Former Chelsea manager Avram Grant, now in charge at Portsmouth, is in a good position to reflect on football’s haves and have nots.
Pompey definitely come into the latter category, having being served with a winding up order by Her Majesty’s Revenues and Customs for non-payment of VAT and much else.
Meanwhile Chelsea’s stupendous debt to owner Roman Abramovitch, £340m at least, has been effectively written off as Roman has converted it into shares, none of which needs as he owns the club anyway.
Portsmouth has suffered at the hands of two supposed Middle Eastern tycoons, neither of whom seem to have any money judging by the non-payment of the Revenue and intermittent non-payment of the players, in December for example.
Chelsea are now boasting that they’re debt free and able to comply with UEFA boss Michel Platini’s wish that all Champion’s League clubs are in this blessed state by 2012. This will be met with grinding teeth in the boardroom at Old Trafford as Manchester United’s debts, imposed by the American Glazer family when they bought the club with borrowed money, dwarf Chelsea’s (before Roman’s bailout of course).
Meanwhile it looks grim for Pompey as administration (and a ten point deduction) looms.
No wonder maanger Grant looks so miserable.
Reading in the Chelsea accounts that a former manager and his staff, presumably ‘Big Phil’ Scolari, received a payoff of £12.6m won’t improve Avram’s mood.
It’s highly unlikely that he received anything like this when he was rudely dispensed with after steering Chelsea to the Champion’s League final.
