Tal Ben-Haim is no longer a Portsmouth player after agreeing a compensation package to leave the club.
An announcement on Pompey's official website from Trevor Birch has confirmed that the Israeli will leave Fratton Park. A deal was reportedly thrashed out last night after the 2-0 win at AFC Wimbledon.
Obviously, the fans are happy that Ben-Haim and his huge salary are now gone but I felt that the abuse he got for simply doing his job on the contract that Peter Storrie negotiated for him.
Let's face it, none of us would ever sacrifice a huge amount of money to leave our job for the sake of the company, would we? Ben-Haim may be a millionaire and he might have been shown up by his peers' extreme generosity by leaving the club without getting what they were owed.
But even if the likes of Erik Huseklepp did not ask for compensation, there was no obligation for Ben-Haim to do the same for a club, deep down, he probably doesn't even care about. Again, how many Pompey fans can say they truly care for the company they work for?
Ben-Haim's departure means only Liam Lawrence remains as Pompey's only senior player. The statement on the official website from Birch says that he expects to make an announcement today, but so far nothing has happened.
But Ben-Haim's departure effectively means a deal can be thrashed out with Balram Chainrai for Portpin to assume control of Portsmouth FC over the next few days.
The Trust may well be celebrating that the council (surprisingly) agreed to loan them the £1.45 million required to attempt to take over the club. However, the harsh reality is that Birch has only really talked about Portpin as a serious bidder for the club and is expected to allow Chainrai take over.
So whilst the club may be "saved" in the eyes of some, in all reality it is only prolonging the suffering of the supporters of this once great club.