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#3 Portsmouth
In 2008, the giants of English football watched as Portsmouth lifted the FA Cup. In fact, Portsmouth even defeated that season’s eventual Champions League winners Manchester United at Old Trafford en route to lifting the prestigious trophy under Harry Redknapp.
The success the club enjoyed under Redknapp was due to the funding of Alexandre Gaydamak who purchased the club in January 2006. His timely intervention allowed the club to almost replace their entire squad midway through the season.
Over the years, Portsmouth made some big signings which included Lassana Diarra, Peter Crouch Sulley Muntari, Jermain Defoe, Sylvian Distin, Younes Kaboul, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Nwankwo Kanu, Milan Baros, Glen Johnson, Niko Kranjcar and Sol Campbell among many others.
On 26 May 2009, the club accepted a bid from UAE-based businessman Sulaiman Al Fahim to buy the club. However, due to financial troubles the club were forced to sell some of their star players including Crouch, Distin, Kranjcar and Johnson.
Al Fahim completed the takeover and was also appointed as the non-executive chairman of the club. As the season progressed the funds dried up and on October 1, the club admitted that some staff and players were not paid their wages.
Two days later the club was taken over by Ali A-Faraj with a 90% majority share. Al-Fahim held the remaining 10% and the title of non-executive chairman for two years.
Due to the financial problems the club were going through, the Premier League put a transfer ban on the club. Things went from bad to worse from there on and in the end, Portsmouth went into administration on 26th February 2010. They finished the season as runners-up in the FA Cup but were denied entry into the Europa League due to their ongoing financial problem.
Portsmouth were relegated to the Championship, and in 2012, they were relegated to the English League One. A year later they made the drop to the fourth tier in English football, where they currently play and they also went into administration again during this period.
During this period of turmoil the club’s ownership changed several times and now it is owned and run by the Pompey Supporters Trust, which a trust run by the fans of the club.
