ICAS Insolvency Committee Convenor Bryan Jackson has been appointed joint-administrator of Portsmouth Football Club, which entered administration for the second time in three years today.
Jackson and Trevor Birch of PKF were appointed today
following an application by HM Revenue & Customs.
Jackson has extensive experience of football club
administrations having been involved with Clyde, Clydebank, Motherwell and,
most recently, Dundee FC.
In a joint statement, Jackson and Birch said that the club
was a vital part of the local community.
“Its fans, players and staff have been unswerving in their
support despite the club’s recent difficulties,” the statement said.
“We will do all we can to secure the club’s long term future
and ensure that this loyalty is rewarded.
“We will work with everyone involved with Portsmouth
Football Club – directors, staff, players and creditors – to attempt to resolve
the financial issues facing the club.
“Our aim is to achieve an outcome that helps ensure the
club’s long term survival, preferably by finding a suitable buyer.
“We will now begin discussions with the club’s stakeholders
with a view to getting Portsmouth out of administration as soon as is practically
possible. Until then, our intention is to stabilise the situation and keep the
club running on a day-to-day basis.
“Everyone involved with the club has endured a turbulent
past few years and our aim is to bring some much-needed stability to the
situation. Quick fixes and wealthy benefactors are not necessarily the solution
here – the club needs a pragmatic new owner with a sound business plan that can
reinvigorate the club and bring confidence back to Fratton Park.”
Joint-administrator Birch, aside from his professional
football playing career, was the chief executive of Chelsea, Derby County,
Everton, Leeds United and Sheffield United.