Chainrai emerges from wreckage as the real winner

Following Portsmouth's victory over the tax authorities this week, Balram Chainrai will be able take over the club for nothing if he guarantees to pay £16m-£20m to creditors over the next five years, the club's administrator has revealed.

The Hong Kong businessman is in the driving seat to take control of the club for the second time this year after Pompey won a High Court case against the taxman.

Chainrai needs only guarantee he will fund the debt payments, spread over the next five years, to become the owner, subject to ratification by the Football League. He will then be able to recoup the £17m debt he is owed by the club and even treat himself as a preferential creditor.

The administrator, Andrew Andronikou, said: "In the absence of anyone else coming in, we hope the sale of the club will go through within the next couple of weeks."

Andronikou said Portsmouth's wages budget would allow the club to compete but that transfer money was not available.