Will Player Power Kill Pompey?

Last updated : 23 July 2012 By Jim Bonner

This morning, members of S.O.S Pompey handed a letter to the remaining senior players at training today which practically begged them to tear up their contracts and leave.

However, it seems like that it's not just simply a case of being able to rip up a contract and there are things that us Pompey fans simply do not know which may change the way we think about the current situation at Fratton Park.

If you're not a regular on twitter then you would have missed Greg Halford's earlier tweets about what he is trying to do. To paraphrase, this is what he said:

"I think the majority of Pompey fans know I'm willing to do anything I can to help the club and keep it living, but for the people who are asking me to tear up my contract need to know I'm more than willing to do that!

But if I do, it leaves the club in a worse situation. The best thing for me to do for the club is to try and get a fee from another club for my services and pay off outstanding debts instead of making even more debts for the club.

It has been the hardest thing I've ever gone through and it kills me to see the club like this but that's how it stands at the moment. I love this club and want to see it survive!

That's all I can say at the moment but believe me I'm doing everything I can to do my part to help save this club. I will come out in the press soon and say more but at the moment I can't."

It may be melodramatic but I have Halford down as one of those players who does care about Pompey. His tweets suggest that there is more to this than we know and Greg is not the only player to hint at this.

Tal Ben-Haim apparently snubbed S.O.S Pompey's offer to read their letter but he gave an interview to Sky Sports earlier in the day, accusing Trevor Birch of doing deals through the media and suggesting he should take a pay cut if the defender is asked to lose even more money.

I'm not one to take Ben-Haim's words at face value but for two of the senior players to hint that things aren't quite as Birch says suggests that the players may not have all the power in this dangerous game of brinkmanship.

Birch's latest play in his plan is to tell the fans that Portsmouth FC will go bust in two weeks if the senior players don't leave and that is a view shared by Balram Chainrai.

But how many times have we heard this? From Birch and from Andrew Andronikou previously? There have been hints that this may well be "Game Over" with staff preparing for the worst but I believe that this is yet another "crying wolf" tactic from the administrators that will see compromises made right at the last hour after plentiful hours of negotiation.

The situation seems as grim as that Friday night before the trip to Hull in 2010 which was supposed to be Pompey's final game, but that was quickly rectified on the day of the game.

My personal belief is that we will get through this despite yet more suffering and the uncertainty, but it may take more than high earning players leaving the club to do so. But what else that may be is anyone's guess.