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Pompey administrator urges Lloyd to front up

Portsmouth's fans have not had much to cheer about this season © Getty Images

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Portsmouth's administrator Andrew Andronikou has launched an attack on the man supposedly bidding to become the cash-stricken Premier League club's fifth owner of the season.

Property tycoon Rob Lloyd is fronting a consortium intending to buy penniless Portsmouth, but Andronikou is shocked by the way he has gone about it.

Lloyd hopes to enter into a confidential and exclusive arrangement ahead of putting up the £30 million the administrator wants to help pay off some of the more pressing of the £70 million debts, but Andronikou was gobsmacked when the 46-year-old, who appeared on Channel 4's Secret Millionaire programme in November 2008, publicly announced that he was meeting supporters' groups at Fratton Park on Sunday to seek their approval.

Lloyd runs both the Eatonfield property group and Rob Lloyd Racing from his base in Tarporley in Cheshire.

Andronikou told ESPNsoccernet on Sunday ahead of that meeting: "If this guy wants to buy Portsmouth, my message is 'Please come and buy the club', but I am bemused and more than slightly worried by his approach to win the hearts and minds of the supporters before coming to see me.

"We have spoken to the professionals involved, but not the person himself, and when you are signing non-disclosure agreements, it worries you that they then go and make public statements.

"I am sure this is a creditable bid, it certainly seems it judging by the professional I have so far met, but I need to know far more. I need to know who else is involved. We need to find a fit and proper person, not a chancer, and I am not saying this guy is a chancer, but there have been too many mistakes in the past with the owners of this club.

"At the moment, all I can say is that he has gone behind my back and that worries me. It p****s me off. I am looking for the right person to sell the club to, someone who ticks all the right boxes. Rob Lloyd appears to be credible and tick the right boxes but I need to make sure.

"But because there have been so many mistakes I am not going to jump in at the first person. I would rather wait a week or two and examine this offer and the others that are coming in.

"I have been told, for example, that Rob Lloyd has connections to another Premier League club. I have no idea if that is the case, or what those connections are, but I would need to find out."

Lloyd plans to assume the position of club chairman, backed by a consortium including a New York hedge fund and a "major investor", believed to be the South African investment firm Old Mutual. The administrator wants more details.

The group is prepared to place £3 million into an 'escrow' account as a deposit and prepared to make around £15 million available upfront to cover the club's running costs, but the administrator wants far more details about who else is involved in the consortium.

Lloyd told Sky Sports News on Sunday evening: "It is certainly genuine. I certainly wouldn't have spent my Sunday coming down here and wasting all the time. I have got more things than nuts and fruit cake on at the moment with my own company. There is a substantial investor involved here.''

Asked if the investor would pass the fit and proper persons' test, Lloyd said: "There have been issues before. Certainly knowing the investor involved, he would tick all the boxes. He's very substantial. And I think he would be good for the club.''

Lloyd pointed out, though, that there was still a long way to go in the process. "We've got to conclude the deal first of all,'' he added. "I'm not making false promises. We're at early stages, there's a lot to do, there's a lot to do in 14 days. There are going to be a lot of sleepless nights. But let's get to first base initially.''

He added: "This is not a short-term fix, you can see this club is absolutely on its knees. The fans and other people associated with the club have been hugely let down.

"This isn't going to be fixed overnight. There's no question, no doubt in my mind this is going to take years. And it's baby steps, it's building the blocks, it's building the foundations and making this club into a successful club.''

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.