Southampton could be reinstated to FA Cup if Portsmouth are liquidated

The cash-strapped Premier League club are due back in the High Court on March 1 for their winding-up petition hearing.

The hearing, demanded by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) over an unpaid tax bill of £11.5m, will take place just days before Pompey are due to host Birmingham in the FA Cup quarter finals.

The FA have told the Daily Echo that reinstating Saints – Pompey’s fifth-round victims at St Mary’s last weekend, Rickie Lambert is pictured scoring for Saints – or handing Birmingham a bye to the semi-finals are two of many possible solutions that would be considered if Pompey were wound up.

Another could be for the FA to select a ‘lucky loser’, as they did in 1999/2000 when holders Manchester United controversially pulled out of the competition.

The Red Devils opted to take part in the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship in Brazil rather than defend their trophy.

The FA got around the situation by selecting a loser from the second round to take United’s place in the third.

The final decision, in the event of Pompey being closed down, will be made by the FA’s cup committee.

The possibility of Portsmouth not being in existence come March 6 has become very real in the last week.

Yesterday, the club admitted it had approached the Premier League to ask to be allowed to sell players outside of the transfer window, to help generate funds to pay £4m wages by the end of the month.

The transfer window closed less than three weeks ago, and Pompey only sold two players in the month they had to make deals. The matter has now been referred to FIFA.

Pompey can no longer opt to go into administration – only their creditors can now do that, which would incur an automatic nine point penalty, virtually sealing their relegation to the Championship.

However, the threat of liquidation is what will be worrying the Fratton faithful far more.

At their court appearance last week, Registrar Christine Derrett declared there was a “very real risk” that the company – Portsmouth City Football Club Ltd – was trading while insolvent.

Rather than winding the club up straight away, she gave them seven days to prove the company did indeed have enough money to meet payments it must make, by handing in to the court a Statement of Affairs, detailing the club’s finances.

That was handed in on Wednesday ahead of the next court date on March 1 for the court and the HMRC to study.

It is illegal for any company to trade whilst knowing to be insolvent. Any company directors found guilty of this could end up in jail.

If the club were to be liquidated, its league results would be expunged from the Premier League table.

The club owes a total of around £60m, with the two main creditors being former owner Alexandre Gaydamak and Balram Chainrai.

The latter controls 90 per cent of the Fratton Park club after owner Ali Al Faraj failed to meet a payment schedule.

Mr Chainrai’s loans are secured against the ground and other physical assets, while Mr Gaydamak still owns the land around the stadium.

Chief executive Peter Storrie claimed on Monday that a takeover of the club would be completed “within 48 hours”.

Portsmouth have been offered as 5/2 by bookmakers to not complete their fixtures this season.

Additional reporting by Dan Kerins