front is Ash’s best position,’ said Whittingham.

‘He is not always going to be able to play there. There are going to be times when he’s going to be playing in different areas, but he did well for the Academy in that area.

‘Obviously, it’s a completely different game at this level. You haven’t got the time that you might have in the Academy games, but he will learn.

‘That’s the first time he has played up there for us so he will learn from the experience.

‘He’s got a good football brain and will understand what he has done well and hasn’t done well.

‘It’s difficult for Izale because he has had so many different partners, but he just needs a little bit of luck at the moment.

‘Everyone talks about Wes Thomas and what he brought to the side, and he did and it was good because he took a lot of the workload off Izale and Izale flourished off that.

‘Ash tried doing it in a different way on Saturday.

‘He gives you intelligent, short little runs, has a good touch on him with his back to goal, and he’s quite intelligent with his runs down the channels.

‘I thought he did okay against Bury.

‘Once or twice you are looking for him to make runs but he doesn’t because he is just that bit behind in his thoughts. But it will come.

‘From what we have seen from the lad so far, that is his best position.’

Gigg Lane represented a sixth Pompey start for Harris, who has been used primarily as a substitute this season.

The youngster is still trying to carve a niche for himself in the first-team.

And Whittingham believes that will come from the training ground.

The caretaker boss added: ‘What we have to do – and we haven’t had enough time so far – is work on those areas where he is the strongest.

‘You want everybody else in the team knowing what he is going to do.

‘You can work on it for one or two days, but when you are out there in the hurley burly you can’t always remember anything as a player.

‘People will get used to it. All it is, is repetition on the training ground and people working out where people go, when to make runs, when not to make runs.

‘All those things come from hard work on the training ground.’