HMRC successful in blocking UHY administrators to Portsmouth FC

HMRC was successful in blocking UHY Hacker Young administrators from taking the Portsmouth FC adminsitration.

The club entered administration today with HMRC in court petitioning to halt UHY administrators' appointment to the collapsed club.

PKF administrators, led by the firm's head of insovlency Trevor Birch have now taken the appointment.

This is the second formal insolvency process for the championship side - after administrators Andrew Andronikou, Peter Kubik and Michael Kiely were appointed in 2010.

At the end of last year Andronikou and Kubik were appointed administrators to the club's parent company Convers Sports Initiative (CSI).

Yesterday Andronikou confirmed to BBC Radio Solent that the club had recommended UHY Hacker Young to handle the proposed administration.

Birch, Ian Gould and Bryan Jackson, partners at PKF, were today appointed joint administrators to Portsmouth FC.

A spokesman for the taxman said: HMRC is pleased that the courts agreed with our view that the creditors of any business have a right to expect that the administrator in these circumstances is completely independent.

"HMRC felt strongly that the appointment of Hacker Young as administrators to Portsmouth FC, whilst at the same time being administrators for the parent company CSI and its previous roles with the various Portsmouth Football Clubs, would present issues of conflict.

"This is why we suggested the appointment of PFK whose knowledge of the football industry and lack of previous connections to Portsmouth FC should re assure creditors"