• Administrator says payments not as ‘onerous’ as 2008
• David James had called those payments a ‘curse’

Portsmouth’s players will receive a bonus for reaching next week’s FA Cup final and a further one if they beat Chelsea at Wembley but Andrew Andronikou, the club’s administrator, claimed they are not as “onerous” as the payments received by the squad for winning the 2008 competition. David James later called those payments a “curse” as Pompey’s mismanagement meant the club’s finances were worsened by having to pay them.

Adronikou said: “There is a bonus, which was in the players’ contracts [before the administrator became involved]. It is for reaching the final, and there is then a bonus if the Cup is won.”

Portsmouth’s players are thought to have each collected a six-figure sum for defeating Cardiff City 1-0 in the 2008 FA Cup final, the club’s first major trophy for 58 years and qualified them for the Uefa Cup. But in January James wrote in his Observer column: “After we won the Cup I was told that one of our financial people predicted it would ruin us. They were right. The heavy bonus culture, endemic in our game, became the curse as the earnings of the Cup run did not tally up with the bonuses paid out. I’m a big fan of performance-related pay, but if it’s not within the realms of reality then it’s just irresponsible. Who would have thought qualifying for Europe and winning the FA Cup would cause such problems?”

Asked how much the players will receive in bonuses for this year’s final, Adronikou said: “I don’t want to go into any figures.” But reminded of James’s comments, he said: “They are not as onerous as in 2008.”

Andronikou meets creditors tomorrow at Fratton Park to discuss proposals to take Portsmouth out of administration. Rob Lloyd, who represents an unnamed potential buyer of the club, had said a bid was set to be lodged by this evening. But Andronikou stated that he had not yet had any contact with him. Lloyd could not be contacted last night.

PortsmouthPremier LeagueFA CupJamie Jacksonguardian.co.uk

• South-coast club may be relegated before Tottenham semi-final
• ‘Had we not won the Cup, it probably would have [been] better’

Tomorrow Portsmouth return to the scene of what was one of the greatest days in the club’s history and, perhaps, the catalyst of its demise. Winning the FA Cup at Wembley two years ago was supposed to herald the dawn of a golden era for Portsmouth but instead it triggered a downward spiral that has pushed it to the bottom of the Premier League, into administration and even to the brink of extinction.

Depending on results in the league today, Pompey may be relegated before they take on Tottenham Hotspur in tomorrow’s FA Cup semi-final. At least that will confer one element of certainty on a club that has been the epitome of instability since its last appearance at the national stadium, during which time it has had five different owners, four managers and massive cast of players. Plenty of unpredictability will persist: the club’s future remains in doubt and even if they defy the odds and topple Tottenham, the Portsmouth manager Avram Grant will have to haggle with the administrator before the final, since up to six of tomorrow’s squad may be prevented from participating in it for fear of them earning performance-related bonuses that the club cannot afford to pay.

The club has sold most of the players who took them to glory in 2008 – fetching transfer fees of over £80m – but still its debts stand at more than £70m. Precisely how Portsmouth’s financial health became so poor has not been fully established, but goalkeeper David James, the one survivor from two years ago who is likely to start tomorrow, believes part of the explanation is that the club is suffering because of its unexpected Cup success then and the consequent qualification for last season’s Uefa Cup. That meant forking out lavish bonuses.

“I don’t think at the beginning of that season anyone like Portsmouth had anticipated getting to the final,” James says. “I’m only surmising, I haven’t sat down and spoken to anyone, but I think to offer people the opportunity of big bonuses to qualify for Europe seemed like quite a safe bet because you don’t anticipate winning the Cup and our league form in the first season I was here [2006-07, when they finished ninth], although it was progressing on previous years, wouldn’t have led us to suggesting that we were going to finish in a position to qualify for Europe. As a player the way I analysed the progression in the first two years was that, bizarrely, had we not won the Cup it probably would have done us a lot better because we wouldn’t have qualified for Europe and we would have been able to build on two decent years of progression.”

At first it seemed Portsmouth were well set to build. Although they sold Sulley Muntari to Internazionale for £12.7m and Pedro Mendes to Rangers for £3.5m shortly after the Cup victory, manager Harry Redknapp was able to strengthen his squad by splurging £15m on Peter Crouch and Younes Kaboul.

Soon, however, the flimsiness of the club’s financial foundation was exposed. Sacha Gaydamak, the Franco-Russian tycoon whose money had seemingly funded Portsmouth rise, turned off the tap. Redknapp’s decision to defect to Tottenham the following October presaged