 Tuesday, 23rd Oct 2012 09:50 by Micah Hall Now that a clever combination of the Football League and PKF has refused to accept Portpin as preferred bidders, what will their next move be? Many seem convinced that a lengthy legal action will follow as night follows day. It shouldn't. It is not in anyone's interest to fight a legal battle except the lawyers. The people with the most to lose, are actually Portpin.
If they won't win the club, they also won't win any more money. If they go to court over the valuation of Fratton Park it would be, against stiff competition, the most bizarre decision they have ever made with regard to Pompey. There has been a prevailing view that a court case over the valuation of Fratton Park will be a big hurdle for the Trust to get over. The reality is though, that such a case would simply be an expensive formality, and when the costs are counted, they will be the ones picking up the tab. There is a small army of independent chartered surveyors, even including the District Valuer, who will walk into court to say that the Trust's offer is actually higher than it needs to be. What evidence will Portpin present? John Redgate's biro scribblings where he changed the value from £7.5m to £10m? Sulaiman al Fahim's offer of £4.5m? Slight problem with that is that Birch is accepting offers for a football club. Fahim hasn't got an offer that Birch has done any more than laugh at, if he's even presented proof of funds which it highly likely he hasn't. When they were arguing about the amount of secured debt Portpin may or may not be allowed to carry over to Pompey if they took control again, the Football League asked Portpin to provide an independent valuation of Fratton Park. My understanding is that they were unable to do so. If they can't provide an independent valuation or a fully funded and acceptable offer that gives more, and enough evidence to back it to overturn the massive weight of expert opinion on PKF's side, they might as well not bother. So this will not be a difficult case for PKF and the Trust to win. There is every possibility that the judge will decided Fratton Park is worth substantially less than the Trust's offer, which would enable the Trust to save perhaps half a million quid. Secondly, costs of such an action for both sides would probably top out at £400k - and Portpin would be paying those costs if and when they lost. Third, there is the question of their debenture. Two judges have questioned the validity of the debenture and I understand there is a really strong case to answer here in several areas. I set out my own view, based on sources, which was that we don't owe Portpin anything, but there are other reasons for doubting the validity of the debenture into the bargain. If Portpin take this to court, my understanding is that this opens up the issue of the debenture again and allows PKF to challenge it. If they successfully challenge the debenture, Portpin become unsecured creditors from the first CVA. That would see them walk away with £372,000. Minus legal costs. So Portpin have everything to lose and nothing to gain from such a case. If they won they would still find it impossible to own Pompey, and they would have knocked out the only funded bidder, leaving them with a tiny amount of cash and a massive planning battle of many years duration - which would end in failure. Any other possible legal action looks like tilting at windmills. Sue the Football League? Sue PKF? Sue the Trust? It's hard to see any barrister who would be interested in taking any such action near a courtroom. There is one thing Portpin can hope to walk away with; the dignity they have left. They now have an opportunity, for the first time since 2009, to follow the good advice they are being given; take the money and walk away. The blogs that we have run in recent weeks have been hailed by many highly-respected and award winning journalists and editors as a tour de force of investigative journalism. Their words are kind. However, there is now a space to facilitate just such a dignified exit for Portpin. There is no particular desire to drop the H-bomb. It is time to draw a line under Portpin's involvement with Pompey and for all sides to move on. Despite having been given ample opportunity to respond, Portpin's retained PR agency contend a number of unspecified allegations in Micah Hall's articles are 'unfounded, unsubstantiated and defamatory'. Portpin continue to have the full right of reply to enable them to explain how and why the sources of the articles are mistaken. Want to know more? Click here to read why PFC owe Portpin absolutely nothing... Click here to read why Portpin controlled PFC from October 2009... Click here to read the inside story of the 'Ali Al Faraj' regime... Click here to see how 'Ali Al Faraj' tried to take the biscuit with Sacha... Click here for Part One of our exclusive interview with Andronikou and here to read Part Two Click here to read questions 1-13 sent to Portpin and their responses, here to read questions 14-23, here to read questions 24-33, here to read questions 34-44, here to read questions 45-54, here to read questions 55-70, here to read questions 71-85 and here to read questions 86-106. The views of Micah Hall are his own and don't necessarily reflect the editorial view of pompey-fans.com. Any proceeds of this column are donated to Action Aid.
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