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Pompey permitted to sell players

Portsmouth, who had nine points deducted last week after going into administration, are almost certain to be relegated but the relaxation of the League's transfer rules means the club can off-load players to reduce its estimated 70 million pounds debts.

Despite the decision by the Premier League's Board on Wednesday, Portsmouth's administrator Andrew Andronikou said it would not mean a fire sale of its top earners such as England goalkeeper David James.

"I'm not expecting an exodus. If there was an opportunity I wouldn't sell more than one or two," he told Reuters by telephone.

"The club is now stable and we have control of the cash flow and we are looking at all aspects of its overheads and stripping out unneccessary costs to make it a viable business," Andronikou said.

"But the club still needs to play football, it still has a fixture list to fulfill and an FA Cup semi-final to play and hopefully a final to get into. I don't want to interfere with (manager) Avram Grant's plans.

"This decision is a good one in that it gives us another option and effectively gives us a head start into what we could realise in terms of transfers from our squad of players."

"We have a prohibitive time deadline because we don't want this to protract into next season because we would get another points deduction in the Championship," Andronikou said.

"I want to get the club out of administration if not before the end of the season, at the end of the season. We have to be in a CVA before the start of next season."

"Thankfully it has focussed people's attention that this is still a football club and not a basket case," Andronikou said.

"It also gives the players something to work towards despite the nine-point deduction and they are pulling out all the stops to play competitively. Lastly, it gives us much-needed working capital."

"There is nothing in the conversations I've had with him so far that says he is not going to be," he said.