Many of the papers have chosen to lead with ESPN Soccernet's exclusive quotes from Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie claiming "there is no money left" at Fratton Park. Former Chelsea and Republic of Ireland striker Tony Cascarino tries to look at the Pompey affair from a player's perspective for the Times.

"Portsmouth’s chimes sound ominously like a funeral march. The intimidating atmosphere created by the fans at Fratton Park has been replaced by uncertainty, fear, doubt, mistrust and paralysis, and, before long, we could have a situation that eclipses the meltdown at Leeds United several years ago.

Marseilles faced huge financial problems during my time at the club, a topic of daily conversation among the players. Would the bonuses be paid, when, or why not? Any information was hazy and invited misgivings that led to concern. Oddly, it galvanised the players into playing for their careers and a possible next move, should the club have gone under.

For Portsmouth to do similarly, much relies on their experienced players to pull the squad together, or they could rapidly disintegrate into cliques and escape hatches."

Meanwhile, Mark Fleming examines "Big Phil" Scolari's Uzbekistani adventure with Bunyodkar, which seemes to be unravelling after elimination from the Asian Cup quarter-finals at the hands of South Korea's Pohang Steelers. Scolari could be set to lose his £12 million-a-year job, Fleming writes for the Independent

"The defeat to the Pohang Steelers marks a new low for the 60-year-old Scolari, who lasted just six months at Chelsea despite getting off to a flying start this time last year. The result also takes the wind out of Bunyodkor's outrageous attempts to become a major force in the game. Scolari is not the only big name seduced by the millions on offer – in a country so poor that 45 per cent of the population live off just £1 a day.

The former Brazilian star Rivaldo is being paid £9.1m a year, even though he's now 37, but he only got the job after Samuel Eto'o turned down their offer of £15.6m for three months' work.

Football fans inside the repressive former Soviet republic say the club is being funded by Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of the country's brutal leader President Karimov. Officially the club is owned by Miradil Djalalov, the head of Zeromax which is the largest private company in Uzbekistan. But it is widely believed that Karimova controls Zeromax, and has bankrolled the ambitious project at Bunyodkor to give her country a sense of pride in the outside world. All of which makes Scolari's failure the more embarrassing."