Anyway, here are some of my random thoughts I'm going to share with you.
Abuse at Football Grounds
Sol Campbell has recently moaned to the press about the abuse that players and managers are receiving at football grounds and has said that it needs to stop as it has gone too far.
Whilst I agree that a professional in any field of work shouldn't be abused to the level that some footballers are, I think that Sol is perhaps making a bigger deal of this than most other players would.
After all, these players are being paid £50k + a week and I'm sure you and I would happily receive some abuse for that amount of money a week! If I were a professional footballer and I was getting abuse like the Spurs fans were giving Sol on Saturday, I'd be flattered as it means that they care about you because you were valuable to them at one point.
The funny thing is that although these people who are abusive are happy to dish it out, they get very angry when the target retaliates. Look at how the Villa fans reacted after Harry gave them the two fingered salute, and look how fans react every time when players like El Hadji Diouf responds to their abuse. If you're gonna dish it out, then you should be prepared to take it back too...
Although Sol has a point that he shouldn't be abused as much as he is at times, there are many players who get it much worse than him yet don't seem to care.
Terrace abuse has been part and parcel of football for years though, and although I wasn't around in the 70's, I've been told that it was a lot worse then and so today's footballers are just going to have to deal with it - to an extent, even though they shouldn't have to.
The people who should be more concerned are the responsible parents who are taking young children to football matches. I'm sure the last thing that these kids want to hear is the vitriol coming from certain sections of the crowd that will be seen as very intimidating to people of a young age.
That's if the kids aren't the ones doing it themselves. I completely agree with Harry Redknapp when he says that it's a sad reflection of society today when it's the younger fans who are the main culprits when it comes to spouting tons of expletives during a game of football, but that's just been passed down from generation to generation.
Of course, a line has to be drawn and thankfully I haven't heard any racist abuse at a live game for a long time and it seems to be dying out. I still think that there's a long, long way to go before the homophobic chants are edged out of the game though and that's something that needs to be clamped down on.
On the other hand, milder forms of abuse could get clamped down on too much and then banter would be removed from grounds altogether in the future and that's something I don't want to happen.
New Contracts
Sean Davis is set to earn himself a new deal after his impressive performances this season. Benjani is another on the list who is going to sign a new deal in the near future but do these contracts really mean anything?
Last year, Gary O'Neil signed a whopping five year contract at the club at the end of the 05/06 season and yet just over a year later he has gone to Middlesbrough for a relatively cheap fee. Matt Taylor signed a four-year-deal at the same time yet he could be gone in January so can these long term deals really be taken seriously?
The Big Four
I think the gap between Pompey and the established "top four" is closing this year and I honestly believe that we can go to Anfield and get a result on Saturday.
We should have beaten them at Fratton Park and we were desperately unlucky to lose at Stamford Bridge after outplaying Chelsea on their own patch. Although we only drew with Man United at home this season it was still well deserved and it'll be interesting to see if we don't get our usual thrashing at Old Trafford in January.
OK, so Arsenal took us apart at their place but there's still enough evidence to suggest that the monopoly that the top four have on this league is getting weaker. (Now I've said that, we'll get thrashed by Liverpool on Saturday and then by Arsenal on Boxing Day!)
And if we do lose on Saturday, you can bet your bottom dollar that Harry Redknapp will come out with the "look how much they've spent, look at the players they have in their side compared to ours, any points against the top four is a bonus etc."
That excuse is starting to wear thin now, especially considering that we've spent a fair bit on players ourselves and we've got some real quality of our own that can compare to some of Liverpool's players. We're both on 30 points too, so the gap currently isn't all that big.
Fabio Cappello: England Manager
I was happy to see Cappello appointed as England boss for more than one reason.
The main reason is that we haven't lost Harry to the England job and so Pompey's short/mid-term future looks secure. Cappello's reign is also likely to end the international careers of Sol Campbell and David James, so they can concentrate on playing for Pompey.
I couldn't care less if Cappello isn't English either. All that matters is that he is a winner and his track record is extremely impressive. He only got fired by Real Madrid because his side weren't playing attractive enough football that "Los Golacticos" were used to despite winning the La Liga title ahead of Barcelona.
But then I don't care how England play football these days. We've been a nation of losers for far too long now and if Cappello can get these under-achievers and primadonnas playing winning football that will bring us trophies then I'm all for it.
The new man might just install some of that Italian spirit and determination that saw his Real Madrid side score countless amounts of late goals and a grit that was similar to that of the Italian side currently hold the World Cup. And that can only be a good thing....
That's all for this morning. Goodnight!