It's a bleak New Year for the English football club Portsmouth.
They're four points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League and are about to lose several key players to the African Cup of Nations tournament.
Pompey are also operating under a transfer embargo and facing possible bankruptcy, after Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs lodged a winding-up petition.
The club only expects to pay the players' salaries for last month in a few days, and had to borrow to pay the last two months' bills, having twice failed to pay players' wages on time this season.
The crisis-ridden club's expressed shock at being issued with the winding-up petition. A full court hearing won't take place until February.
Portsmouth, which has all but sold the majority of the squad that won the FA Cup final in 2008 says it's shocked and surprised by the HM Revenue and Customs move, adding it disputes the amount of money owed.
It added the VAT, player salary and National Insurance contributions owed to HMRC had been paid, were about to paid, or were being disputed.
If the club, 90 percent owned by Saudi property tycoon Ali al-Faraj, is unable to improve its situation, it could be made bankrupt.
To make matters worse Portsmouth could be forced to sell England goalkeeper David James and French defender Younes Kaboul in a bid to raise quick funds when the transfer window opens in January.
