Predicting Pompey: The Outcome

Last updated : 14 May 2007 By Jim Bonner
Those of you with outstanding long term memories may remember this article I wrote back in October where I predicted what Pompey would achieve this season. No doubt many of you also had your own predictions too, so here's how I did. How did you do?

1) Portsmouth will have 50 points or more by the end of the season.

CORRECT: We finished on 54 points. An improvement of 16 points better than last season's total of 38.

2) Portsmouth will defeat one of the "big 4" on their own ground and at least one of them will be beaten at Fratton Park.

INCORRECT: United and Liverpool left Fratton Park with nothing but we were so close to getting victory at the Emirates Stadium having gone 2-0 up. We also managed a respectable draw at Anfield.

3) Kanu will hit double figures this season but will not finish as Pompey's top scorer.

INCORRECT: Kanu did hit double figures having scored 12 goals for us this season but he did end up our top goalscorer as Matt Taylor ended up with 9 in all competitions.

4) Portsmouth will keep at least 12 Premiership Clean Sheets this season.

CORRECT: We kept exactly 12 clean sheets all season, so thanks go to David James for saving Baptista's penalty yesterday to make this prediction true!

5) Portsmouth will announce a new record signing in January and he will take the number 10 shirt.

INCORRECT: Lauren was signed in January and took the number 10 shirt but the £500,000 paid for him is well short of the £4.4 million we shelled out for Benjani.

6) A former Pompey player will rejoin the club the club at some point during the season as a member of staff (playing or otherwise).

INCORRECT: I was half expecting this one to happen, but it didn't. Maybe in the summer though?

7) Five Pompey Players will leave Portsmouth for good in January.

INCORRECT: Only three players left Pompey and ironically two of them were signed in the summer. Manuel Fernandes left to join Everton on loan and help them towards a UEFA Cup spot whilst David Thompson left for Bolton who also qualified for Europe. Dean Kiely was the other player to leave for good, as he joined West Bromwich Albion.

8) Harry Redknapp will pick up at least one "Manager of the Month" award but no Pompey players will receive a "Player of the Month" award all season.

INCORRECT: 'Arry didn't pick up a single award all season and neither did our players.

9) Neither Ben Thatcher of Didier Zokora will feature for their respective teams at Fratton Park this season.

INCORRECT: Might have been correct if Thatcher stayed at Man City but he moved to Charlton and ended up playing very well amongst all the abuse we gave him whilst forgetting to support our own team. Justice was done as Charlton were relegated, taking Thatcher with them. Zokora was "rested" by Martin Jol but as Robert Pires found out, you can't hide from the Fratton Faithful forever.

10) Portsmouth fans will still have no idea what's happening about the new stadium.

INCORRECT: Plans for the new stadium were revealed last month and amazed nearly everyone who saw them.

So that's 2/10 then... it's safe to say I'm a bit rubbish!

Just to finish off, here's the Premiership table I predicted at the start of the season with the true positions in brackets.

1) Chelsea (2nd - Down 1)
2) Liverpool (3rd - Down 1)
3) Arsenal (4th - Down 1)
4) Manchester United (1st - Up 3)
5) Tottenham (5th - Spot on!)
6) Everton (6th - Spot on!)
7) Newcastle (13th - Down 6)
8) Blackburn (10th - Down 2)
9) West Ham (15th - Down 6)
10) Manchester City (14th - Down 4)
11) Wigan (17th - Down 6)
12) Pompey (9th - Up 3)
13) Fulham (16th - Down 3)
14) Aston Villa (11th - Up 3)
15) Charlton (19th - Down 4)
16) Reading (8th - Up 8)
17) Middlesbrough (12th - Up 5)
18) Bolton (7th - Up 11)
19) Watford (20th - Down 1)
20) Sheffield United (18th - Up 2)