PORTSMOUTH administrator Andrew Andronikou is hoping the Premier League will not impose the nine-point penalty on the club that will just about guarantee relegation to the Championship.
The club went into administration yesterday with debts of £70 million (€78 million) and Andronikou, an insolvency practitioner from UHY Hacker Young, now has the job of assessing the extent of the damage along with colleague Peter Kubik.
Any club that goes into administration is given an automatic points penalty with Portsmouth set to lose nine of their 16 points under Premier League rules.
However, Andronikou is going to ask the Premier League not to impose such a punishment on the south coast club. He said: “I understand everyone is taking it for granted we are going to be docked the nine points. It is something I need to broach with the Premier League and then look to start talking about parachute payments.
“I need that to be confirmed during the course of the week. We need to go through the formal process. I think it’s early days to be talking about deducting the nine points. It is the rule at the moment but we are the first Premier League club to have gone into administration so let’s just test the rule.”
Asked whether he would ask them not to dock the points, Andronikou answered: “It could be on the agenda.”
Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been handed a four-match ban by the FA after being sent off during the FA Cup fifth-round replay defeat against Stoke City on Tuesday.
The Togo forward was dismissed after hitting Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross with a flailing arm at the Britannia Stadium, and has chosen not to appeal against the decision.
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has suffered another injury blow after it was confirmed defender Martin Skrtel has broken his foot. The Slovakian centre-back was injured in Thursday’s 3-1 victory over Romanians Unirea Urziceni, which helped the club reach the last 16 of the Europa League.
Benitez feared the worst and X-rays at the club’s Melwood training ground confirmed Skrtel has fractured a metatarsal in his right foot.
Arsenal have announced pre-tax profits of £35.2 million (€39.4m) and a significant reduction in debt for the six months ending November 30th, 2009.
The financial half-year results reveal Arsenal Holdings plc’s total net debt has been reduced from £332.8 million (€372.6m) to £203.6 million (€227.9m).
