Let The Investigation Begin

Last updated : 02 December 2010 By Jim Bonner
If you had watched Monday's edition of Panorama investigating the corruption within FIFA then you wouldn't have been surprised to see England's bid fall flat on its face today.

Despite the hard work of everyone involved as well as the £15 million invested into the bid, the 2018 World Cup was awarded to Russia with England losing out at the first hurdle.

The reason for England's rejection, in the opinion of many, was simply because the English media asked questions that nobody else would. As a consequence England won't be hosting sport's biggest event in eight years time.

However, for Pompey fans there is an investigation much closer to home that could have serious consequences for Portsmouth Football Club should evidence of financial corruption or criminal activity be unveiled.

UHY Hacker Young have handed in a report to the Insolvency Service today as their confidential investigation into club affairs. The Insolvency Service will then decide if any further action needs to be taken.

The contents of the report mostly remain a secret and therefore won't become public knowledge unless the Insolvency Service decide to report a criminal offence that is eventually followed up with criminal charges.

The local news report suggests that the Insolvency Service has until February 2012 to analyse the report, which took nine months to compile, before deciding what course of action to take, if any.

More details about the procedure can by found on The News' page here and it's certainly worth a read.

One interesting piece of information is that UHY Hacker Young had to interview every director of Portsmouth FC in the last three years of which a certain Ali Al-Faraj wasn't one of them. Unsurprising perhaps, but it at least confirms that there was an agent acting on his behalf (if he was even real to begin with.)

There is so much uncertainty and mystery regarding how some of the more shadowy characters associated with the running of the our great club and so perhaps this document and the forthcoming investigation will give us some answers to some of the more important questions that we have on our minds.

One of those questions would be "Who really was the sole benefactor of Portsmouth Football Club since Milan Mandaric sold the club?"

We all have our theories on the ownership of Portsmouth Football Club since Gaydamak took over in 2006 and we may never find out the truth. But if there were revelations that certain directors had been found guilty of corruption then there is a possibility that the club would be punished itself.

Would you, as a Portsmouth fan, accept a punishment from the authorities whether it be a heavy fine or a damaging retrospective points deduction if it meant that the veil over the murky goings on inside Portsmouth FC was lifted?

It might be worth it if it were to restore the club's integrity, but then most would argue that Portsmouth FC will only continue to have a shadow cast over it until all ties with Balram Chainrai and the Gaydamak's are removed.

There has been a Chinese whisper growing ever louder this week that Portsmouth will have to move ticket operations (and perhaps even the megastore) back to Fratton Park as Gaydamak has increased the cost of renting his land by 300%.

This hasn't yet been confirmed but it seems to be the case. I can't think why Gaydamak would do this other than to get his own back on Chainrai after the "accept 20% or Pompey go bust" PR spectacle.

It's sickening to see our club be used as a pawn in the feud between these two businessmen and the sooner they are gone and never seen again, the better.

Perhaps Panorama should investigate the people that have been involved with the dismantling of this once proud club. Waiting until 2012 at the earliest may be too late for some of us.