2009–10 Portsmouth F.C. season

The team kit is produced by Canterbury of New Zealand and the shirt sponsor is Jobsite. On 8 April 2010, Portsmouth FC announced a new five-year kit supply deal with Kappa. They wore the Kappa strip for the first time in the FA Cup Semi Final on 11 April 2010.

The club started the season with great expectation after Sulaiman Al-Fahim bought the club from previous owner Alexandre Gaydamak for a fee around £60 million, but Al-Fahim's ownership only lasted 40 days until Ali Al-Faraj and his business Falcondrone Ltd. bought 90% of Al-Fahim's stake in Portsmouth; as part of the deal, Al-Fahim became non-executive chairman at the club until the end of the 2010–11 season. However, at the start of February 2010, al-Faraj lost his stake in Portsmouth to a debtor as part of a repayment agreement on one of his loans. In 2010, Balram Chainrai loaned former owner Ali al-Faraj £17 million, secured through collateral of Fratton Park grounds and the club itself. When the owner failed to pay meet a scheduled loan repayment, Chainrai took over control of the club. He intended to sell the club as soon as possible, and in the meantime he leased Fratton Park back to Portsmouth, with possible future rental yields of nearly a million pounds annually. On the morning of 26 February, a formal announcement was made that the club had entered administration and would be docked 9 points once three directors of the Premier League board had met to agree when the points should formally be taken. Andrew Andronikou, Peter Kubik and Michael Kiely of accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young were appointed by the club as administrators.

Already before the season began Portsmouth saw a net transfer spend in the far negative with key players such Glen Johnson going to Liverpool, Peter Crouch and Niko Kranjčar to Tottenham Hotspur and Sylvain Distin to Everton. Although a team was assembled through cheap deals and loans it soon became clear that Portsmouth had been depleted of quality and the team began sliding down to the bottom of the table, with the first seven league matches being lost.

As the early stages of the 2009–10 season progressed, the finances dried up and the club admitted on 1 October that some of their players and staff had not been paid. On 3 October, media outlets started to report that a deal was nearing completion for Ali al-Faraj to take control of the club. On Monday 5 October, a deal was agreed for Al Faraj and his associates via the British Virgin Islands-registered company Falcondrone to hold a 90% majority holding, with Al-Fahim retaining 10% stake and the title of non-executive Chairman for two years. Falcondrone also agreed a deal with Gaydamak the right to buy, for £1, Miland Development (2004) Ltd, which owned various strategic pockets of land around the ground, once refinancing was complete. 2 days after the Al-Faraj takeover was completed Portsmouth's former Technical Director Avram Grant returned as Director of football.

On the pitch, Portsmouth's late transfer of funds called for a flurry of transfers at the end of the window, including the loan signing of Ivorian international Aruna Dindane, who would go on to score a hat-trick against Wigan Athletic. An opening run of seven defeats raised fears Hart would be sacked, but at the eighth attempt, at Molineux, Hassan Yebda (another loanee) headed the first win. Portsmouth were beaten 4–2 at Fratton Park by Aston Villa in the quarter finals of the League Cup, having beaten off Premiership high-flyers Stoke City; yet another loanee, Frédéric Piquionne, was on target twice. However, because of the financial problems, the Premier League placed the club under a transfer embargo, meaning the club were not allowed to sign any players.

Paul Hart was sacked by the board on 24 November 2009, based on the poor results that left Portsmouth at the bottom of the league. He was offered the role of technical director responsible for players aged 18–21, but he declined. Coaches Paul Groves and Ian Woan took temporary charge of the team. On 26 November 2009, Portsmouth F.C. announced on its official website that Avram Grant had been appointed as manager.

On 3 December 2009, it was announced that the club had failed to pay the players for the second consecutive month. On the 31st it was announced player's wages would again be paid late on 5 January 2010. According to common football contracts, the players then had the right to terminate their contracts and leave the club without any compensation for the club, upon giving 14 days notice. Despite the financial difficulties, Grant's time as manager was initially successful, having won two of his first four games in charge (against Sunderland and Liverpool) and only narrowly missing out on a point against league leaders Chelsea.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) filed a winding-up petition against Portsmouth at the High Court in London on 23 December 2009. HMRC claimed the club owed large sums in unpaid VAT on the club's net receipts from its negative transfer spend over the previous two years. Initially, the club denied the winding-up order and a statement was released via the club's website, in which the club stated that they expected the winding-up order to be retracted. The club applied to the High Court to strike out the winding-up petition. Tax lawyer Conrad McDonnell argued that the standard VAT treatment of football clubs, negotiated between the FA and HMRC, was wrong and legally no VAT should be charged on transfers of employees (players are employees), so that the whole HMRC debt was disputed. On 19 January 2010, the High Court dismissed the club's claim[1] although permission to appeal was granted and a statement from Portsmouth said the Judge "considered an appeal to the Court of Appeal would have a 'real chance of success'". This meant that the case stayed open and HMRC were not able to proceed with an immediate winding-up as they wanted.

Meanwhile, it was announced on 5 January 2010 that the Premier League were to use Portsmouth's share of the latest installment of television broadcast monies to pay off the club's debts to other top-flight sides. Chelsea, Tottenham and Watford were all owed money by Portsmouth (as were Udinese and Lens). The Premier League split £7 million between them. The action is allowed within league rules to protect clubs that are owed money from transfers.

On 26 January, The Premier League partially lifted the transfer embargo, and allowed the club to sign and register loanees and players not registered to other clubs. Portsmouth managed to sell a few players, garnering the hope that bills and staff might get paid on time. On 28 January, the club's deep financial trouble was further highlighted by the temporary closure of the Portsmouth website, after the club failed to pay their bills for its upkeep to their Bournemouth-based digital agency Juicy. The website was back live several hours later, after Juicy announced a new financial arrangement with Portsmouth. It appeared on 2 February 2010 that staff and players were not paid their wages on time for the fourth time in five months, causing Portsmouth's PFA representative to call for more openness from within the club.

On 4 February, Portsmouth was taken over by its fourth owner in one season: Balram Chainrai. A Nepalese businessman based in Hong Kong, Chainrai took over Portsmouth as part of a clause in a loan deal he made with the previous owners. He is thought to have given the club between £15 and £20 million, but the debts were not repaid.

A full court hearing of HMRC's winding-up petition was held on 10 February 2010 and the club was given a "stay-of-execution" for a further seven days with a view to securing a new buyer. If the club did not enter administration or HMRC did not recover its money, the club could have been wound up by the Court and a liquidator appointed.

On 26 February 2010, having not secured a new buyer before the 25 February deadline, they prepared to enter administration, and appointed UHY Hacker Young as administrators. On the morning of 26 February, a formal announcement was made that the club had entered administration and would be docked nine points once three directors of the Premier League board have met to agree when the points should formally be taken. The Premier League decided to delay their decision until the Court case on 15 March decided the club's fate, After beating Birmingham City 2–0 on 6 March, Portsmouth once again made the FA Cup Semi-finals, to face Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley on 11 April. On 11 March, the HMRC withdrew their winding-up order, having contested the validity of the administration that was implemented on 26 February, after receiving documentation proving its validity. On 12 March Peter Storrie stepped down as the club's CEO, though he remained at the club in the short term as a consultant to the administrator.

On 15 March, a consortium fronted by Rob Lloyd entered a period of exclusivity to buy Portsmouth FC. Rob Lloyd met 19 invited Portsmouth fans at the Hilton Portsmouth on Sunday 14th to outline his group's plans and to answer questions from the fans.

On 17 March 2010, Portsmouth were docked nine points for entering administration. That only confirmed a relegation that was always inevitable, with Portsmouth being last in the league on actual points as well. Portsmouth reached the 2010 FA Cup Final against Chelsea, losing the match 1-0, but would have normally been qualified to the UEFA Europa League as Chelsea had qualified for the higher ranked Champions League. However, Portsmouth was denied entry due to its financial state, with Premier League's 7th-placed team Liverpool taking over its place.

On 24 March 2010, administrator Andrew Andronikou revealed that the club would be looking to start the next season with a whole new squad. Players with expiring contracts would be allowed to leave and Portsmouth FC were looking to sell between eight and ten players. Overall, up to 20 players could leave at the end of the season. The club would be looking to build their team from free transfers in the summer transfer window to save money.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ENG David James (captain) 3 DF  POR Ricardo Rocha 4 MF  RSA Aaron Mokoena 5 MF  ENG Jamie O'Hara (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur) 6 MF  ENG Hayden Mullins 7 DF  ISL Hermann Hreiðarsson 8 MF  SEN Papa Bouba Diop 9 FW  FRA Frédéric Piquionne (on loan from Lyon) 11 MF  ENG Michael Brown 15 GK  FIN Antti Niemi 16 DF  IRL Steve Finnan 17 FW  NGA John Utaka 18 DF  BEL Anthony Vanden Borre (on loan from Genoa) 19 FW  ENG Danny Webber 20 FW  ENG Tommy Smith 21 GK  ENG Jamie Ashdown 22 MF  SCO Richard Hughes

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 MF  GHA Kevin-Prince Boateng 24 FW  CIV Aruna Dindane (on loan from Lens) 26 DF  ISR Tal Ben Haim 27 FW  NGA Nwankwo Kanu 31 GK  ENG Liam O'Brien 32 MF  ALG Hassan Yebda (on loan from Benfica) 33 MF  GRE Angelos Basinas 35 DF  IRL Marc Wilson 37 FW  FRA Gaël N'Lundulu 38 MF  ENG Marlon Pack 39 DF  ALG Nadir Belhadj 40 DF  ENG Joel Ward 41 MF  ENG Matt Ritchie 43 DF  ENG James Hurst 44 DF  ENG Luke Wilkinson 46 DF  GER Lennard Sowah 47 FW  TUR Nadir Çiftçi

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  ENG Linvoy Primus (retired) 3 DF  FRA Younès Kaboul (to Tottenham Hotspur) 10 FW  ENG David Nugent (on loan to Burnley) 14 DF  ENG Mike Williamson (to Newcastle United) 14 FW  GHA Quincy Owusu-Abeyie (on loan from Spartak Moscow)

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF  FRA Sylvain Distin (to Everton) 19 MF  CRO Niko Kranjčar (to Tottenham Hotspur) 25 DF  SRB Duško Tošić (on loan to Queen's Park Rangers) 31 GK  BIH Asmir Begović (to Stoke City) 42 MF  FRA Gauthier Mahoto (to Bastia)

[2]

No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total		Discipline
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	David James	25	0	4	0	0	0	29	0	3	0
3	DF	Younès Kaboul	19	2	4	0	2	0	25	2	5	1
3	DF	Ricardo Rocha	10	0	2	0	0	0	12	0	0	2
4	MF	Aaron Mokoena	21+2	0	4	1	2+1	0	27+3	1	7	0
5	MF	Jamie O'Hara	25+1	2	3	1	0	0	28+1	2	8	0
6	MF	Hayden Mullins	15+3	0	4+2	0	2	0	21+5	0	3	0
7	DF	Hermann Hreiðarsson	17	1	5	0	1	0	23	1	2	0
8	MF	Papa Bouba Diop	9+3	0	5+2	0	0	0	14+5	0	1	0
9	FW	Frédéric Piquionne	26+8	5	6+1	3	2+2	3	34+11	11	2	0
10	FW	David Nugent	0+3	0	0+1	0	0	0	0+4	0	0	0
11	MF	Michael Brown	22+2	2	6	0	2+1	0	30+3	2	6	1
14	MF	Quincy Owusu-Abeyie	3+7	0	0	0	0+1	1	3+8	1	0	0
15	DF	Sylvain Distin	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0
16	DF	Steve Finnan	20+1	0	4	0	0	0	24+1	0	1	0
17	FW	John Utaka	10+8	1	3+4	2	3	1	16+12	4	2	0
18	DF	Anthony Vanden Borre	15+4	0	2	0	4	1	21+4	1	2	1
19	MF	Niko Kranjčar	4	0	1	1	0	0	5	1	0	0
19	FW	Danny Webber	4+13	1	1+3	0	3	2	8+16	1	1	0
20	FW	Tommy Smith	12+4	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
21	GK	Jamie Ashdown	5+1	0	1	0	1	0	14+4	1	0	0
22	MF	Richard Hughes	9+1	0	1+2	0	2+1	1	12+4	1	5	0
23	MF	Kevin-Prince Boateng	20+2	3	5	2	0	0	25+2	5	9	0
24	FW	Aruna Dindane	18+1	8	3	1	2	1	23+1	10	7	0
26	DF	Tal Ben Haim	21+1	0	1	0	1	0	23+1	0	4	0
27	FW	Nwankwo Kanu	6+17	2	0+1	0	0+4	2	6+22	4	0	0
31	GK	Asmir Begović	8+1	0	3	0	3	0	14+1	0	1	0
32	MF	Hassan Yebda	15+3	2	2	0	3	0	20+3	2	3	0
33	MF	Angelos Basinas	7+5	0	1+2	0	2	0	10+7	0	3	0
35	DF	Marc Wilson	28	0	6	0	1+1	0	35+1	0	3	0
39	DF	Nadir Belhadj	16+3	3	2+1	1	4	0	22+4	4	2	0
40	DF	Joel Ward	1+2	0	0	0	1	0	2+2	0	1	0
41	DF	Matt Ritchie	1+1	0	0	0	0	0	1+1	0	0	0
46	DF	Lennard Sowah	3+2	0	0	0	0	0	3+2	0	0	0

• http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=746923&sec=england&cc=3888&ghg

• Official Website
• 2009–10 Portsmouth F.C. season on BBC Sport: Club news – Recent results and fixtures
• Portsmouth F.C. season 2009–10 at ESPN