Grant: Premier League wrecked our survival hopes

PORTSMOUTH manager Avram Grant has accused the Premier League of wrecking his side’s bid to stay in the top flight.

Pompey lie 14 points adrift of safety at the foot of the table and beleaguered by a series of off-field troubles.

The south coast side, who were docked nine points for going into administration earlier this month, were hit by a transfer embargo in October last year that was only lifted a few days before the transfer window closed in January.

Grant looked powerless as he watched his patched-up side lose 5-0 to Chelsea on Wednesday and he now takes his side to Tottenham today with only “13 or 14” fully fit players.

The former Chelsea boss admits he will have to use players from Pompey’s youth and reserve ranks today and fears a hiding from high-flying Spurs, who are managed by former Pompey boss Harry Redknapp.

Grant believes his side would have had a much better chance of maintaining their top-flight status if they had not been hit with the embargo last year.

“We have 13 or 14 players for tomorrow and that is not good for us or for the Premier League as a whole. We are paying the price for what they did to us before January and it’s wrong,” said Grant.

“People that have forced us to have a small squad should look in the mirror and say ‘I was wrong, it was a mistake’.

“You will see what will happen in the game tomorrow. We can’t compete with Tottenham.”

The ban on registering players was lifted on January 26 after the Premier League were satisfied the club had fulfilled payments to other clubs for transfers.

Pompey were only able to bring in Ricardo Rocha before the window closed and Grant is adamant the embargo should have been lifted earlier.

“They didn’t have to do it (the embargo) in the middle of the season, now it has affected us,” he said.

“The situation we find ourselves in now is not just as a result of us. I know that if we played like we have been doing in the second half of the league we would have been able to stay in the league if they allowed us to have the squad that we wanted.

“They didn’t create the money situation that we are in at the moment but I still don’t think their decision was right.

“I know that people within the Premier League agree with me. People ring me and say ‘you know what? you are exactly right’ but what can we do now?”

Grant added: “It gets more and more difficult every day but we will fight on.”