Campbell wins legal battle with Portsmouth

Sol Campbell has won his £1.7million legal action against Portsmouth.

But the former Pompey captain has agreed that the unpaid wage bill will not have to be settled until the crisis club finds a new buyer.

The High Court yesterday ruled in Campbell’s favour over his claim that Portsmouth owed him £1.67m - and that could open up even more problems for the debt-ridden club.

Portsmouth, who are already in administration, were claiming that the debt was image rights and therefore Campbell would have to wait in line with other creditors and potentially only get 10 per cent of what he was owed.

But Campbell’s legal team successfully proved that the money was unpaid wages and HMRC tax officers are already investigating whether other players’ wages were disguised as image rights in big-money contracts.

It is believed that former Arsenal striker Kanu is also owed money on his contract in similar circumstances and means the club is now facing more debt and problems.

Even though they have gone into administration, clubs still have to pay wages and cannot lay off players like other staff, having made 85 staff redundant last week.

Arsenal defender Campbell, 35, will also receive £50,000 in interest payments.

Campbell’s barrister Andrew Onslow QC said: ’Mr Campbell accepts that he will not be paid the cash until such time as either the club is removed from administration or the administrator agrees to the debt being actioned by Mr Campbell and ourselves.”

Campbell has already set up his own charity for inner city kids and has ploughed big money of his own into the project.