Portsmouth’s players have been told they will not be paid their monthly wages, according to reports this afternoon. The situation could have a bearing on whether the Blues are successful in landing some or all of their three Pompey targets — keeper Stephen Henderson, central defender Jason Pearce (pictured) and defender or midfielder Joel Ward.
Manager Michael Appleton is understood to have informed the squad of the situation, which relates to a bank account being frozen by HMRC, who have issued a winding up order against the Hampshire club over £1.6 million in unpaid PAYE. Portsmouth will be looking to address the bank account situation tomorrow with their court hearing on February 20th.
Pompey’s ongoing situation could see them sell a number of players on deadline day, although not necessarily Town’s targets with Australian winger Ryan Williams in talks with Fulham regarding a £500,000 switch, Dave Kitson apparently interesting Brighton and Luke Varney linked with Wolves.
Speaking earlier today, Blues boss Paul Jewell admitted that he is unsure how many of his targets he might land: "Whether we get one player, two players or three players is still up in the air.”
Town are reported to have been talks with the administrator of Portsmouth’s parent company Convers Sports Initiatives but with Pompey officials so far having refused to agree to the proposed deal.
This is presumably what Jewell was referring to earlier today when he was talking about Pompey's situation: "Complicated is not the word. It’s complicated to the nth degree.”
The apparent escalation of Portsmouth's financial crisis would appear to rule out Blues skipper Grant Leadbitter or defender Damien Delaney wanting to move to Fratton Park, a possibility that Jewell said wasn't on the table as far as he was aware in any case.
Elsewhere, former Blues loanee Keith Andrews is reported to have handed in a transfer request at Blackburn.
It’s long been known that the Irishman wants to move away from Ewood Park but manager Steve Kean had hoped to reintegrate him back into his squad after his return from Portman Road earlier in the month.
The Blues were interested in bringing the 31-year-old, who has 18 months remaining on his contract, back to Suffolk but may be less keen since landing Ryan Stephenson from Hearts over the weekend.