Portsmouth fail to pay players again for the third time...
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Portsmouth fail to pay players again - raising fresh fears about basement club's finances
In the hot seat: New Portsmouth manager Avram Grant (front)
Portsmouth were unable to pay all their players on time again last month as the club's financial embarrassment deepened.
It is the third time players at Fratton Park, whose monthly wage bill amounts to around £2million, have been made to wait for their money since the club was taken over in the summer.
Pompey issued a statement last night claiming the problem would be solved within days but this latest cash-flow crisis will do nothing to lift morale or persuade the authorities to end their transfer embargo before the market opens for business next month.
Oh brother: Ahmed Al Faraj, the sibling of Portsmouth's new owner, watches the club in action at Fratton Park
Portsmouth were banned by the Premier League from signing any new players because they had fallen behind with transfer instalments to other clubs.
Another series of payments are due at the end of January running to more than £5m, including a loan fee to Tottenham for Jamie O'Hara and a payment for Younes Kaboul, which Spurs agreed to delay.
Watford are due another tranche from the transfers of Tommy Smith and Mike Williamson, while Chelsea are still owed a sell-on fee for Glen Johnson after the fullback's move from Portsmouth to Liverpool for £18m in June.
The money owed to Chelsea for Johnson was one of the outstanding payments from August which prompted the Premier League to impose the transfer embargo in mid-October.
At the time, Pompey claimed the matter would be sorted out swiftly and that the financial problems stemmed from the complicated transfer of power for Alexandre Gaydamak to Sulaiman al Fahim and then on to a consortium led by Ali al Faraj.
Almost two months on, there is little sign of improvement. The club are bottom of the Barclays Premier League and the missing November salaries will eat away at morale as newly-installed manager Avram Grant prepares his team for a crucially important home game against Burnley tomorrow.
Exodus: Striker Aruna Dindane is expected to be called up by the Ivory Coast for the Africa Cup of Nations next month
A statement from the club said: 'A proportion of the wages will be paid tomorrow with the club's new owners working towards paying the remainder over the next few days.' Even if the club were to fulfill this promise, it does not bode well. The Premier League cannot lift the transfer ban unless they believe Pompey can cope with another expensive round of payments in January.
Players' union chief executive Gordon Taylor said: 'It is bad enough when you see clubs like Darlington, Chester and Crystal Palace struggling to survive but you don't expect to see it in the Premier League.'
Portsmouth have lurched on from month to month since the summer with Al Faraj, who has yet to show his face at Fratton Park, scrambling around to secure loans to meet day-to-day running costs.
The late transfer payments due in August to Watford for Smith and to Arsenal for Lassana Diarra were eventually paid because the Premier League redirected a portion of central funding to these clubs instead of paying it into Pompey's account.
Despite their precarious financial position, Grant insisted yesterday that the club must strengthen the squad in January if they are to pull away from the relegation zone.
The Israeli said: 'I think it is essential we have money to spend in January. The owners are doing their best to help the team but we need to wait and see. The people who were here before did a good job under difficult circumstances but now is the time to improve the team.'
However, with their relatively modest monthly wage bill causing regular problems it is hard to see how the ban can be lifted to allow Portsmouth to run up more debts.