The Football League have refused to ratify Stoke City midfielder Liam Lawrence's deadline-day switch to Portsmouth, with the Republic of Ireland international now poised for an interim loan move.
The 28-year-old was snapped up by Pompey, along with Dave Kitson, as part of the exchange deal which saw Marc Wilson head to the Britannia Stadium.
However, the Football League say that the relevant document were not received by 6pm last Tuesday, a view refuted by Pompey administrator Andrew Andronikou.
He told The News: "The Lawrence deal has not been ratified by the Football League yet and we are still waiting to hear the outcome.
"Unfortunately, we are not Tottenham and are not allowed to have this issue sorted the next day as they did with Rafael van der Vaart.
"This sort of thing will only happen to us. There is proper brinkmanship going on just because we are Portsmouth Football Club.
"From our end, all documentation was sent on time, well before the 6pm deadline. I was there myself to see it."
City chief executive Tony Scholes added: "We're disappointed that this transfer hasn't gone through.
"However, it is important that we work with Portsmouth, the player and the authorities to find an expedient solution as if it had gone through.
"That will probably take the form of a loan move until the end of the year and then Liam would finalise his permanent move to Fratton Park in the January window."