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.

Photo: Action Images

havinit69 added 19:51 - Jan 22 I am I the only one who thinks that it is incredibly funny how David Norris may be regretting being a greedy **** ?!
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Keaneish added 19:52 - Jan 22 Sicilian-American?....I've seen films like this.
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marcusevans added 19:52 - Jan 22 Oh, and buy their manager too!
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BlueBoots added 19:59 - Jan 22 "Sicilian-American businessman Joseph Cala having pulled out of his approach on Friday." Looks like he didn't make them an offer they couldn't refuse... Offer them 800k for Pearce and Ward, and tell them the offer will drop to £600k if they don't accept in 48 hours - and we'll take Norris back on a free to ease their wage bill.
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baker_18 added 20:01 - Jan 22 Bring back norris
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RetroBlue added 20:03 - Jan 22 Should we try and get Norris back ?
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Suffolk_n_Good added 20:05 - Jan 22 Tell you what, why don't we bid 5million for the club!! We can then take their GK, RB, Pearce, Ward, Norris, plus anyone else whose worth having!! & we can have a rummage through the fixtures & fittings, whatever we don't want we can stick on ebay!....... sorted!
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whippet added 20:08 - Jan 22 Think we should fork out about 2.2. Would give Pompey some time (good for them) but we would need Halford as well. 3 players like this at this point in the season will save us from the drop---its worth 2 and a bit million right now if it guarantees our survival (and it will)
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alfromcol added 20:13 - Jan 22 Norris jumped ship he knew he was running down his contract. No way should he be given a life line.
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righty added 20:16 - Jan 22 Hope they read this for gods sake keep away from this shower if you got any sense unless they want to play in Div1 next season
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jamesmostevens added 20:23 - Jan 22 Don't want us to take advantage of Portsmouth position but if we just offered a million and since then they have found out that they need money quickly, why not go back with the same offer? Their circumstances have changed since last week.
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Karlosfandangal added 20:28 - Jan 22 Give them £2.5 and for the two lads plus Norris, Get the lad from Crewe, Sell Leadbetter and let Bowyer go at the end of the season
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FornhamBlue added 20:32 - Jan 22 alfromcol - totally agree about Norris.
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FornhamBlue added 20:35 - Jan 22 alfromcol - totally agree about Norris.
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yorksblue added 20:35 - Jan 22 19000 for WHU. Maybe, as they'll have 3000+
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gypo added 20:36 - Jan 22 £3 million for pearce, ward and halford . And Norris can stay were he is thank-you he had enough chance to sign a new contract !!
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yorksblue added 20:37 - Jan 22 Saw a decent keeper and 2 CBs at my local part this morning. Worth a punt, and gotta be better than the muppets on display yesterday.
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yorksblue added 20:39 - Jan 22 Weale from Leicester is a decent choice for GK.
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stewartwonderland added 20:46 - Jan 22 Would love us to get these guys in, but unfortunately we are not the only interested party, I remember reading somewhere that Leicester also had a bid turned down recently for these two and no doubt there will be others looking at the situation as well. Can Town pull this deal off? It will be an interesting week!
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tractorboy11uk added 20:51 - Jan 22 For all of you wanting Halford as part of a deal, I rate him highly and watched him while he got established at Col Utd. However, having spoken to his mother while at the old Layer road there is no way he will pull on an ITFC shirt trust me ! It's just not going to happen unless he's had a major heart transplant ! Shame though !
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michaeldownunder added 20:52 - Jan 22 As I said before buy the whole defence from one club, they already know each other so none of this crap prom PJ saying it will take time for the team to bed in. All back four from Portsmouth what's their goalkeeper like? 2.5 mill for the lot, plus Norris?
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WarkyWonderLand added 21:07 - Jan 22 Will make no difference with jewell and his pals in charge. Of course, not a long journey for jewell yesterday after the game back to his house near Bradford. Says it all.
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bournemouthblue added 21:14 - Jan 22 Offer them less, and keep dropping it every day they don't accept the bids :)
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Lukeybluey added 21:30 - Jan 22 Offer 2.5 mil, bring in ward, pearce, Halford and lawrence. Sorted. Weale would be a good shout from leicester too! then build the team around them!
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bobble added 21:39 - Jan 22 those portsmouth people should come to suffolk if they want see real crisis..thats not a crisis THIS is a crisis ! or is it actually called crysis ? because that helps explain it better, i feel like having a good cry on my sisters shoulder..a crysis
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