Portsmouth fans set to buy club

Portsmouth's administrators have signed a conditional agreement to sell the npower League One club to the Pompey Supporters' Trust.

Trevor Birch, of administrators PKF, confirmed today they have signed an agreement with the PST which is subject to receiving permission to sell Fratton Park.

The move comes after the administrators withdrew preferred bidder status from Portpin, the largest creditor in the Portsmouth Football Club (2010) administration, more than three weeks ago and named PST as the preferred bidders.

"We can confirm that we have signed a sale agreement with the PST to acquire the business of Portsmouth Football Club," Birch said in a statement.

"Portpin has rejected the Trust's offer for Fratton Park, so the sale has to be conditional on receiving the Court's permission to sell the ground. We are therefore in the process of submitting an application to the Court.

"I'm sure every member of staff, every player and every supporter will join with me in wishing to see a speedy resolution of what has been a protracted administration.

"Everyone involved in the transaction has worked incredibly hard to get the deal to this stage and, although there is still much that needs to be done, today's announcement marks what is hopefully the beginning of the end of the process."

PA