Portsmouth FC Owner Antonov Resigns

Portsmouth Football Club could be docked points after its parent company, controlled by Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov, entered administration.

Convers Sports Initiatives only took over the Championship club in June, and Antonov has now stepped down.

Portsmouth FC has endured a rough time since winning the FA Cup in 2008.

They became the first Premier League club to enter administration in 2010 and were consequently deducted nine points on their way to relegation from the top flight.

It now appears likely that they could be hit with a further points penalty, which could leave them in danger of relegation again, this time from the Championship.

At present, Pompey sit 19th in the table, but a 10 point penalty would send them to the bottom of the Championship, however the club insist that the situation is not as bad as it seems and appear confident they will escape punishment – according to media reports.

Last week a European arrest warrant was issued by Lithuanian prosecutors for the Russian owner of Portsmouth Football Club, in connection with hundreds of millions of dollars in assets allegedly stripped from a local bank.

Vladimir Antonov and his Lithuanian partner Raimundas Baranauskas are the main suspects in a pre-trial investigation into an alleged fraud and money laundering case that is threatening to wipe out two Baltic banks.

The football club has since announced that its business operations will remain unaffected and its day-to-day operations continue to carry on as normal.