FEELING THE PAIN..

Today was yet another in a long line of turbulent days in the recent history of Portsmouth Football Club.   For the second time in two years they were once more up before the beak in the High Court applying to be placed into Administration.  Given their recent financial track record, it was by no means certain that the judge would grant their request this time, so the sympathy card was played which poured out the club`s heart and revealed the extent of at least some of the club`s debts.

The City Council is owed £78,000, West Brom, Bristol City and other clubs are also owed money, the gas and electricity companies were seeking entry into the club`s crumbling Nottarf Krap `stadium` ready to switch off supplies, the costs of transporting the team for tomorrow`s game at Barnsley were in doubt, countless small business are owed, never mind previous allegedly `fit and proper` owners also claiming £millions and being in debt to the Tax Man to the tune of £2million.

But perhaps the most pathetic attempt at securing administration was the claim that the club could not afford the cost of having a scan on Liam Lawrence`s injured calf.   Now Mr.Lawrence is reputed to `earn` £20,000 a week from Portsmouth and I would have thought that if the club are in such dire straits and if he was at all keen to get his `injury` assessed then he would have been happy to pay for his own scan.

But all this pathetic whining seemed to do the trick as administration was granted and so the club`s bank accounts were unfrozen, albeit with the immediate penalty of ten points being deducted, leaving the club with a bit of a fight against relegation for the rest of the season.  


And whilst Mr. Lawrence might be feeling a little pain from his expensive calf, it will be as nothing compared to that felt by the club`s genuine supporters as they face yet another uncertain future.   It`s exactly the kind of comparison that is rapidly turning the football circus into a pantomime.   Only this one stopped being funny a long time ago.