Fanzine Fanzone - Times Online - WBLG: Fire in the hearts, hunger in the bellies...no money in the coffers...

It's business as usual at Portsmouth. No sooner have we signed a great player, the world is our oyster blah, blah, blah...than the whole cloud of depression looms over us.

Actually, screw that, I'm fed up of being negative after too many years of darkness. I'm going to the gym now, and the beautiful endorphins will make this post all the more better to read...

GOD DAMN YOU POMPEY! I work out for nearly two hours (it's a deep burn...) and I get back buzzing, thinking perhaps this summer's transfer wranglings are going to be alright.

Then I find the 'made-up rumour' I laughed off just this morning of Pedro Mendes going to Rangers is true, and he's gone!

What world is this where we sell top midfielders? I could just about stomach Sulley Muntari going for a £5 million profit, even though he was key for us last year.

But Mendes? For around £3 million (if that)? Why Redknapp / Storie / Gaydamak?

You know what's worse... I don't know who to blame. Can I get annoyed at a football club trying to stop itself 'doing a Leeds' and getting into so much debt the whole boat capsizes?

We get around a 20,000 gate for each game. Even with the FA Cup run that's not enough to finance another £26 million spending spree this year.

And more than desiring success this term, I don't want the long-term future to be gambled on winning things. Because if we don't, then EVERY dream will be over for the club, and we'll be in League Two before you can say 'Portsmouth FC? Who are they?'

But still, we dreamed. We spoke in our sleep of Peter Crouch being fed by Shaun Wright-Phillips and Nicky Shorey (not literally, that would be a weird dream.)

But the reality is Glenn Little and Jerome Thomas. Players with the words 'GAMBLE' tattooed on their foreheads. Well, maybe not little. He'd probably rub his off and replace it with 'GOOD, BUT NOT SPECTACULAR'. Though he probably would need a really big head.

So, to sum up. I'm disappointed with the transfer deals this summer. Peter Crouch could yet be rubbish (he was in the Community Shield, but one game does not a season make and all that), Younes Kaboul could be the Titus Bramble of France, and the rest of the signings will be gambles or just boring.

But, if it preserves our status as a top flight club for the future, then it's hard to be upset. Just wish the rest of the seven brain-celled idiots that make up the general fanbase (not just Pompey) could see the same thing.

Because read a message board on a footie site for a club that hasn't bought a lot of players and you'll see the same thing: (Our manager, whoever he may be ) doesn't have a clue. The board should have stumped up the cash to sign (a name far too big for the club in all probability). They don't know what they're doing, blah, blah I'm going to the pub to eat a pie and tell my mates how clever I am blah, blah).

If this is you, have a think about what you're writing, and then imagine what it would be like to see your club go bust with all the spending that's FORCED these days.

If you disagree, please let me know. I know this is only my opinion, and for the record, it hurts me too the lack of transfers. But nothing is worth gambling the future on.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com