Portsmouth’s debts continue to spiral, as administrator Andrew Andronikou told a meeting of creditors this week that they were now £135m, nearly double his estimate when he arrived at the club in February.

Andronikou gained support from the creditors to draw up proposals which would see most creditors repaid 20p of every pound they are owed. Football creditors – players and rival clubs amongst others – receive full repayment.

Most recent owner Balram Chainrai has also promised to repay charities and creditors owed less than £2,500 in full with £200,000 of his own money, a small fraction of the £14m he himself will be paid, as he secured his loans to Pompey a month before taking them into administration.

The proposals include provision for the company running the club, Portsmouth City Football Club Limited, to be liquidated in nine months. This will allow a thorough investigation into the off-field events of this season, which continue to perplex careful observers.

Manager Avram Grant was adamant that those responsible for Portsmouth’s situation should be brought to book, echoing calls from numerous supporters’ organisations.

He said: “The people who did something wrong have to be punished. At this moment, those people are sitting in restaurants, eating and drinking with their families, and nothing has happened to them.

“Only the fans and players have been punished.”

Grant won more friends and admirers, with an emotional speech on the pitch after Pompey finished their Fratton Park programme with a 3-1 win over Wolves.

Grant has proved a popular manager in adversity, as shown by the many banners around the ground last Saturday imploring him to stay at the cash-strapped South Coast outfit.

And he returned the compliment when he told fans: “If anyone in the world wants a lesson in passion and commitment then Fratton Park is the place.

“They can take points from us, put an embargo on us, but they cannot destroy our spirit, never!”

On his own future, he was more guarded, saying: “I am waiting first to see what happens with this club. We will have to wait and see if we can be in a position to build the club again from the beginning.”

Portsmouth sealed victory with a second-half strike from Michael Brown. Aruna Dindane had put them ahead on 20 minutes and John Utaka fired in their second after Kevin Doyle had equalised for the visitors.

Without their nine-point deduction for going into administration, Portsmouth would have gone into their last game at Everton on Sunday ahead of Burnley and would also have finished 18^th if they bettered Hull City’s final day result.

However, victory came at a price for midfielder Richard Hughes, who suffered a hamstring injury and looks likely to miss Portsmouth’s FA Cup final at Wembley on May 15^th against Chelsea.

Meanwhile, a long-promised bid for Portsmouth from an anonymous UK investor represented by businessman Rob Lloyd failed to emerge.

Lloyd told the Observer newspaper on Sunday that the bid would be made by Thursday. It wasn’t.