The Voice of Reason?
At last – a chance to tell it as I see it about all matters Pompey, and hopefully generate some more great debates on the Portsmouth-Mad message board.
I’m a big fan of the site and particularly its message board, which covers a wide range of topics and provides some compelling contributions, even in the close season.
I also admire the usually measured offerings of some of our rival supporters – the conversations with some Southampton fans (I won’t say Scummers – I want to hold on to my day job!) as well as West Ham, Spurs and Chelsea supporters are a credit to the quality of the site and enlightened attitude of many of its contributors.
I hope my own views will encourage more quality debate and maybe sometimes provide the focus for a cross-section of fans to get their message across to the ones who can actually make a difference – the management and players at
The beauty of these sites is that every person’s view is valid – the more courteous and respectful the better, but it’s great that fans can shoot from the hip, too, without generating a riot.
We’re not always going to agree, but how boring would that be? Debate and argument are the lifeblood of football. The triumph is that for all our disagreement, we still get behind the lads when they play, whether in person or just in spirit.
What I hope to bring is a measured, considered view of what I think of events, major and minor. More often than not, I hope, it will crystallise many of your own opinions and hopefully contribute to a standard of debate that commands respect and attention among fans and the club.
Often the way opinions are expressed will strike a chord with many others. Sometimes they will attract argument and condemnation.
Great. Let’s go!
Premier quality
When I began writing this, I was going to focus on Pompey’s chances of staying up. But a good couple of days have passed since then, and there’s a whole new squad at
New money; new players – these are exciting times for Pompey fans. But those of you still caught up in the euphoria of our latest transfer-window coups should take a quick look at the table again.
This season could be memorable for more reasons than we would like.
I do still believe relegation is pretty likely – but it’s certainly not a foregone conclusion. And some of the recent signings reinforce my belief.
The question is whether so many new faces, from so diverse a range of backgrounds – and many unproven in the Premiership – can gel quickly enough to get Pompey out of trouble.
If we have a half-decent run between now and Easter – the sort that Charlton had at the beginning of the season, Manchester City had before Christmas or Everton have had in the past month or so – we’ll be home and dry.
We have the squad to do it – and a manager who has presided over similar runs before.
What’s hard to replicate, though, in any comparison is the relative pressure on the players. Charlton’s run came early, before Darren Bent had missed his first open goal and their defence made their first blunders.
City’s was on the back of the momentum created by Stuart Pearce’s charisma and remarkable start to management.
The nearest comparison is probably with Everton, who couldn’t buy a goal for love nor money in the autumn. Confidence must have been a bit dodgy, yet they showed terrific spirit to dig themselves out of trouble, albeit in a rather more dour fashion than most of us would like to see at
With Pompey, though, the pressure is immense. Thanks to a variety of circumstances, we’ve not had a consistent side; we’ve been unable to string any decent results together, and as the number of matches where we merited more points than we got grew, confidence wilted.
Even the impact of Harry’s return has worn off – the fact is, our two worst Premiership results have come on his watch.
What I’m wondering is: if the big R does happen, how much are we going to miss the Premiership?
The obvious concern for me is the financial situation. I confess to being as confused as most of you about what’s going on in the Fratton Park Treasury.
The mixed signals of a new investor, a frenzy of record transfer payments and then talk of selling the likes of Matt Taylor to enable more new faces to be brought in leaves me less than confident about the state of our current account (and any other accounts, come to that).
My fear (assuming Alexandre Gaydamak is not going to bankroll Pompey indefinitely without the prospect of some return) is that our investment in new players and their presumably inflated wages could come back to haunt us, even though many of our new recruits are, wisely, loan signings.
We’ve seen how many clubs have splashed the cash in a gamble to survive, only to struggle to keep their heads above water and their teams out of a downward spiral.
We’ve seen others make more successful transitions – though usually at the price of offloading the players who might have helped them return to the top flight.
Which will Pompey be? To be honest, I reckon many of the present squad could help us bounce straight back if they stayed.
But can you see Gary O’Neil, Benjani Mwaruwari, Emmanuel Olisadebe, Sean Davis and Pedro Mendes slumming it in the Championship at this stage of their careers, or the club passing up the opportunity of cashing in on their more saleable assets as the budget is adjusted downwards?
Forgetting the financial implications, what about life outside the Premiership?
Smaller crowds, if we’re not setting the division alight (more room; fewer pay-in-advance games?). Lesser opposition (more wins?). Fewer glamour clubs (more true fans?). More journeymen (OK – grant you that one).
But is the league that is often described as the world’s best (or more euphemistically, the world’s most exciting) really so good?
It’s been fantastic watching Pompey compete on an even footing with the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea – and bliss to see them beat some of them.
And it’s been a privilege watching Thierry Henry in his prime, Wayne Rooney on the way up (though it should have been on the way off when he came here with Everton) and Arjen Robben on a roll.
But how many Premiership games – particularly this season - have had class stamped all over them?
And I’m not just talking about Pompey’s performances. Were you impressed by many of
Even
And did you get value for your 40 quid at
I’m not pretending the Championship would be better (and given that we’ve spent most of my supporting years at the wrong end of the second-tier league, I’ve a pretty good idea what we might expect).
But I do wonder whether many of us are taken in by the hype and the golden image of the Premiership when not far beneath the surface is a host of examples of very expensive mediocrity.