Will Andronikou Fix Pompey's Money Problems?

In one of the most unpredictable seasons ever in the Premier League, the one thing that is certain is that the  Portsmouth Football Club will be relegated.

With the Premier League imposing a 9-point deduction on the debt-ridden club for entering administration, the club has only 10 points to show and are at the bottom of the table, 14 points behind Hull City.

Portsmouth became the first Premier League club to go into administration, but anything is better than having to endure a winding-up order, which is exactly what would have happened had the court decided in favor of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, who had served the club with the order on March 1.

Going into administration means basically allowing an insolvent (debt-ridden) company to continue trading, with the hope/expectation that it will be able to survive. This is done by appointing an administrator whose duty it is to safeguard the interests of the company's  creditors. Portsmouth's debt - including taxes - is £78 million, and they will need another £20m to see the season out. Andrew Andronikou of UHY Hacker Young, an insolvency practitioner, has been appointed administrator to help them put their house in order.

Andronikou has a very good track record, having helped Swindon Town with similar problems. He got off to great start by persuading the HMRC to formally drop their challenge over the validity of  Portsmouth football club's move into administration. He  has vowed to help the club and bring it out of administration in "six to eight weeks," he said.

"I will be cutting to the bone, I can assure you. Restructuring starts today. There will be significant cost cuts at all levels. We have a huge job to deal with. I need to generate working capital in the next two months, we will have to sell one or two players, but I am not looking to sell players on a fire-sale basis."