Pompey are treated like 'black sheep of the family'

Mark Jacob, Portsmouth's executive director, has accused the Premier League of treating them as the "black sheep of the family" and threatened to instigate arbitration proceedings if the transfer embargo imposed on the financially stricken club is not lifted.

The Premier League last week withheld £7m worth of television revenue from Pompey to pay the club's debtors and Jacob claims that £2m of that is left over once those accounts have been settled. As a result, says Jacob, the embargo, which has been in place for 96 days, should no longer apply. Portsmouth have requested a meeting with the League today, failing which they will seek to involve an independent body to arbitrate.

Today promises to be a pivotal one for the club, who as the Premier League's bottom side have problems on and off the field. They are also expected to learn the verdict of their High Court appeal over a bill of £5.5m demanded by the Inland Revenue.

"The Premier League are withholding the balance of monies they owe us because they believe that we still owe other football clubs money," Jacob said. "We have now paid off the three UK clubs. We have agreed with Rennes and Lens to accept certain payments now and then defer a schedule of payments going forward. We are finalising the agreement with Udinese.

"The total amount that we directed the Premier League to discharge and pay these clubs is approximately £5m. So there is a net balance due to the club approaching £2m. We cannot see how they can keep the money and also continue with the embargo. We believe the embargo should be lifted immediately and that we should be receiving money from the Premier League.

"[Yesterday] we delivered a letter to the Premier League asking to pay back the money. We have called for a meeting [today] and if this fails or we don't get our money back then we shall exercise the powers of arbitration. Once again, we are being treated as the poor relations and the black sheep of the family. We feel we have come in and been fully open and frank with them to explain the club's position. We would like them to use their discretionary powers in a positive fashion rather than negative fashion against the club."

Portsmouth are in dire need of both the money and the lifting of the embargo if their manager, Avram Grant, is to have an opportunity to bolster his threadbare squad in the transfer window, which closes in 12 days' time. Their plight has left them vulnerable when it comes to retaining players, although David James' loan move to Stoke fell through last week over who wold pay his wages. "Unfortunately it appears that Stoke perhaps sought to take advantage of what is perceived to be our club's position," Jacob said.