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Row breaks out at Portsmouth

Peter Storrie has become embroiled in a row with Portsmouth's administrator © Getty Images

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Four owners, one administration, nine points docked, players sold off behind the manager's back, £70 million in debt, and just when you thought it could not get any worse at Portsmouth, a spat has broken out behind the scenes in the boardroom.

Administrator Andrew Andronikou has infuriated ousted chief executive Peter Storrie, who has been retained as a consultant, and potential new owners, a consortium fronted by Rob Lloyd with South African connections, in the latest issue to afflict the stricken Premier League club.

A Fratton Park insider has broken cover to reveal the extraordinary row that broke out behind the scenes on the day the Premier League docked nine points for being in administration and the club were doomed to relegation with nine games to go.

Andronikou said of Storrie on Wednesday: "At the moment Mr Storrie is assisting us. I felt it would help us if we had him around to assist us in certain aspects of the business but this is very much in the short term. He was a senior officer of the company and the company has failed so it goes without saying that yes he must bear a large part of the responsibility, absolutely. Portsmouth is an example of how not to conduct business in the world of football."

An insider told Soccernet: "Andrew has made some highly explosive remarks about Peter Storrie to the Press Association, saying that the chief executive officer couldn't have run the football club much worse than he has done, basically laying the blame on his shoulders.

"Peter Storrie, who has resigned as chief executive, but remains a consultant, has naturally been shocked by this. There has been a succession of owners, who have been in control of the club and its finances, rather than Storrie, so you can imagine he has taken great exception to this.

"Storrie has confronted Andrew, who has pleaded that he has been taken out of context and he has promised to retract his earlier comments. But it doesn't end there, Andrew has been making comments about the potential new owners, and it has not gone down well." Storrie was taken aback when he heard a television news item naming him as the culprit for Pompey's financial crisis.

A representative of the administrator said: "Peter Storrie saw an item on Sky Sports that Andrew says as chief exec he is responsible. Andrew says he was asked who fans should blame for the debts of football clubs and he answered it can only be the management teams; they cannot rely on benefactors to bail them out when spending more than they earn. He says he meant owners and their managers as a team and not Portsmouth specifically."

The administrator has also called upon property developer Lloyd to reveal the identities of his financial backers, demanding proof of funds.

"There will have to be more clarity about his backers before the middle of next week," said Andronikou. "I have asked to know who the owners would be. It is part of a bundle of information I need to see. We need the whole picture."

An insider added: "There are some issues here. In addition the administrator has asked the consortium for a £3 million non-returnable deposit, and that has not gone down too well."

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