Portsmouth fail to pay players for September

The Premier League's bottom club Portsmouth sank deeper into acute financial straits yesterday, admitting that the first-team squad and members of the executive board that runs the club had not been paid their wages for September. The club had been hoping that their new owner Sulaiman al-Fahim would cover the expenditure, but the £50m he promised to provide last week within the space of a month has yet to materialise.

"All the money from all the player transfers and the Sky TV money - all of the £35m from January - has gone straight to the Standard Bank," the club's chief executive Peter Storrie told the Guardian yesterday, referring to the South African bank with whom the south coast club have a large outstanding debt. "There is no money left."

"Whatever we spend on a monthly basis comes channelled through from [Fahim]. He has promised to refinance and he has shown me all the documentation but I have no idea about the conditions of the £50m he says will be arriving in a few weeks. We need to refinance, it is as simple as that. As for the players wages for the last month I would imagine it's a blip and they will be paid."

The hunt for new money for the club - who sit bottom of the Premier League with no points after seven straight defeats - is getting desperate, with Fahim set to meet a pair of Saud Arabian businessmen this weekend to plead for funds. The Faraj brothers had teamed up with Storrie during the summer in a consortium that had unsuccessfully tried to buy Portsmouth.

Fahim confirmed to the media last night that he was hunting for fresh funds for the club. "I was always open for any investors if they will add value. No matter who they are." He went on to say that finance from the Farajs could only be a short-term option to get the club out of its current hole. "I need people who want to stay with me and the club for the long term." He also appeared to rule out taking the club into administration, a move that would see points deducted and virtually guarantee relegation from the Premier League. ·