«Yesterday you said you were busy. Footballing matters?»
«No, it wasn’t linked to the club. I resigned as the club’s executive director on December 16 last year and have no direct connection to the club’s affairs any longer. I am still a fan of Pompey, though, and we are following the situation at the club attentively. Converse Sports Initiative, the company which we used to own, is still one of the club’s main creditors and I also have a great relationship with Portsmouth’s staff, coaches and players.»
«Am I correct in saying that the sad story of Portsmouth’s demise began on November 25, the day of Antonov’s arrest?»
«Yes, the whole situation was rather prosaic. The government began the legal proceedings against Antonov and didn’t really matter whether he was or wasn’t guilty. It’s up to the court to decide, but we couldn’t carry on regardless, as the league demanded financial guarantees that we could no longer provide: all his assets were frozen by the state.»
«Where is Antonov now?»
«He is in London, all is well and he is very active, working on with his legal team on his defence strategy. In fact, no charges have been made yet, as he is only a suspect. This case could take months, if not years, but in the time we had at Portsmouth our company has proven to be a good partner. We invested a lot of money into signing players, as well as the infrastructure. We pumped more money into the club in the last five months than the previous owners in the last 10-15 years.»
«How much more?»
«Over a million dollars. That includes the financing of the new training ground and stadium infrastructure, and a lot of minor things as well. We had a five year development plan, which was formed in cooperation with the board of directors. Whatever anyone says, Antonov led the club in the right direction and we did not experience any financial difficulties. Up to his arrest we invested around 12 million pounds into the club. We did not have to introduce any job cuts, and we actually took on new staff in the managerial and scouting departments. We felt the full support of the staff, the players, the fans and even the mayor and the local government. By the way, Vladimir has always insisted that once his financial assets are released, he is willing to reclaim his stake at the club. And he is also prepared to write off the debts owed to him by the club.»
«Antonov resigned four days after his arrest, but you stayed on until December 16. Why is that?»
«To be perfectly honest, there was no real need for me personally to leave the club. I came to the club to help develop and expand it, but not as a saviour or the man to fight off the creditors. So I left voluntarily.
Guarantees
«Pompey went into administration in February, even though the owner was arrested in November. Why did it not happen straight away?»
«Let me explain. The investments we made in the first six months were sufficient to carry the club for a couple of months after the arrest. It was self-sufficient and many people hoped that a new investor will come in before the club is place into administration. That didn’t happen. Now a new sponsor will hopefully arrive and will decide to save the club from collapse. There is a chance, however, that new owners may choose to sell the players and break up the club.»
«Portsmouth allegedly owes tax money and salaries to the players. Can you give us the exact fee?»
«The overall annual wage bill currently stands at 10 million, but, as far as I know, all the players have been paid in full. The debt wasn’t due to lack of financing, but because our financial assets had been frozen. The main problem for the club now is that it has no owner. So no one can provide financial guarantees.»
«How many potential buyers did Portsmouth have in the last four months?»
«A lot of parties have expressed an interest, but it didn’t lead anywhere. Several big consortiums even offered to let me remain in my job, but I felt that I needed to get away from football and from club affairs, and I also didn’t want to work with someone other than Antonov, with whom we had a clear plan of building the club. No one could provide the backing that Vladimir did. According to my sources, the club’s management is holding talks with two or three potential buyers, but I don’t know any details.»
«Has there been any interest from Russia?»
«No, it was mainly the Asian and Middle Eastern parties, as well as several British consortiums.»
Stimulating the buyers
«In February club manager Trevor Birch admitted Portsmouth may have to leave the Championship. Is that really a possibility?»
«I don’t think that it will happen. The management needs to stimulate the potential buyers into buying the club and sometimes to do that they have to make such statements. I don’t believe that the club will be liquidated.»
«How did your last meeting with a Portsmouth fan go?»
«I see them all the time. Yesterday I met with a business partner who supports Pompey. Also yesterday I went to watch Portsmouth play Reading at the stadium. Last week I had dinner with Michael Appleton, their head coach. You have to understand that the fans feel strongly about the club’s future, but they judge us on what we’ve done for it, not on what happened outside it.»
«What are the three things you most proud of achieving in your time at the club?»
«The main thing, to me, is that we were not afraid to appoint Appleton as manager, despite his lack of experience. I saw potential in him and think that he has a big future ahead. Of course it’s difficult for him, but naturally we discussed different aims and ambitions for the club when we signed him. But the coach managed to unite the players and the team is improving. If he could improve the squad we would be much higher in the table now.»
«And the second?»
«When we first came here, the situation at the club was poor. Lack of trust and lack of unity. But we tried to change the atmosphere at Pompey and the commercial aspects. We provided three times more cash from the sponsors than the club got in the last three years. We can be proud of that.
And the third thing is what happened on the pitch. We chose our new signings carefully over the summer and they became key figures on the pitch. Henderson became Northern Ireland’s Number 1 in that space, others were purchased for mere pennies, but they also did well. If we look at the little things, we came up with the Match Day program for the iPad, which allows the fans to purchase the program right in their home. We introduced the bankcard with Portsmouth’s logo as well. These little things helped to improve the club.»
«What was your biggest mistake?»
«It’s hard to say. I don’t think we made any massive mistakes that we didn’t fix later. Perhaps our marketing policy should have been more aggressive. Perhaps we should have introduced more young players into the squad. But I feel that up to November 25 the club was developing well.»
Bigger audiences
«What was your biggest impression of English football during your time in it?»
«As a businessman, I had to kill the fan in me, so the emotions I felt about the game were subdued by the business affairs. But every match was special and gave me joy. Twenty-one thousand people came to the Chelsea friendly – that never happened before. We tried to improve the attendance at Fratton Park and I can tell you that more people were coming here regularly, even compared to last year.»
«What steps did you take to increase the attendance figures?»
«We had different offers. One was called Super-Six – we sold ticket packets for the next six games. It was aimed at the people who could not afford season tickets. We also introduced an offer, whereby fans could order Pint&Pie vouchers online, so they wouldn’t have to queue up at the stadium. Another strategy was to introduce ticket prices for children that were the same, as the child’s age. Two pounds for two year-olds, seven – for seven-year-olds. We also had various family offers and other deals, some of which were inspired by the ticketing policies in the NHL and the NBA. It was the right sort of approach.
«Any funny anecdotes from your time at the club?»
«Well, I always had fun interacting with the players – Nwako Kanu, for one. He always told lots of funny stories from his life, he is a rather extraordinary guy. I recall one time, when we asked the players: how come the stadium staff is making their lives easier, but don’t get anything in return? So the players chipped in and paid for the groundsmen’s dinners. It was a way of bringing the club together. Another funny case was when we wanted to see a player in action and sent an agent, rather than a club official, to meet him at the airport. The guy was clueless and ended up bringing him to Southampton, not Portsmouth!»
«Finally, we understand that you can’t predict Portsmouth future, but can you at least speculate about, say, three possible courses of development?»
«I think that the most realistic option is that within the next few months the club will come out of the administration and onto the hands of a new owner. It could be someone, who wants to improve the club and inject new life into it. It could be one of the previous owners, who would keep things going for a while and sell it to someone else later. The worst-case scenario is complete collapse and liquidation, but I am sceptical about that option and don’t want for it to happen, as a fan. I am grateful to all the people I’ve worked with there and fans who supported us through thick and thin.»
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