Town’s chances of signing Portsmouth pair Jason Pearce (pictured) and Joel Ward appear to have increased after Pompey were issued with a winding up petition by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. The Hampshire club, whose proposed takeover collapsed at the end of last week, owe £1.6 million in unpaid PAYE.
Andrew Andronikou, administrator for Pompey’s parent company Convers Sports Initiatives, admits that he is becoming increasingly concerned at the lack of a new owner, Sicilian-American businessman Joseph Cala having pulled out of his approach on Friday.
Andronikou told The Observer: "The club effectively ran out of cash at the end of December. The situation is extremely serious, we're under extreme pressure to find a buyer. Time is against us. The issuing of the petition effectively means the club loses its ability to use its bank accounts.
"But we've made other provisions. We're not fazed or worried by it. The club's debts are not significant, we haven't got millions and millions of liabilities.
"We pretty much have two months' PAYE outstanding. We have about £800,000 a month and we never paid December and the club certainly is not in a position to pay this month, so it's a total of £1.6m. We're waiting to see what the Revenue will do. They will probably advertise the petition next week. I think there is a hearing date at the end of February.
"We need to focus on finding a buyer to complete a transaction to raise cash. In terms of working capital and cash it's only going to come from two sources - a buyer or player sales. We're working on both."
He says manager Michael Appleton won’t have a choice in who might be sold: "No, but Michael has been extremely helpful and understanding of the circumstances, in general terms we are looking to lower the average wage bill."
Town made an offer believed to be £1 million for the duo last weekend and look set to make a second bid for the Pompey pair as well as Crewe midfielder Nick Powell in the days to come.