Portsmouth FC website shut down after 'pay dispute'

Portsmouth Football Club fans were being greeted with the words 'Website Unavailable' when they tried to access the club's homepage Thursday morning.

The site had been closed down after the club apparently failed to make payments to the site's operator, Juicy.

A Portsmouth FC spokesman confirmed Thursday morning: "Our website has been taken offline after we failed to adhere to an agreed payment structure."

The website was expected to remain offline until payments had been made, but as of 1400 GMT Thursday the site had reappeared.

Not all of the site went offline though - during the downtime it was still possible to buy merchandise in the online club shop.

Portsmouth FC are reported to be 60m in debt and could be the first Premier League club to enter administration.