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Chief resigns as Pompey enter administration
Portsmouth, 14:21, February 26, 2010 ,
Peter Storrie is to stand down after Portsmouth became the first club in Premier League history to go into administration.
Storrie revealed on Friday that he will leave his post at Fratton Park once new owners are found after Pompey failed to avoid administration - and the nine-point points deduction from the Premier League that is set to follow.
The south-coast club, who have reported debts of up to £70m, now face almost certain relegation to the Championship after failing to find a new owner to invest new funds into the club.
Portsmouth, who has already had four owners this season and also failed to pay their wages on time on four occasions, were in talks with four different parties this week about a possible takeover as they tried to stave off administration and the inevitable points penalty.
But with a hearing for a winding-up order due to take place next Monday, the club took the decision to go into administration in a bid to survive.
Administrator Andrew Andronikou, of insolvency experts UHY Hacker Young, now has the responsibility of beginning the process of cutting costs at the club to try to keep it as a viable entity.
A statement from Storrie on the club's official website read: "Portsmouth Football Club has formally announced that it has gone into administration today and this is an extremely sad day for everyone connected with the club.
"However, by this course of action Balram Chainrai has kept the club alive and given someone an exceptional opportunity to take this great club on with fresh investment to steer Portsmouth in a positive direction.
"Whilst accepting as Chief Executive of Portsmouth Football Club that it was inevitable that criticism would come my way, the overall funding of the business was the responsibility of the owner.
"What I am not prepared to accept is the very personal level of abuse on websites, emails and local radio which I have received over the last couple of days.
"It is my intention to work with the administrator to help sell the business and I hope that will be quick as there is already interest in acquiring the club. I will also work with Avram Grant on the football side.
"Once the sale is complete, I will tender my notice to the new owners as set out under the terms of my contract.
"I find it somewhat ironic that a couple of months ago my name was being chanted by the fans at a time when I seriously considered my position at the club. Yet now, because I appear to be the last one left, they are calling for my head.
"My decision to stand down has not been taken lightly, but I have had to take into account the views of my family who have witnessed first-hand the effect that the last 15 months has had on our lives.
"I have really enjoyed my eight years at the club and the success we have enjoyed on the pitch: winning promotion to the Premier League and seven years in top-flight football, culminating in winning the FA Cup in 2008.
"I will really miss the genuine fans who have been so supportive and good to me, the staff who I have worked with closely and the club in general. I and others at the club have worked tirelessly to save Portsmouth and wish now that the future of this club be secured, because, at the least, the fans deserve that."
Milan Mandaric, chairman of Portsmouth from 1998 to 2006 and now Leicester chief, told BBC Midlands Late Kick Off: "It's really sad. It's not right, it's not fair to those people there and I just hope for the sake of the club, and the sporting community, and football in that city, they sort things out."
Friday's announcement follows weeks of speculation over the survival of the club and the pending nine-point penalty will leave Portsmouth with just seven points - 16 points adrift of safety with only 12 games remaining.