Tony Adams admitted he has concerns over his managerial security at Portsmouth, saying that "time is a fear", as takeover talk continued to link the club to South African businessmen. A key figure in the potential sale has emerged as Greg James, the chief executive of Central Rand Gold, the South African gold mining company, although he has moved to state that he would not be a direct part of any takeover group. "I can categorically say that Greg James is not buying Portsmouth FC and nor is he fronting a South African consortium that is seeking to do so," said Bobby Morse, his spokesman.
James' role, though, could be that of a fixer and Sacha Gaydamak, the Portsmouth owner, who is open to offers for the club, discussed James' extensive contacts with him when they met in Portsmouth over the weekend. The agent Pini Zahavi was also present.
James does not want to become an investor at Fratton Park. Having worked as a senior board member at the Switzerland-based private commodity and raw materials company Glencore, which is associated with the publicly traded Xstrata mining group, he is now channelling his energies into Central Rand Gold.
The company was listed last November to raise £75m for its venture to bring back into production the Johannesburg mines. It traded at a loss in the most recent financial period because of heavy spending on machinery and labour, not to mention licences for the mines which it was officially granted at a ceremony yesterday, and it intends to begin production after the turn of the year. It has more than $100m (£65m) in the bank and sources at the company confirmed the money was solely for funding of the mining venture and not the purchase of a football club.
But James' meeting with Gaydamak cannot be dismissed lightly. He is an adviser to Prosport International, the leading South African sports management company, which represents more than 200 footballers. Yet it is difficult to imagine that a man of his wealth and influence was in Portsmouth exclusively to discuss January transfer business or the setting up of a link between the club and young African players.
James is a passionate sports fan and his charity, the Jag Foundation, offers opportunity to disenfranchised South African children through sport. His contacts are in the field of sport as well as business and he would seem ideally placed to recommend new investors to Gaydamak, whose club has reported debts of £32m and a wage bill that devours a huge percentage of turnover, which itself is restricted by the cramped confines of Fratton Park and the lack of premium executive facilities.
Portsmouth refused to comment on the takeover talk yesterday - there are also rumours of interest from groups in the United States - and they maintain that the club is on a sound financial footing.
Adams, who took over from Harry Redknapp two weeks ago, has appointed Johnny Metgod as his No2, a man perhaps best known to British audiences from his time as a midfielder with Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur. He joins from Feyenoord, the Dutch club with whom he enjoyed a long association and where he forged a friendship with Adams during the latter's coaching spell there. Paul Groves is promoted from Portsmouth's reserve-team coach to assistant first-team coach and Adams might yet add to his staff. Terry Burton, the assistant manager at Cardiff City, is an option under discussion.
Adams is building for the long term yet he worries about short-termism in the modern game and is aware that any new owners might want to appoint their own manager. "At the moment everyone is very supportive and I am very confident," he said. "I'm very positive and I'm very happy. I think if I am given time here I can be successful, so time is a fear. I do worry I'm not going to be given time because we are very driven by results. We are living in a society of 'now'."
