The Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie hopes to tap into Australia's enthusiasm for the Premier League as he seeks potential new investors for the top flight's bottom club having held talks with "a couple of parties" while on holiday in Perth over the past week.
Storrie travelled to Australia ostensibly to celebrate the 50th birthday of a friend of his wife, though he combined business with pleasure by seeking out discussions with businesses who might be interested in investing in Pompey. The club's latest owner, Ali al-Faraj, is attempting to refinance the club with Portsmouth currently operating under a transfer embargo and next month's influx of television monies, totalling some £7m, already earmarked to pay off some of the considerable debts owed to current creditors.
Asked whether he had been sourcing possible new investment in Australia, Storrie said: "I've been talking to a couple of parties on that. They're interim stages at the moment but, obviously, we've been talking to a couple of parties to see what interest there is. There's a lot of interest in Australian businesses in the Premier League. A lot of people know me over here because I used to have soccer schools over here when I was with West Ham. But it was just a general discussion. The parties I've met have got all the financial information and all the documents that were needed. They'll be studying those and coming back to me within a very short period."
Portsmouth have failed to pay their players' wages on time twice already this season, on each occasion taking out new loans to cover their £1.8m monthly salaries, and there appears little prospect of the transfer embargo being lifted while agreements have yet to be reached with other footballing creditors – most notably Chelsea – over outstanding fees owed. That is likely to prompt player sales next months rather than any radical strengthening of a struggling squad.
Their new manager, Avram Grant, will confront the Premier League leaders at Stamford Bridge this evening – where Pompey have lost all six of their Premier League visits – with his team some five points from safety and with only three victories achieved in the club's 16 league games to date. Yet, despite those toils, Storrie's sales pitch hinged upon the club representing a fine opportunity for potential investors, particularly if the team can somehow hoist themselves from trouble.
"You can only base it on the new owners who have put a considerable amount of finance into the club to help reduce the debt," added the chief executive. "I think anyone investing in the club at the moment, it would be a good investment because the debt's being reduced all the time and, as long as we can stay in the Premiership, it'll be a good investment."
