Portsmouth, with debts of about £60m, have become the first Premier League club to enter administration.

The club will be docked nine points as a result and face almost certain relegation to the Championship.

Pompey, who have had four owners this season, were due to face a winding-up order on 1 March but decided to go into administration in a bid to survive.

It was reported that four parties were considering a takeover but no deal was completed before Thursday's deadline.

BBC Sport understands the three directors of the Premier League board will meet next week to agree when the nine points should formally be taken off.

MATT SLATER BLOG What does "going into administration" mean? Is this the end of Pompey's pain? And how has this happened to a recently successful team in the world's richest football league?

Meanwhile, administrator Andrew Andronikou, of insolvency experts UHY Hacker Young, now has the responsibility of beginning the process of cutting costs at the club to try to keep it as a viable entity.

Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie revealed he would tender his resignation when the administrators had sold the club and said it was "an extremely sad day for everyone connected with the club."

He added: "By this course of action owner Balram Chainrai has kept the club alive and given someone an exceptional opportunity to take this great club on with fresh investment to steer Portsmouth in a positive direction.

"It is my intention to work with the administrator to help sell the business and I hope that will be quick as there is already interest in acquiring the club."

Milan Mandaric, chairman of Portsmouth from 1998 to 2006 and now Leicester chief, told BBC Midlands Late Kick Off: "It's really sad. It's not right. I just hope for the sake of the club, and the sporting community, and football in that city, they sort things out.

"And I think they eventually will. That club will never die. That club has a lion's heart. The fans love their club, they will always be there. Unfortunately they don't deserve these kinds of difficulties."

Friday's announcement follows weeks of speculation over the survival of the cash-strapped south coast side and is a big blow to the reputation of the Premier League, widely admired throughout the world.

Portsmouth, who employ nearly 600 people directly or indirectly, have been labelled "completely dysfunctional" by accountant Nick O'Reilly of Vantis. He also warned to expect a "rocky" time ahead.

"The next few months are crucial to the business," he added. "People will lose jobs, but hopefully the club will come out the other side."

As well as struggling at the bottom of the Premier League, Portsmouth have suffered a catalogue of ongoing financial problems.

Players have been paid late on four occasions this season, while the club is also involved in a separate dispute with former owner Sacha Gaydamak over whether they have missed a deadline in paying a £9m chunk of the £28m they owe him.

The Premier League also withheld £2m of transfer payments and diverted a £7m slice of TV revenue to Chelsea and Watford to cover the signings of Glen Johnson and Tommy Smith.

They are also being sued by former defender Sol Campbell for £1.7m for unpaid image rights.

It looks like administration is necessary and hopefully will give the club a chance to recover Former Pompey boss Paul Hart

Chainrai recently became Portsmouth's fourth owner of the season, taking 90% of the club shares after the previous owner Ali Al Faraj defaulted on loan payments due to him.

Phil Hall, spokesman for Chainrai, defended the club's owner and said that administration was unavoidable because of the size of debt.

"He (Chainrai) was given false promises when he came in. He asked the questions and was given answers and assurances that turned out not to be true," Hall said.

"Having put £17m of his own money in, unfortunately he found the club facing a winding-up order on Monday.

"He had a choice of allowing the club to go into administration, for someone to go in and try to bring it back into a stronger financial position. He feels he's a victim - the club have been overwhelmed by these debts and he is a reluctant owner.

"He wants to do what is right for the club but also to protect what money he's put in."

Despite their precarious financial position, O'Reilly believes the club will continue to exist, while former Pompey boss Paul Hart, sacked in November after just four months in charge, thinks administration could provide a platform for a "fresh start".

He told BBC Radio 5 live: "I think the club can be strong again if they use some foresight and planning and adopt a restructuring programme.

"It looks like administration is necessary and hopefully will give the club a chance to recover.

"The supporters have been long suffering and there are some very good, conscientious people who work there we should be thinking about because their jobs are in a precarious position."

Despite the threat of the club being forced into offloading its only asset - the players - many fans will be relieved they still have a club to support with fixtures remaining unaffected.

Pompey travel to fellow-strugglers Burnley on Saturday before the FA Cup quarter-final clash with Birmingham the following weekend.

It has been a tumultuous two years at Fratton Park since manager Harry Redknapp, who moved to Tottenham last season, steered them to FA Cup glory in 2008 - their first significant silverware in 58 years.

England striker Jermain Defoe and midfielder Lasanna Diarra were sold in January 2009 and Defoe's England team-mates Peter Crouch and Glen Johnson followed at the end of last season.

Keeper Asmir Begovic and defender Younes Kaboul were offloaded last month and only a Premier League ruling that the club could not sell players outside the transfer window prevented further sales.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8538457.stm

SFB - 9 point deduction essentially confirms there relegation, there gonna find a hard time finding a buyer with all thoose debts aswel.

Sad thing, they won't be the last either.

That's what you get when you pay footballers more money a week then normal people in a year.. won't be the last.. in the Netherlands we already lost 1 club and 2 are almost gone..

I blame Harry Redknapp, he leaves a club they do crap afterwards, weird really.

But then I don't care about Portsmouth because I'm a Saints fan.

@NiKKoM
As in the clubs have not only gone into admin but vannished due to no buyers?

Good luck to them, my club has been in administration for almost a year and it has really taken a toll on us as a club (and me as a fan). Hopefully the fact that a top flight team is now in administration will act as a wake up call to the FA and that they come to realise the many problems inherent in the modern game and that these problems are threatening the existance of many lower league clubs.

I think it needs to be said that administration is the best option for the club at this point in time. It avoids liquidation which would be the club closing down like wimbeldon did. Its like declaring bankruptcy.

On another less high profile note, Chester City have been thrown out of the football conference. They've been in financial trouble for years but this looks like it could be the end for them, very sad day for their fans.

http://www.chester-city.co.uk/latest.asp

It really must suck as a fan when this happens to your team. I remember when Racing (a team from here) went bankrupt, a quote from the one that administered the bankrupt was made famous, "Racing Club has ceased to exist", imagine if you were a fan of that team (they were bought by a private company and saved from bankruptcy, though)