News that HMRC has dropped its objections to the continued administration of Portsmouth FC has to be welcomed.

Not only does it lift the 'shadow' Andrew Andronikou, and his less high profile joint administrators Peter Kubik and Mike Kiely, have been working under for more than ten days, it also suggests that we might well be close to making a significant step forward in terms of securing the club's long-term future.

It is fair to say that there is little in the way of trust between many, if any, of the parties involved with PFC. Six months of shadowy figures, such as Ali Al Faraj, coupled with the downright crooked in Daniel Azugi, has left it impossible to view Pompey's affairs other than with the utmost suspicion.

It would be unsurprising if at least some of those suspicions are given a wider airing. This site has been suggesting for several months that the way in which PFC has been run in the past six month simply doesn't compute with the 'normal' affairs of a Premier League club.

Rumours of a story or two breaking in the national press have been rife for a couple of days and Friday's papers may well have some interesting developments.

However, they remain a sideshow, other than to possibly reaffirm this site's view that Pompey's administration and the likely nine point deduction, was an avoidable affair.

While it will be important to get to the bottom of this fiasco, primarily to explain to 85 ertswhile employees of PFC why their livings disappeared overnight, from a fan perspective the future of the club remains the prime focus.

And on that score, HMRC's continuing tone shift gives cautious grounds for optimism. Article continues here

There has been no doubt HMRC have been going for Pompey's jugular. The prize of bringing a high-profile club to its knees over its tax arrears, was simply an opportunity not to be missed.

Their court appeal last week which questioned Andronikou's independence was pretty much unprecedented, although even then their focus had shifted from Pompey's debt to its management.

At the original ajourned winding up petition hearing HMRC's counsel argued long and hard that PFC were trading insolvently.

In short, they could see little prospect of getting their money back so therefore bringing the business down was the consolation prize pour encourager les autres who are just as remiss as Pompey at paying their tax bills on time.

The appeal had shifted the ground from the debt and financial laxity to the independence of the administrator and the nature of the dealings of the individuals employed or associated with the club. The decision to drop their objections to Andronikou is a further step along a now well-defined path.

The prospect of liquidation has significantly receded and the most logical answer why is that HMRC at last feel that not only will they get a sizeable chunk of their cash back, but they are also confident they will continue to receive future due revenues on time and in full.

The colour of some consortium or another's money has been shown.

I am not going to pretend for one moment I know 'who they are'. I don't.

But all the evidence points to the fact they are there, ready and waiting to make their move. Even Balram Chainrai, interviewed on Bloomberg, hints at a impending deal. "I've heard through my lawyers that they are in conversations with several parties. They are deep into talks that could finalise in the very near future," he said.

More to the point he is also confident he will get all or most of his money back.

If not the beginning of the end, we masy well have reached the end of the beginning. One long overdue step closer to writing about football again...

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