Legal eagles backed Pompey

Rescuing Portsmouth FC has been a highly complex process involving persistence and a wide range of skills. These skills will become even more necessary once the Pompey Supporters’ Trust (PST) is in charge.

The legal experts who made up the Versiona Team were spurred on by their personal passion and dedication to Portsmouth FC. They voluntarily dedicated hundreds of hours at all times of day, night and at weekends.

Rescuing Portsmouth FC has been a highly complex process involving persistence and a wide range of skills. These skills will become even more necessary once the Pompey Supporters’ Trust (PST) is in charge.

The legal experts who made up the Versiona Team were spurred on by their personal passion and dedication to Portsmouth FC. They voluntarily dedicated hundreds of hours at all times of day, night and at weekends.

‘One of the real challenges has been to coordinate all the parties involved,’ explained Mike Dyer, Director and Head of the Versiona Team, in a statement released to us. ‘As wel as the PST, we were liasing with the Football League, Premier League, Football Association, Professional Footballers’ Association, lenders to the club, owners of the land, the local council and many other stakeholders. Keeping everyone together and on the same page was quite a task even before facing the opposition, but it has been a tremendous team effort.’

‘The key members of the legal team are all lifelong fans of our local club and, even if we may have underestimated the complexities involved, we always believed it was achievable,’ said Mike. ‘Through our work, we have created a formula for local communities to regain the ownership of their Football Clubs.’

That last point is a key one. Many eyes will be on Portsmouth as the PST faces up to the challenge of running and reviving the club, not least those of the burgeoning supporters’ movement. Specialist skills will still be very much needed, not least legal ones.

While I am a member of the trusts at my league and non-league club, I retain some reservations. Clubs need to be run in a business-like fashion even if they are no longer constituted as businesses. Fans can have excessive expectations and can be impatient. There is potential for tension between what professional experts see as necessary and the grass roots fan.

Nevertheless, warm congratulations are due to everyone involved at Portsmouth. Pompey fans are known for their dedicated enthusiasm and whether the model could be rolled so successfully elsewhere remains to be seen. But the example of Pompey will be an inspiring one and many lessons can be learned from their example.