What will happen in the last 7 games of the Championship

Who will be the Champion?

Queens Park Rangers.
Why they are 9 points clear at the top presently. There next three matches are away to last place Scunthorpe and Barnsley, plus home to Derby. I expect them to win all three of these matches which will in essence lock up the title for them. I think they will lift the trophy at Loftus Road when they host Hull on April 25th.

Who will grab the second promotion place?

Norwich.
It will be a very tight race and could easily go the other way depending on a few results. The team that I see pushing them to the end is Cardiff. Norwich's next match is away to Swansea if they lose that then it becomes a 3 team race for second. I think Norwich will do enough to get at least a draw.

Who will be in the Playoffs?

Cardiff, Swansea, Reading, and Leeds.
The two Welsh sides are locks for playoff spots. But the other two playoff places are part of a wide open race involving heaps of teams. I think that Reading will get on a bit of a winning streak and force themselves into the playoffs. While the fight between Leeds and Nottingham Forest will be for the final spot. Unfortunately for Forest fans, I think they will fall just short. No doubt a disappointing end to what looked like a promising campaign.

So... what about Pompey?

10th.
I think that though Pompey are mathematically amongst the heap of teams with a chance at a playoff place, their schedule is too tough for them to win out. That said they will move up a few places and finish with a solid tenth. This will give us a strong foundation to build on for next year. I will be happy with this finish given how much of the season we spent worried about ending up in the relegation battle.

Who will be dropping down to League One?

Scunthorpe, Sheffield United, and Doncaster
Scunthorpe are a lost cause and will finish in last. Sheffield United seem to have lost the belief. They have an absolutely huge game away to Preston in a few weeks. Which you may have guessed I think PNE will win. Preston seem to have found some belief and have been grabbing a lot more points. That said it will be a stiff task to catch any of the teams above them. To do this they need to continue playing with the same belief they discovered in the past few weeks. With Doncaster, they have been far from fantastic and I don't see them getting many points in their final 7 matches. In reality if they get it together and get 4 or 5 points they will survive. However I didn't see them getting that many. When I worked it out, I actually had them taking the drop on goal difference. If you are wondering why I didn't mention Crystal Palace, it is because of their phenomenal home record (36 of 42 points at home). They are a top 10 team at home, so with there 3 remaining home matches they are as good as safe.

Disagree? Agree? Let me know your predictions in the comments.

What is Success?

I fully admit to being someone who looks at success relatively. If Pompey had finished 17th I would have said that we had a successful season. Spurs finished fourth, they had a successful season. However there are those people out there that believe success is winning things full stop. Granted these people tend to be fans of bigger clubs, who feel they have had an unsuccessful season if the trophy cabinet remains empty. So I thought if success is winning something who are the most successful teams in the past five years? I looked at the Premier League, League Cup, FA Cup, Champions League and UEFA Cup / Europa League, and this may surprise you, Only 5 premier league teams have won anything. They are Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Portsmouth, and Tottenham. When you look at the numbers there is not so much a "big four" as a big two. Chelsea and Manchester United have dominated English football for the past five years. United have won three League Titles, three League Cups, and the Champions League. Chelsea have won two League Titles, the League Cup, and two FA Cups. Spurs have won the League Cup, Liverpool and Pompey have both won the FA Cup. Pompey and Chelsea meet in the FA Cup final this weekend, which I am confident Pompey will win. So people that like clubs that win things here are the five clubs that have won things in the last five years. Go ahead and say it, Pompey are a more successful club than Arsenal, Everton, Villa any club that didn't make the list.

Wait what are you saying teams should get recognized for making the final, well alright, if we adjust the table so that you get three points for winning something and a single point for being the runner up, here is what the table looks like.

Manchester United - 24
Chelsea - 22 /20*
Portsmouth - 6 / 4*
Liverpool - 5
Tottenham - 4
Arsenal - 2
Fulham - 1
Middlesbrough - 1
Everton - 1
West Ham - 1
Aston Villa - 1
Wigan Athletic - 1

So there you have it, an FA Cup victory would put Pompey as the third most successful team in England over the last five years. It also shows you just how dominate United & Chelsea have been. Also it worth repeating that Arsenal have not won anything in the last five years, and that you can make that same statement about Liverpool if they don't win anything next year.

Of course there are other realities in football that dictate what success is, it is better to finish in the top four of the league and get into the Champions League than it is to win the League Cup. In my mind it all comes down to depth. If you have a deep squad you can compete across many competitions at the same time, if you don't have a deep squad then you will be exhausted and not about to compete effectively in all of them. Case in point Fulham finished mid table but made the Europa League final, the same thing happened to Pompey when we were playing in the UEFA Cup. I think that we would see better matches in the League, FA Cup, and in Europe if the League Cup was scratched as it overstretches most team, and funny enough affects the confidence of the bigger sides when they are knocked out by minnows. To make it through to the final of a Cup Competition or to stay in the hunt for a league title takes a lot of hard work and focus, full marks to the "Big 5" (Pompey, United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Spurs in case you forgot) for being able to win something in the last five years, because there are a lot of expensive trophy rooms that haven't had any new additions recently.

Super Pompey Playing Up and We'll Win the FA Cup!

G'day Everyone, I am a happy man this morning for two reasons. First off Pompey defeated the Pompey B side to advance to the FA Cup final. Secondly I finally have regular access to the Internet.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch the FA Cup semi, but the accounts that I have read said that David James was the hero, along with our goalscorers. Of course the pitch wasn't in great condition at the end of the match and Dawson slipped when attempting a clearance, then Piquionne was in the right place and converted the glorious opportunity. You didn't need to watch a season of Pompey footy to know that didn't happen regularly. I feel that the players are much more up for the Cup than the season, especially since we were relegated earlier this week. But I feel that this has been the case for awhile now. Winning the Cup is an attainable goal, whereas survival in the league has looked dubious ever since we found out Al Fahim was broke. It has also been a rallying point for fans, this FA Cup campaign has been the one thing that we could cheer about throughout the season. So it is a little distressing that there are stories about the lineup that we will be able to field for the final. This is because of the bonus clauses in some of the players' contracts. Luckily Richard Hughes came out and said that the bonuses could be differed until there is a new owner. As a fan I would prefer to see the players waive their bonuses to help the club, but they have certainly earned them. It is key that we are able to field a top side in the Final. Now onto the question of Europe.

In case you haven't heard Pompey are not currently in line for the Europa League place that goes to the FA Cup winner or finalist if the winner is in the Champions League. This is because we did not apply for a UEFA license because we were broke. Our club Administrator is currently looking at ways to fix this as the prospect of a Europa League campaign will certainly make Pompey more attractive to a potential buyer. I think that the chance of an appeal working is quite slim. Platini wants to be tough on debt, and rightly so, I don't think that other clubs' fans should have to endure what Portsmouth have endured this year. Don't get me wrong to be in Europe again would be amazing, the match at Fratton against Milan is probably my favourite Pompey match. If we are able to find an owner there may be a silver lining to not being in Europe. That would be that we play fewer matches. When the new owner does arrive they are going to have their hands full rebuilding a club, and the manager will have their hands full finding players. There are going to be a few sales, plus all of the players that we have on loan will return to their other clubs. Basically at the start of the next season I expect Pompey to have a small squad, at the moment I would say it is unlikely that we will bounce straight back up to the Premier League, in fact I am more worried about us being in another relegation fight. That is why fewer matches could be a good thing, especially at the start of the season.

What is next for Pompey?

Yesterday Pompey were in the High Court pleading for an extension of their winding up order. There were only two possible outcomes from this, first they could be granted an extension, and secondly they could be liquidated. For those of you that were thinking about administration, Pompey had already gone past the point where that would have been possible. So there is no chance of a 10 point deduction and every thing being sold. Liquidation is exactly like it sounds, without an extension Pompey would cease to exist. There would be no FA Cup match against the Scummers, there would be no more Premier League matches, and the Premier League would finish the year with 19 teams. In such a situation it is likely that results against Pompey wouldn't count.

Luckily for every Pompey fan, a 7 day extension was granted. So there will be an FA Cup clash with our greatest rivals. Unfortunately if things do not improve financially that could be the final match for the club. I think it is highly unlikely that Pompey would be able to secure a second extension. So there is one week for Pompey to prove that it can pay its debts, and for Mr. Chainrai to find a new owner or owners.

The Portsmouth Supporters Trust are poised to make some sort of move, but it will likely be tomorrow in England when we hear what that will be.

Sulaiman Al Fahim still has 10% of the club, perhaps he has finally found his wallet and could inject some cash. Speaking of which if Mr. Chainrai can't find a buyer in the next week he could inject some cash too, just to insure that he has a club to sell.

It is not going to be a fun week, unless Pompey are able to get some money together, but it is a lot better than waking up and finding out that the club you support no longer exists.

Another Day Another Owner

Pompey now have their 4th owner of the season, which must be a premier league record. If you haven't already heard Hong Kong based businessman Balram Chainrai has taken over the club using a clause in a contract he made when loaning Ali Al Faraj money. Chainrai is not in it for the long term, and already looking for the 5th owner this season. As far as I can tell this is great news for the club. The transfer window just closed so there is no chance of a fire sale that would affect the team for the remainder of this season. Also with the club facing a windup order (essentially the end of the club altogether) hopefully the new owner will be able to pay off the debt enough to avoid the club being wound up. Also if the players are able to get paid, they may have a little optimism return to their lives. This is key to survival as right now they seem a lock for the drop as they are suffering from Newcastleitis, which is the condition of not caring about the play on the pitch.

Moving on, I think that the key thing is the search for the 5th owner of the season. This owner has the chance to easily build a strong relationship with the club and the fans. Add to the fact that the club could likely be acquired for a nominal fee plus covering the debt of about $125M makes buying a premier league team more affordable than most North American sports teams, hell it is only 3 times what the MLS wants as an expansion fee.

Let's have a look at what you get if you buy Portsmouth
1. 60M pounds in debt (perhaps 45M pounds after the transfer window)
2. A Soccer Specific Stadium, but in need of expansion or a rebuild
3. A quality manager in Avram Grant
4. The last place club in the premier league only 6 points from safety
5. One of the most loyal and dedicated fan bases in the sport
6. A Clean Slate

For me number 6 is key, if Pompey are relegated this year no one is going to blame the 5th owner, they are going to blame numbers 1-3. That means that owner number 5 will be a hero if this club stays up, getting all of the credit for that achievement and none of the blame if they go down. All the fans, players, and staff at the club are craving is some stability so if the owner brings that then they will be loved by the fans, which is key to running a successful club.

So who should be the 5th owner of Pompey? I think that it would be a perfect fit for MLSE to break into the premier league market. Avram Grant could be their Mo. I think it would be a good fit for everyone. I know that MLSE are far from perfect, but I challenge any of their critics to show how they would be worse than the gong show that Pompey fans, players, and staff have had to endure already this season.

Update from Delhi

Greetings Everyone,

I am writing to you from New Delhi India. So far my journey has taken from Ottawa - Montreal - Amsterdam - Athens - Cairo - Kuwait - Delhi - Dehra Dun - Delhi. Leaving Ottawa was a little crazy and we were a lot closer to missing our flight from Montreal to Amsterdam than I would have cared for, but we made it without any problems. We then flew from Amsterdam to Athens, as we were flying over Macedonia, the Captain announced on the intercom that everyone had been awarded two penalties. Landing in Athens, I was able to go out sight seeing and enjoy the novelty of watching football in the evening. Unfortunately I was not able to watch Canada battle Poland, but I was able to see Greece make it two the World Cup. The commentary of the match was obviously in Greek, and when Greece scored I initially thought it may have been offside as the commentators didn't get terribly excited, but it was onside and sent Greece to South Africa. I was also surprised that I didn't hear the streets erupt in celebration which was fine with me as I needed some rest as I flew to Cairo the next day. I was able to get online briefly during the Greece match, so I was aware of the Egypt - Algeria before arriving in Cairo. Once there I noticed huge numbers of riot police stationed near our hostel. The taxi driver told us that they were there because of the Egypt-Algeria match. Apparently there were huge crowds in front of the Algerian Embassy burning Algerian flags. This is an aspect of football that bothers me. We have the positive examples of Turkey & Armenia re-opening relations because they had to play each other in World Cup Qualifying, and then we have the negative example of Egypt and Algeria breaking off relations because of there match. First off I think that FIFA was cowardly in not punishing Egypt before their match after fans attacked the bus with the Algerian team on board injuring three players. I realise that there is a certain amount of gamesmanship in keeping a team awake etc. However I feel quite comfortable saying that throwing rocks at the bus carrying the team crosses the line by a considerable distance. FIFA should have acted immediately and played the game in an empty stadium, as they would have done in Europe. The fact that the governments of both countries got involved was a little ridiculous. Algeria had a complaint that the Egyptian security did not do enough to protect their players, but recalling the Ambassador is a little extreme. It was almost comical to see presidents sparing with each other over fights between people at a football stadium. That said, what is most sad is that the people in each country followed their governments example and acted like children, with both sets of people doing considerable damage to businesses owned by nationals of the other country. I think that FIFA needs to come down hard on both countries to prevent this sort of ridiculousness from happening again. Can you imagine what would happen to Ireland if they recalled their ambassador to France, burned French flags, trashed Renault dealerships, and French Restaurants? That aside I had a wonderful time in Egypt and the Pyramids are definitely worth a visit.

From there we went to India, via Kuwait. I was hoping to catch the Stoke - Portsmouth match at the Kuwait airport given that our lay over coinsidered with the time of the match. However there are no televisions in the Kuwait airport. Nor was I able to find a reliable wifi connection. So I was blissfully unaware of what was transpiring at Pompey, until I caught a headline roll across the bottom of an Indian newscast saying that Darren Ferguson was the new Pompey boss. This told me that we had lost to Stoke and were still bottom, and that Pompey had some cash because we wouldn't have been able to sack Hart if we didn't. I thought that Fergie Jr. was a brave choice especially since Peterborough weren't exactly lighting up the Championship. However the next day I was able to jump on the net and saw that in fact Avram Grant had taken over. I feel better with Grant at the helm than with Fergie Jr. Hopefully he will get us to stay up. Though having missed the match with United as I was travelling down an Indian highway at the time. It sounded like Sam & Matt's prediction from Canadian Terrace Talk that Dindane was the Chad Barrett of the Premier League, could be bang on. It did seem like Pompey under Grant was like Pompey under Hart, we played well but we didn't get the result. The way things are going I am worried that people will be saying Portsmouth play good football and they will be a strong Championship side.

Things are going well, I reach Australia in 3 weeks at which point there should be more regular updates, I hope that you are all well, Cheers

Transfer Ban WTF!?

Apparently Pompey fans are not allowed to feel happy for very long this season. After our brilliant 4-0 destruction of Stoke in the League Cup. We are hit with a transfer ban. Why you ask? Because we haven't paid clubs or agents in a long long time. Now this is not the first time that we have heard this information. I heard it when Sulaiman Al Fahim was trying to take over the club. Peter Storrie said that a lot of the agents and clubs weren't demanding payment as a personal favour to him. But now we have apparently a rich new owner in Ali Al Faraj. In fact Al Faraj gave 5M pounds to Pompey so they could pay players and staff after it became apparent that Sulaiman Al Fahim didn't have a lot of money. This was not long before Al Faraj bought a 90% stake in the club. So I know that I am not a multi-millionaire but I don't think it is overly complicated that when you buy a club that you settle the outstanding debts. When Al Fahim took over we paid off the South African bank that we owed 30M pounds. Now with Al Faraj we haven't paid for the players that we have on our club. It is flat out embarrassing. Al Faraj has brought in some money from a few people that were a part of his initial attempt to purchase the club. Hopefully this money will be used to pay the clubs and agents that we owe money to.

I should mention that the Premier League deserves full marks. I am pleased to see that they are taking action on debt in their league. My compliant is with the Pompey owners that allowed this to happen.

I, like all Pompey supporters, would just like to know what is going on. Every week we read one story saying one thing and then read a story contradicting it. It is embarrassing and frustrating. It can't be easy on the players either. With the amount of times that we have been in the news this season for embarrassing reasons, I can't see a whole lot of players queuing up to sign with us in January.

So now that we seem to have got the play on the pitch sorted out, it is up to the ownership to get their performance sorted out. Play Up Pompey, Owners PAY Up!

Why is no one talking about West Ham as a crisis club

West Ham are sitting second from bottom on 5 points. They could easily find themselves bottom after this weekend's fixtures. I don't think that many people had West Ham getting relegated at the start of the year predictions so why no talk? Obviously Pompey stole a lot of the headlines with their double ownership switch and losing streak. But West Ham's ownership looks none to stable. With Portsmouth putting in solid performances every week, there aren't a lot of people talking about us taking the drop. I would say that if I had to pick West Ham or Pompey to take the drop this year, I would take West Ham. I know I am a little biased but looking at the fixtures for Pompey & West Ham between now and December 5th. Here is what you get

Pompey
@Hull
Wigan
@Blackburn
@Stoke
United
Burnley

West Ham
Arsenal
@Sunderland
Villa
Everton
@Hull
Burnley
United

Looking at those fixtures I think that Pompey will get more points than West Ham. Also that West Ham could easily stay on 5 points until they play Hull (on November 21st). There also have ownership questions and may need to do some selling in January to keep going. There is a lot of talent on the West Ham squad and if they have to sell it and bring in a bunch of new players, you don't need to be a Portsmouth fan to know how that is going to go.

I think that after this weekend the focus of the media will shift from the South Coast to East London.

A shorter version of this was posted on Pompey Gossip. Apologies for those that read it twice.

Oktoberfest - Pompey style

No doubt you are aware that Pompey sit on the bottom of the table, but October brings good tidings for fans of the South Coast club. In the form of Wolves, Spurs, Hull, and Wigan. When I look at these four matches I see 3 relegation six pointers and an intersquad match from last season.


At Wolves:

Wolves are sitting on 7 points but these have come from some of the other weak teams. They got three points most recently in a 2-1 win over Fulham. You may remember that Pompey lost to Fulham when Clint Dempsey's harmless shot took a crazy deflection off Bobby Zamora's back. Wolves picked up a point in a draw with Hull. They got things started with a victory over Wigan. Hull and Wigan are also on Portsmouth's october menu. The Molineaux is not an easy place to play as 4 of Wolves 7 points have come from their three home fixtures. But after the performances that Pompey put in against Bolton, Villa, and Everton I like our chances to get our first points of the season, three of them.

Home to Spurs:

One year ago, Jermaine Defoe, Peter Crouch, Niko Kranjcar, Joe Jordan, and Harry Redknapp were all at Portsmouth, they are now all at Spurs. Needless to say that this one has been circled on the calendar for some time. I am expecting a lot of the former Pompey guys to get a tough time from the crowd, though mainly Redknapp and Defoe. I know that the fans will be up for this match, and I hope that the players are too. Looking at this without the history between the clubs I would say that Spurs should win, especially since Jamie O'hara won't be playing as he is on loan from Spurs. However in games where there is a lot of energy anything can happen and if Pompey are coming off a first win of the season, perhaps we can welcome Harry back with a win just like we did when he was at the Scummers.

At Hull:

The Tigers are sitting on four points at the moment. One from their draw with Wolves, and three from victory over Bolton. Hull have put in a few solid performances this season, but they have be blown out three times. Their confidence is quite low at the moment and Phil Brown looks like he would be sacked tomorrow if their was a different chairman. Before facing Pompey Hull take on Wigan at home and travel to London to take on Fulham. I am sure that these are matches that Hull are targeting for points. If they lose at least one of these two matches I think their confidence will be shot and they will be easy pickings for Pompey.

Home to Wigan

Wigan rank as the most confusing team in England. They have pulled off great victories over Aston Villa, West Ham and Chelsea. But also lost badly to Manchester United, Arsenal, and Blackpool (in the league cup). They also lost to Wolves and Everton. Really it depends more on which Wigan team shows up than which Pompey team shows up. I am expecting that beatable getting relegated Wigan shows up, as I believe those are their true colours this season.


So their you have it, Portsmouth's October pointsfest. I would be disappointed if November started and we didn't have at least 9 points. Though 10 & 12 aren't out of the question. However if we are still bottom at the start of November then we are definitely in a lot of trouble. But there is not a lot of chance of that given the way that we have been playing. I am going for the full 12 points and a flourishing partnership between Piquionne & Dindane. Play Up Pompey!

Aston Villa 2 - Portsmouth 0

It is going to be a long year. Pompey's defense made two huge mistakes and Villa got two goals, coincidence? I think not. For large parts of the game Pompey controlled the play, but lacked the finishing edge. Villa were by no means perfect at the back but Pompey were unable to exploit their mistakes. Cuellar was definitely the weak link at the back, he didn't look comfortable in the right back role. Pompey were able to create a lot of opportunities, but a lot of those ended in a toothless shot at Friedel. We need to be able to convert opportunities if we are ever going to get a share of the points. Portsmouth were helped by the referee in this one, as I was surprised that Brown stayed out of the book, when he easily could have been sent off for two bookable offenses. I think that given how we played in the second half we had a chance to grab a draw, but like our other matches this season our defense errors & lack of finishing undid us.

Up next for us Everton, who we did the double over last year. Hopefully we can grab all three points at home. We also have a possibly moral boosting match in the league cup at Carlisle on Tuesday. Hopefully a few of our players can discover their scoring touch.

A look at Aston Villa from the Crow's Nest

Yaarrr - It be talk like a Pirate Day today, an' Portsmouth set sail t' Birmingham t' take on th' Aston Villa. (English version located below the pirate)

Villa be havin' seemed inconsistent t' me, as I mentioned on Canadian Terrace talk. Howereexaminin' the'r record they ben able t' grind ou' results without concedin' any goals. Which be a slightly worryin' aspect when Portsmouth be havin' only scored 3 times in 5 matches. Also worryin' be that after Kristian Jack at Th' Score told Agbonlahor t' decide if he be goin' t' be a goal scorer he has scored in aft t' aft matches.

Villa an' Pompey be havin' played two o' th' same teams so far, Birmingham & Fulham. Villa be havin' two wins & Portsmouth two losses. Villa didna be havin' too many problems wi' Fulham, beatin' them 2-0. Portsmouth & Fulham looked pretty evenly matched tho Pompey lost 1-0 t' a Clint Dempsey shot that tookst a deflection off o' Bobby Zamora`s aft. With Birmingham, 't Villa`s heated local Derby, so 't be a tight match, 'tis hard t' make many comparisons t' th' match that Portsmouth played against them. 'ere we lost 1-0 on an injury time penalty.

Gi'en Pompey`s track record this season ye would say that th' likely result be a 1-0 win fer Villa. Howere Portsmouth be playin' a lot better than the'r results indicate, so if Villa hade into t' this thinkin' they be goin' t' be havin' an easy match against a team wi' 0 points they be in fer a bit o' a surprise. Villa be havin' nay scored this season when an opponent scores first, so 't could be a Pompey victory if we be able t' get th' first goal.

Realistically this be as good a chance fer us t' get a point as anytime else, Pompey would be ecstatic wi' a victory an' would gladly settle fer a draw. I think that if Pompey come ou' an' play a solid match Villa would be happy wi' a draw as well. So me official prediction be a draw, tho I would love t' be seein' Pompey leave Villa Park wi' all three points, Play Up Pompey!


Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day and Portsmouth travel to Birmingham to take on the Aston Villa. (Pirate Version above)

Villa have seemed inconsistent to me, as I mentioned on Canadian Terrace talk. However examining their record they have been able to grind out results without conceding any goals. Which is a slightly worrying aspect when Portsmouth have only scored 3 times in 5 matches. Also worrying is that after Kristian Jack at The Score told Agbonlahor to decide if he was going to be a goal scorer he has scored in back to back matches.

Villa and Pompey have played two of the same teams so far, Birmingham & Fulham. Villa have two wins & Portsmouth two losses. Villa didn't have too many problems with Fulham, beating them 2-0. Portsmouth & Fulham looked pretty evenly matched though Pompey lost 1-0 to a Clint Dempsey shot that took a deflection off of Bobby Zamora's back. With Birmingham, it Villa's heated local Derby, so it was a tight match, it is hard to make many comparisons to the match that Portsmouth played against them. Where we lost 1-0 on an injury time penalty.

Given Pompey's track record this season you would say that the likely result is a 1-0 win for Villa. However Portsmouth has been playing a lot better than their results indicate, so if Villa head into to this thinking they are going to have an easy match against a team with 0 points they will be in for a bit of a surprise. Villa have not scored this season when an opponent scores first, so it could be a Pompey victory if we are able to get the first goal.

Realistically this is as good a chance for us to get a point as anytime else, Pompey would be ecstatic with a victory and would gladly settle for a draw. I think that if Pompey come out and play a solid match Villa would be happy with a draw as well. So my official prediction is a draw, though I would love to see Pompey leave Villa Park with all three points, Play Up Pompey!

It is going to be a long season

We played a well and didn't deserve to lose. This phrase could easily become Portsmouth's new motto. Five matches played, five matches lost. In four of those matches we played well, in all of them we have been unlucky.

In our season opener we lost 1-0 on a deflected Clint Dempsey shot that went off the back back of Bobby Zamora. In our next match away to Birmingham we were set to record a draw until there was a penalty call in injury time. The commentary that I have read is pretty evenly split but whether it was actually a penalty or not. Both the Fulham match & the Birmingham match were otherwise pretty even affairs.

We then travelled to Arsenal, this is the match that I would say we didn't play well. I wasn't able to watch all of this match (I was with the other four) and in the part that I watched we were giving Arsenal too much space and inviting them on to us. In other words a recipe for disaster. However this match wasn't without it's talking points as well. The main one being John Utaka either being brought down down by William Gallas or tripping over his own feet. If he was brought down by Gallas then Gallas should have been red carded. At the time the score was 2-1 for Arsenal, so a sending off would have changed the complexion of the match, especially since Gallas scored the 3rd goal. Unfortunately I haven't been able to see the incident so I can't offer my opinion, only to say form the parts of the match I was able to watch we didn't deserve anything from it.

The Premier League's first Abu Derby was our next match as we hosted Manchester City. Much like the first two matches this was quite an even contest. However we fell asleep on a corner and let Adebayor head home the winner. This one we can't have any complaints about, we played well and didn't deserve to lose, but the result didn't go our way.

After the International break we hosted Bolton in a match between the only teams with 0 points. This was quite an exciting match. Our defense looked shaky at times , allowing Bolton to get behind which resulted in their first goal. Pompey then came roaring back and equalised through Kaboul. Kaboul & Piquionne both missed great opportunities a few minutes later. It looked like it would go to the half 1-1, with Pompey regretting missed chances. Then Bolton got in behind and if not for a last ditch tackle from Ben Haim would have had a scoring opportunity. Oh wait referee Chris Foy somehow missed seeing the ball go sideways after Ben Haim's tackle and decided to award Bolton a penalty. Former Pompey player (and still fan favourite) clinically struck it to give Bolton an undeserved half time lead. Over the half time break I was telling myself if we want to get anything from this we are going to need to overcome bad calls like the penalty. So I was pleased to see us come out roaring again after the break. Debutant Kevin Prince Boateng netting the tieing goal in the 63rd minute. Pompey had a few more chances that we should have converted, but looked on course for the draw. That is until Bolton got a long throw that was headed on to Cahill who scored. Of course the linesman chose not to raise his flag even though Bolton players ran from offside positions to contest the header. So Pompey played well and didn't deserve to lose or even draw really.

The match this morning against Bolton was the match that I enjoyed watching the most and also the most crushing defeat. There is nothing we can do now except wait for the inevitable apology from Keith Hackett and smile when Chris Foy & his crew are demoted to the lower leagues. Oh and hope that Paul Hart doesn't get suspended for saying how poor the ref was.

Looking ahead to the upcoming matches we are away to Villa and home to Everton. Both are going to be tough matches, it would be great to nick a draw at Villa Park but I wouldn't be surprised if we came back from the Midlands with six played and six lost. We need to get something from the Everton match, hopefully we can continue last year's form as we did the double over the Toffees last season.

But you get the idea it is going to be a long season, we are going to be involved in the relegation battle. I don't think that we will take the drop, but we need to start getting some points before the media starts to get in the minds of the fans and the players. Play Up Pompey!

A brief thought on the Portsmouth Takeover

GET ON WITH IT!






Thanks to Pompey Beast for the idea & Monty Python for the content.

Julian de Guzman to Portsmouth could it really happen?

As soon as Lassana Diarra was sold to Real Madrid I told anyone that would listen "We have a JDG sized hole in our midfield." JDG is of course Julian de Guzman, star Canadian midfielder who was seeing out his contract at Deportivo La Coruña in the top flight of Spanish football. Sadly he spent most of last season on the bench at Depor after privately and later publicly complaining about the €800,000 in unpaid bonuses he had earned. In the 2007/2008 season he was the club's player of the year as well as the Gold Cup MVP. To claim the honour from Deportivo La Coruña he led the club to European football. The Gold Cup MVP is also considerable seeing as how Canada only reached the semi final. Now that you have some back story, we can go back to January 2009 when JDG was sitting on the bench in Spain and refused to sign a new contract with the club until they paid the bonus money. That is why I thought it would be an ideal time for Portsmouth to use some of the £20M that we received for "Lass" to buy JDG. I thought that rather then let him leave for free at the end of the season La Coruña would be open to an offer. Disappointingly no offer came from Portsmouth and surprisingly no other clubs bid for his services either.

When the transfer window opened at the start of the summer, I wasn't sure of where Julian would end up and who would be in charge at Portsmouth. Julian came home to Toronto ahead of joining up with the National side for the Gold Cup. He did interviews where he talked about his desire to stay in Europe and said that now was not the time for him to join Toronto FC. Just a note here Toronto's director Mo Johnston has always described Julian as the ideal designated player for Toronto FC. Then before the Gold Cup got underway there were rumours that TFC had offered him a contract. That of course was not the surprise, it was the fact that he was considering it that got the attention of the blogosphere and the media as a whole. Eventually it came out that the deal offered was $10M over 3 years (about £30,000/week) and what was more it was nearly done. This combined with the fact that The Score's Kristian Jack wrote an article that had two key points. First that the deal with TFC was 90% complete. This news worried a lot of Canadian supporters, as it would not have been good for our best player to return to the MLS in the prime of his career. Don't get me wrong, it would have been a great signing for TFC, but bad for Canada and bad for Julian. The second point KJ made was that Julian had tried to drum up interest from Celtic, Spurs, & Pompey. His attempts weren't greeted with much enthusiasm from the clubs. This set off a flare in me, JDG wanted to play for Pompey and we weren't interested? Looking back I hope now that the lack of interest was because we didn't have an owner or a manager in place. It was a similar situation with Celtic not having a boss either. Spurs were linked with JDG in January but perhaps had filled the role that JDG was going to play in. What ever the reasons were, I did take some spirit from the fact that JDG had considered Pompey a possible destination.

I then set upon the task of letting other Pompey fans know that JDG is interested in playing for us. I started by writing to the club and urging them to sign JDG (I had done this in January as well and I have yet to hear a response from either message). Then it was on to the forums I made posts that we should sign Julian and over the course of July it started to gain support, there were other Pompey fans that had seen him play and thought he would be a good signing. It was starting to gain momentum then I sent a question to Pompey Talk from the News (the News is a Portsmouth based newspaper) which they read out and then discussed Julian for about a minute. Most of them hadn't heard of him, but they were going to look into it and mention it to Paul Hart when they saw him. I can only hope that this happens.

The facts remain the same Julian needs to find a club, and Pompey need players. Given that we are offering trials to 25 year old midfielders from the French League, I am a little baffled that we haven't made a move Julian yet. As the topic continues to spread I hope that Julian is given a look. A possible bonus is that Portugal are now training in North Portugal about 300km from where Julian played in Spain, hopefully some casual enquiries would bring Hart more encouragement to sign JDG. We play Fulham in a little over a fortnight and I know I am not alone in wanting to see Julian de Guzman in our starting lineup at Fratton Park on August 15th.

Portsmouth have a new owner!

It is official now. Suliaman Al Fahim is the new owner of Portsmouth Football Club. This is fantastic news for all Pompey fans.

Of course the takeover has been wrought with difficulties, changing expectations, and rumours galore. That hasn't changed, the first piece of news out of Fratton was that Paul Hart officially had his interim tag removed and he is now the manager of Portsmouth. To say I was a little surprised when I saw this is a bit of an understatement. Now don't get me wrong, Paul Hart is a decent manager and all the players love him, but I think he may be a tad overrated since he got to follow Tony Adams. Hart led us to safety and at the end of last season I wouldn't have been surprised to see him named full time boss, until I heard about the takeover.

As soon as Suliaman Al Fahim was linked with Portsmouth so were, Slaven Bilić, Roberto Mancini, and Sven Goran-Eriksson. You may recall that I even wrote a post about it. As I have already mentioned I think that Hart is a decent manager, but he is not in the same class as any of the other managers that I just mentioned. I fully admit to thinking that Mancini would be the next Pompey boss. The one thing that I am worried about is that to succeed in the Premier League you need to be more than a decent manager.

The other hiccup that fans have noticed is that the buying power that we were rumoured to have with the new owner doesn't seem to have materialised. The rumour is that there were other investors who did not want to be subjected to the Fit & Proper Persons test (a requirement for anyone owning more than 10% of a Premier League Club). This means that Pompey are still looking for transfer bargains.

I know that all Canadians will agree with me that there is not a better bargain out there than Julian de Guzman, who is available on a free transfer after parting ways with Deportivo La Coruña. With some of the selling that we have done, we need help in all positions. At least with Hart in place we can start to bring in new players as we now have someone in charge. Given that the preseason is already underway I hope that we start signing people quickly.

Peter Storrie has mentioned that Portsmouth have 3 or 4 players lined up who could be signed quickly plus another 3 or 4 that they are looking at. I am looking forward to figuring out who these players are. As it happens, Pompey are playing their first preseason match tonight against Havant & Waterlooville (you may remember their FA Cup run). There are few players with us on trial plus a bunch of players that I have never heard of.

Hopefully by the time that the season starts we will have a better idea what the squad looks like, and the sort of year that we can expect. I am interested to here your thoughts, so vote in my poll and let me know where you think that Pompey will end up next May.

Play Up Pompey! Pompey Play Up!