Troubled Pompey handed week's reprieve by High Court

Registrar Christine Derrett gave Pompey seven days to detail their financial situation in a statement of affairs to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, who have lodged a winding-up petition for the Barclays Premier League's bottom club over unpaid tax.

Nigel Hood, representing Pompey in court, claimed there were two "serious" offers to buy the club, one received on the morning of the hearing and another the previous evening.

"I had to do a lot of those negotiations through the night for me to even allow the courts to know about it," said Pompey chief executive Peter Storrie.

After the decision was made by Derrett, Pompey issued a statement welcoming the time granted to produce their statement of affairs, which will be done with Vantis plc. A hearing will then take place before a judge on the first date available after February 19.

HMRC claim Pompey owe them more than 11m. A figure of 7.4m of VAT is included in the winding-up petition, which Pompey are disputing.

After detailing payments paid and disputed, Pompey's statement read: "Therefore we contest that there is no payment due."

Despite being pleased with the outcome, Pompey were accused by HMRC of trading while insolvent and Derrett said she feared the company would continue to trade and build up more debts that would not be paid. Gregory Mitchell QC, representing HMRC, said: "It's quite clear beyond any doubt at all that this company is insolvent. They have failed to provide any evidence at all as to their solvency. There are many debts and they are unpaid."

Registrar Derrett said she had taken into consideration the consequences of a winding-up order – such as rescheduling the Premier League this season – but was forthright in her concerns about Pompey's situation.

"I'm very concerned about the financial situation of this company," she said. "There is a real risk that they are trading while insolvent."

She also took into consideration what Mitchell described as a "flurry of late activity", with offers for the club made and finance director Tanya Robins submitting a witness statement outlining potential financial restructuring at Pompey.

Balram Chainrai is the current owner of the club, taking charge last week when Ali Al Faraj defaulted payments on a loan. Chainrai, however, is not interested in owning the club in the long term and Storrie has been looking for new investors willing to take on the club's debts.

"There are an awful lot of clubs in considerably larger debts than we are," Storrie added. "Our debt has come down quite substantially. This is a fantastic club, fantastic atmosphere, it has got something unique about it. I think you'd be surprised who might be interested."

Cardiff City and Southend United also had their winding-up orders adjourned for 28 days by the High Court in London. Cardiff have an unpaid tax bill of around 2.7m, while Southend owe 200,000.