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Man United: Sticking up for the old school

Times Online — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:01:03 +0000

Fratton Park gets a lot of stick, most of it deserved. The facilities are disgusting, the crumbling concrete surely needs a lot more money spent on it, the new roof over the away fans is not without cumbersome pillars and the stand is so shallow that even in the back row you are barely above pitch level.

However, standing in the away end yesterday there was also something so refreshing. Fans that genuinely care, no sign of boxes and hospitality across the middle of the true fans, fairly reasonable ticket prices and not the generic soul-less new build stadia replicating Southampton, Boro, Derby, Leciester, Reading etc etc.

I'd far rather spend my afternoon watching football in a proper old school ground than at the Emirates or Stamford Bridge where you can not escape suits, tourists, people that support neither club, endless signs to different hospitality areas and, in Arsenal's case, an entire tier of corporate seats the whole way around the ground.

People harp on about prawn sandwiches at Old Trafford but the reality is that inside the ground on a match day the boxes are well out the way, there are over 55k supporters not in hospitality, and it still remains a proper football ground not re-worked or re-built to put in two tiers of boxes like Wembley or Arsenal.

Nor endless lounges, resturants and suites like Stamford Bridge, the only ground I have ever seen fans flooding out early when the Premier League trophy was to be presented after the final whistle

I wish Portsmouth luck. The journey there might not be the best and the ground itself is not really worthy of hosting top flight football, but there is something decent and honest about them and their fans.

The players gave their all against us, in Grant (and Hart beforehand) they have a likeable manager, they have authenticity as a unique club and not a new soul-less stadium, and I'd far rather see others in the bottom three in May. And so while United fans sang "We'll never play you again" yesterday, I for one hope we do.

Oli Winton

Portsmouth: Peter Storrie is key to club's future

Times Online — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:35:56 +0100

Things might be looking up ever so slightly in the transfer market for Portsmouth (well, slightly, if you count Mark Viduka as a replacement for Peter Crouch).

But another thing is worrying me - do we have the best man in charge to guide the club into its new and (much, much) leaner era?

Some people think that Peter Storrie has been at Pompey for years and years (which worries me slightly and further compounds my earlier point about those that have started supporting Pompey as a 'fashionable' club, however very, very wrong that notion is) but lest we forget he joined in 2002.

In fact, he joined at Harry Redknapp's request after being cast out into the relative wilderness of Notts County (which would go some way to explaining the unfortunate rumour of Matt Ritchie heading off there).

The problem is this: some fans (and by some, I mean the majority of message board posters) think that Peter Storrie is looking after number one and getting the best deal for himself instead of the club. They think that he is buying the players that represent the best deal for him.

Of course, the allegations arising from his and Harry's arrests in 2007 hardly help matters (although no charges were brought against the pair), as well as the fact he's apparently earning the third highest salary for a chief exec at a club that has the lowest ground capacity (and one of the lowest revenue streams, although not the worst).

He courted controversy before of course when CE of Southend after being let go from West Ham in 1999, when he was reportedly pulling in £120,000 a year from the (then) Third Division side.

And now the current problems: Storrie is not one to shy away from the media, and often gives out statements concerning the club's current situation.

The one that's rankling fans at the moment is the fact that he promised that player sales won't be happening, a promise that he clearly gone back on:

"I have heard all the doom and gloom stories about us being loaded with a mountain of debt which will mean we have to have a fire sale of players in the summer. But I am telling you that's absolute rubbish."

Sadly, that little nugget has turned out to be a complete fabrication after the club was forced to put out a statement when Peter Crouch was sold to Spurs:

"His sale was necessitated by the club's commitment to repay scheduled debts while we are in a transitional period of completing the takeover. We will now be looking to add fresh faces to the first-team squad as soon as possible."

Hmm... again, the cries of Peter "Storrie Teller" have grown in volume since this turn of events, and it's easy to see why people are unsure about his stewardship at the club.

But, and forgive me for being the bastion of Pompey optimism again, I think we should thank our lucky stars he's in place at the helm.

Yes, he's earning a lot of money (too much, if you ask me). Yes, he's Harry's mate, and that's something that rankles with a lot of fans still (me included). And yes, his reputation isn't the most glowing after the arrest.

But the fact is he has overseen the club's greatest period in the modern era. He joined when the club was just paddling in the waters with the big boys and now (despite a poor season last time around) it's a name that's much better known the world over.

I know all the players brought in have commanded huge salaries, huge fees, brought the club to its knees etc etc, but at the end of the day, we're still in here fighting in the top league, and both Sacha Gaydamak and 'Dr' Al Fahim both have seen fit to keep him at the helm.

I've lost count of the amount of times he's been reported to have flown here, there and everywhere to sign a player, the amount of times we hear stories about him working into the wee small hours to thrash out a deal.

The problem is people are too ready to label him as money-grabbing and unscrupulous in transfers without much in the way of evidence.

Take the Kalinic case rumbling on at the moment. Apparently the reason the deal has 'fallen through' is the agent wants a larger cut than was previously agreed. Or to quote another rumour, the fact it's not going to happen is because Pompey, and for Pompey, read Storrie, have reneged on a previously agreed deal with Hadjuk Split over the payment terms.

And the message boards, the pulse of the (computer literate) Pompey community, are laying the blame at Storrie once more.

It's just not right. Storrie may have been part of the recent over-spending that's taken Pompey to its knees, but as far as I can tell, it wasn't his money he was spending: it was Gaydamak's, and he had to know what financial effects the whole deal would be have on the club he owned.

And for all we know, Storrie honestly believed the money from the takeover with Al Fahim (which he helped attract and structure) would have turned up in time to help make the payments to the banks in time, but was thwarted by the ongoing negotiations.

Essentially, all I'm trying to say is stop the infighting at Pompey by believing we have a corrupt board. We have absolutely no proof that Storrie is taking bungs, is working to fulfil his own selfish agenda or is just lying for the sake of it to annoy supporters.

All I can see is that we have a new owner (nearly) who plans to lay foundations at Pompey that could see it turned into a real force, and there was one man who worked tirelessly to attract that money. We may have made some mistakes and over-stretched ourselves financially, but two of the three men who were at fault for that situation (Gaydamak and Redknapp) have now left the club.

Just because one is left, let's not lay all the blame at his feet. It's a set of wide-ranging issues that's got us to the point where we are, and let's be thankful we're on a more stable financial footing, and that the signings we make are actually going to do something rather than potter around and pick up a paycheck every week.

Portsmouth: 'fans' need to get a grip

Times Online — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:10:02 +0100

Having been a Portsmouth fan for more years than I can reasonably state, I can't remember a time when I've been more incensed by our own fans.

Not content with having lived through arguably the most successful period in the club's history (when you consider how much harder and financially powerful football has become and the fact Pompey hasn't invested in the facilities to keep up) these same 'fans' now think we're a club that should be competing with Tottenham to perhaps break the top four year on year.

Well, sorry to tell you, but if we beat Bolton and Blackburn, we should be happy. These are clubs with a better infrastructure, larger grounds and ultimately longer top flight histories in recent years whereas we have a ground that can hold 20,000 fans and a training pitch that was shared by a university (which was actually an upgrade on what was there).

We are still 'only' Portsmouth. We've punched above our weight for too long, and now we may have a chance to save ourselves financially without being relegated from the top flight. How many clubs can claim that?

We remember the good times, of course. Harry Redknapp. We all blindly followed him, happily watching him buy player after player after player, paying Sol Campbell £100,000 a week, forking out nearly £25m on Defoe and Crouch alone and building a side that some said was three players away from breaking the top four.

He was the manager that saved us, no doubt about it, when we were all but relegated three and a half years ago. He was the one who dragged us out of the mire with the help of the rich new benefactor in the shape of Sacha Gaydamak.

And then we never looked back. Sol Campbell, Nico Kranjcar, Glen Johnson, Peter Crouch, Jermaine Defoe, David James, Lassana Diarra, Sulley Muntari... I could go on and on listing the names that we brought in because of him.

They weren't cheap though. Thankfully, we were riding the wave of football investment - everyone wanted a piece of the action and banks were falling over themselves to offer extended overdrafts to help finance these things.

Who cares if we have to pay these players £80-100,000 a week? That's what we brought, prompting managers like David Moyes to moan that we were able to afford wages he couldn't.

Now, there's the crux of the matter. Everton, with a mostly full ground of 40,000 plus each week, with a club that's been in the top flight for donkey's years, can't beat the wages of Portsmouth FC. A club with no discernible assets save a crumbling ground and well, that's it. A ground that has no corporate hospitality, isn't in the most luxurious of areas in the UK, and yet we were finding the money to outspend these players.

You hear talk of Chelsea being up a very murky creek without a paddle if Roman Abramovich left - well, we were in the very same situation when Gaydamak fell foul of the recession and decided paying £2m a month to keep a club afloat was just a little too much.

And thus, look where we ended up when Redknapp left. The team were left without a decent leader and only the intervention of Paul Hart at the end of the season stabilised things and saved the day.

It's all falling apart at the seams now, and we're finding out that all those who professed to be real Portsmouth fans in the glory days have remembered they don't actually like Pompey when the team has to play a bit boring and are starting to whine.

"Does anyone know if we have any legal rights in claiming back season ticket money. I feel that I have been let down big time and do not want to be paying the [sic] to watch the drivel that they are putting out this season," wailed one 'supporter' on a forum.

I'm sorry, are you sure you've got it right? You're watching your team play its SEVENTH straight season in the Premier League with one of the smallest grounds when around a decade ago it was on its knees?

You do realise that if the same punishments around now were meted out 10 years ago, it would be us where Southampton are? 10 points deduction and we would have been out the Championship/First Division, no question.

We are not big enough to crack the top four. I welcome the player sales at the moment, because not only does it give us a better financial footing, it also will force some people to realise that we are a small club with an owner who wants to invest the money to make it into a big club, not pump in oodles to satisfy the whims of glory-hungry fans who don't have a clue who Guy Whittingham is.

We could be a big club once the stadium, training ground and revenue streams are put in place. Not now, and not for the next five years at least. And that's assuming we can go on at this relentless pace and avoid relegation time after time.

So before you label Portsmouth's prospective team drivel, how about thinking on your own loyalties? We don't buy the ticket to be entertained, we buy it because we support Portsmouth FC. We buy it, without question, because that's what we do. It's what we'll do if we fall four divisions. It's what we'll do until the club falls apart or we die. Either one or the other, nothing else.

I've made the point before, but apparently it's worth repeating - you don't choose your football club, it finds you. Of course it's not the same as 40 years ago, where community spirit around where you lived meant you couldn't ignore the local team.

Now things are different. It's not about locality with football, but it is still about passion, locking your own beliefs in with the team you find fits you best, come what may. They lose, you lose, which means that when the wins come, you can enjoy them knowing you suffered along with the players.

The trouble is, too many people are just wandering into football now the money has made it fashionable, and want to see 5-4 thrillers each week, or witness their team dominate 3-0 in clinical fashion.

There's nothing wrong with that, and in a way it's paved the path for Pompey to climb to where we are. But it's when those same people profess to be 'passionate' about the game, will sing about following the team until they die, only to decide that it's not worth paying the money to watch a substandard side get beaten.

If that's the case, then shut up, get your ticket refunded and stop moaning about our team. It's certainly not yours.

Gareth Beavis

Portsmouth 28-1 to go down? That's almost worth taking...

Gareth Beavis — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:01:05 +0100

I recently read on a major betting site that Portsmouth were 28-1 to slide down into the Championship, and I almost fell out of my seat. 28-1? At those odds I'm almost tempted to have a punt myself, as it would certainly make the drop a lot easier to bear...

Although of course I never would. It would be unethical, immoral and other such words that would cast aspersions on my football fandom. But I'd love to know what inside information these bookmakers have, as I know we Pompey fans would like to have some of that confidence.

Because I groaned loudly when Newcastle won (not just because we're going to have to endure another year of bleating about another 'Geordie Messiah' when this is his first win in six attempts) but because a draw would have seen us nearly safe.

I say nearly, because the 6-0 and 4-0 hammering by Man City and Chelsea at the start of the season (under Redknapp, don't forget) have left us with a rubbish goal difference and in essence an extra point to Newcastle, so even six points clear of them isn't enough.

Say we lose to relegation threatened Sunderland next weekend, Newcastle beat the patchy-away-form Fulham and Hull manage to sneak a win at now-safe Bolton (and don't forget their away form is far better than their home). That leaves us just one point... ONE point away from relegation.

And all that seems pretty likely in my opinion, given Pompey's inability to score a goal at the moment and thus making a win much harder on Monday. So this site is giving odds of 28-1 for a team that could be one point away from relegation by the last game of the season? Again, I wish I could share its enthusiasm.

Then we move on to round two, on the last day of the season. Sunderland are now safe thanks to tonking us at home. Newcastle are away at freefalling Aston Villa who themselves are on a run that would lead to relegation should the season be longer, and Hull are home to Man Utd. Pompey, however, are away to Wigan, knowing that only a win will see us safe.

Now, I know we had to do the same thing three years ago when we completed the Great Escape, but still, the fact we haven't won away since November scares the bejesus out of me, meaning that we could need one of the other two to slip up.

Great, relying on other results again. Admittedly Wigan seem to have given up for the season long ago, but still, I don't feel confident that Pompey could do it. To be fair, I haven't felt confident in Pompey for a long, long time... not since the days of Jamie's Dad.

So that leaves Hull to beat Man Utd and Newcastle to beat Villa. I know Hull don't seem to have won since football was invented, but this is a team that will be scrapping for its life in a great stadium with some decent fans against a side that will, in all honesty, have won the league by the time the end of the season rolls around.

Although imagine if Man Utd haven't won, and Hull can still stay up. It's possible Sky Sports' promotional team might actually melt if this was the case:

"The biggest game of football EVER! Champions or Relegation, who will win? A draw is no good to either, who will win? WIN WIN WIN FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL on Super-Hyperextended-Goliath-David-Relegation-Champion-Sunday! FOOTBALLFOOTBALLFOOTBALL!"

And Newcastle's Michael Owen might actually remember he's one of England's all time scoring greats and pop one in at Villa, which will be fairly easy as the team will either be on their holidays or sitting on the pitch having their hair cut and wondering which necklace makes them look more fashionable in preparation.

In which case a win seems fairly nailed on, with the gusto of the media behind the man who will undoubtedly win the Premier League with Newcastle next year, having walked over water and turned it into wine and fish and bread and stuff, whilst also re-birthing the economy through a new variant on retro-quantative easing he worked out over a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale while sitting next to the Tyne.

And where does that leave Portsmouth? In the bottom three. And given the above's chances (especially with the pressure of only being one point away from the oblivion of the Championship, it hardly seems like that's 28-1 in terms of chances it will happen?

Of course, this could all be moot. Pompey nab a draw against Sunderland, Hull or Newcastle maintain the form that's actually got them into this fine mess and we're all singing and dancing in the streets once again. And let's face it, when do ALL the teams at the bottom manage to completely defy form and win the last two / three games of the season to fight for survival?

Newcastle will probably falter against a well drilled Fulham, Hull won't manage to win again all season and Pompey will keep grinding out the no score-bore-draws that we're now getting used to under Hart.

But I wouldn't like to say we're 28-1 on to go down...

Gareth Beavis

Pompey - European Champions in waiting

Gareth Beavis — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:24:05 +0100

After running home from work last night, crate of lager-y goodness in one hand and a pass from the missus in the other, I quickly sat down in front of the TV just in time to watch what I hoped would be the best game of the season between Liverpool and Chelsea.

The stakes were high, the mission almost insurmountable, but the promise of one of 'those' matches was almost too much to bear.

And ye gads, it was one of the THOSE matches. Goals a plenty. Liverpool needed to score 3. They scored 4. Chelsea were allowed no more than 1. They scored 4. Back and forth the two titans clashed, punching then counter punching, completely ignoring the fact that they previously had managed a paltry amount of goals in previous Champions' League encounters.

I'm sure there will be other posters here to wax lyrical about the glory of the match, the sheer footballiness on show that transcended all that's wrong with the game. But it made me realise something - the Champions' League has become the FA Cup we used to savour.

After years of watching the underdog raise its game on the smaller domestic stage when overcoming the might of First Division opposition, last night was the spirit of those encounters reincarnated. The underdog might have been one of the best teams in Europe, but still the odds were stacked against, and time and time again, they came back and came back and came back.

And it got me thinking: if Pompey were able to win the FA Cup (in doing so, becoming the first to break the stranglehold of the Big Four on the trophy in over a decade) then surely it's only a matter of time before we move on to the bigger stage? I mean, we've proved we can raise our game against European champions before (AC Milan, a game we should have arguably won) so it's got to be a possibility right?

In that game, a maverick left-back and an Arsenal reserve team player managed to destroy a midfield containing the winners of the the last three World Player of the Year awards. We shouldn't have been able to, but we did, and we should have won that game.

We beat a team at full strength in Manchester United to win the FA Cup (let's not pretend THAT wasn't the game that won us the Cup... although West Brom and Cardiff were tough to beat, disposing of the Champions was the biggest feat I've ever seen Pompey achieve) so we've got the credentials.

I know that you could point to our league position, to the fact that we're quickly losing our best players to bigger clubs in order to get the cash because our owner is pulling out. Not exactly conducive to building the best team in Europe, I grant you.

But let the buyer come in, and the groundwork is there and already complete. All he will need to do is continue the production of our flourishing youth team, make sure the new stadium stays on track, pop in a decent manager (you can hire the best for less that it costs to buy a flop striker these days) and that's all that's needed (oh, a few quid to reassemble the team would be nice too).

We, the fans, pledge to urge the team to the greatest heights in order to win European glory as well, and don't worry, we'll keep our end of the bargain.

Assuming we don't get relegated, that is. The Champions' League is difficult to enter from the Championship.

Gareth Beavis

Celebrity FC - a case for the prosecution

Gareth Beavis — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:28:11 +0100

After last night's triumphant win / scrappy three points (history will eventually delete as appropriate) it's easy to think that the world of football is all back to normal, England will qualify easily and Portsmouth will stay up (I know that doesn't have much to do with last night, but I've found it's important to keep saying it).

But one thing, right in the middle of the joy and worry in equal measure before Ukraine scored that goal, I found my thinking of the well-written article by James Henderson which asked the media and fans to lay off Ashley Cole as the scapegoat of all that is wrong with the beautiful game, and I found myself thinking... well... he IS.

I'm not saying that Ashely Cole is by any means a bad footballer, nor does he not warrant a place at one of the top teams in the country, or even the world. I don't begrudge him for earning whatever he does... he's pretty much middle of the road for a Chelsea first teamer, and you wouldn't ask for less in a job out of principle.

But what I do take umbrage to, and I think this is the point that Mr Henderson missed, is the notion that we should celebrate him in some way just because he's good at football, and we, as football fans, should love anything that can kick a ball in the right direction at the right time.

Last year I wrote an article called 'Thinking of jacking it all in' where I said I wanted it all over. I wanted to walk away from football and not have the worry and fear of Saturday at 3PM (or Sunday or Monday or Wednesday when Sky decides that a game needs to be moved).

I've barely been a football fan for a third of the time some of the more world-weary and long sufferering fans I know have been, but I still am starting to despair at the state of the game as we currently see it.

But here's Henderson's theory: "And for everyone who thinks this [that footballers are cocky foul-mouthed morons] is true then why don't you put that extra bit of money you earn every week into the savings account instead of paying to watch these animals play a sport you are falling out of love with. It's as plain as the nose on your face."

I'm sorry, but surely you realise it isn't that easy. It's not like giving up chocolate. Or smoking. It's not even like finally ending a relationship that stopped being pleasurable years ago... it's something so much worse.

Call it tribal, call it an escape, call it what you want, but the love for your football team cannot be eradicated for the simple reason that you disagree with the morals of a player, it's in the blood, it's part of your childhood and growth into an adult, it's as much a part of you as your hometown and often more... because you can leave the place you were born.

But that doesn't mean that you should be forced to accept it when the state os the game starts being something you don't agree with. I don't think that booing a player on the pitch is ever going to help matters, but Ashley Cole should be (and is being) held up as Exhibit A in the case for the falling standards of football.

We can all accept that footballers want to go out with their mates and have a few drinks. We all do it, and we all have at some point pushed it to excess. And yes, probably at that point were we to be harassed by a mob of photographers that want to claw and lech at our every move, twisting and turning it into something terrible for a few more paper sales, then we might end up doing something drunk and disorderly.

But after the allegations with that hairdresser, coupled with this incident (and the 'issue' of not enough money, and the fact he constantly disrespects referees, AND the fact his wife has seemingly become a national treasure that would surely be the best friend and fashion guru of all our girlfriends if only they got the chance to meet her... apparently) it holds him up to be the reason football is failing.

It's not fair to just point the finger at Cole. He could go and live the life of a monk and only come out of the monastery once a week to play at the weekend (although he might not have the level of fitness required, but I'm sure something could be worked out) and football as a concept wouldn't suddenly get better.

We would still have Ronaldo being accused of diving, still have Terry accused of haranguing referees, still have a number of players refusing to play for the reserves because they think they're better than that.

But that's the problem. Football has become so distanced from the fans that we're forced to just guess at what's happening behind the scenes. We can't watch training the way we used to if we wanted to see our heroes any more. We don't see them walking down the street any more because they live in massive houses with gates and long driveways miles and miles away from the stadium that's a Mecca to its fans.

No, we have to pay more, and more, and more money each week, each month, each year, in tickets, programmes, travel, even blooming PIES (why is it around £7 for a pie and a drink now? Is it sprinkled with magic? Does the team captain make them? Actually, I'd pay £7 to have that, watching him sprinting off the pitch at half time to deal with the rush).

And because we know those costs are almost directly related to the wages being paid to the footballers, we start to get frustrated. We want to vent somewhere, at someone, because you can't really do it against the club you've loved for so long without feeling a sense of betrayal.

No, we choose a player who we think we'd hate to socialise with, and unfortunately for Cole, he's the one that pushed his head furthest over the parapet with his antics. If players like him want to stop being singled out for abuse, then they should make the effort to change and show the world they're doing it, not just retreat and 'let the football do the talking'.

Because the sad fact is it no longer does. You invest £100 a weekend to go and watch something for 90 minutes (and with Pompey these days, it invariably has ended with a sigh and trudge) and you expect to see players pushing for everything as hard as they can. We don't care about what happens to them at the end of their career. We don't care whether they had to sacrifice it all as a child. We don't even care about their outside life, just as long as they maintain grace and dignity in keeping with wearing the shirt we all love. We just want to see football played by players that love the club as much as we do and represent the values we (often romantically and erroneously) associate with it.

So when my friend laughed at the TV when Ashley Cole made yet another poor 'Hollywood' pass as he called it, then turned to me and said 'I hate Ashley Cole'... I couldn't disagree.

Gareth Beavis

Pompey have turned a corner... so how are we in the bottom three?

Gareth Beavis — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:29:47 +0000

There's nothing like a spot of relegation fear to really get your year off to a rubbish start, and the first three months so far have been just that. The waking on a Saturday / Sunday / Monday / whatever day Sky deems worthy to host our matches with trepidation rather than actual promise.

Such is the life post-Redknapp.

I won't go into how much I still hope Tottenham get relegated. Well, actually, I've got nothing against the club, just want Redknapp to go down. He can change teams to West Brom (no offence Baggies, you're just at the bottom as I write this) if he wants, just as long as he's forced to flounder in the Championship next year.

But the fact of the matter is we are now in the bottom three thanks to Fulham deciding that a home record wasn't that much fun anyway, and the season looks ultimately bleak.

The game against Middlesbrough on Saturday has now grown to epic proportions. I remember when we went to Birmingham three seasons ago, knowing that win would help us massively on our quest to safety. Do you remember as well? Those that don't will probably have forcefully erased it from their memory, as a 5-0 spanking at the hands of a relegation rival is pretty much a signed death warrant.

It wasn't, but only because the Premier League Gods decided the league was due a miracle.

But what on earth is going on? According to the second caretaker manager this season, the players and gawd-help-us-all the media Pompey have 'turned the corner' after promising displays against Chelsea, Stoke and Manchester City. The players saying that they would have lost under Adams against Stoke (or words to that effect), the manager putting his faith in the team that so hideously crumbled against the likes of Liverpool... it's all the right stuff.

But it seems that the prophecy every Pompey fan is born with, emblazoned in the mind, is once again coming true: things can always get worse, and they often do.

So one season we win the FA Cup, the next we're in the bottom three, out of every cup and up for sale... I'll save the roaring 'We are Pompey fans, we will follow the ship no matter how far it sinks' battle cry for later in the season.

I just hope we don't need it.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompeyfans.com

The Geovanni debate part two... he's still not that good

Pompey Fans — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:44:57 +0000

Well, it seems that an article slating a club's favourite player doesn't go down well with fans of said club... who would have thought it?

After putting forward my two penn'orth on the Brazilian magician currently gracing the KC Stadium Geovanni, it appears Hull's internet-savvy fans have rounded on me firmly. On the one hand, fair play, on the other hand... you're all wrong.

First of all, perhaps I should start writing articles with only keywords in, as people seem to forget to read to the end of sentence on the odd occasion.

So instead of writing: "The point is that yes, Geovanni might be playing well as a big fish in a small pond (no offence intended to Hull City, it's just a label that all teams have to live with when ascending to the Premier League), but his influence and inclusion as a luxury player will wear off when times get tougher and the results aren't so kind."

I should write: "Geovanni, fish small pond, offence, Hull City, label, luxury player, results aren't kind."

Let's get one thing straight: I don't think Pompey are better than Hull. I think we're probably better equipped to progress in the Premier League, but on the recent rumour run at the moment it would seem we're about to lose half our players in January, the club will be sold for pound and probably end up propping up League Two in next to no time.

Pompey is on the brink of possible destruction (according to some people) and I certainly don't think we're any better than Hull City, that our fans are any better, and that we have a 'right' to Premier League football.

In fact, if the world shook itself out, then Pompey would probably be somewhere between the second and third tier of football, what with Fratton Park being so small and the catchment area being less than others.

But back to Geovanni... the piece was written with respect to the media's constant 'Pompey missed out on Geovanni' comments. It's not like the famous moments where Zidane could have gone to Blackburn, or Maradona to Sheffield United... I'm sorry Hull but we haven't missed out on a peach of a player.

If we could have had him on the current form and lost him, then yes I would be annoyed. But my point was this: at the beginning of last season he was not the best in the world. He started brightly for Manchester City and faded. Had he been at Pompey he would have done the same, and would probably have been sold as he wasn't good enough last season.

And I'm sorry Hull City fans, but you ARE a small club, in Premier League terms, as you've only just come up. It's a little big headed to look down on other teams that aren't as high as you in the league, especially when we both know it's possible you won't be there at the end of the season (and let's face it, probably won't, as newly promoted sides generally struggle. No offence, just statistics).

There's nothing wrong with it being 'only' Hull. You're a new team to the Premier League and you can't expect to be a 'great' club just by sitting in sixth place. Manage it for three seasons and then perhaps the rest of the Premier League will see you in that light.

But perhaps we should mention the likes of Reading, Wigan, West Brom, West Ham and Ipswich. All clubs that went up, did well, and then either fell out of the trap-door or came close to in their next season.

I watched Geovanni in the game at Fratton Park, and I honestly didn't weep when I saw him in the tiger-stripes rather than the Pompey blue. I'm sorry, but a gift for a long range strike and a free kick don't make him everything. He's a good player when things are going well, but let's see what happens when the good times end. Sorry if some of you out there don't think they ever will, but every club has a bad patch now and then, and it's rare to be promoted and have a stellar season, especially without having a terrible second.

It's not sour grapes, it's not jealousy, it's more an objective point that Geovanni has yet to prove himself in the Premier League in my eyes. A good three months does not a good player make, as we've seen in the case of Elano last year.

I know there's going to be another slew of Hull-shaped hatred thrown this way, but it's not meant to be an 'anti-Hull' post. I like the team, I agree they have the potential to be bigger than Pompey and I do hope they go on to be a Premier League force... but to say that Pompey fans rue missing the gifted Brazilian is, unfortunately, not true.

I'll eat my words if he's still the same player at the end of the season and next. But in today's credit crunched times it's not a good idea to play the 'we're above you' card... it's about longevity in this league and while Pompey, with possible financial troubles and a new manager and God knows what else to worry about, are as much in the mire as anyone else, we've proven we can survive.

And Hull fans, let's see if you can do it too, take the rough with the smooth. And in all honesty, good luck to you, you've got a good chance (with a small blip when Pompey visit next year).

P.S. Perhaps you'd be interested in two players? Nugent and Utaka? Go on, only £10m to you.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

The Geovanni debate... he's not that good

Pompey Fans — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 03:08:16 +0000

Forgive me Hull fans... but I don't rate your top scorer. Geovanni might be the piece of Brazilian magic that has lit up the KC Stadium so far this season, and well done to him... but it's not going to last.

I'm well aware I'm tempting fate at the moment with this piece, but it needs to be said after Tony Adams told the media that Pompey turned down the signing of Geovanni.

As I recall, at the time the reason was that Redknapp wanted him as a squad player but he decided on a bit more cash at Manchester City. Perhaps that wasn't the case, but nobody at Pompey was that bothered it seemed, and neither were the fans.

We all started to worry a bit when he started to show some lovely form in the Manchester City team at the start of last season... to the point where it looked like a real 'slipped through the hands' job.

But I'm getting ticked off with the amount of articles saying the same thing at the moment: Pompey could have had him on a free, but instead bought David Nugent and John Utaka for £13 million.

So what? I still think there's something to come from John Utaka, and David Nugent's chance will never come. But at least signing him showed other players we were a club on the up, as he was pretty well coveted at the time.

Put it this way: Geovanni might be playing his way into the hearts of the Hull City fans, but I'd have much rather had Nugent (whose goals helped get us to the FA Cup final) and Utaka, who was an ever present for much of the season than a player who would have filtered to the back of the squad bus on most occasions.

The point is that yes, Geovanni might be playing well as a big fish in a small pond (no offence intended to Hull City, it's just a label that all teams have to live with when ascending to the Premier League), but his influence and inclusion as a luxury player will wear off when times get tougher and the results aren't so kind.

I've got a lot of time for teams that come up and have a real go, and I genuinely hope Hull stay up, as that kind of team spirit is great to see. But the tide will turn (hopefully against Pompey) and the winless streak will come, as it does for any side.

Only then will we see whether Geovanni is the talisman who can scrap as well as dance past players and hit a free kick or two... I just wouldn't hold my breath.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

Tony Adams: Nothing but a short term solution

Pompey Fans — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:05:43 +0000

Look, believe me when I say that I want nothing more than for Tony Adams to be the next Bob Paisley, but I don't honestly believe that's going to happen. At best Pompey can hope for a steadied ship, a minimal loss of players and a few mid-table finishes. At worst, relegation and bankruptcy.

I know that's being overly pessimistic, and in all truth, something I don't believe will happen. But employing a 'make or break' manager is something I really love... but only when it happens to another club.

We all like watching a new manager, someone like Paul Ince or Roy Keane. Will he be amazing, poor or somewhere in between? Roy Keane is one of the best new managers out there, and Sunderland fans must be in dreamland considering the huge punt that was taken with his appointment.

Paul Ince had a stellar run in the lower leagues, and was rightfully given his chance at a higher level, though whether he's ready for the Premier League we've yet to decide.

Adams' career as a manager is less successful - Wycombe Wanderers can attest to that fact. However, this is not any kind of reason to believe he will fail, given his ability to keep getting back up again after being knocked.

He took the right route after leaving the Wanderers, spells at Feyenoord and Utrecht, combined with the obvious two year Redknapp experience will make him ten times the manager he was.

But the question mark will always remain over a number two man... new managers often succeed because they change things around, shake things up and re-juvenate tired players.

The likes of Sammy Lee and Chris Hutchings are both examples of what happens when a team employs the number two man as the leading manager... relegation soon follows.

Now I know it's not fair to compare a more successful club like Pompey to Wigan and Bolton, but remember the fall from grace the Wanderers suffered after Allardyce left? Lee knew all about the set up, the players and the system... but he just couldn't cut it as the manager and relegation was nearly sealed, even though the side had time to prepare when Allardyce announced his resignation early.

I don't believe Adams will fare as poorly - but neither do I believe he will achieve the same success as Harry.

What I, and hopefully all Pompey fans should hope for, is this: Adams to stay for the next three years, keeping the club in the top ten and maintaining the current crop of players (and that would be amazing anyway in this economic climate).

Then the new stadium will be built, and the club can ascend to the next level. I say can, and not will, before anyone says Pompey fans have delusions of grandeur. There's no reason to say we can't, but with a ground that holds less than 21,000, there's very much a glass ceiling for revenue.

Basically, the thought that the good times are over is the hardest to bear. Pompey fans have been completely spoilt over the last few seasons, though I think it's fair to say the proper stalwarts, who make up a majority of the support, are aware it could all come crashing down.

These are the people who don't get upset when we say we can't afford a certain player without selling. The realists.

But Adams is never going to be the next Arsenal manager, no matter what people like to believe. He's a great number two, and I don't doubt he'll be able to get the back four to step forward, raise and arm and look left in unison better than any other manager.

He's not the manager to take this club to the next level. But he must be the man to deliver us to the manager who can.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompeyfans.com

Goodbye Harry, and if you think you're done here, good riddance

Pompey Fans — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 01:39:45 +0000

This isn't an anti-Redknapp post. I want to take a few moments to reflect on the most successful manager in Portsmouth's history (when you take into account the fact the modern game is so much harder to succeed in), before the inevitable despair and anger sets in that he's deserted us for Spurs.

We all knew Harry wasn't going to be here at Fratton Park forever, but we though it would at least last a little bit longer.

But of more worry is the fact he's gone for £5 million. How is that good business for a top manager? Look at Spurs... they've spent £70 million in the close season and the team isn't working.

Spend as much as you like, if you've not got a good man at the helm, its worth nothing. So how is £5 million all it takes?

According to Harry on Sky Sports News, the club needed to sell one more player in the summer to balance the books. But they couldn't do that, so they sold the manager instead.

Looking at the bigger picture, that's more of a worry. The current economic climate is one thing, but the fact is football clubs are in jeopardy, and Portsmouth are clearly one of the sides closest to the edge in the Premier League. Otherwise, why would they accept an offer from Spurs?

Unless Harry wanted to go of course, and let's face it, Spurs didn't just have a quick chat the second they sacked Ramos. It's been coming for at least a week, and that surely must have some element of tapping up in there. But I would never make such an allegation without proof...

Anyway, let's put aside the anger and vitriol for a while. The sheer hatred of all the white side of North London that threatens to consume me for daring to try and buy their way out of trouble at our expense, the desperation to watch them lose to Bolton, Arsenal and Liverpool and watch Redknapp fail to orchestrate another great escape.

The fact he'll come in for some of our best players in the January transfer window, and will know just how much Pompey need the money.

No, I want to take a moment and have a think about him as the manager we loved at Pompey. He might have sullied his reputation beyond repair after the Southampton debacle as well, but at least he brought more silverware to the club than anyone else has managed in half a century.

He constructed a team out of nothing, and made them into winners. We've rejoiced in the Redknapp effect, the way he kept the older players going way past their prime and helped them turn back the years.

I loved his honesty, his anger, his ability to see things in such a clear light. In short, he was probably the only manager that could have done the things he did they way he did at Pompey.

Without Redknapp, we would either still be in the Championship or would have been relegated to it, and for that we can never thank him enough. Like I said, it's hard to choke back the anger at him leaving us, but I want to remember the good times before the thought of the how money has ruined my childhood passion for the sport and forced me into cynicism.

I can't say I hope he does well at Spurs. I've never really been against the club, but now I'll find it hard to not smile whenever the side gets beaten.

Pompey could be in dire financial trouble, we've lost our best manager in years and it's likely we'll see a big exodus of players in the January transfer window or the one after.

But, whisper it quietly, we are still Portsmouth FC, the current holders of the FA Cup. We are still the greatest team on the south coast, and just you watch us throw any of the insults we're likely to receive back in the faces of the morons who spit them at us.

Whispers will forever turn into roars at Fratton Park... we have the supporters that don't fear relegation, because we all know the real fans are great in number and will follow the club to the brink of extinction and will bring it back.

We can lose anyone, we can be sold and bought and razed to the ground, but we have one of the best supported teams in the country, and that's not just based on how loud we are each week..

Anyone that doubts that Portsmouth will prevail are about to see what it means to be a real fan.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

Pompey 2, England 0

Pompey Fans — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:03:44 +0100

Well, it's a point that's been CRYING OUT to be made. Pompey have helped build the most impressive strike partnership the club has seen for many a year (and the most prolific in the Premier League already) but Capello clearly won't care.

Can you imagine that England get to 65 mins without scoring against Kazakhstan? 0-0 with under a third of the game to go?

Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey, neither of whom has scored a hatful for England, haven't shown the promise of the Croatia game. No penetration and Theo Walcott is wandering up and down the right hand side, trying to remember what he did for his hat trick.

But, wait! Look at the touchline, isn't that a tall man with his son in England kits? Nope, it's Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe, a strike partnership with 8 Premier League goals and 5 assists in just 7 games.

A partnership that doesn't only meet up at weekends once every three months for an international training camp. A partnership that plays week in, week out and is growing more familiar with every game.

75 mins: A looped ball from Steven Gerrard on the left (don't get me started) lands on Crouch's head, who cushions it into the path of the in-form Defoe.

He may struggle at international level, but he doesn't miss this time. Nestling in the right corner across the goalkeeper, it's 1-0.

82 mins: Gareth Barry frees Defoe down the right, who cuts into the box, totally losing the Kazakhstan defender. He lofts one into Crouch, who smashes it over his head with a trademark bicycle kick. 2-0.

89 mins: Crouch holds up the ball at the top of the D, before laying it off to Defoe, who blasts through only to be denied by the legs of the 'keeper. But his pace is matched by Walcott, who is waiting for the rebound and duly taps in. 3-0, job done.

It's easy to predict the mountain of abuse just waiting to hit. 'Crouch and Defoe have never played well on the international stage', 'they're Premier League players at best', 'the team set-up for England is at a higher level than Pompey could ever achieve'.

Well, all good points, and would be fair to raise. But answer this: would Rooney score more goals if he had Ronaldo or Tevez playing for England? Easily, because they both know how to feed the cheeky Scouser.

If Heskey plays so well with Rooney, why doesn't Ferguson buy him for a few million to help get the best out of him? Answer: he's old and not 'United' level. So why is he the answer for England?

The point I'm trying to make is it's not about the players, it's about the team. It's the reason Gerrard and Lampard have never performed together on the international stage. It's the reason the left hand side has been a problem for England for SO many years, trying to fit Joe Cole pegs in left-footed holes.

I know I'm biased because I'm a Pompey fan, but if you divide the England team into units, a decent strike partnership, a cohesive midfield and a resolute defence need to be found.

Well, the first one is sorted thanks to Redknapp.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompeyfans.com

Fire in the hearts, hunger in the bellies...no money in the coffers...

Pompey Fans — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:21:43 +0100

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

The confidence of a Pompey fan

Pompey Fans — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:45:55 +0100

Hi all, hope you've missed me over the summer. I know I've been lax in writing this, but hey I wanted to give my fingers a little bit of a rest. It's the Community Shield today, and the excitement has got me buzzing again, so I thought: 'Hey, why not share it with the world?'

Before all you doubters out there start trying to puncture my early enthusiasm, stop. Just stop right there. I have no worries whatsoever ahead of this match, and there's nothing anyone can do to change that.

So don't even try.

I mean, we have Peter Crouch and his little buddy Jermain Defoe up front, and that's a pairing even Sir Alex himself has said he's impressed with. It doesn't matter that we haven't made any other serious summer signings when we've got that.

Well, actually it does matter a bit. I'd really hoped we would have signed someone else by today, perhaps Shaun Wright-Phillips or Younes Kaboul. We're looking a little light below the first choice XI.

No matter! They're a great side with massive potential, so even if we only play really well for 50% of games, it doesn't matter.

Well, apart from the fact we've lost Sulley Muntari to Inter Milan. Fans might be happy at the money we've got, but that apparently won't be reinvested in the squad...and he was a massive part of the success last year.

You don't lose an ever-present in a team and not feel the loss. We need someone to fill the void, if we could get SWP then that would help with the balance as someone could switch another player into the middle.

But we've got the UEFA Cup to play in this year! The first time ever Pompey are in Europe, and this is going to be the best ever...I'm already booking my tickets to Milan, ready for the chance to see Pompey at the San Siro.

Except these extra games are going to put a lot of strain on our not-much-bigger squad...oh boy, what happens when the injuries start coming in?

Let's face it, unless we can get some new faces in, Pompey might struggle this year.

Stupid Community Shield...now I'm more nervous than ever.

Who would you support if your club went bust?

Times Online — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:19:37 +0100

So the Hammers return having made a good account of themselves stateside to meet up with new signing Valon Behrami.

I am getting quite excited now especially with the early Premiership fixtures giving an opportunity of a good start. There is of course Upson, McCartney and Ljungberg to add to the returning squad, the latter the only member giving cause for concern. I am really not sure of his commitment to the club since he joined and I kind of hoped he would have been one to move on this summer.

But with all the excitement surrounding the Premiership teams, spare a thought for those in financial difficulties and facing extinction. If the worst happened to your own club who would you follow?

I would stay away from one of the top four. Yes, you would end most weekends with a smile on your face but how boring is that? The rare losses mean extreme amounts of winding up and a big name signing is - just expected.

I would not pick a club who think they are much bigger than they are, eg. Tottenham or Manchester City, giving false delusions of grandeur and then falling flat on their face.

I therefore conclude my chosen team if West ham went bust to be - Portsmouth. They have a knack of nicking results on the quiet and even have capabilities of winning trophies. Their additions to their squad are sound and they do have a good attitude and approach to the game which is what football is really all about.

I wish them well - but I hope I am not forced to follow them - yet.

So who would you follow?

Daniel Welsted

Portsmouth - FA Cup winners 2008

Pompey Fans — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:10:50 +0100

You've just got to love the title, haven't you? I could have gone for something more witty, more descriptive, but to be honest, I won't tire of seeing this for an entire summer.

However, there's just one thing that clouds my elation (besides the hangover). I've been happier.

I'll lay it on the line here: I wrote the first two paragraphs to look like I was being controversial so some people might feel outraged. I'm sorry, it was mean but also a little, tiny bit true.

To understand what I mean, I need people to understand where I'm coming from. I view this fantastic success holistically, from the 1-0 win against Ipswich all the way to the 1-0 win against Cardiff. And while watching Sol go up to lift the FA Cup and know I was there, something was missing. There was an elation missing that I'd already felt.

And that came against Manchester United. From that moment on (with Barnsley striking a huge blow to Chelsea later that day) the Cup was ours to lose. Pompey are obviously better than West Bromwich Albion, Cardiff and Barnsley (no offence intended to those teams, but if we weren't a little better equipped after five years in the Premier League, I would be very worried.)

We have a better manager at the helm, and players more used to playing in the bigger games. So therefore, and this was an opinion roundly appreciated and elevated by the rabid media who seem hell bent on increasing the pressure to the maximum whenever they can, Pompey could only lose the Cup, not win it.

There was a time when winning the FA Cup stood proudly alongside winning the League. It might still not be far behind, but you couldn't say Pompey were one of the best teams in the country as winners. You can say they did great, and the players did what was necessary in the later stages which showed the ability there, but winning more trophies than Arsenal, Liverpool and maybe Chelsea does not make us better.

So this is the point I am trying to make: the Manchester United win was the day we won the Cup. We defeated the best in the land, and earned our right to play on.

As such, the feeling on the way to Wembley both times was one of apprehension and tension, not excitement. Knowing that we were supposed to beat both West Brom and Cardiff made the thought of losing far worse than the possibility of lifting the Cup.

Were we playing a Chelsea or an Arsenal in the final, then we could have afforded the chance to dream about winning it, safe in the knowledge it was unlikely. But to HAVE to win it, else suffer the ridicule of the rest of the footballing nation for the next 50 years or so would have been beyond horrible.

But the main thing is that elation was there. Other fans would have been on Pompey's collective back had we only beaten lower league opposition on the way to the final. You can only play what's in front of you, but beating Manchester United, at their home no less, proved we deserved our place, and that's why that final whistle proved to be the grandest moment.

Both West Brom and Cardiff offered very little in attack in the two matches at the home of football. From a neutral perspective, once Pompey scored it looked very unlikely we were going to get pegged back, especially in the final 20 minutes of the...well...final.

But all this is not to take anything away from the amazing efforts of the players. If we were gifted the FA Cup, then why did Everton play pretty much a youth reserves team against Oldham? Why did Arsenal not put out a full strength squad against Manchester United in the FA Cup when they did against Tottenham in the League Cup?

We were in the final on merit. Yes, we rode our luck at times, but any team that lifts the Cup has had that at some point on the campaign. Our rear-guard was mostly flawless and sublime, and in many ways the reason we won it. Had we not lost our best striker and brought in a cup-tied one, we probably would have been more dangerous in the attack.

But we did it, we are the FA Cup winners, essentially beating 730 other teams to be here. We have broken the Big Four monopoly, so for them to not win it is as significant as us winning it.

Next season could be even better. The extra revenue aside, our title now means players who were wondering whether Pompey is the right option see they are joining a squad of trophy winners.

I could elucidate further, I could quote from Keats or Huxley to make my point. I could use every semantic or piece of lexical trickery to get my point across. But I know there will be a number of you out there who will disagree, and I welcome your comments. Football is nothing without debate, and I know there are 101 reasons why Pompey shouldn't have won the Cup. But at least this match was better than last year's final, and at least we played slightly better football than Greece when they won Euro 2004!

Thanks to everyone who has read my witterings this year, and thanks to those who have commented, both positive and negative. Play Up Pompey!!

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

I couldn't be more scared

Pompey Fans — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:46:07 +0100

For once, the time is over for rational decisions, weighed-up thought and decent debate. This is the FA Cup Final, this is the time when a domestic trophy that comes second only behind the Premier League title is up for grabs and we want it.

My colleague has already given a far more rational and composed view on the Pompey presence in the cup final than I ever could, so I won't try and invoke history and comparison to former glories and former great players.

I am just looking forward to this game so much. I was in A&E last night with what turned out to be a fractured ankle sustained during five-a-side, and despite the immense pain and bulbous swelling, all I could think about was Saturday, which should tell you all you need to know about my childlike state of mind.

A few people have commented on my previous post, perhaps trying to say I was being a little petulant about the form of Pompey and the blase attitude being taken to one of the biggest games in Pompey's history.

I'd just like to say that pure drivel. I'm perfectly allowed to be annoyed when a team suffers a dip in form. I'd have been more accepting had we already won something, a la Tottenham, because drifting along would make sense.

And to re-iterate, I'm beyond ecstatic we're in the final. I've been through the usual can't really sleep nights, the form of the the other team, the newspaper reports about how well each team has played.

I've eaten up every Pompey word about the impending game, I've sat and willed David James' calf to heal. I've thought about every single formation I could think of, and decided Harry probably has it right.

So therefore, if my team decides to have a holiday before the actual game, then you have to worry. A rubbish end to the season would be compounded by a huge loss, and that's what I'm saying.

Anyway, to brighter and much shinier things. The FA Cup is something Pompey could always 'have a go at' each season, as if they are in some way better shaped for the cup.

Actually, the league cup is always touted by fans as something we could win, but we never quite live up to the promise. So on the theory the FA CUp is its bigger brother, then to actually make it to the final is beyond immense. It means Pompey might actually live up to some of their promise.

And here's the bit that worries me, the bit that makes me bring in four changes of underwear to work each day to cope with the soiling. Pompey are not the underdogs for this one, they are red hot favourites.

As any Blues fan knows, this is not the way it should be, and it is TERRIFYING the life out of me.

'What if we sit back and let them come at us? Why aren't we being more attacking?' battles with 'Why are we going at them from the start? We are the Premier League team, we should absorb them and let them run out of steam before we strike!'.

In truth, I am more afraid of anything of that dreaded notion of tempting fate. To believe we might do it is worse than anything I've experienced. Even the loss of the European place at the end of last season wasn't too hard to take, as you could make the argument the squad wasn't ready.

But now, it's all or nothing. I have my seat high up in the rafters, I'm getting there early (after the semi-final travelling debacle. A signal box CAUGHT FIRE at Waterloo...the kind of thing that makes you wonder if it's not your day.)

So to all you media folk making us hot favourites or writing us off. To all of those who say the magic of the cup is alive because rubbish teams have made it (seriously, one blog said just that), to all those who think people won't bother watching the game.

To all those who think Redknapp should have a cup, and those who think he doesn't deserve to be a manager. To those who think Nugent should start, and those who say he's the 5th biggest Premier League flop ever (harsh, no?)

To those who even have a flicker of an eyelash of negativity towards my club, however reasonable and well rounded their argument might be:

This is my day, along with 25,000 others at the ground and the thousands and thousands more around the world. Win or lose, it is our result, our love of the club and our ultimate reward for believing through those times of administration.

It is our moment, and while we want to share it with the whole footballing world, it is ours, and ours alone.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

The match of my life

Times Online — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:32:35 +0100

I doubt I am the only Pompey fan of my generation - first game September 1970 - wondering whether Saturday May 17, 2008 could well be "it".

Having followed the team for 38 years, a penalty shootout defeat in the semis against Liverpool in 1992 has been the closest I have got to knowing what it is like to win "real" silverware.

Winning the "First Division" in 2003 was nice, even though it was offset by the teensy-weensy problem that it was, in fact, the Second Division in old money, while avenging that penalty shootout defeat to beat Liverpool in the 2007 Barclays Premier League Asia Cup in Hong Kong was sweet, especially as a stadium has probably never been emptier for a trophy presentation, but it was really no more than a pre-season friendly.

But Saturday is the real deal.

Abide With Me, a worldwide TV audience of millions... Pompey stand on the threshold of domestic glory for the first time in a generation. Not to mention international recognition and exposure like never before.

So you will forgive me if I'm feeling more tense than usual. My 45 years have taught me to deal with winning and losing as being merely two sides of the same coin. Most of the time.

Saturday, though, is different. Lose this one and ... well, I will be grateful if I get as many as 38 more seasons watching Pompey.

Which brings us to the key question. Will Pompey win?

Neutrals have been telling me for weeks it's a foregone conclusion and one mate who regularly takes the bookies on and gains an honourable draw now and again, reassures me by saying he wouldn't contemplate backing a Cardiff victory.

Throughout this Cup run - and for most of the season, save the final six games or so - I have had a calm, at times serene, confidence that this team of Harry's will come up trumps when it matters. I don't do away games much these days, but I made sure I went to Old Trafford for the sixth round. You see, I just knew. When they put their collective minds to it, Pompey are capable of doing special things.

Cardiff are a more than capable side on their day. Indeed, if I were Harry I'd spend an hour on Cup final morning showing the team Cardiff's first-half quarter-final performance against Middlesbrough. If we take them lightly and they get their game together, they can win.

But there is not one City player I would swap for a Pompey one - especially if we line up as I expect: 4-5-1 - James; Johnson, Distin, Campbell, Hreidarsson; Utaka, Diop, Diarra, Muntari, Kranjcar; Kanu.

More crucially, that team has elements with almost as much to lose as fans like me who have spent half a lifetime dreaming of this moment when "my" Pompey team exorcise the ghosts of Dickinson, Scoular, Harris & co. It's the reason I have followed Pompey through thick and (mainly) thin all that time. One day we'd be back.

For Hreidarsson, Distin and Diop, this is as much "it" as it is for me. A career, if not life-defining moment. For Johnson, Utaka, Diarra, Muntari and Kranjcar, while more may yet be to come in their relatively infant careers, the sooner they start collecting medals, the more likely others will follow. And even been-there, done-that merchants such as James, Campbell and Kanu will know that to win the Cup with Pompey, good old provincial-and-proud-of-it Portsmouth, will rank among their greatest professional achievements.

The final is Pompey's to lose and the only way they will do that it is by mentally rehearsing walking up the steps before the game is won, rather than concentrating on the task in hand. But my head agrees with my heart: this Pompey team will not lose this final in the mind, they will win it on the field. Play up Pompey.

FA Cup final? Pah.

Pompey Fans — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:04:46 +0100

I know I've been away for a while. I can tell by the angry glances I get on the tube (which I know are to do with the fact I haven't posted in a long time, and nothing to do with my choice of 'art' magazine). I could blame the fact I've had a massive job change, and haven't been in the country. I could blame the fact I was without internet for a very long time.

But the truth is, I've been too disappointed with my team to say anything.

Let's get things straight. I'm well aware of the impending FA Cup final, and the possible glory that sits behind the 90 minute curtain. I spent ages trying to secure a ticket for myself and my Dad, and that was something I did without even thinking twice, like saving a drowning child or putting out a chip fire.

But the statistics do not lie, and a draw followed by four straight losses in the league, without any of the Big Four in there either, is simply not good enough for any team. Full stop.

Under the whole 'FA Cup can save our season' theory (one put forward by Sylvain Distin) the team might as well have gone on holiday for most of the campaign, turned up for enough games to secure safety and concentrated on the Cup and that only.

Imagine if that was the case, and the focus was on winning the League and FA Cup double, with relegation narrowly, but successfully avoided. Records would show a very good campaign.

But as a fan, and a fan that is not demanding or into over-hyping the abilities of his team, I still expect the players and the manager to show a bit of something to make the world realise Portsmouth are a good team and not just one that managed to beat Manchester United in a one-off occasion.

There's a reason I chose this moment to return to the Fanzine Fanzone fold. I wanted to wait and see whether Pompey actually did do what every team in the final does (unless they're fighting for the league as well) and drop off the pace. Something about me believed they wouldn't, that there would at least be the odd win or two to keep things sweet. But then again we all saw the Fulham game.

And I wanted to write this before the final, to make sure my feelings weren't tainted by loss or victory. If we lost, I would be more angry than ever before (in footballing terms; the time some guy CHOSE to ram my car rather than possibly hit a pigeon still ranks as the top point in the red mist stakes.I mean, I saw him look at me, look at the pigeon and make the decision. But I digress).

If we won, I wouldn't give two hoots about the form beforehand. It's as simple as that, and I know it's a theory a number of fans subscribe to already.

And it's true, an FA Cup final is something to remember for the rest of your life, win or lose. And I am so ecstatically happy we are there, something to look forward to still at this point in the season is magnificent, and I wouldn't change anything about this season to jeopardise it.

The only thing that casts a slight doubt on the whole occasion is the notion of Pompey being favourites. It means the expectation is a win, which means if it does happen everybody will be nonplussed (sort of). But for Cardiff, they win and they are the greatest team in the Cup, the papers celebrate them, the rest of the media jumps on the bandwagon, and Alan Hansen gets the chance to draw big white circles around the Pompey defenders and show 'what went wrong'.

And I am going to lamp someone soon if the idea that this cup final is a bit of a let-down is mentioned once more. It's like being told your birthday isn't that much of a big deal and people are going to mow the lawn or polish the cat instead.

I know it might not be the two most fashionable teams in the world, but I would implore those doubters to remember the FA Cup final of last year, one that I had to beg to be allowed to watch (it was my anniversary...) and then was thoroughly upset/bored to tears by.

So I will be there as a fan at the final, and none of the last few weeks will have diminished my excitement. But all the resting and 'eyes on the final'-ness better have been worth something...or else I'll...erm...still come back next season no matter what (damn it).

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

You could say things are looking up

Pompey Fans — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:07:50 +0100

Things are rosy at Portsmouth Football Club. According to a source well-placed inside the club, everyone is wandering along with meaningful smiles on their faces, smelling of roses. David James and Glen Johnson regularly have little chats about their respective afros, and apparently Mr Redknapp has been seen on more than one occasion skipping across the training pitch.

Consider this a complete example of laurel-resting. I've often said, if we're not supposed to rest on our laurels, then why are they so damn comfortable? But still, I know it's dangerous. It just feels so bloomin' good at the moment to be a Pompey fan.

-Pushing for fifth place? Check.
-FA Cup final against Championship side (though no complacency please)? Check.
-Manager turning down a bigger job thus proving his loyalty once and for all? Check.
-Signing one of the hottest (in terms of footballing ability) strikers in the land? Check.
-Chelsea's goalkeeper? Cech.

All in all, things are a bit nice.

BUT! What is this dirty grey cloud on the horizon? And not just one, but two??

Not to worry anyone that was living in a little Pompey bubble, but things need to change sharpish if the whole thing isn't about to burst soon and get that weird stingy mist in your eyes (you know the kind...the one you get when you blow a really big bubble and then it pops near your face. Unpleasant).

Pompey just published losses of £23 million for the last season. That's not even as much as they spent on transfers, so essentially the club was just about running even before buying the key personnel that have enabled such a wonderful season. Obviously a win in the FA Cup, a high placed finish and (possibly) UEFA Cup football will help boost the coffers no end, but the likelihood is more faces will be brought in over the summer.

Although I don't know the ins and outs of the financial process, I would assume there are a number of one-off costs, relating to setting up the Academy, the training ground and elements of the new stadium will have contributed greatly to the process. Matchday revenues are not what they could be as well, as the capacity just isn't there. People may say it's not full every week, but there is the simple rule of thumb that says if there are more seats, more bums will want to be sitting there.

Build it, and they will come essentially.

Also, the little drizzle after the storm mentioned above...the little matter of the FA Cup Final ticketing situation. More the FA's problem than Pompey's, the allocation of 25,000 is a travesty for the real fans. I know the Cup is about footballing as a whole, but there are serious holes in the strategy.

In fairness to Pompey, there's not a lot they can do, and they have listened to the needs of the fans after the debacle of the ticketing arrangements for the semi-final. (I was going to post on that, but I was actually too enraged to type anything coherently).

So, to sum up: Things are good, the future is scary. Sounds about the right time for things to begin crashing around the ears really.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

View from the other side

Pompey Fans — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:15:34 +0000

Now, this article began life as a comment on the excellent article by the Newcastle expert, entitled "Sky, Setanta and Looking After Your 'Customers'", which you can read by clicking the link at the top of this piece. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt compelled to write something in agreement. And I am just that, completely in agreement. Games being shifted at the last minute (and three weeks til kick off is the last minute when you have already made and paid for travel arrangements) is just a kick in the teeth of the ardent fans, i.e. the ones that bolster the club with their hard earned cash.

Both Sky and Setanta just love to flick games around willy nilly on the calendar, and will shed no tear for the fan that is totally buggered. As a Pompey fan looking at my calendar for April, it now has four scribbles where the fixtures were, denoting movements at the behest of the broadcasting 'behemoths'. It looks all messy now, so thanks boys.

Yes, I suppose you can make the old argument of football now being a business, it was sold to the channels and now they want to maximise profits. 400 fans put out by losing their pre-booked train tickets thanks to a match being re-scheduled at the drop of a hat? Think about the huge amount that can now watch a cracking match at 5.15 or 12.45, they now say.

I suppose it's decent for Pompey fans as well, seeing their team exposed much more than ever before on the TV this year. But think about it this way: if more games are shown on TV, the gates at the ground will fall. I know this shows a lack of passion from certain fans, but I'd rather have a fully-loaded Fratton rather than patches of blue seats littered around.

Take the game against Preston in the FA Cup. 4PM on a Sunday, in Preston, and it's on the telly. Well, I can't see anybody other than the most ardent fan join us on the million mile trip Oop North, especially when you'll return at about 2am and have work the next day. (I know this was BBC, and it was my lovely FA Cup, but still, I'm trying to make a point so bear with me.)

Sky and Setanta have no interest in promoting football to the attending fans, they are a constant already. They pay the money for the season ticket every year, therefore so what if they lose money?

It's all about getting the exposure to them, and fair play, that's what they do best. They bought the rights, they want to use them.

We should be looking at the Premier League and Mr Scudamore here. They were the ones that prostituted the league, and the same ones that went for Gam£ 39. They want to maximise too, but the thing is they are supposed to have the game's interests at heart. They clearly forget that sometimes.

Take the issue of the Champion's League rights. Sky bought nearly everything, and the BBC and ITV are scrapping it out for one measly game per round. It might be the best game, but it means that no longer will those with terrestrial have a choice of Liverpool or Man U. It will be the one deemed best that goes on BBC 1 or ITV, and they usually choose the cack one for some reason.

But, as I've said before in a previous article, what can we do? What on earth is there for a footie fan to do? We love the game as we love our family, we will read about it, talk about it, and have more information than ever before to lap up.

The reason? There's more of it on the bloody telly.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

'We were robbed' - Pompey make Fergie cry

Pompey Fans — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:06:59 +0000

I'm so happy. So bubbling with unadulterated ecstasy that I don't actually know what to do with myself. I haven't even gone out and got drunk, as the seemingly never ending high of the final whistle on our 1-0 win over Manchester United keeps replaying in my mind.

I even LIKE United. I think they're an alright team, though I would never support them. But the amount of people condemning our team (United fans and management) and the even larger number of people congratulating us (everybody else) has made it brilliant today.

I'm now actually worried about having my first child now - after today I think I'll be a bit blase about the whole thing really. Oh well, at least I will have tasted the highs!

But the amount of moaning already, I mean, come on boys and girls, get over it! I know you'll all read about it in the papers or watch it on MOTD etc etc, so I'm going to whistle through the key points raised by 'hard done by' United fans:

1 - 'Diarra should have been booked for the barge on Ronaldo in the first minute.' Sorry, but I can't comment. I was too busy laughing my arse off to see what happened afterwards.

2 - 'It should have been a penalty to United.' I haven't seen the highlights yet, but from the stands, it looked like a 50-50 that was won by Pompey. Ronaldo went down easier than one of his paid-for ladyfriends. Plus, how many penalties have been harshly given at Old Trafford the other way??

3 - 'Pompey were lucky.' Yeah, so what? We played our arses off, stifled United in midfield and defended brilliantly. Luck may have played a part, but we made our own luck.

4 - 'The referee was atrocious.' He didn't give United the mandatory 85% of the fouls, I know. How will he sleep at night?

5 - 'The 'keeper shouldn't have been sent off.' I haven't seen it, from where I was it was a stonewall penalty. If it was wrong, then I accept that, but I'm not sorry it happened! Baros was unfairly penalised when clean through earlier in the game, so it was only fair.

But on to better things. With Chelski out, the worst we could probably get is Middlesbrough or West Brom in the semi finals. I don't want to jinx it, so I'll leave it there.

But for the first time in 51 years, Pompey won at Old Trafford. At the 8th time of asking in 6 years, we won at Old Trafford. For the first time since 1992, we're in the semi finals.

Enough said.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

The new dawn looks slightly murky

Pompey Fans — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:00:45 +0000

After extensively studying the footage of the Everton game and listening to the comments of Monsieur Rouge-sommeil (That's Redknapp in French. I'm feeling pretty cultural after eating a croissant and a croque-monsiuer this morning) I can safely and definitively say Pompey may or may not qualify for Europe this year. Definitely.

Just to clarify my current commitment / frustration, I just wrote this whole article only for my computer to crash and lose it. Thought I should share.

Anyway, back to footie. The game against Everton was a bit of a blow in our quest for Europe no doubt, but there were plenty of good bits and pieces to take away from it.

First off, and to prove how open-minded and neutral I am, I can see Everton are a good side and a shining example of precisely why ditching a manager so quickly can be a huge mistake. David Moyes has had his problems and shaky patches, but the fact is he has now crafted a pretty good team without breaking the bank, and got his side to put in the performances to make the better players want to stay.

But to the game! There was a great deal about it suggesting it was not a 3-1 match. The first goal conceded by Pompey, in the first minute, was unlucky. In fact, any goal conceded in the first minute is unlucky. I know Sylvain Distin shouldn't have broken the line, allowing the Yak to ghost in and plant his head on the ball and firmly past David James (the ball, not his head). But to be fair, most defences get a few minutes to settle into the game, and though it's not a good excuse, it sometimes just happens.

And after that, despite Everton passing the South coast Blues almost into submission, they were limited to mostly long-range shots, although our midfield looked a little bit all at sea.

When the equaliser came, it was a perfect example of why we signed Jermain Defoe: his predatory instincts. He lost his marker at the perfect time, and did just enough to put off Tim Howard and pop the ball in the net. Special praise should also go to the ever-improving Glen Johnson, whose left-foot (LEFT-foot) cross provided the impetus for the ball, even though Defoe just nicked the glory by grazing it with the very outside of his likely very expensive boot that he has worn for about an hour.

The second half was another game altogether. Alright, it was the same game, but a different kind of game. OK, it was still football...you get the picture.

Basically, Pompey came out much refreshed after a good team talk and a slice of birthday cake from Redknapp, who was celebrating the anniversary of the world spewing forth one of Pompey's greatest ever managers at the same time. More pressure allowed more space in the midfield, and the attacks suddenly seemed a lot more toothsome.

A quick point - I don't think starting with Kanu really works anymore, especially in a 4-4-2. He is a brilliant sub, but he doesn't add enough over the 90 mins to warrant a place on the first XI each week.

But the sucker punch came twice, and both can be attributed to individual mistakes. The first, a header planted by Tim Cahill, came after Sulley Muntari screwed up royally in his tracking. Having followed the Australian from the halfway line, he inexplicably wandered off in the penalty area, allowing the second goal that forced Pompey heads to drop.

The third was a sublime pass from Andy Johnson to Yakubu, but in honesty it was Sol Campbell's lack of pace that allowed Yakubu to steal a yard and take the ball down. What followed was a piece of magic that highlighted why the Nigerian was a hit on the South Coast, but he shouldn't have been allowed to get the ball at all.

Other praise should be reserved for Phil Jagielka and Moyes for actually bringing on Andy Johnson - fair play, the manager is good with his tactics, and tipped the balance slightly in Everton's favour.

Another day, the result could have been different, and I feel Redknapp's comments stating we could have won it were fair enough. We could, but we didn't, and it's better to attack and lose than draw in a boring way. OK, it's not really, but if you're romantic about 'proper football' it is.

And there has been some confusion over his comments after the match too. He said we could have taken something from it, but that it was down to individual mistakes. It may seem like he's saying we're good enough but we're not good enough, but in fairness two people switching off is better than a whole team being outplayed.

So that's why it could go either way. Pompey are capable of beating Aston Villa, Birmingham, Wigan, Tottenham, West Ham, Newcastle, Man City, Blackburn, Middlesbrough and Fulham. In fact, we already HAVE beaten 60% of those teams. So a European place is definitely there to be achieved, and it would be foolish to think quality can just vanish in the side. Redknapp et al will be back, but let's just hope it's still in this season rather than the usual 'start well in September but then dwindle' scenario we seem used to.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

Thinking of jacking it all in

Pompey Fans — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:13:50 +0000

There's a lot to be said about football these days. And that amount now doesn't spout from the mouths of the man on the terraces, the outspoken chap down the pub or even the match commentators. The death of football has long been prophesised, and I fear it will go the same way as a certain Ms Spears. Some days (and recently, more than usual) I wonder why I even bother turning up to games.

Can you believe it? I mean really? Portsmouth are enjoying their most successful spell in the modern era, and yet there is STILL an element of doom and gloom hanging over our fine game. Nationally, not just at Fratton Park.

I'm fed up, literally getting sick to the back teeth of where football is going. I hate the proposed 39th game as a football fan, welcome it as a economics fan (if I was one, but I can see their logic). It makes economic sense, yes, but fans are against it. Sorry, but listening to the fans' views disappeared a long time ago.

When was the last time a fan movement actually made a difference? Villa fans wanted Doug Ellis out for longer than I can remember, but did he budge? No, just waited until he wanted to go, then took a lucrative offer. Sod what the terraces want, and that man was actually a fan of his club.

But I am digressing from the point. I'm not going to bleat on about the 39th Gam£, because frankly you could read about the disdain it has caused on around 49 billion other sites. It's the fact these sites exist that is making me feel so rubbish.

I am FULLY aware of the hypocrisy of that statement, given the medium I am writing this argument from. But I don't mean the fan sites, the message boards, the forums. They're pretty much an extension of the pub chat, and I love that. Give me more of the chance to interact with well-thought out debate, the chance to laugh at some of the insanity that spews forth.

But football is dying, and the media is the slow-acting slayer. Football websites 'claiming' this, that and the other have led to a surge in interest in players actions off the pitch. I know there was always tabloid extremism. I know footballers have long had an 'image' other than that on the pitch.

But the tabloids have extended. Utter unjustified filth is published day after day, made up but churning up interest for interest's sake, meaning players now have massive demands on their contracts related to these image rights. Players as a brand being paid obscene amounts of money rather than part of the team.

And I know this doesn't affect Pompey as much as other clubs, but it's just a small indication of the power-hungry cash machine that the top flight (NOT the EPL, the Premier League/Premiership or whatever they want to label it at the behest of the highest bidder) has become.

The Premiership, the Championship, what's next? The 'Feeder Series' replacing the lower leagues? The 'National Series'? It's branding going mad, and it's bleeding the fans dry of money.

And so I get to my point in a very long and laboured fashion. Why ON EARTH do we bother? What is it about football, essentially a game, that provokes such outrage? Why oh why do we CARE so much about the future of it, why is it so embedded into our daily lives?

Benjani sold like a valuable asset. Lassana Diarra using our club as a vehicle. And you know what? I agree with these decisions if I think about it objectively. It all makes sense, Benjani was a valuable player, possibly at his peak, sell him and take the money! Thank you.

And what's wrong with ambition? Diarra has a job to do, a very short career of 20 years that he is in charge of (and of course, an ego to massage). Why not go to a club where he can shine in order to get where he wants to go?

But then think of it as a fan, and hear Benjani's words when calling his transfer a 'bad dream', you can't help but feel it tug at the ol' heartstrings. The talk in the Zimbabwean papers says he was having trouble leaving his house on the 31st January because he wasn't sure he wanted the transfer to happen. Whether that contributed to his lateness to the medical, it's unlikely we'll ever know. But the fact is he seems to have been hurt in the process and as a fan, I think it is despicable.

But what do I want? Success or sentimentality? I should accept my club wants to get the most success possible, no player is bigger than the club etc etc. But I just DON'T CARE about the debate any more. It's not why I signed up in the first place.

There's something bizarre about the mentality of following a football club. When we play Manchester United and win or draw, I feel like in some way I have achieved. If we lose, I feel inconsolable. Why? What on earth did I do to influence the result? I bought the shirt, I bought the ticket, I even bought the hotdog and drink. I INVESTED in the club, but don't hand in a sheet of possible tactics I think might work.

It would make sense if we became fans of a club because that club represented something of our personality. Intelligent but slow players. Brute force teams with little style. Classy finishers but terrible defenders. Passers but no force. I know these teams exist in a general sense, but loyalty to a club is borne from geographical upbringing on the whole, so why should I feel a sense of loyalty to the nearby club just because they are there?

The media circus, image rights and the internet mean football is no longer about a community, which used to be the reason one followed the local side. Players emerging from the nearby area because that's who they are and the team embodies that spirit are no more. You can say people like Steven Gerrard are Liverpool through and through, but lest we forget, he had a trial at Manchester United.

So I say, why bother? Why feel for a team that could one day turn on its fans in order to please a larger global audience in Asia? I don't count Pompey solely in this; I'm talking football in general (but we shouldn't forget Yoshi Kawaguchi, the Japanese goalkeeper who appeared to be bought at the same time as the Japanese staging of the World Cup.)

I'd like to say I'm losing interest in football. I even want to, but I can't. I want to forget MOTD and Soccer Saturday. I want to laugh at Super Sunday and the validity of the Calring Cup. I can't though because I am a football fan. But if games keep getting moved so people can't travel away, if the prices of tickets, travel and the trains keep going up then soon there will be some that do jack it in. Not just Pompey, everywhere.

And I for one won't be able to blame them, and I won't want to. Those 'die-hard' fans who point at those who weren't there when the club was in dire need of help, entrenched in the 4th division or what have you. Why is that a mark of 'true spirit'? I admit those that did can be seen as more passionate, but in today's society there is a huge divergence of interests, so some fans may follow closer than others. There's nothing wrong with that, and it annoys me to think that some people can be considered 'less of a fan'. Why does it matter how 'hard' you support a club? The important thing is you do.

And I will too, forever because I am truly ensconced in the club, it's history and its passion. But for children coming into the game now, if their parents aren't there to instil that passion, I have no idea how they would become interested enough in a money rich game to be 'proper' fans.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

This is beyond belief...

Pompey Fans — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:56:19 +0000

Despite being about 400 hours behind on my current deadline at work, the events which seem to be transpiring on the rumour boards compell me to take a lexical stand before the transfer window slams shut and I am proved right or wrong.

Firstly - Benjani Mwaruwari to Manchester City? For £6 million? Has the world gone mad? What on earth would he want to go there for? I understand the blinding lights of playing for a Manchester club are enticing for a player nearing his peak, but not the blue side!

(And I'd like to point out I mean this with absolutely no disrespect to Manchester City or their fans. The club is bigger than Pompey in terms of resources, infrastructure and stadium etc, but the on-pitch actions are what's telling the tale and I think there's not a huge amount of difference between the two sides. Hope that dispels any possible ire!)

But why move for that little money? And why move now? Why make up a goal celebration that thanks the fans every time for sticking by him when he couldn't hit a cow's a**e with a banjo? A striker that, no joke, has such a hard name it took me a week to learn to PRONOUNCE it, let alone spell. It makes literally no sense that a man, who by all accounts has never been a money-grabber or a limelight seeker, would choose to move to a club of comparable quality.

Some sites have made the point his admission of only wanting to play for two more years would 'sway Redknapp's mind', but come on, that's just chat. Even if he did, and he kept up the current form, saving £6 million for around 30 goals would be more than worth it.

And he has openly spoken of his love for the club he turns out for despite carrying a hamstring injury. WHY LEAVE THAT?

Right, that's that over. So if he stays, I'll hopefully have exploded the absolute rubbish that gets bandied about at this time. If he goes, then I'll show what a sorry state football is in these days, and will create a despair that may make me re-think my 'love' of the 'beautiful game'.

Of course, the rumours that we're bidding £9 million for Defoe are much stronger, so it could be just a corollary in the warped minds of some journalists. But again, give it 12 hours and the truth will out.

Right, onto bigger things. Alexandre Gaydamak selling the club for £20 million profit? That would be the biggest kick in the teeth Pompey fans have withstood for a while. I know the position we are in might suggest that life would continue OK after his departure, as we represent a tasty propostion for would-be buyers, providing we continue on our current path to success.

But the pain would come from a man who we took to our hearts because he did what he said he was going to, putting money where his mouth was, then turned his back when a whiff of a profit came along.

I know football is a business. I know that in today's climate this is true more than ever, and the old joke: 'How do you make a small fortune out of football? Start with a large one' is not so true any more.

But still, as I said before when laying into Lassie D (who, by the way, may have read this blog, because he is doing just as I told him. Head down, get on with it, win over fans with your performance. I like him around 0.02% more now, I'd estimate), this is a club built on passion. I know the passion is furthered by profit, and the profit comes with on-pitch success, which is turn is built on sound investment and vast behind-the-scene investment, but the love for a club is not rational.

We believe that any game can be won against any side as long as the players want it enough. That's why some people believe the 'good old days' were better, when players came from the community, when you would put your life on the line for the badge, when players and fans were united.

I accept it's not like that any more, but unlike the normal London boardroom where good business sense prevails, blind loyalty in the face of danger is sometimes needed. Because fan anger is something that needs to be factored into the equation, as a football club can't survive if the fans start revolting every game.

So if this story is false, as many reports say it is, then Gaydamak should come out himself and say just the same. He should come out of his self-imposed exile and make the statement, because the story didn't emerge from nowhere, and was likely built on some very sound facts.

So the Benjani and Gaydamak sagas need to be put to bed, and hopefully Pompey will come through this whole thing intact.

Oh b**ger. Suller Muntari has just said he wants to play for Manchester United.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

Diarra should be set for starring in the reserves

Pompey Fans — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:05:25 +0000

Not only am I despondent at the realisation that Matty Taylor, one of the last of the 'through and through' Pompey players, has left our beloved brethren, hearing the words spoken by Lassana Diarra when he became the latest addition to the Blues' family has incensed me enough to write about it. Yes, it's that serious.

'The people at Portsmouth know I will not spend my life at this club. If I shine, if a really big club wants me, I know that everything will go well.'

This is hardly the way to make fans fall in love with you the moment you sign for another club. Look, Diarra my lad, you may have forged a great career in both the Chelsea and Arsenal reserves, but you don't magnanimously waltz into your new facilities and expect us all to cry with happiness at you gracing us with your presence, do you?

Though to be fair to you, it must have been hard being the 'big boy' in the Arsenal kiddie team, especially when kids half your age (yes, I know you're only 22, don't get uppity again) are playing ahead of you.

While we're here and on the subject, has anyone noticed that nowadays all players under 22 seem to pull their sleeves over their hands when playing, like their mum can't afford gloves or something? And Kranjcar is a major purveyor of this trait. Have a look next time you're whiling away the hours at another 0-0 draw at Fratton Park.

Anyway, back to Lassie. Hey, we at Pompey do actually know the score, we are not anywhere near the 'big four' in terms of consistency and financial clout. We don't have the facilities, the worldwide fan base, the long term sponsorship deal with Nike.

So what. We are what we are. An over-achieving club that hopes to consolidate its position in the upper echelons of top flight football. A club hoping to bring European football regularly to Fratton Park. A manager that has done amazing feats on (sort of) little money.

But that does not mean you can refer to us as a stop-gap. I admire your honesty, I really do, and I'm well aware that a number of your fellow pros are in the same boat, but don't bloody well say it.

Here at this club, the same as many others we really believe in our team playing with a spirit and passion (with the exception of Middlesbrough who don't really seem to know who is coming and going...by God that club needs a relegation to galvanise the fans into actually filling the Riverside), but we are also amongst the most fervent fans. We embrace our players as long as they try (Benjani, Nugent et al) but we hate those that see this as a meal ticket (cough*Robert*cough).]

I know you'll probably look like you're trying, putting in the performances that will make the Big Clubs sit up and take notice. But remember, Lassie-me-boy, you've already bloody well been with two of them in the last ten minutes, so you're running out of options.

If I was Redknapp, (well, if I was Redknapp I would be having pool parties with my son and make sure his wife came along each time, though that's neither here nor there) I would be considering sending you straight to the reserves after two games after seeing what I had signed.

So here's how it's going to go. You WILL knuckle down in training, put in the early mornings and late nights (well, afternoons), keep your mouth shut in the press and play in our African/Croatian midfield (because obviously you've had some sort of stupid clause inserted that means you have to have a number of games per season) without bringing unnecessary attention to yourself.

And if you happen to walk in the way of the ball and it finds the back of the net, DON'T run towards the fans screaming. Put your head down, a quiet fist in the air, and get back to your position for kick off.

And don't even think about kissing the badge that means so much to all of us.

You may be good enough for France, but you're nowhere near good enough for the Pompey fans yet.

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

Thanks and good luck Harry, but you are mad

Times Online — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:48:43 +0000

Will or won't he? As Harry was whisked away from the Pompey training ground today without giving his usual pre-match press conference, speculation is at fever pitch about whether he is about to walk out on the club for a second time and go to Newcastle.

The question for me though is not whether he stays or goes. When Redknapp came back to Pompey in 2005 it was a marriage of convenience. He was out of the limelight in the Championship and we were careering headlong towards relegation from the Premiership.

It was a faustian pact which paid off spectacularly for both parties. I hope he stays but if Redknapp walks out again he will go with my blessing. Thanks for everything Harry. Genuinely.

But I have to say you're mad. Newcastle is a managerial graveyard and you are getting no younger. And if you leave us again there will be plenty of Pompey fans out there reading and waiting to dance on yours...

The lions need to be tamed

Pompey Fans — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:36:06 +0000

It should be noted before reading this piece (if indeed you choose to do so) that I am, unequivocally, an England fan. The Portsmouth side of me lives in another part (possibly Africa/Russia/France, if our players and ownership are anything to go by). The England team need a good kick up the backside, but this isn't a rant about the structure of footballing in this nation. No, I say England need to drop a few places (and by a few I mean about 30) in the FIFA rankings before they have a chance of winning something.)

I know that sounds crazy, but let me talk you through my reasoning (you may want to go and make a drink about now...are you back? Good.) England is a proud footballing nation, and rightly so. The FA and the Premier League deserve far more credit than they receive for the amount of work that has gone into making the English game (the league one, at least) into a fine competition.

Some people may moan about the top-four domination, but equally, in 20 years time when Pompey are winning everything and the world is moaning once more, I will always look back fondly on this era, waiting in anticipation for the big crunch matches throughout the year that may decide the title.

But anyway, back to my point. The England team and all that surrounds it is in crisis, and has been since...oh, I don't know, let's say 1966 (save for a blip of talent in Italia '90). What happened then? Something big...

Actually, no. Not something big. Something crushing. We won the World Cup. We took the home advantage and a great playing system and made it work. And what happens? The country wants to see it AGAIN! Talk about selfish...

But seriously, this is the problem. A team that has won honours, and has such a great league suddenly should be winning things. But no, we don't. We play Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard together. We bring back Becks. We drop Becks. We drop James. We bring him back. We bring back Becks.

But, and here's the real issue for all those who amalgamate the views of the papers and sports writers and pass them off as their own (myself included), IT DOESN'T MATTER ONE BIT. England aren't always going to be among the best in the world. The players may be high class, the team may have millions in bonuses riding on it. But teams need transition. It's not the managers, the players, or even the FA's fault (OK, maybe the latter a little). A team needs to experience the lows to appreciate the highs. France failed to qualify for USA '94. They won France '98. (OK, it was in France, but still. They won Euro 2000 too.)

So it brought a little bit of joy to my twisted heart to see that England might be third seeds in the upcoming tournament. Imagine the thought of being UNDERDOGS. Punching above our weight against a group containing Germany, Italy and France.

Because that's what the country needs. For every guy in the pub (generally drunk and maybe slightly unshaven) ranting about the reforms needed in the country...they are wrong. It is the SUPPORTERS that need the reform, to bl**dy well stop expecting England to beat the world at everything and at a stupidly fast canter at that.

STOP booing Frank Lampard, one of the most gifted midfielders the world has at the moment (While we're on the subject, why does nobody call for Gerrard to be dropped? I love both of them, and one has to go, and Lamps is in the form of his life!) STOP asking for ruddy new formations that haven't had the chance to be tested and then moan for hours when they fail spectacularly. STOP the lack of respect for teams like Macedonia, who on a tenth of the English football budget still put up a good fight.

And STOP, and this is a big STOP, STOP expecting England to win everything. Then maybe you'll get behind whichever manager and team is chosen. I know it's our birthright to support England, and I love it with a passion. The same as I feel sick to the guts when we lose to teams like Russia or draw with Macedonia. But it will happen. And if England don't qualify, as Guus Hiddink said: 'But, at the end, if you are not in the first one or second one for qualifying, you must be quiet and not say luck or not luck. If you are one or two, they deserve to go.'

Right. So some England teams over the years will be up to scratch, some won't. If we stop thinking that England has some God-given right to be at every tournament and will win it as long as we don't come up against a team that has been put together by Satan (which some reporters would have you believe every time we crash out at the quarter final stages), if we can stop all that then maybe when the right blend of players finally comes of age then it will be well-earned. Nothing more, nothing less.

Oh, and when Steve McClaren retires, I will personally beat down the door of Arsene Wenger to come and be the next boss, because he will be able to develop a team from a young age rather than only picking veteran campaigners that may be past their best.

So to sum up. I will be vigorously behind our Lions on Wednesday. I will be DESPERATE for them to roar. But a small part of me will hope they fail, that the team will be forced to rebuild. Croatia are a very well-disciplined side, and have deserved all the plaudits and victories that have come their way.

Actually, I can't do it. I can't have a Euro tournament without England. I'd rather they played dismally than failed to qualify. COME ON ENGLAND!!

*shame*...

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

The Watford Gap

Pompey Fans — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:29:10 +0000

The onslaught of cash being injected into the Premiership is about to change the face of relegation and promotion. Don't get me wrong, nothing would make me want to see Portsmouth go down, but there could be a substantial advantage to going down if the case of Watford is anything to go by...

Watford FC have just posted their biggest ever turnover of nealry £30 million from last season, largely attributed to the higher attendances and TV money injected from a season in the top flight.

Fair play, all makes sense, you might say.

But, here's the thing that I reckon will change things over the coming years. A team, like Watford, who manages to overreach itself and the chairman's 5- or 10-year plan and bounce into the playoffs of the Championship (which is, let's face it, a much more open league than the Premier) and gets promoted. That team then buys a few decvent-ish players here and there, but ultimately is nowhere near ready for the big time and gets stuffed on a regular basis, falling out of the top flight easily at the first time of asking.

Now, although that team has suffered the ignominy of relegation, the parachute payments combined with the higher turnover from the year before means the club is very well-placed financially. More money means the player that might have moved on after being relegated might just stay where he is. OK, in the case of Watford, they lost Ashley Young and Hameur Bouzza, and Ben Foster finished his loan, but largely the squad is together.

Now, imagine that team is preparing its assault on the Championship title. More money, fans now used to better things urging the team on, experience bleeding through the side. Cue a third of the season over, and a 6 point gap at the top. A Watford Gap.

And, if the time between relegation and promotion isn't too large, the staff and flavour of the Premier League the team is used to will stay intact. So thereby making it a more attractive proposition for new players thinking about coming in, making the chance of staying up and establishing themselves there all the more likely.

Even by the admission of its own Board, Watford achieved promotion 'ahead of schedule', so realistically, anything beyond that should be a bonus, and Watford has treated the situation largely as that. A year out, the chance of experience and a lot more money.

HOWEVER, and this is the important bit, if the club doesn't have a good manager, a leader who can keep the continuity all tied together, then the results can be quite the opposite. If it doesn;t keep the team together, keep the memories and spirit alive, then dire consequences could be right around the corner.

Take Sheffield United, for example. FAR more chance of staying up last year, yet the team capitulated in the last game (at home, might I add) to ensure its own downfall. Fans and players are much more despondant than the ones that could see the trapdoor looming months before.

But no matter, the money is still there. But oh, the manager goes. Continuity lost. Also, the amount invested on promotion to the Premier League in 2006 is double that of Watford, so the loss of potential revenue is higher. Come the relegation, they lose big players in Phil Jagielka and Claude Davis, part of the spine of the team in some ways, and therefore spend big to replace them. James Beattie at £4m is hardly a snip, and still hasn't managed to propel them above mid-table (thus far).

But let's just be a bit hypothetical, and say Watford keep the run going, and manage to win the Championship at a canter. Lots of money saved, their own ground, STILL ahead of schedule and a much nicer prospect for players thinking about coming to Vicarage Road (lest we forget, they can live near London too. Much more of a pull for the WAGs than, say, Plymouth).

So maybe going down isn't as bad as it seems? On the face of it, Derby look doomed, but are they really doomed forever? Or will we see them pushing for Europe in three season's time??

Gareth Beavis
www.pompey-fans.com

When heart and mind collide...Pompey pay the penalty

Pompey Fans — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 17:03:29 +0000

Why oh why do Pompey have to do this to the fans? Yes, the team is flying high. Yes, the position is a brilliant position to be in compared to two seasons ago blah blah blah...but missing a penalty in the last few seconds always hurts. FACT.

I suppose I'm like a spoiled child now, expecting to win all these games. But when we win, I want more. And not just because my team beating another somehow makes up for my woeful inability at the sport, because I know just as well as any truly loyal fan, that this WON'T last for ever. In fact, it all go bang next week, so the longer that Pompey keep the ball rolling (and not towards Robert Green's midriff) then I can breathe once more.

Anyway, the point of this blog is right now I'm one very confused blue. High in the league once more, it feels like this is where we, the 'sleeping giant of the south coast' (of course we are. We've won the league on NUMEROUS occasions. It doesn't matter that Queen Elizabeth wasn't crowned when it happened) are supposed to be.

And oh, to ruminate on what might have been. Holding on to the lead against Derby, scoring the penalties against Liverpool and West Ham, nicking the draw we deserved against Chelsea. Suddenly Pompey are top of the league, and seperated from the Gunners by only goal difference. THAT'S what hurts me inside, and that's where the mind and heart collide.

For Portsmouth are a team built on over-then under-achievement. Attracting the very rare big name, doing well, then sacking a manager and sliding all the way to the bottom of the league. Or in previous seasons, avoiding relegation by the hair on the skin of the teeth, and not building on it. Or the woeful lack of a youth academy. (Come on, we're closer to the continent. We should have a number of Arsenal's youngsters purely for the fact they would get to Portsmouth FIRST.)

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that the penalty miss by Benjani, quickly moving towards legend among the fans, still rankles, stings and pricks my heart. And no matter HOW MUCH I shout at it using my highly skilled footballing mind, with such choice quotes as 'it was a 0-0 game!' or 'It's 1 point gained, rather than 2 lost' or 'you're just a muscle with no discernable method of emoting, it's just society has historically labelled you as the sentimental centre', it still hurts.

So until we do a Blackburn / Tottenham and come back to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, I won't be satisfied. In fact, by then I will have forgotten about this and will therefore lack humility, strutting around like I own the world. Such is the lot of the football fan.

Gareth Beavis

www.pompey-fans.com

Life at the top...Pompey's noses are bleeding...

Pompey Fans — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:45:42 +0100

Fifth? FIFTH?? And not only that, PORTSMOUTH occupy that slot?? What is the world coming to. Just ten short years ago the notion of Pompey chasing the European spots would be akin to 'The porcine hangliding school' and 'Satan's igloos' coming to fruition. What a difference a decade makes.

Whew. OK. Deep breath. So not only have Portsmouth begun the season even stronger than last year (and that's no mean feat in the modern era) but the biggest team on the south coast has managed to repeat the feat once more.

And repeat the feat having played the so-called 'Big Four' already. Ye gads (an under-used phrase that is quite apt here) that's a start worth crying over. It once took a brave man to follow Pompey; who can forget the days when those of us with season tickets watched as some people sauntered in with tickets for a quid thanks to a promotion run by a local paper. It hurt the heartstrings, let me tell you.

Now, and this is a bone of contention, those same people are turning up in their droves and paying nearly £40 a ticket! Incredible, and it's a trend that shows no signs of abating.

And love him or hate him, Harry Redknapp is clearly the reason for the turnaround. Wheelings and dealings, player motivation...whatever. The chap is good, and if any Pompey fan has the crest carved on his/her heart, they won't care whether the manager once played/owned the club down the road. If they can take a club with a ground like Fratton Park and (sorry, but let's be honest) a substandard trainign ground, and not only plonk it towards the summit of one of the leading leagues in Europe then he has to have the club's best interests at heart, and for that I will commend anyone.

And lest we forget, the influence of Milan Mandaric. Buying a club on the edge of extinction (though we've yet to see any of the clubs in the higher tiers of English football go bust) he turned things around by bringing chaos, new managers in their droves, but eventually the winning formula and ultimately Premier League football.

And we at Pompey are not in the least bit against foreign ownership, the English stuff has so far been a bit of an anticlimax (though if I'd known Pompey was available for a quid I'd have bought it ahead of Terry Venables). Alexandre Gaydamak has angered a few fans by bringing in some practices that run contrary to that which fans are used to (but let's face it, the prawn sandwich brigade are necessary for the success of football. Though why prawn sandwiches are the symbol God only knows. I hate prawns and all their relations. Give me a cheese and pickle sandwich and I'll buy a box at Fratton Park. As if.)

So, the future's bright...the future's a gleaming mass of Blue, Yellow and Russian money.

I'm not complaining.

Gareth Beavis

www.pompey-fans.com

Goals, goals, goals, but don't be fooled, this was no freak...

Pompey Fans — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:55:03 +0100

Typical. The day Pompey join a select band of Premier League teams who have scored seven goals, their achievement gets wrapped up in the ‘chaos’ of a record-breaking second-half goal fest, which makes this result sound more of a freak than the fantastic. As usual, the pundits struggle to sort out fact from fantasy. And, in a shocking example of lack of solidarity, I’m going to pick on the Sunday Times reporter at the game…

Marks out of ten given to players are always the contentious wrapped up in controversy. However, although I know we watched the game from opposite sides of the ground how Ivo Tennant drew some of his conclusions I find difficult to fathom.

Pompey didn’t defend well from the 44th minute onwards I grant you. In fact Tennant’s ‘six’ across the board for James, Johnson, Distin, Campbell and Hreidarsson was possibly generous to say the least. Four goals let in at home and one a comic caper mix-up between Campbell and James. A couple of fives in there surely?

But what’s this? A not-so-magnificent seven goals conceded and Reading’s quintet of Hahnemann, Murty, Duberry, Ingimarsson and Shorey have clocked up the same straight sixes! Did you sneak out Ivo with some of the Reading fans early? Like after five minutes…

Reading’s back line was as sorry-a shambles of so-called Premier League defending I have seen, at least since Leeds let in six at Fratton Park in November 2003. And there is a common factor here.

Mike Duberry. Plucked from the obscurity of chasing relegation in the Championship last season, Duberry turned in a performance for Reading which made the term ‘ponderous’ look like a compliment. Blessed with the turning circle of a pantechnicon, coupled with the braking capability of an oil tanker, are you sure you didn’t miss a minus sign off his number Ivo?

Until the stroke of half time, if this had been a boxing contest the referee would have stopped the fight. Pompey’s control of the first half was imperious. Two quality finishes from Benjani and the possibility of at least three other goals – ‘lacking in incident’ this half according to Ivo – was undone by a scrambled goal on the stroke of half time. That allowed Reading to get up off the canvas and land a sucker punch early in the second half.

Then mayhem ensued. But in case you were wondering, largely one-way mayhem. As I said to the bloke next to me when Reading levelled: ‘Now they’re in trouble…’ I wasn’t wrong.

Stung by the injustice Pompey proceeded to rip Reading apart every time they went forward.

This result was no freak of nature. More a tour de force. Pompey ended with seven, but ten would not have flattered a scintillating attacking performance orchestrated by the muscle of Papa Bouba Diop and Sean Davis, but more so by the guile of Niko Kranjcar. We have waited a year to find out just how good the Croat is. On this performance the answer is ‘very good indeed’.

His range of passing is sublime – two long-range efforts reminiscent of Kevin Dillon (now Reading’s coach) in his prime – but he also offers a goal threat and the ability to unpick a defence with the unexpected. His brave far post header emphasised the former, his superb slalom into the box for the penalty the latter. Man of the Match in a match were there were several contenders.

On any other day the outstanding Davis or the man-mountain Diop or Benjani – were you watching Paul Merson? – could have been picked up the award. The Zimbabwean took his three vastly different goals with the adroitness of the best strikers in the business. One was a right-place-right-time poacher’s special, the second a powerful run and shot, the third a perfect way to finish off a one-on-one.

Perhaps next week we can put together the solidity of Blackburn away last Sunday, with the sheer scintillating zest of this attacking extravaganza? If so I’ll have to start checking just how many points are Arsenal clear at the top…

Colin Farmery

www.pompey-fans.com

Farewell the 'Special One'. From the 'Special Two'...

Pompey Fans — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 11:26:13 +0100

I have an interest to declare: I can exclusively reveal I am actually Jose Mourinho's long-lost twin, as we share the same birthdate - Saturday (what else?) January 26, 1963. OK. He got the looks, the hair, the money and the fame and I'm merely world famous in Portsmouth, but I still love my 'brother' and will miss him now he's gone. So too will the rest of the Premiership...

Since Jose, I am allowed to be familiar after all, arrived at Chelsea he has been nothing short of 24-carat, solid gold quality and there can surely be only one loser in this particular turn of events and it isn't the self-proclaimed 'Special One'.

Roman Abramovitch has, to my view, taken leave of his senses. His skulking, sulking, sullen reaction to Chelsea's recent blip in form and the decision to push - the only question is whether it was a nudge or a full-blown shove - Jose out of the door defies all logic.

In three seasons Chelsea had become a point-and-trophy gathering machine. Jose is in the results business and Chelsea got them. Not only that, the words 'Chelsea' and 'world domination' were uttered in the same sentence with barely a titter.

Not bad for a club who just over 20 years ago were sinking into the old second division and Stamford Bridge was attracting gates which actually made 24,000 look quite respectable.

So maybe Chelsea had yet to quite crack the Holy Grail of winning the Champions league, but, left to his own devices, Jose would have delivered.

Instead, the task is now charged to Israeli Avram Grant, who left a Director of Football role at my club, Pompey, in the summer for a similar role at Stamford Bridge.

Jibes about his 'BBC' nickname - ball, bibs and cones - are unfair. His role at Fratton Park may not have been that precise, but Harry Redknapp genuinely seemed to like and respect him for his views and personality.

But to overnight become the man who will deliver Mr Abramovitch's - after my earlier comments it pays to be respectful - dual goal of the Champions League, with the 'beautiful football' knobs on seems hopelessly optimistic.

Good luck Avram. You will need it.

Good luck Jose, too, although you don't. You are the 'Special One' in 'our' family for good reason and I begrudge you nothing. Well, maybe the hair and looks sometimes...

Colin Farmery
www.pompey-fans.com

Philosophy football is thirsty work

Pompey Fans — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 21:44:15 +0100

'One point gained or two lost?' That is the question as the regulars in Pompey's virtual pub chew the fat after Saturday's draw with Liverpool...

Another silly kick off time, denying many stalwart thirsty fans the opportunity of sitting in the sun in the pub garden swapping optimistic scenarios of how the game might go. It prevented me from doing the above, at least. Equally stalwart and thirsty, albeit better organised, fans were probably enjoying the sunshine etc in their droves, I concede.

After the game, during the brisk walk to the pub to catch up on the beer we'd failed to drink earlier, Dave Atkins of Hayling was returning to two of his enduring themes; "I'm fed up with people saying 'we were playing Liverpool, they are a big team and we should be happy with a point'. They were fairly crap and we must have been crap as well because we failed to beat them and we should have". That's theme number one. Theme number two; "When is Niko Kranjcar going to actually do something? He might as well not have come on today".

"Why was Kanu allowed to take the penalty?" wondered another Dave, Hansford of Baffins. "His last attempt was a failure, too, and that was for a hat trick. He's a fantastic footballer, but transparently not good from the spot. He seemed to grab the ball and obviously fancied his chances. In the absence of Taylor, it looks like he pulled rank in some way. Having said that, it would have been an injustice had we gone ahead at that stage as we were looking distinctly second best".

Anthony 'Basil' Baseley of Southsea had a different perspective. "Here we are, feeling a bit disappointed at a nil-nil draw against the team from the top of the table, but we were the team pushing for the result at the end, with Liverpool happy to accept the point. That would have been unthinkable a short time ago; it would have been them pressing and us with backs to the wall, desperately hanging on…" Very philosophical, Bas, perhaps I should introduce you to Dave Atkins. Perhaps not.

Bob Payne of Eastney was another who was relatively satisfied. "Lots of people looked at the fixture list and couldn't see us getting anything from the first six games. I reckon six points is reasonable and I expect us to start climbing the table now". Well said, Bob.

Tim Williams, a bearded microbiologist and computer expert who suffers under the unkind yoke of an SO postcode shrugged off his usual Eeyore-like persona to venture: "I thought it was an example of 'How Far We've Come' when we take on the league leaders and Champions league finalists at home, play better than them, miss a penalty, make their keeper work far harder than ours... and the miserable git near me still spent the whole game moaning.' lose next week and we could be in the relegation zone', 'if Taylor had been on we would have won' (was this the same Taylor who was abject at Arsenal?) and 'selling GaryO was the worst thing 'arrys ever done'." Blimey, Tim. "Maybe we did lack the killer touch up front, but some of the interplay was excellent - Liverpool's defence was shredded at times. One day we are going to play like that and the opposition is going to get killed. I would expect to see at least one 5-0 win for Pompey this year. If HR can do something about the away form, I think Europe is a definite possibility...did I really say that out loud?"

Having missed the chance of consulting resident pub seer and psychic master Mystic Ed before the game, I consulted him now. Had he foreseen the result? "Oh yes". Pompey's position at the end of the season? "About the same as last season". Thanks, Ed.

Man of the Match?

"Very impressed with Diop. Loads of presence and looks like a good signing"

"Sol Campbell. How much better we look with him organising at the back"

"After a shaky start, I thought Davis was very steady in midfield, although he seems to be the new target for those who feel obliged to boo someone"

Let table-climbing commence, then. Wouldn't it be nice to get three points at Blackburn? A tall order, though.

Steve Woodhead is mine host in the Anorak Arms
Read the reaction from Pompey-Fans virtual pub after every home game at www.pompey-fans.com

Am I fed up with Match of the Day? Just look at my face...

Pompey Fans — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 17:48:19 +0100

Ever since Pompey got in the Premiership I’ve been trying my hardest to give Match of the Day the benefit of the doubt. But Saturday night’s decision not to include John Utaka’s goal against Bolton in the August ‘Goal of the Month’ selection is the final straw.

Since we arrived in the top flight four years ago, I have got used to being edited down to 30 seconds just before midnight on a regular basis. To be fair, during the Alain Perrin months in 2005 we were probably fortunate to be given that long.

I also seethed, but kept the faith last season after the perverse decision not to give Matt Taylor’s stunning 45-yard strike against Everton last December’s Goal of the Month.

You won’t be surprised to recall a Manchester United player got the nod, and while Scholes’ volley wasn’t bad at all, I bet United fans weren’t getting e-mails and text messages from mates all over Europe like I did asking me whether I had seen Taylor’s effort though.

After the Chelsea game recently I thought we were finally getting somewhere. Messrs Lineker, Hansen and Shearer – who probably still holds a grudge after a meat pie from the Pompey end caught him on the side of the head as he celebrated an FA Cup goal for Blackburn in 1994 – agreed that Pompey were a decent team at last. It was like we’d finally arrived as a Premiership club.

So imagine my consternation seven days later.

The top ten goals of August, made up of the obligatory 25 yard ‘stunners’, well finished five-player moves and, as if to emphasise this wasn’t a vintage selection, even Mark Viduka just about managing to sort his legs out in time to prod one home for Newcastle, didn’t include Utaka’s.

In case you missed it, it was a mini classic. Kanu’s beautifully spotted and weighted pass just inside his own half to set Utaka haring a full fifty yards leaving defenders in his wake, with the ball hardly ever being more than a couple of yards in front of him. A neat check to sell the keeper and an instant finish with his ‘wrong’ left foot, set the seal on a beautifully crafted goal that was virtually impossible to defend against.

For sixty seconds or so a buzz went round the ground to confirm they’d just seen something just a little out of the ordinary.

I’m not saying he’d have won the competition – were the BBC trusted enough to run one these days – but Utaka was certainly a contender.

A media conspiracy against Pompey? Of course not. Another example of lazy editorial judgement with an intrinsic, built-in bias towards certain clubs – step forward the Big Four, Everton, Newcastle and Spurs?

Exhibit A, m’lud.

Colin Farmery

www.pompey-fans.com

Home comforts for 'calamity' James

Pompey Fans — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 16:30:07 +0100

You have to feel a bit sorry for David James. The outstanding English goalkeeper in the Premiership last season managed to earn a well-deserved recall to the England squad and looked set to replace the jittery Paul Robinson only to find himself on the wrong side of the headlines in his next outing for Pompey.

Worse still, Sod’s Law kicked in, as England boss Steve McLaren and his assistant Terry Venables were watching in the stands, meaning his mistake, such as it was, couldn’t have been worse timed.

Forgive me if I put in more than a few words in James’ defence.

At Pompey we are so proud of the fact that James managed to be come our first England international in the best part of a quarter of a century, as he fielded a couple of back passes and punched away a corner in the second half against Germany.

Certainly his attitude and respect for the club has endeared him to the supporters somewhat more than the churlish Sol Campbell who, having rehabilitated his career too at FrattonPark, seemed intent on taking the first opportunity to get out during this summer, even after being handed the captain’s armband.

Since arriving at Fratton in August 2006 James has been a model of consistency and modesty as he went about re-building a career which seems unable to get shot of the ‘calamity’ label attached to it, no matter what he does.

Sure James cost us the odd goal last season – what keeper doesn’t? – but he saved us six times as many more with some outstanding performances.

His start to this season has been just as good, but once again lady luck went missing as Frank Lampard’s shot from the edge of the area skipped inside James’ outstretched hand and under his body for the winning goal.

Should he have saved it? By his high standards, probably. No one will be more upset about letting it in than him, but McLaren needs to ensure he picks a team to do a job in the forthcoming qualifiers. James is the experienced man to give him the presence he needs between the sticks.

On Saturday’s form McLaren could do far worse than pick Campbell too. Given a choice between the pair though, down here at FrattonPark we know which one we’d be truly rooting for…

Colin Farmery
www.pompey-fans.com

When pompey-fans.com met Gaydamak

Pompey Fans — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 10:59:51 +0100

Pompey's new reception area is swish to say the least. All discreet, recessed lighting, marble-effect counters (Or was it wood? Whatever it looked expensive) Sky news and Sports on 42" plasma screens and plush velour 70s style swivel chairs, in a waiting area with coffee-table magazines, strewn across, well, a coffee table. Not cheap mind.

I'm sitting there with two representatives from the supporters club - the fans forum panel guy arrived later, stuck in traffic - and a constant flow of people, many of whom you kind of think you recognise as being off the telly, coupled with Pompey stalwarts like the Pauls Hardyman and Weld give a curious air of vague familiarity. Yet we are a world away from the Portsmouth FC we knew and loved - sometimes at least - even five years ago.

Just before 4.30, our chaperones Gary Double, Pompey's PR man and Johnny Moore, in charge of supporter liaison, took the three of us into the new boardroom. White leather chairs and polished wood - the ubiquitous plasma screen of course - and black panelling, which later I find conceals a fridge. Neat.

Shortly Gaydamak arrives with Chief Executive Peter Storrie, apologising unnecessarily for being slightly late and after some short small talk. We're off.

Well, I say 'off' but in some ways we live in rather interesting times at Portsmouth FC. The brief now, as before, was to 'ask what we liked' but, unlike in days gone by where fans would have had a list of gripes for the chairman as long as your arm, and throw in half a leg while you're at it, these days things are not so straightforward.

Significant investment in the team? Tick. Improvements to facilities at Fratton Park Tick. Academy status? Ditto. New training ground? Looks promising. More in six months than Milan managed in six years or John Deacon in 16.

However, there are issues – the stadium, ticketing problems and relations with the local media - and we duly chewed that fat over them, but I suppose, in these days of billionaire takeovers of Premiership clubs, the $64,000 one remained.

'What about the financing of the club…' I ventured. A frisson shot through one side of the room. Not the management side. The supporter side. 'You can't ask that!' was the aghast consensus.

Well I can and I had, although I hadn't had much chance to develop the point yet. 'Look,' said Gaydamak. 'I've just got to go and welcome a couple of guests, you decide whether or not you're going to ask the question for when I get back.'

'I've got an answer for you, by the way,' was his parting aside to me.

When he returned Gaydamak said: 'So, what are we doing?' 'In football terms he [me] lost 3-1,' smiled Storrie. Gaydamak looked at me and said 'To answer your question…' Classy.

In short, the club are financed like 'any other' club in the Premiership and he referred me to a Deloitte Touche report into football financing. He also stressed the importance of diversifying the business (eg The Quay) to provide alternative revenue streams. If I'm ever invited back, it is a theme I may well want to return to, having gone away and done my homework.

This is not a matter of faith in Gaydamak. This second meeting with him reaffirmed and strengthened by belief he is an impressive figure, with the best intentions for the club at heart and, more importantly, a viable plan to make things happen. However, blind faith would serve neither Gaydamak's nor supporters' aspirations well.

The final discussion involved the merits or otherwise of having a non-executive board of directors, alongside the executive 'decision-making' board. Southampton's current problems were an example of how things could go wrong when those two didn't see eye to eye I suggested.

'Southampton, Southampton. Why do you worry about them? The are in the Championship,' teased Gaydamak. 'Ah but, supposing Paris Saint Germain [bitter rivals of Gaydamak's first football love Olympique Marseille] were in the French second division?' I replied. 'Would that change things for you?'

For the first time the main man was lost for words, but his Gallic shrug, betraying his French roots, suggested I'd finally made a good point. I hope it wasn't the only one.

This is an abridged version of an article which appeared on pompey-fans.com. Click here for the full text.

Colin Farmery

www.pompey-fans.com

New Pompey playing up a bit, but...

Pompey Fans — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:03:16 +0100

Even six months ago this might have been regarded as a point gained, so it is a measure of Pompey's progress that most fans will be mildly irritated at least that two points slipped away at Pride Park on Saturday. Especially when you've just gone 2-1 up with seven minutes play...

First day is never the best time to play a newly-promoted side - so you'd have thought Pompey might have realised Derby would throw the kitchen sink at them early doors, roared on by a partisan home crowd. So it came to pass, but some less than resolute defending meant that little squall led to a bubble of hope inflating for the home side courtesy of Matt Oakley. An ex-Saint to boot, but more of them later.

Having wormed our way back into the game, thanks to Benjani's classy finish, everything was in place for a classic well-played-Rams-but-welcome-to-the-reality-of-the-Premier-League second half performance. It almost came off, but having established a barely deserved lead, those defensive frailties came back to haunt, this time Matt Taylor's possibly rash decision-making allowing Teale to give Todd the chance to save the day.

It could have been worse as Derby sensed the win which had seemingly been snuffed out an hour earlier.

Still, a point's a point. Derby may struggle to stay up, but if they can keep up the energy and intensity of their play they will trouble more sides than they might have imagined.

And for Pompey it's far from doom-and-gloom either. Utaka looks a class act and Benjani got a well deserved goal which will hopefully be the first of a few. Nugent too looked lively and the Derby fans' 'what a waste of money' chants as he was substituted had more than a hint of sour grapes.

Pompey's main problems are defensive. Redknapp opted to switch Sulley Muntari to the left at the expense of Taylor and it unbalanced the side, leaving Hreidarsson exposed, especially in the first half, as the Ghana international drifted to the middle.

And if Sylvain Distin and Sol Campbell are going to be bullied by Steve Howard, God bless his cotton socks, this might be a longer and harder season than we might imagine.

No matter. ManU at Fratton on Wednesday. The recent history of this fixture would suggest a home win. Now that's progress too...

PS: Oh yes. Saints. How could I forget? I know schadenfreude is so un-English - we need a German word for the concept - but 4-1! And at home as well. Comforting to know that even if the season did go pear-shaped, there's likely to be somebody worse off than you...

Colin Farmery
www.pompey-fans.com