Birch, a partner at accountants PKF, announced on Tuesday that Portsmouth would be forced to close on August 10 unless its remaining senior players either reached agreement over their unpaid wages or left the club. Striker Luke Varney and midfielder David Norris have this week completed their moves to Leeds, while other clubs have expressed interest in striker Erik Huseklepp, midfielder Liam Lawrence and defender Greg Halford. "We're continuing to work on player exits," Birch told Press Association Sport. "Halford, Huseklepp, Lawrence, [Dave] Kitson, [Tal] Ben Haim and Kanu are the ones left." When asked what chances the club had of survival, Birch added: "It's too early to say. It's only two or three days since we released the deadline statement, but we'll keep going." Nwankwo Kanu and Tal Ben Haim have responded to perceived criticism from Birch for refusing to compromise on their wage demands by both calling on PKF to waive their fees for overseeing the club's administration.
