Pompey hit more problems in meeting wage payments

Portsmouth officials said on Monday that the wages for December – believed to be 1.8m – would be paid yesterday but told the Professional Footballers' Association a further delay has arisen.

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor said the club were hopeful of paying the players today.

Taylor said: "We were expecting the players to be paid (yesterday) but that has not happened. We have been told by the club that they are hopeful of paying them on Wednesday."

The club told the PFA the latest delay was due to paperwork needing to be completed after a short-term loan was negotiated to cover the shortfall.

It is the third time this season the club have missed a payment date. In a further blow for the club, the Premier League have told Portsmouth they will not be able to re-register Jamie O'Hara as a loan signing unless the transfer embargo is lifted, and there is virtually no chance of that happening during this month's transfer window.

The Tottenham midfielder's deal runs out on January 15 but Spurs had indicated they were happy to let him stay at Pompey.

A Premier League spokesman said: "If the registration embargo is still in place Portsmouth will not be able to re-register him."

Meanwhile, Daniel Azougy, the lawyer taken on by Portsmouth to restructure their debts, has said the club is in "a mess".

Azougy said: "First of all I hope we are going to pay the players' salaries as promised. But nobody knows how much (the club) is a mess. When people and the fans of Portsmouth know how big they will appreciate what we are trying to do."

Former owner Alexandre Gaydamak says he is owed almost 30m and there is also a winding-up petition from HM Revenue and Customs.

Gaydamak, who sold the club to Sulaiman al-Fahim in August before it was sold on again to Ali Al Faraj, insists he is not to blame for the crisis. He said: "It is my opinion that they (the debts) were fully serviceable."