4 February 2010

Portsmouth’s farcical season took another twist today with the news that the club has its fourth different owner of the 2009-10 season. That means the number of owners in the current campaign is now equal to the total number of wins in the league. Pompey began the season under the ownership of Alexandre Gaydamak, who then sold to Sulaiman Al Fahim, who could not finance his own takeover and sold to Ali Al-Faraj from Saudi Arabia, about whom little is known and who has never been to the club.

A Hong Kong businessman Balram Chainrai apparently leant Faraj about £17m to keep Portsmouth going through various economic struggles these past few months, but now says a clause in his lending arrangements mean he gets the option to take 90 per cent of the club, which he’s done. At the time of writing, on Thursday evening, 4 February, Chainrai’s right to take control is being contested.

In other news, Portsmouth’s manager, Avram Grant, has been named as the Premier League manager who was spotted emerging from a brothel recently, which is not a wholly edifying addition to the story at Fratton Park this season.

Various aspects of this debacle are being covered by the BBC, by The Guardian, by The Independent, and by The Times.