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

Rossm added 08:08 - Jan 23 Sell up Pompey... Pompey sell up!
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wessextractorboy added 08:19 - Jan 23 Sign up Henderson their Keeper. Quality young keeper. Better than ALB
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MintyHalfWit added 08:43 - Jan 23 With a 'Reduced' sticker on the goods for sale on the South Coast, perhaps the invisible one might be persuaded to acquire Pompey and exit Ipswich stage left. Wouldn't it be nice to see this odious figure walking down the A12, carpetbag in hand, with his Hush Puppy-wearing lackey trailing behind, muttering his trademark 'yessir, yessir, yessir....' We can but hope.

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FabianMalyon added 08:56 - Jan 23 Offer them half of what we offered last week and give them 24 hours to say yes. We're running out of time in this window so need to act quickly.
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brittaniaman added 09:33 - Jan 23 NO reaction from the club this weekend ??????????? Jewellio is walking round with a swagger now,, knowing that he is not going to get the axe !!!!!! IF he did get new players in the escuse will be they have got to GEL !!!!!!!!!!!!! SO it looks to be the DERBY ROAD AGAIN or is it ??????? Mind you up the A140 they called theirs the ROEDER & GUNN road with a touch of NEIL DONCASTER

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nitroblue1970 added 09:33 - Jan 23 what player is going to want to come here? If there any good they will hang on and on until the deadline and sign for someone else as they are not interested in playing in league one next season. Pompey may well accept an offer for players but the players dont want to move to Ipswich!...Our "manager" has known since macualy left that we need a solid CB, yet we have had no one, a whole close season and most of this transfer window too with nothing! I believe the buck stops with the manager, time to offer your resignation PJ.

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walberswick added 09:39 - Jan 23 Pompey will let this drag out for as long as possible. The transfer window will have long closed by the time they're in court.
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walberswick added 09:41 - Jan 23 Are we talking to Warnock, now Clegg has gone silent?
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newboy added 10:00 - Jan 23 Our priority should be a new manager who can in turn make decisions about his players PJ should have been sacked at Christmas how the hell does he justify his job with over 50% of his games in charge lost RK only lost 37% and ME sent him packing
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meekreech added 10:01 - Jan 23 Walberswick Dont wish for that ! He is worse than the dark lord !
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Keaneish added 10:17 - Jan 23 This is a gift surely! 1.6mil is a fair price, it pays off their debt, prevents them from going into administration and getting a points deduction keeping them out of the relegation zone and stops the club folding. Pearce and Ward get to come to a club that can guarantee first team football and pay their wages. Surely this is a simple offer to whoever is facilitating the inland revenue debt and good contract offers to the pair. How can anyone mess this up? Bring these in, Edwards to right midfield, wright back in goal and get McManus as we'll need an experienced centre back. Job done. Town stay up.

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WorcesterBlue added 10:36 - Jan 23 Just been on the Ipswich section of the football rumours site and an ad flashed up saying "Declare Bankruptcy in 3 easy steps".......didn't bother reading on as I know the steps: 1. Employ CEOs with no knowledge and Managers with a poor track record 2. Sell all your best assets 3. Refuse to invest in key business areas.
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WorcesterBlue added 10:41 - Jan 23 And as for Warnock....nooooooooooo! Butcher? Burley and Holland? Murhen?
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Help added 12:12 - Jan 23 maybe we could go for a few more from there as well who must be better then what we got in some other positions
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