The New Zealand-based businessman Victor Cattermole says his Endeavor Plan group is still interested in buying English Premier League crisis club Portsmouth.
The bottom team in English football's top flight went into administration last week with estimated debts of more than $100 million.
However, a newspaper report in New Zealand about Cattermole's business dealings may mean his hopes of buying Portsmouth are dashed by a failure to pass the Premier League's 'fit and proper persons' test.
He says solicitors are putting together a defamation case, although some of the allegations concerning his run-in with the Securities Commission in New Zealand are true.
Cattermole told Sky Sports that Portsmouth's debt is "probably not as bad compared with a lot of other clubs".
His group was one of several involved in talks before last week's administration deadline.and he says it provided evidence of an offer for a bank facility of 200 million euros.
