PORTSMOUTH IN THE MIRE

PORTSMOUTH Football Club run the risk of financial ruin with crippling debts and an astronomical wage bill unless they can find a mega-rich owner.

The FA Cup holders are already paying the price for chasing that Wembley dream in May.

And owner Alexandre Gaydamak is desperate to sell up and avoid the sort of financial catastrophe that wrecked Leeds United.

The south coast club are plagued with a £60million debt - and must find a further £60m A YEAR to pay their star-studded squad.

But with Pompey projected to LOSE £25m this season, the future looks bleak.

Plans for a gleaming new stadium may have to be shelved and big-money stars like Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe could be sold in January just to keep the club afloat.

Gaydamak handed Harry Redknapp millions to build a team capable of competing with the best - and the canny old coach has done just that.

But now, just four months on from Pompey's Cup final triumph, Gaydamak's fairytale has become a financial nightmare.

Portsmouth entertain Tottenham today with the club's owner anxiously searching for a buyer to rescue the club from possible meltdown.

It is now clear that Gaydamak's glory has come at a price - and a crippling one at that.

Our investigation into the club's finances has revealed that the French businessman is looking for around £40m for his 100 per cent share of the club.

HAPPIER CHIMES - Alexandre Gaydamak (left) with Harry Redknapp (centre) and former Pompey owner Milan Mandaric

But he will settle for a down payment of just £20m in a bid to entice a buyer as soon as possible with the remainder to be paid within a year. The £40m for Gaydamak's stake, however, is just the start.

New buyers will also have to take on the club's £60m debt - £40m is owed to the banks and another £20m in loans. It all adds up to a commitment of £100m - and counting.

And that is before they factor in the £130m cost of moving the club to its planned new 36,000-seater stadium at Horsea Island.

Nevertheless our inquiries have confirmed that there has already been contact from at least two interested parties.

Success

However, if a deal cannot be clinched quickly then Gaydamak may well have to take drastic action of his own.

A Fratton Park insider said: "Alexandre has done a brilliant job and has taken the club to another level.

"We've won the FA Cup and we're in Europe for the first time ever and they're fantastic achievements.

"But it's been done at a cost - and it's now that the real price of that success is coming home to roost.

SOL CAMPBELL - expensive

"To keep the club at this level will cost a fortune and even Alexandre can't afford to foot the bill for that.

"So he has two stark choices. Sell up and get out or have a fire sale of players in January to raise millions in transfer fees and save millions in wages in the process.

"If he does that, it's rumoured he'll want as much as £40m back and to cut the wage bill to about £50m in the process.

"Now the only way he's going to do that is by selling a fistful of our best players and top earners - maybe even including Crouch and Defoe who have only just got here.

"And what would that do to the team's fortunes?"

One look at Pompey's finances confirms that Gaydamak has few options.

The club estimate they will bank about £65m this season. But more than £60m of it will go on wages - around 90 per cent of the club's income. Recent big-money signings Lassana Diarra, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe are among the biggest earners, pulling in over £50,000 a week.

Sol Campbell, David James, Lauren, Sylvain Distin, Glenn Johnson, Youness Kaboul and Hermann Hreidarsson are all believed to earn between £30,000 and £45,000 a week.

No wonder cash-strapped Pompey fear they will lose close on £25m this financial year.

Massive

One of the club's most pressing problems is to somehow find nearly £20m to cover the the latest instalments on past transfer dealings. There is £10m due in January and the rest next August.

Footing that bill will be a massive problem. The club is already saddled with those bank debts and loans totalling £60m.

And experts estimate it could cost up to £6m a year just to pay the interest and finance costs on those obligations. The financial picture is so bleak the club have even had to sign away their lucrative Premier League income and the Fratton Park site as security to the banks - and there are precious few other assets.

Admittedly Redknapp has assembled the strongest squad in the club's history.

His select group of top international players is worth an estimated total of £85m.

But the down side to that is that the club needs to find £50m this season to pay the players alone.

Thrashed

Other salaries at the club - including those of Redknapp and his coaching staff - help push the club's total wage bill close to £60m.

That leaves just £5m from that expected annual income of £65m, which does not even cover the club's overheads.

No wonder when Fratton Park is the smallest ground in the Premier League with a capacity of just 20,228 pulling in gate receipts of only £12.5m a season - just a fifth of the wage bill.

Even adding the £40m TV money to the gate receipts only just about pays the players' wages.

And remember those highly-paid stars have just been thrashed 6-0 at Manchester City and 4-0 at home by Chelsea.

No wonder Gaydamak has decided it is just not worth it.