Those of you who picked up the local newspaper today might have had a feel of dread as The News revealed that Pompey's plans for the new stadium could be finished before they have even begun.
The land that the club want to buy or lease is owned by four parties: The Ministry of Defence, The Crown Estate, Portsmouth City Council and the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust. Should one of these parties refuse to lease or sell up, then the plans for the new stadium just as well be binned.
On top of that, "The Snooze" is reporting that that Warrior Preservation Trust is also opposing the new stadium plans, their spokesman said "it's unacceptable for us to be rammed in a small space - we are here forever."
There are also quotes in the article from John Slater, head of the planning at the city council, where he says "I would be very surprised if the planning application comes to us thin autumn, I have always considered it an incredibly ambitious timescale."
In reply, the club released a statement on the official site today refuting these claims in the report by The News, saying that they are still on track for the building of the new stadium to be finished by 2011.
To summarise the statement, the club said that they are in regular discussion with all relative parties regarding the site and that they will submit the plans when they are ready, but most importantly this will not delay the building of the new complex. The club have given this information to The News yet they still proceeded with the writing of their front page story.
There's then a swipe at the writers of The News as they say "It is quite clear from this article that The News are not supporters of the club or this stadium project."
So basically, the club haven't denied that they will not be able to submit the stadium plans to the council in autumn, but reassure fans that this issue will not affect the timescale of the overall building of the facility.
It seems that relations between the club and The News are currently strained but the bottom line is that there is a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we don't know about, and the local rag has revealed possible reasons why the plans won't go ahead and subsequently have been accused by Pompey of not supporting the club.
I want this stadium to happen as much as the next forward thinking football fan and I do hope that these hitches can be worked around and hope that there aren't more problems that we don't know about.
However, this just looks to be the first twist in what looks be a very twisty tale.
The land that the club want to buy or lease is owned by four parties: The Ministry of Defence, The Crown Estate, Portsmouth City Council and the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust. Should one of these parties refuse to lease or sell up, then the plans for the new stadium just as well be binned.
On top of that, "The Snooze" is reporting that that Warrior Preservation Trust is also opposing the new stadium plans, their spokesman said "it's unacceptable for us to be rammed in a small space - we are here forever."
There are also quotes in the article from John Slater, head of the planning at the city council, where he says "I would be very surprised if the planning application comes to us thin autumn, I have always considered it an incredibly ambitious timescale."
In reply, the club released a statement on the official site today refuting these claims in the report by The News, saying that they are still on track for the building of the new stadium to be finished by 2011.
To summarise the statement, the club said that they are in regular discussion with all relative parties regarding the site and that they will submit the plans when they are ready, but most importantly this will not delay the building of the new complex. The club have given this information to The News yet they still proceeded with the writing of their front page story.
There's then a swipe at the writers of The News as they say "It is quite clear from this article that The News are not supporters of the club or this stadium project."
So basically, the club haven't denied that they will not be able to submit the stadium plans to the council in autumn, but reassure fans that this issue will not affect the timescale of the overall building of the facility.
It seems that relations between the club and The News are currently strained but the bottom line is that there is a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we don't know about, and the local rag has revealed possible reasons why the plans won't go ahead and subsequently have been accused by Pompey of not supporting the club.
I want this stadium to happen as much as the next forward thinking football fan and I do hope that these hitches can be worked around and hope that there aren't more problems that we don't know about.
However, this just looks to be the first twist in what looks be a very twisty tale.