Nothing changes until the last i is dotted on the contract that will see Michael Eisner and Tornante take over at Pompey.
That is the warning from chief executive Mark Catlin as he insists the club won't start spending money it does not it has.
Shareholders and presidents have approved the takeover but Catlin says that does not bring about an immediate change in the budgets and plans the club are dealing with ahead of their entry into League One.
He explained the situation to The News: 'It’s important supporters and shareholders realise that, until the final contract is signed, we’ll be proceeding as if we’re with the current model. We have to make it clear we will proceed as if we’re under the current ownership model until the final contract is signed.
'Plain and simply, we can’t take any risks. We can’t arrive at a situation where, for whatever reason, it doesn’t complete and we’ve committed the club to new contracts we can’t afford.
‘We’re confident that in our existing budget and squad we can be competitive again next season. If Michael comes in and wants to increase the playing budget that’s something we’ll discuss over the next six to eight weeks. Michael has stressed he’s not going to be throwing crazy money at this, though.
‘There are always players who are available up to the close of the window. It’s important we keep tabs on them. Then the decision is for Michael and Tornante whether they take the plunge with those players. We will proceed as we are now within the constraints of the current budget.
'There’s a period of due diligence which has already commenced. Mr Eisner and his team will go through every aspect of the business. There was some initial due diligence which was put on hold through the voting process.
‘They’ve looked at some of bigger ticket items to see if they are as we said, and they will now go down into the nitty-gritty. That aligned with contract talks and getting everyone to sign on what was agreed on the term sheet will, I’m told, take between six to eight weeks. It’s that sort of timeframe.’
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