The club tonight released a statement suggesting they are on the brink of liquidation, pointing the finger at former owner and creditor Alexandre Gaydamak, accusing the Russian businessman of "moving the goalposts" as the club attempted to reach agreement with all creditors to move out of administration.

Pompey have taken 13 points out of a possible 15 to put their dismal start to the season behind them and revive hopes of making an immediate return to the Premier League.

The statement read: "The process has been extremely complicated and there has been a team of people working night and day to get the deal done.

"The most difficult aspect has been trying to achieve agreement with Alexandre Gaydamak after the remaining parties have agreed the deal and executed the necessary documents, namely the new owners, the administrators, the Football League and the creditors.

"Unfortunately, despite the new owners fulfilling all the requirements of the Football League and the creditors, and agreeing and signing up to the required terms of the purchase of the club, at the 11th hour the goalposts have been moved by Mr Gaydamak and this has now made the deal impossible to complete.

"Put simply, despite being offered full payment for the secured part of his debt in accordance with the financial plan approved by the Football League, this morning Mr Gaydamak has demanded a very significant up front cash payment in order to allow the deal to proceed by releasing his security.

"All this is in spite of his lawyers going to Paris this morning specifically for the purpose of witnessing his signature to the document agreed yesterday.

"It is neither in the interests of the club nor its unsecured creditors for such a ransom payment to be made, particularly where the payment is being demanded by one of the authors of the club's current circumstances.

"In addition, and equally importantly, all of the business plans submitted and approved by the Football League would be fundamentally damaged by such a requirement placed on the club by Mr Gaydamak."

The statement added: "It appears likely that the club will now be closed down and liquidated by the administrators as they are unable to support the continued trading of the club."

However, a Football League spokesman tonight insisted tomorrow's match will go ahead, although they will continue to monitor the situation.

And Portsmouth administrator Andrew Andronikou remains optimistic that a solution can be found.

He told TalkSPORT: "Contractual negotiations have stalled this afternoon but I am disappointed there has been a press release. I am still hopeful we can sit down over the next 24 hours and agree a way forward.

"This is a matter that has high emotion as the club is very close to the city but I want to emphasise that in 24 hours we will be back on track and hopefully we can get this matter finally concluded.

"We are as close to coming out of administration as going into liquidation. It is a fine balance and I want to say as little as possible at the moment.

"I need consent from all parties (to conclude a deal). Mr Gaydamak is an integral part of this process as he is a secured creditor.

"I think we have a way to go before talking about putting this club into liquidation.

"The last thing we wanted was for this to come out before a game and I am on the radio to dispel the belief that we are going to go into liquidation.

"We are here to safeguard the club, to realise as much money as we can for our creditors and liquidation is our very last position on the matter. We have to get around the table again and negotiate."

However, Andronikou revealed that if a resolution to the current impasse cannot be reached by the early stages of next week, then liquidation could become a real possibility.

"We need to get closure by Monday or Tuesday," he said. "We have been running with this for the last week or two.

"The foundations have been laid, we have the agreement of generally all parties and we have one final obstacle to clear.

"At some point we have to make a decision as to whether there is a way forward. We have to deal with the problem at hand. But I am fully confident that we will get a solution on this matter."