Portsmouth secure funds to pay players

Portsmouth's players have finally received their December salaries, a week late. The club announced it had obtained funds yesterday morning and paid the cash straight into the players' bank accounts.

A club spokesman confirmed the players had been paid after chief executive Peter Storrie had pledged that the issue was on the brink of being resolved. Storrie had earlier said: "Obviously, it is not the best scenario in the world... but finance is a major problem in world markets at the moment. The owners are trying everything they can and they have obviously managed to find this in the last couple of days."

Storrie also insisted players would not be sold on the cheap in order to ease the financial crisis. He added: "I've had one or two calls and I think people think there is some sort of fire sale going on. That is not the case. If we have to sell players we'll sell them for their market price and not what people think is a knock-down price."