Pompey exec faces tax charges, team urged to unite

Portsmouth manager Paul Hart called on everyone connected with the struggling Premier League side to unite after it emerged chief executive Peter Storrie was facing tax evasion charges.

The charge relates back to the transfer of midfielder Amdy Faye from French club Auxerre to Portsmouth for 1.5 million pounds (2.49 million dollars) in August 2003.

Storrie has been on bail since being arrested in November 2007, while continuing to work at Fratton Park on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting.

It has been alleged Faye was paid a 250,000 pounds (415,000 dollars) signing-on fee on which tax was not paid - a charge Storrie denies absolutely.

Storrie's run in with HM Revenue and Customs is the latest off-field problem to hit Premier League basement club Portsmouth, who've been through two changes of ownership already this season.

Things haven't been much better on the field, with the south coast club losing their first seven league matches this term and having won just once in nine contests in all ahead of Saturday's trip to fellow drop candidates Hull.

Hart admitted times were tough for the 2008 FA Cup winners but insisted Pompey could still turn things around.

"The football club is going through a difficult period. That's there for everybody to see.

"I just believe that we can get through this together as a club. We might not have seen the tip of it yet. It might be harder but we just have to stick together, put our heads above the parapet and wear our tin helmets.

"I've been in football a long time. I've not seen it and done it all and I'm not trying to be clever, but nothing surprises me."

Pompey have generally been regarded as having played well in several games they've lost this season but plaudits for attractive football cut no ice with their manager.

"Outside the top four, that 'beautiful game' syndrome we all talk about is a myth. It's just a war and the next four games probably won't disappoint on that basis," Hart said.

"Last year there was a lot of criticism about me playing 4-5-1 and gritty performances and grinding out results which helped keep us up in the Premiership," he added.

"It kept us up and people moaned, but now they're saying we need some gritty displays. You turn the team out to play to their strengths and that's what we have been doing."

Pompey are four points adrift of safety.