Unsung heroes

There has been a lot of praise flying around in the last few days. Quite rightly it's a magnificent time of celebration as our family comes together in unity and pride.

There have been two groups who have been absolutely critical to this who have been slightly underplayed.

The first is the magnificent Portsmouth City Council, officers, members and Cabinet. Frankly, without the far-sighted approach which saw the stadium hemmed in by planning restrictions it would no longer be there. They quietly went away and developed a planning brief that foiled any real thoughts of development. That forced people to approach the football club and the adjacent land as a football deal, which brought the whole thing under the scope of the football authorities.

Then there was the loan which effectively sealed the deal. They came under a lot of pressure not to do this from many quarters. They did it anyway. Without being party political, I can tell you that had Gerald Vernon-Jackson and Mike Hancock CBE MP been opposed to this loan it would not have happened. They fought to get it through and saved our club. Rightly, many have pointed to the sterling work of Penny Mordaunt MP and she was at the court in the morning offering support as ever which was hugely appreciated. We should throw politics out of the window and talk about friends. Mike, Gerald and Penny are friends of Portsmouth Football Club and we should never forget it, along with all the councillors of the cabinet who voted to ratify the decision of full council.

Never again should people float the myth that Portsmouth City Council has failed to support the club. Quite the opposite.

The other group of people are our High Net Worth backers. Some of them were again present at the court, making sure they attracted no publicity, not wanting to give any interviews, not wanting any of the credit.

My dealings with these guys has reaffirmed my faith in humanity. These guys are altruistic to an absolute fault. They don't want fame, glory, power, to hob-nob with players, they don't want statues or people singing their name. All they wanted was to have the club back in safe hands. They basked in the moment just like any other fan.

So many people contributed to this moment. The people who spent their last £10 on a Power to the People T shirt are exactly the same as the High Net Worth individuals. Same motives, same commitment, same passion. The people who fought the war for opinion on messageboards, twitter, Facebook, played an absolutely critical role in correcting misconceptions, explaining the process and pointing out the benefits.

The people who marched, the people who rang the Football League, PFA, they made a huge difference.

It's been a long long road. An enormous team effort got us here. It's been a life-affirming display as rich fans, poor fans, civic institutions, business, journalists and commentators have come together to get the right result for Pompey.

Thanks to everyone who has been so kind to me, it's literally impossible to thank everyone. Please also bear in mind that behind every word blogged was a large sum of money from some really great guys and a City Council that loves and appreciates its football club. They ask for no praise - but they deserve it as much as anyone.

Bick hoist on his own petard

When I first spoke to David Bick about the Harris bid he said "the bid is funded by three guys, they have all made a lot of money and, whilst they have no wish to lose it, they are not bothered about making a fast buck out of it".

He went on to describe Alan Hitchins, our veterinarian friend, as a man who had "made a lot of money in investments and wanted to give something back".

They have since described Pascal Najadi and Alan Hitchins as "passive investors" on numerous occasions.

On Saturday Bick warmed to his theme:

‘With us, there’s no public funds involved, it’s just three individuals.’

Keith Harris tonight said in the Guardian:

"I'm not in it just to make money, but I'm not doing it to lose money."

Except I have been told that by a certain bunch of lawyers that to say anything other than "Pascal Najadi is the sole funder of the bid" is defamatory. And they wished me to publish this. There you go then. Pascal Najadi is the sole funder of the bid. Which means Keith and Alan are not putting any money in but Bick and Harris are saying they are.

Both versions cannot be true. Either one of them is solely funding the bid or three of them are. This is everything that the past has taught us to be wary of. Why can't they answer a simple question?

I sent David Bick a list of questions I wanted answered. He wanted all of his replies used verbatim so here we go, (I have redacted the other questions he refused to answer for a follow up blog):

1. On Saturday you again claimed that the Harris bid was funded by three private individuals, yet I am also told that Pascal Najadi is the sole funder of the bid. Which is true?

2. Is Keith Harris on any form of bonus/inducement/no win no fee from Portpin?

David Bick:

Micah

I know you already face one libel action, which hardly surprises me, so I will not be goaded into another against you. It is rather contradictory for you to say to me over the telephone that I am known as a person of integrity and then imply lying on my part. Your questions are baseless and contain several material actual and implied inaccuracies.

Let me ask you a question or two: is your concern really that Keith Harris' bid is materially superior in virtually every respect compared to the other bid. While I respect the endeavours of a minority of the supporters to find a solution to the Club's plight, could it be that you know really that Keith's bid has the best interests of the Club at heart?

Let your conscience speak.

David Bick

I responded and asked these two questions again:

Micah,

If you read the email again carefully, I have given you a clear answer to every question. For guidance, the key word is 'baseless'.

I also referred to your inaccuracies. Given your ceaseless search for the truth no doubt you will correct these. I presume you have no wish to run into further issues with the law of the land on defamation.

If you wish to quote my two email responses, please do me the courtesy of reproducing them verbatim.

And the answers to my questions appear to have been avoided?

I responded thus:

David,

I can't believe that you are finding it so hard to answer two simple questions.

I'll ask you again:

1. On Saturday (and again in todays Guardian actually) you again claimed that the Harris bid was funded by three private individuals, yet I am also told that Pascal Najadi is the sole funder of the bid. Which is true?

2. Is Keith Harris on any form of bonus/inducement/no win no fee from Portpin?

I'm giving you the chance to answer these questions again. If you do not, I will run the blog and simply say that although contacted you refused to answer..

Micah Hall

David Bick:

I can't believe you won't answer mine. They are easy to understand. What is your problem with providing answers?Just stick to the truth and you'll be fine.

I am quite satisfied that my aggregated answer to your questions is crystal clear.

I replied:

David,

I shall therefore quote you as saying that it is "baseless" to suggest that Pascal Najadi is the sole funder of the bid.

I will also quote you as saying it is "baseless" to suggest that Keith Harris is on a no win no fee from Portpin.

Are you sure those are the answers you wish to give to these simple questions?

He replied:

David Bick:

Works for me. Please note my request for verbatim reporting though. Courtesy never hurts anyone.

He can consider this noted. I replied once again:

1. On Saturday (and again in todays Guardian actually) you again claimed that the Harris bid was funded by three private individuals, yet I am also told that Pascal Najadi is the sole funder of the bid. Which is true?

2. Is Keith Harris on any form of bonus/inducement/no win no fee from Portpin?

He replied:

David Bick:

And your answers are?

I then responded once again with a summary of what I intended to publish and gave him 30 minutes to think it over and answer the questions.

David Bick:

I don't respond to threats either. Publish that if you have integrity.

His wish is my command. I'm not that keen on threats myself. And coming from a man who rang me to gloat when I received a Letter before Action for defamation it rings a bit hollow.

There are also 4 texts for completeness:

1. David, just sent you some questions for 10pm blog deadline - check email.

2. Please check further emails.

3. Please see further email.

4. Please see further email?

---

Note: On legal advice I have slightly amended the form of one of the questions but it still means exactly the same thing.

Why is it so hard to answer these two simple questions?

I will now proceed to answer Bick's question to me:

The Harris bid is financially superior to the PST bid in one respect: the money it pays to Portpin. In both other key areas, I believe it is inferior:

1. It offers less to unsecured creditors

2. It offers £3m of working capital on which some kind of return is expected - as opposed to the £3m investment from fans which is not in any way a speculation and which the fans are prepared, in overwhelming numbers, to see used simply to see the club survive and not to generate any financial return for the investors.

The other key point of course which Mr Bick has spectacularly failed to grasp - with the PST bid we know who is involved, what they are investing and why. We know they are fans. We know the people running the bid and funding it love Portsmouth FC dearly.

What we know about the Harris bid is that there was one bid, which was to rent Fratton Park for some nebulous future purchase. Then there was the same bid but this time offering 15% to the fans he is competing with. We now know there is a third bid.

We know that the first two bids were structured the way Portpin wanted it done - source David Bick, "they wanted it that way".

We also know Keith Harris took £650k from Portpin to sell the club to CSI - which was a disaster waiting to happen, and works out at about £100k per month CSI survived. We also know he tried to sell the club to Bassini, who is thankfully now banned from football after his time at Watford.

In short, we know Keith Harris played a major role in the unfolding disaster of the last two years and was richly rewarded for it. There is nothing illegal in that. It's not wrong to do it if you are a broker. However, not a single person involved in running the Fans bid would have taken that £650k from Portpin to sell it to CSI. And that is the difference between a fan businessman, like the HNW investors and Trust, and someone like Harris.

I once asked Bick whether he would be happy if Harris had sold his beloved West Ham United to CSI then rolled up offering to invest his commission in the club.

"Of course not" was the answer.

So there's your answer David, out of your own mouth.

I asked Tavistock (for Portpin) question 2 but to be fair to them it was late and they had no way of checking at this advanced hour so they declined to comment. I have invited them to come back with a response at their convenience and I will append it to the piece.

The Harris bid risks liquidating Pompey

The Harris bid has now plumbed the very depths of futility, and poses a real risk to the future of Portsmouth Football Club.

Lets deal with the inaccuracies of their statement first:

Their quoted offer of £750k to unsecured creditors is less than the Trust's offer to unsecured creditors. That surely means it would require a new CVA to be voted for. Pompey must be out of administration before the last game of the season. That is totally unachievable in the timescale. However, maybe this forms part of their latest claimed deal with Portpin and Portpin have agreed to forego £100k of their own unsecured debt. (Bear in mind that it is highly possible that the majority of the unsecured creditors actually wind up being Portpin, as they are also the unsecured creditor of CSI's £10m debt, prop A Androinkou).

The egregious Bick also said:

‘We think there’s a big question mark with the PST bid,’ he said.‘It’s one thing buying a club but they have to leave enough working capital to run the club afterwards.‘Our fear is that they get the bid through and in a year’s time, they are in financial trouble. With Keith’s bid, it will ensure the financial survival of the club.’

Bick then claimed that the Harris bid have £3m of working capital to keep the club running.
Now the Trust have £3m working capital to put into the club, donated directly from fans. It is in escrow. The amount rises all the time - is the Harris bids money in escrow? Bick didn't explain how their £3m would be enough while ours isn't.

The most glaring problem with it though lies in this quote:
‘They are still saying that the football league’s position is to deal with the PST.‘We don’t think that’s the position at all. But they appear determined at the moment to go ahead with this hearing next week."

Their offer rests purely on scuppering the Trusts bid by helping Portpin win their court case, and then hoping the Football League will change their minds. Well, the Football League have confirmed FOUR times that they will not be considering any other bid than the PST bid. If the Football, League didn't really mean it, why did they instruct their lawyers to write to Portsmouth City Council weeks ago saying "there is only one commercially viable bid which is Pompey Supporters Trust"? If there wasn't time to consider new bids two months ago why would there now be enough time when there are just two weeks left for the club to exit administration?

When I've spoken to David Bick he repeatedly claimed that the Trust did not have the money to do the deal, that the council would not come through with their loan, that the Trust was seeking emergency bridging finance to do the deal and had only £1.2m in funds. That Stuart Robinson would not and had not come up with the money to buy the surrounding land.

NONE, count them, NONE of those claims were correct. Not only were those claims made to journalists - I know because they rang me and quizzed me about them - but also the Harris camp claimed that the Football League would approve their bid by the end of the week in which it was first submitted. Did that happen? No.

Their bid cannot succeed because the Football League have said to BDO that it is Trust or Bust. If the Trust don't succeed, Harris will not be braving the near universal wrath of Pompey fans and taking over - because the club will be liquidated the following day. BDO, (PKF), the court appointed administrator, will report back to the court that it is the Trusts deal or liquidation.

I told David Bick right from the outset that the Harris bid could not succeed, it could only make liquidation more likely. Make no mistake, without the Harris bid, Portpin have no case. With it, they have a tiny chance. If Keith Harris cares about Pompey he can immediately secure the clubs future by withdrawing his bid. He cannot own Pompey, he can only destroy it.