Sol Campbell Suing Portsmouth for 1.7m

[Chazza]

Former Portsmouth defender Sol Campbell is suing the Premier League club for unpaid fees and bonuses.

The 35-year-old, now at Arsenal, claims he is owed £1.7m in image rights and bonus payments following three seasons as a player at Fratton Park.

"The matter is being dealt with by our lawyers," said a club spokesman.

Beleaguered Portsmouth are preparing to appeal against a winding-up petition from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs following a High Court judge's ruling.

The south coast club argued the VAT part of its tax bill was too high, but Mr Justice Newey dismissed the claim and the hearing is expected to go ahead on 10 February.

The 2008 FA Cup champions also owe about £10m to clubs in the Premier League and abroad and are currently barred from signing new players because of a Premier League transfer embargo.

Meanwhile, chief executive Peter Storrie has appeared before Southwark Crown Court accused of one count of cheating the public revenue between 1 July 2003 and 28 November 2007.

The details of Storrie's charge claim he "cheated the public revenue" for concealing a signing-on fee during midfielder Amdy Faye's move from Auxerre to Portsmouth in 2003.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...th/8469950.stm

Given the mess they are in probably the last thing they need is to be sued by an ex player

[dom9]

They are ****ed.

Also, he's likely to be bottom of the list when it comes to selling of their assets.

[Matt]

ha this is the last thing they need.

But how the hell can a veteran, pseudo-washed up ex-international earn £1.7m in image rights and bonuses at a club that achieved sod all during this time??

[Kenneth]

Snigger:

http://www.pfcfinancialservices.co.uk/home/

[The Old Man]

He'll get pennies in the pound like all the other creditors.

[dww]

Football creditors have to be paid first if the club goes in to administration but survives (see Southampton etc.). He'll get more than most.

[Kenneth]

Football creditors have to be paid first if the club goes in to administration but survives (see Southampton etc.). He'll get more than most.

There can't be a blanket rule specific to football clubs about the types of creditors that get paid in preference to others, other than the rules on Prefered Creditors. Empoyees are given priority in terms of their wages, but up to a limit, and I would expect that limit is relatively low when talking about millionaire footballers. The biggest one is the Inland Revenue, they will get the first claim up to the full debt.

[dww]

There can't be a blanket rule specific to football clubs about the types of creditors that get paid in preference to others, other than the rules on Prefered Creditors. Empoyees are given priority in terms of their wages, but up to a limit, and I would expect that limit is relatively low when talking about millionaire footballers. The biggest one is the Inland Revenue, they will get the first claim up to the full debt.

It's a requirement of readmission to the league - and hence continuation of the club as a company. After administration the club must enter a CVA (Creditor Voluntary Agreement I think) with this specified or no longer belong to the league. There is in fact an effort underway by the Inland revenue to get the rule revoked but I believe it still stands.

http://www.thelawyer.com/1003055.article

[Kenneth]

It's a requirement of readmission to the league - and hence continuation of the club as a company. After administration the club must enter a CVA (Creditor Voluntary Agreement I think) with this specified or no longer belong to the league. There is in fact an effort underway by the Inland revenue to get the rule revoked but I believe it still stands.

http://www.thelawyer.com/1003055.article

Ah, ok. But that is effectively after the administration, as you say. The CVA will run for a number of years so such creditors will actually be paid last.

[Gingawaria]

ha this is the last thing they need.

But how the hell can a veteran, pseudo-washed up ex-international earn £1.7m in image rights and bonuses at a club that achieved sod all during this time??

Maybe something to do with the FA Cup win? That's all I can think?

[dww]

Ah, ok. But that is effectively after the administration, as you say. The CVA will run for a number of years so such creditors will actually be paid last.

Aye - I meant priority rather than timing. Although I believe that in many cases where there are parachute payments etc due to the club payments for football debts are taken out first (much like the TV money is being used to pay transfer fees for Pompey at the minute - although I may be wrong about this).

[Kenneth]

Read the article now. Cheers.

This bit is interesting: "Since HMRC will almost always be a significant creditor clubs will require its support to exit from administration via the CVA mechanism required by league rules. Yet HMRC has made its opposition to the distortion of statutory insolvency rules that the football creditor rule creates clear and will likely continue to vote against CVAs that abide by it, with clubs potentially being penalised with further point deductions."

the football credidor rule is clearly illegal and I can't believe the IR lost a case on it previously. The first PL administration looks likely to be a legal nightmare with appeals etc. Maybe this increases the chances of the administrators putting the club into liquidation eventually.

[Craig_H]

I cant believe a bloke who's worth £28m (allegedly), really needs to do this.

This could be the final nail in their coffin. It'd make no difference to him whether he got this money or not.

I'd like to think if i was a multi millionaire footballer, who's still making good money out of the game, i would see it in my heart to write this kind of thing off.

He must have friends who are still employed by Portsmouth - he's helping to ensure these people will soon be unemployed.

Leaves a sour taste.

[Kenneth]

Well yeah, he's obviously a cunt. Quite a lot to write off though. I would have more sympathy if he waited to see what happens with ownership etc, rather than jumping in to sue now as there is a risk of them going into administration like a vulture.

[Craig_H]

Well yeah, he's obviously a cunt. Quite a lot to write off though. I would have more sympathy if he waited to see what happens with ownership etc, rather than jumping in to sue now as there is a risk of them going into administration like a vulture.

It's a whole lot of money, but that's all relative.

When you're worth nearly £30m, £1.7m is comparatively little.

The main point is that he has absolutely zero NEED to do what he's doing. He's just looking for another £1.7m to chuck onto the pile. Pretty cuntish.

You like to think the majority of footballers have a certain level of respect and recognition for the game and would do what they could to uphold it's stability.

It's not like a normal business, football clubs are things of severe emotional attachment to a huge number of people. Campbell clearly gives **** all about that.