League One side Portsmouth has "come out of administration" and is now officially owned by the Pompey Supporters' Trust, according to Ken Ferris of REUTERS. Business services firm BDO partner Trevor Birch said, "We have cleared the final hurdle: all of the paperwork has now been signed and the sale concluded." The PST's "purchase of the club ends 14 months of administration for Portsmouth," which earlier this week was relegated to the Football League's fourth and lowest division, League Two, having been in the Premier league in '10. The Football League "must now decide when to deduct 10 points from Portsmouth, the 2008 FA Cup winners, for officially coming out of administration" (REUTERS, 4/20).
DANCING IN THE STREETS: In London, Matt Dickinson wrote "Never let it be said that Portsmouth plummeted down the divisions. On Saturday, at a sun-kissed Fratton Park, they skipped and showboated into League Two." New Chair Ian McInnes, "leapt out of his seat to do a jig. A samba band swayed on to the pitch, dancing girls waggling their buttocks." Dickinson continued: "This was the day Portsmouth could laugh in the face of relegation and a fresh ten-point deduction because, at 8pm on Friday night, they had become the largest fan-owned club in England. The nightmares were over. The parasites have been banished for ever." Portsmouth is now "a prime example of what fan-power can do." Instead of sheikhs and tycoons, Portsmouth "is now owned by men" like 87-year-old Josh Nunn, who bought his £1,000 ($1,500) share "even though he had not been to Fratton Park since 1963." He came on Saturday — and no, the old place has not changed a bit (LONDON TIMES, 4/22).
