Derby day relief, now lets crack on

Let's get this straight up front. Southampton are a better team than Pompey at the moment. I'm not gonna go through the arguments about who is the bigger club, see my previous blog, Pompey win more trophies, Southampton beat Pompey more often in derbies. Having said that even if they had beaten us 7-0 today I wouldn't want to have been born a Southampton fan, I would never swap my home for theirs.

Right let's look at today's game.

Pompey were not very good today. We were lucky to get a draw. But we did. Once they scored I didn't see us getting back into it. What a feeling it must have been for local boy Joel Ward to get the equaliser and the nature of it, they way he bundled it in showed a determination that I thought was lacking from the overall performance. Lawrence wasn't fit and shouldn't have played. I don't like playing one upfront, especially not at home, Kitson is not playing well enough to lead the line. The frustrating thing about Pompey at the moment is if you look through the team the individuals are not doing badly. Pearce, Rocha, Halford are playing well. Norris and Mullins are doing a ok. The WBA boys are fitting in. But the team as a whole are not performing as a unit, are not doing well enough.

BUT you can not argue with the results. When we wrote about Appleton's appointment we stated:

'However the fixture list has been relatively kind, the upcoming games include three home games out of the next five and Pompey have the 4^th best home record in the Championship. The Southampton game is on the horizon. Victory there would buy him a lot of credit. Before that he has home games against managerless Leicester and 21^st placed Coventry currently second bottom in the form table and the only club with a worse league away record than Pompey having scored 4 goals away in 8 games. The away games are against 18^th placed Burnley who have won 2 of their 8 home games this year and 21^st placed Watford who have won 3 of 8. These games are eminently winnable. Whittingham and Grey have given him some momentum and a new manager 'bounce' could see us looking in a much healthier position in time for the scum which will be a lottery of a game.'

And so it has transipred. Victory against an awful Coventry, a good win vs Burnley, a draw against Leicester and a draw against top of the table scum. Only an awful game against Watford is a blot on a good start. Of course before that the caretakers had done a good job. At this point we have a game in hand on most and are 6 points off relegation places and 6 points off seven.

If I dealt in cliches I would say that a team not performing well and getting results is a positive sign. We wait and see, I'm not currently that optimistic.

I thought the banter was quite good today. I'm also not getting involved in the we were louder than you crap on twitter. Both were loud during their teams ascendency, I thought it was fun when we mocked the Lalalalalaana chant, and enjoyed the lualua chant. The stupidity of my fellow Pompey fans not giving the ball back when we were attempting to chase the game was also quite amusing!

Did the bubble work? Well yes. Did it impinge on people's human rights? Maybe but at least no one got their heads kicked in.

Now let's see if Appleton can push on in the new year. I hope the scum don't go up, if for no other reason I like derby day, but they are lot more likely than us to do it at the moment.

Play up Pompey. Who have not lost a home derby in my life time. I, 4-1, am quite proud of that.

Saints or Pompey - a statistical look - who is the better club

I love Scum banter as much as the next skate. I can't tell you how much truth there is behind the seeds of the rivalry being in dock workers from Southampton breaking a Pompey picket line. I don't know if it's just a merchant vs royal navy split. I think in all honesty it's just because we are local to each other.

I don't 'hate' people from Southampton or even all scummers. But I love the rivalry. And I don't like their club. I'm hugely biased. But I feel that our support is better and our club has more character and more history. They are a dull club with avg support and an identi-kit stadium. I think the same can be said of the cities, I love Pompey as a city and the island mentality of the people. I can't think of any where else I would want to be from. When I watch derby games I really dislike the scummers. And I'm generally a rational functioning member of society. I don't understand it, but I like it!

What I thought I'd do is try to analyse the clubs respective attributes and get some perspective. So I've selected some categories that I think would be a good measurement of success - I'm not doing it to start a fight, I have consulted with a fellow blogger and Saints fan Sam Dobson (see his site here) who suggested certain categories:

1. Trophies won
2. Fanbase
3. Quality of players over history
4. Number of years in top flight
5. Financial resources

I have basically used these categories, other than financial resources as I was looking a little more long-term rather than right now, so I replaced it with popularity amongst other fans and also added head-to-head, and I cant be accused of adding that due to bias, as Pompey's head-to-head record is poor!

I also asked Sam for his honest view of the two clubs. This is his reply:

'In terms of numbers I think our support is much greater (Home and away). We have a great reputation for bringing talented young players through from the academy and generally always play decent football. I think a lot of fans were uncomfortable with the way Pompey overspent between 2006-2010. They were bringing in players on ridiculously high wages, at the same time they were ripping off local businesses/charities who they were unable to pay when the money dried up. On the other hand I can see how people would prefer Pompey if they still enjoy traditional old grounds like Fratton Park. Pompey probably have a greater history, having won more major trophies. I think Saints fans are traditionally much better behaved than Pompey fans however. You had quite a bad reputation when it came to hooligan problems in the past, which could count against you. And you have that bellend John Westwood.'

I disagree that they have greater home and away support. Currently in numbers is true, quality of support I would disagree with. I cant argue they have a better youth set-up and I have written at length that I am a little ashamed by the overspending. We do have a greater history. They have better behaved fans. We do have John Westwood!

I have tried to make it unbiased. As I write this i have no idea who will come out on top - but i know this for true fans of local clubs, like Portsmouth and like Southampton, you dont choose a club, you are born with one and I am under no illusions that this will settle any arguments, or change any minds, which ever categories Pompey win at will appear more important to me and probably visa-versa so its with interest rather than trepidation:

All-time record

The all-time records of the clubs are incredibly close. Pompey have the 64^th best record in professional football, Saints are 62^nd. These stats need to be quantified. It takes no account for which league the clubs were involved in (for example Bournemouth's record puts them 55^th). But, for what its worth, Southampton are better in almost all categories, this is compounded by the fact Pompey have played an extra 67 games and have a total of 19 fewer points. Pompey have a GD that is 271 goals worse than Southampton. Pompey are better away from home, which seems remarkable at the moment!

		Home					Away
	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
SFC	3546	951	455	367	3347	1975	386	472	915	1939	3118	193	4026
PFC	3613	893	468	446	3142	2031	413	470	923	2038	3227	-78	4007
	67	-58	13	79	-205	56	27	-2	8	99	109	-271	-19

Because of issues with the above method, I also had a look at league status.

Since 1920	Portsmouth	Southampton
Top tier	33	35
2nd tier	39	38
3rd tier	10	11
4th tier	2	0

Either way you look at it, its really close, but Southampton have been marginally in consistently higher divisions.

However when it comes to league success, (Pompey's titles will be detailed below) Pompey are in the ascendency. Below are the top 10 league finishes by Pompey or Southampton.

Position	Year	Club
1st	1948-1949	Portsmouth
1st	1949-1950	Portsmouth
2nd	1977-1978	Southampton
2nd	1983-1984	Southampton
3rd	1955-1955	Portsmouth
4th	1951-1952	Portsmouth
4th	1930-1931	Portsmouth
5th	1984-1985	Southampton
6th	1975-1976	Southampton
6th	1980-1981	Southampton

Trophies

The point of football, is to win games, so that you can win trophies. No-one remembers who finish second. Pompey have won the league twice. Southampton have finished runners up once. Pompey have won the FA Cup twice and been losing finalists 3 times, Southampton have won the FA cup once and been runners up three times. Depending on how you classify these things, Pompey are the 19^th most successful club in England in terms of trophies, Southampton are 32^nd. We have discussed this on the blog before, in terms of 2008, would you prefer to win something or bumble along in the premier league? I guess thats down to preference.

Head to head

The head to head is in Southampton's favour. The clubs have met 30 times in the league, with 14 Southampton victories, 8 Pompey wins and 8 draws. In Cup competitions Southampton have won 5 and Pompey 1 (although 5 of these 6 games were at Southampton)

Total attendance

This season Southampton have an average attendance of 25,738, 77.1% and Pompey have an average attendance of 13,696, 65.8%, Southampton are having a better season and at present have a better average and percentage attendance.

Having said that Pompey's record home crowd was a huge 51,385, greatly surpassing Southampton's 32,152.

As always I figured the average attendance is the best measure of enduring support. Again, its very close. 1,470,652 people have watched Pompey play since 1920, an average of 17,508 a season. Southampton have been watched by 1,462,384, an average of 17,409.

Youth Development

This is the only category with a real winner, it was one I hadnt thought of and was suggested by Sam. It was also a real labour of statistical love and I hope Saints appreciate it! I looked at all (yes all) of the 1,173 England internationals and calculated how many England appearances and goals had been contributed by players whose first club was Southampton or Portsmouth, in brackets I have included the position out of the 92 league clubs for each attribute:

Club	No of players	Cumulative Appearances	Cumulative Goals
Southampton	18 (16)	274 (8)	85 (5)
Portsmouth	11 (28)	132 (26)	19 (31)

I wont lie, this is the one part of Southampton's history and future I wish was ours!

Popularity

I got in touch with a number of blogging associates and asked them which club they preferred and why. Pompey came out on top but it is a relatively hollow victory! Most fans were indifferent towards both. Some came out in favour of Southampton because of Westwood and his bell! Some mention of Pompeys more significant history and some who like Southampton because of the admirable career of Matt Le Tiss.

Club Preferred	Reason	Club supports and site
Pompey	Long suffering fans	Everton - www.dixies60.com
Pompey	Good fans and love of DJ	Bolton - http://www.lionofviennasuite.com/
Saints	Doesnt like Westwood of Pompey Chimes	Bury - http://www.mannyroadend.co.uk/
Saints	Former player Richie Lambert	Rochdale - http://www.girlonaterrace.com/
Pompey	Long suffering fans	Walsall - http://www.bescotbanter.net/
Pompey	Arrogance of saints whilst in league 1	Brighton - http://www.wearebrighton.com/
Pompey	Aware of Pompeys history but blues have been the underdog in recent years. Also likes the character of Pompeys Naval history	QPR http://www.qprreport.blogspot.com/
Pompey	The great escape game against Pompey relegating Saints	WBA
Pompey	Pompey have more history	Charlton - http://www.doctorkish.com
Saints	Used to live in the area	Fulham - http://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/
Pompey	Saints use to be a banana skin for them	Man u – manutd24.wordpress
Pompey	Arrogance of saints in league 1	Peterborough - http://standingontheglebe.co.uk/
Saints	Loved Matt Le Tiss	Spurs - http://triffictottenham.co.uk/
Saints	Dislike of Westwood	Sunderland - http://www.rokerreport.com/
Saints	Bad experience of fans at FP	Arsenal - http://acresofspace.co.uk/
Saints	Better results against them	Reading - http://thetilehurstend.co.uk/
Pompey	Love of Cotterill and Marlon Pack	Cheltenham http://www.itsroundanditswhite.co.uk/

Here are two facts that both clubs will hopefully agree with, the rivalry makes being a fan more enjoyable and Sunday will be an exciting, tense game.

So there you have it, Southampton better at playing Pompey, better at producing youth players and better at staying in higher divisions (just!). Pompey have better support, only compounded by the fact it is the smaller of the two cities, and better at winning trophies. In terms of popularity I dont think I have settled anything!

PLAY UP POMPEY.

Can we trust the trust?

I felt guilty when I heard that Antonov had been arrested. You see, the evidence has always been there that he is a crook – but we were desperate for our club to start moving forward again. I turned a blind-eye to the fact that the UK financial regulatory system (a system itself with a lot to answer for) had deemed him unfit to run a UK bank and he had once been the target of a Chechnian Mafia assassination attempt.

However if I picked up the News tomorrow to read that a previously unheard of businessman from somewhere I know little about with no knowledge or connection with our football club, with our city, turned up offering to pour money into the club, to take us back to the Premiership, and yes a couple of his businesses had previously failed and yes he was no longer welcome in Panama and his Dad was wanted by the Saudis for financial irregularities, would I do anything about it?

Well the short answer is no because I want our club to survive but perhaps more pertinently it is legally and officially nothing to do with me. That feels wrong. If you have read this far you are most certainly emotionally attached to Pompey or perhaps another English club. But in no other sphere of personal or financial life do we have such little control over something dear to us – this lack of control is disconcerting to say the least.

The Portsmouth Trust have tried to facilitate some element of influence if not control to bridge this gap. I am not a member. I am aware of the trust – I've never looked at in detail, I worry they maybe a toothless organisation, run by people I dont know – what are their motivations? Is this an ego trip for a select few or an attempt to represent all of us? Well I decided to try to find out...

The Trust wants to bring about democratic fan representation on the Pompey board to ensure the club is aware of and further its links with the community of Portsmouth. Its mission statement is wide ranging including 'further the development of the game of football both nationally and internationally' which seems ambitious and way outside what I imagined the remit of the Trust to be.

The Trust also promotes its association with Supporters Direct – whose main aim is to help supporters buy shares in their clubs. Fan ownership is not explicitly mentioned in the Trusts aims – but I presume its an assumed aim?

Even more complicated are the Trusts rules – it is difficult to identify exactly what my fiver would be used for, but it is reassuring to see that any financial surplus or profits will go towards building up reserves or expenditure on achieving the Trusts aims and not to any of the members of the Trust. The rules seems to be fairly standard setting out procedure for positions, voting, the removal of membership and so on.

The board members are all given space to explain their legitimacy as Pompey fans and why they have come to represent the fans. I applaud all of them for giving up their spare time to do this. Also there is significant documentation available to read about the meetings the trust have had over the last year.

The trust seems to have been professionally and impressively established. Their aims seem to perhaps be a little wide-ranging for me – standing at football, obtrusive filming at away games etc. Without focusing on officially democratically elected representation on the board of PFC, the Trust is another supporters club – important, worthwhile but these already exist and there is a degree of representation through Johnny Moore. I think the trust should make their aim (if it is indeed its aim) even more explicit. I am a Luddite, I want to know what my five pound gets me. I hope that one day my membership would allow me to vote for someone to sit on the board. I know it is not within possibilities for that to be promised, but if it was a clear, over-riding aim that would be a good start.

With the latest turmoil their have been discussions regarding fan ownership. This is utopian. The set-up at Barca is the dream. But Portsmouth do not have enough fans with sufficient wealth to buy the club outright and keep it competitive. If, god-forbid, the club collapses and we have to start again, that would be a different proposition.

This sorry process has yet again opened in my mind the debate about how football should be run, but that is for a different blog that I intend to write.

As for the Trust, after I blog this, I am going to pay my five pounds and join. I applaud them for attempting to do something. Do I think their aims could be clearer? Yes. Can we Trust the trust? I think so and I hope so, they seem to be Pompey fans trying to take our destiny back into our own hands and at the moment that seems like absolutely the right thing to do.

PUP

An Arrest and little Development

An arrest...

Another Pompey owner subject to an arrest warrant. Joining Mandaric and Gaydamak in an incredible series of events. It seems simply that the club is rotten to the core. How surprised should we be? Why would any law abiding citizen want to own the money drain of a football club? The motivations of these random foreign owners always strikes me as peculiar and if they are not going to court publicity, like Milan to boost their egos, what do quiet owners, like ours, get out of the money they put in?

I am no financial journalist, but the the best explanation of the current situation I have seen was written by SJMaskell and can be found here. He tells the tale of financial irregularity and assassination attempt against Antonov and his family by Chechen mafia. Antonov is Pompey chairman – he owns 75% of PFC. Dubov has made the only comment to UK media with a throw away line of working hard to save the business, although he did not specify whether or not he was talking about CSI. Whether or not Antonov is guilty, PFC and our reputation could do without this. I have written previously about how we are seen by some to have got away lightly with our first bout of overspending – and the club must now be in serious peril again, if 75% of our funding is with a man who is on bail, and who the BBC are reporting has had his assets frozen.

Two points to make, about the naivety of Pompey fans (absolutely myself included) and the attitude of the FA to ownership.

The information about Antonov detailed by Maskell amongst others has been in the public domain since they took control. I remember reading about it, but I shrugged my shoulders, a lot of business men have dubious backgrounds, especially seemingly ones from the former Eastern bloc, who want to sink money into provincial english football clubs that they have few links to – as long as they were going to support our club I didnt mind. There is another article to be written about fans proactivity in ownership of their own clubs and the Pompey Trust have been savvy enough on twitter to attempt to boost their numbers after this latest bout of scandal. I have not yet joined but will research the trust before deciding whether this is a genuine attempt to represent fans or a bit of an old boys network, a small group hoping to take my money to increase their own self-importance

Additionally the football league and its Fit and Proper persons test needs to be re-examined and after our recent series of owners this should not come as a shock to anyone. As I understand the rule (mainly from this Edinburgh University Law school article) Antonov was rightly approved, he was not prohibited by law to be a director of a company, he was not involved in another football club, he did not have any unspent criminal convictions, he was not bankrupt and he has not previously been involved in two football clubs involved in administrations. However he was deemed unfit to run a British bank, his takeover of Saab was disrupted by his reputed links to serious and organised crime, but he is allowed to control a football club, which we all hope is a symbol of our community and home. Surely the test needs to be reassessed.

Pompey fans have themselves to blame. The football league has itself to blame. We blithely accept these white knights – the only solution seems to be fan ownership – but Pompey do not have a large enough, rich enough support to keep the club at the competitive level the fans have come to accept.

And little development

Pompey have made two loan signings, but lost one and I fear at a net loss. George Thorne a 6ft 2 attacking midfielder, England under 18, 17, 16s etc, WBA youngest first team player since the 60s has promise (albeit for two minutes), but he comes in as Abdul Razak returns to Man City – very difficult for us to compare the two – but using the arbitrary measure of where they have ended up, I would rather have a loan player from City than the Baggies. Additionally Joe Mattock has joined, a young player who royally pissed off Leicester fans in the way he manufactured his departure from the foxes (could be interesting if he plays on Saturday) who avoided jailtime after being convicted of punching four people (including a women) in a night club, aged 18. We need a left-back, but more than that we needed a striker, Marc Antone-Fortune was heavily linked, but moved instead to the Willy McCay experiment at Doncaster. So at the end of the loan window we have probably lost something in midfield, gained a defender and missed out on a striker. However WBA twitterer AnthonyDosanjh was very positive about both and claimed Thorne was on the cusp of a WBA starting place, whilst Mattock was performing well before an injury, so maybe not all hope is lost. All in all the club needs good results and soon, if the Watford performance is repeated and with a seemingly unwinnable south coast derby approaching, I think we are right to be worried, here is hoping the home form continues. Play up Pompey.

What a load of rubbish

I do not want this blog to be a series of match reports, but todays game made my blood boil.

The Pompey performance was abject, awful, rubbish, devoid of effort, creativity or skill. Not one player emerged with an ounce of credit. Ward out of his depth, Kitson ineffectual, Norris bypassed and so on. When we were in the Premier league we would often get beaten (away at Villa 3-0 at halftime, away at Arsenal when Chalkias Kostus) but today was against a frankly awful Watford team, this performance is in the same category in my mind as Palace at home when Tiler imploded and the Orient FA Cup defeat.

What made it all the harder to stomach was the expectation. Cotterill and his long-ball tactics have gone, this was a new era with a bright new manager ready to continue the work of Whittingham and Gray into a series of fixtures, as we have previously discussed on this blog, that are kind, including 3 home games (for the 4th best home team in the league) and away fixtures against poor home teams in Watford and Burnley. This was the start of this team fulfilling their potential - building to a season defining derby against Southampton.

The players were rightly booed, (although i wasnt quite ready to join in the chants of your not fit to wear the shirt) and the Pompey fans (who were vocal and numerous) had to entertain themselves with songs of past achievements, this current team do not look like giving us anything to sing about.

I know Liam Lawrence has his critics - his effort levels can be questioned, but his quality is vital for this team - i felt he was missed today. Tactically Appleton has decisions to make. It seems to be that our team has an imbalance of wingers (Erik, Varney and Lawrence - could young Williams be used as a catalyst?) we need to utilise them. Its also damning that to be Kanu seems to be our best attacking threat at present - Benjani looks slow and was offside about a gazzillion times in his second half performance.

How much blame should Appleton take? well its only one week in, we cant blame him but equally if we had won, the papers would have credited his influence with the first away win of the season, therefore this lack of reaction from players, this lack of motivation, the lack of a plan b, has to be at least partially parked at his door. Hypothetically, would this have happened with OGS in charge? there is part of me that thinks not, the players surely would have given him more.

His appointment is easily questioned. He needs to solicit a reaction on Saturday and repay the faith of the board.

Anyway im going to get on with my Saturday night! Lets keep the faith and hope my family members will forgive me my attendance of todays debacle in lieu of them getting quality Christmas presents.

Good luck Mr Appleton...

On October 14th a man departed an important institution under a cloud, a decision that had great potential ramifications for the city of Portsmouth. But as Liam Fox left his position as Defence secretary he was replaced within hours. Meanwhile on the south coast Steve Cotterill left Pompey, however unlike the smooth transition of one of the Governments most important ministries, it has taken until today, 10^th November for Pompey to replace their man. I tweeted just after Cotterill's departure hat the new managerial appointment would be a clear indication of CSI's ambition. Well Appleton's appointment, although a relief, is probably more negative than positive.

I have no special sources at the club, but this is what I think we can say about the managerial search. Lampitt stated on the football league show that the club had identified a short-list in the days after Cotterill's departure and had stuck to it over the past three weeks. He claims the club had over 50 applications but again noted that some of these had been 'more serious than others' (As an aside a friend and I once applied for the England job off our Champ Man Cvs and got a very polite rebuttal clarifying that European experience was a pre-requisite – I wonder if Lampitt would have included this in his 50?) He also clarified at the start of the search that the manager had to have Championship experience and 'understand' Portsmouth.

We know that 'fans favourite' Dave Jones was interested but never interviewed. Sean O'Driscoll was interviewed but then waited two weeks without an answer, Coppell was interviewed and seemingly rejected before finally compensation for Appleton was agreed. However I think we must acknowledge that the clubs first choice (at least) rejected the club – this is the best explanation for the delay and I can only speculate but this is probably a negative sign of ambition and or resources. If a manager is interested enough to speak to the club but then rejects the deal – the budget / ambition must be questionable. The three week delay implies that this may have happened more than once which would be worrying – the People (not the worlds most reputable source) has claimed the sticking point for other managers has been the wages – with Pompey only offering £2,000 pw.

The club have been criticised by some for not making an appointment sooner. But I dont know why, other than fans impatience. The caretaker managers have done a good job (in their six matches in charge Pompey average 1.8 points per game as opposed to SC 0.8 in the preceding 10 games). The international break is also a useful natural break in the season for a new man to come in.

As for Appleton he is an unknown quantity. I asked the nice fold at baggiesblog.co.uk about him. They pointed out that he has steadily risen through WBA's coaching ranks and Woy could have easily replaced him with someone he was more familiar with, but he chose to keep him, and that is a promising endorsement from a man well respected in the football world. But I have previously spoken about the need for excitement to be injected into Fratton Park and Appleton's appointment would not automatically bring that in the same way as the other inexperienced candidate OGS would have. However the fixture list has been relatively kind, the upcoming games include three home games out of the next five and Pompey have the 4^th best home record in the Championship. The Southampton game is on the horizon. Victory there would buy him a lot of credit. Before that he has home games against managerless Leicester and 21^st placed Coventry currently second bottom in the form table and the only club with a worse league away record than Pompey having scored 4 goals away in 8 games. The away games are against 18^th placed Burnley who have won 2 of their 8 home games this year and 21^st placed Watford who have won 3 of 8. These games are eminently winnable. Whittingham and Grey have given him some momentum and a new manager 'bounce' could see us looking in a much healthier position in time for the scum which will be a lottery of a game.

Either which way im glad its sorted. Let the next chapter commence...

The wait goes on, but im ready to declare...I want Solskjaer

The wait continues. To be honest, its a bit odd. Three weeks now and no manager. Bets have stopped being taken. But no appointment has been made. A new managerial appointment is always very important – but this one especially so, it will force the cagey CSI to reveal their hand in terms of ambition and finance.

It seemed that Sean O'Driscoll was going to be appointed. Evidently he is not first choice, if he was he would have been announced long ago and the longer the wait goes on the more his future credibility is undermined. He is not a name I get instantly excited about but I am encouraged by the comments of Donny Rovers blogger Keep the Faith after I asked him for his views. He believes S O'D was the best manager in their history and did not deserve the sack. But he warns that his approach needs time – time that his relatively low profile is unlikely to afford him if he does not have a good start. An additional concern is his review of S O'D's media approach that is described as brutally honest and rarely optimistic – this could be a refreshing approach – but when Pompey fans are looking towards years of rebuilding, is this what we need?

More positive is his approach to tactics – he seems to be relatively experimental and willing to change formations during the course of the game, which would be different to the rigidity of Cotterill.

He turned down the Sheff Utd job because he wanted to stay loyal to Doncaster, he was considered for Burnley, Notts F and Bristol C and his popularity at Donny seems unlikely for a sacked manager and his teams play good football. I dont think he would be a bad choice.

BUT the other option seems to be Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He has just won the league title with Molde of Norway. Their first ever. Sir Alex has come out this week saying he always knew he'd be a top manager and explained how he always used to make copious notes at training and during matches for his future managerial career. However Sir Alex has warned him not to come back to England too soon and Norwegian football pundit Jan Age Fjortoft told this blog two weeks ago he expected him to stay in Norway. However if I had a choice out of the two, I would go with OGS.

Why? Well Pompey are in the doldrums. It doesnt matter which way you look at it, the Premier league hangover remains. The average attendance this year is 13,654, 17^th in the Championship down from 15,701 last year (13^th in the championship) the atmosphere at Fratton is flat and the inability to instantly sell out for the Pompey Scum game is worrying. I would appoint OGS for the boost he would give the club. For the excitement he would generate. A flippant example of this profile is in researching this article I looked up both SOD and OGS, I dont need to tell you which one was featured in articles by such luminaries as Henry Winter. Get him in charge, give us something to be excited about ( also like the idea of a link to United for loan deals) and lets push on. It may seem a strange thing to make the decision on, but both would be a gamble, so lets go for the exciting gamble!

Having said all that the delay indicates we might be about to be hit with a curve ball, perhaps even a Director of football coach arrangement, that would make me very happy!

N.B – Good fun at Palace last night – good to see some original (ish) chants, the persistent Dave Kitson chant to the tune of Cant take my eyes off you:

'oh David Kitson, you are the love of my life, oh David Kitson, I'd let you shag my wife, oh David Kitson, I want Ginger hair tooooooooooooooo

and my favourite (stolen from Liverpool re Maxi - )

Varney, Super Luke Varney runs down the wing for you, do do, do do do, do do, do do do

How to be a Pompey legend

The manager debate goes on. Who should get the job a safe pair of experienced hands or an exciting young football hero like Ole Gunnar? Lampitt has today discussed the importance of understanding Pompey , so could it be Prosi, could Kit Symonds get involved. As I've previously noted I think the cause of Pompey apathy at the moment is the realisation that our golden era is over and probably won't return. We have just lived through the second finest period in the clubs history but how many of the cup winning team would be described as fans favourites? Sol? Glenn? Niko? I'm not sure. But it did get me thinking what makes a player a fans favourite? It seems to me to be two broad categories, player attributes and human characteristics. However I think on top of all this a good catchy chant elevates players in fans consciousness almost as much as any skill level, which could explain the current dearth.

Human Characteristics

Local

The easiest way to the fans hearts is to be local. Luke Nightingale was given cracking support not only because of his two goal debut against the baggies but also his Milton roots. Joel Ward has got great potential and here's hoping he fulfils it. There is another blog to be written about Pompeys recent youth team policy and how Alex Oxdy Chamberlain probably could have been ours, but the fact remains there have been precious few examples of Portsmoothians wearing the star and crescent. To a lesser extent nonlocal youth team products benefit from the same bump start of popularity and there are more recent examples, Wilson, Cifti, Ryan Williams - but I think you have to go back to O'Neil to be the last with any longevity.

Loyalty

Player longevity is no guarantee of affection. But it helps especially if combined with consistent performances because this combination would lead to loyalty as longterm consistent performance would lead to interest from other clubs. Alan Knight is the simplest and finest example of this.

Personality

Football is a human, personality based tribal affair. Fans warm to people they like or can emphasise with. Linvoy Primus is the text book example - but also one of the strangest, a combination of annual improving performance and, seemingly his community based work founded in his Christianity. Marwell de Zeuw's stoic refusal to react to Diouf spitting in his face also received plaudits. But then again these personal traits do not have to be virtuous - Johnny Larger's attitude and lifestyle were easier for most to understand.

For all of these personality based traits they have to be combined with ability. For example Yoshi Kawaguchi's sunny disposition was not enough to maintain longterm support as his attempts to applaud the faithful after the 4 - 1 home defeat to Orient proved although it probably did gain him more time.

Player attributes

Aggression

Fans like nothing more than a crunching tackle. It shows commitment and that is what the average fan wants - it's the least the players can give them for their wages and ongoing support. But again Pompey are strangely lacking this at present. Brown, Davies, Hughes, Mendez, Diarra were brilliant examples but i used to enjoy the hatchet men of Vlachos, Thorgeson, Khul. There is also the derivative category of the attacking player willing to run and haphazardly tackle - an attribute that separates fan favourite matt Taylor from the more talented but less energetic Kranjcar.

Pace

Similarly a player with great pace always goes down well. Be it Jimmy 'Sanjay' Carter or Paul Hall or Courtney Pitt who the news always prefixed in their articles with the phrase 'fan's favourite'! Nothing excites the fans more than the simplicity of a surge of pace to beat a man - and that's why the fans are happy to see Ryan Williams' cameo performances.

Goals

The simplest way to the fans hearts is to score goals, as goals wins games. Creany, Whittingham, Toddy - unfortunately this situation is currently vacant in the team.

Having said all that there is a great degree of personal preference in favourites in all honesty creative footballers have always been my idols, there is a degree to which defending can be taught, but you can not teach the vision of Niko or the trickery of Prosi.

Any which way we could do with a unifying figure at the club at the moment to build the excitement levels at the park.

Jan Aage Fjortoft Doesnt think OGS will come to Fratton

@wswu to JanAageFjortoft: Solskjaer to Pompey to join Riise and Huselklepp? any thoughts?

JanAageFjortoft to @wswu: cant c it happening now Will stay in Molde

He works as a broadcaster in Norway now so may have some insight

The shame of a Pompey fan

I never thought I'd see the day Pompey won the FA cup. There are 25 players who have got FA cup winners medals. 189,244 people have watched Pompey live win the FA cup and I am proud to have been one of those people. I know it's easy for fans of their local team to deride glory hunters - but I also know that Man Utd fans from Kent will not get a 100th of the enjoyment I got from that day in May when an arbitrarily chosen team wins their umpteenth trophy. As a school boy I was one of two Pompey fans in my year. Even lads who went regularly to Fratton Park would claim a premier league club as their team. To have been loyal made the day feel like a deserved reward. I received messages from many of my friends from all over the world congratulating me personally - of course i hadnt contributed but at the same time it felt like a personal victory. When I was growing up at every birthday blow of candle I would make my private wish - I pray Pompey win the FA cup ( even then I had managed my limitations!) it's the day dreams came true.

But there is part of me that feels that this glorious day was sullied a little by the aftermath, and the administration that followed. A view that is evidently shared by other fans (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou5XWta1_ZY - adult content included, as well as incorrect assumption 'they try to buy success and failed' well we didnt fail but anyway) and pundits (http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/stan-collymore/Stan-Collymore-column-Why-cheating-Portsmouth-should-be-stripped-of-their-place-in-the-FA-Cup-plus-Hull-s-dream-has-turned-into-a-nightmare-article405029.html) a like. Did we do anything that Chelsea, Man City, even Man u have not done before us? The only difference is our money ran out?

Actually i'd argue that the same thing happened to Leeds, Sheffield wed, Charlton, Scum but they sank further for longer and didn't actually win anything. So Pompey were lucky?! Other clubs who go into administration get the sympathy of other fans, but we won something and our descent seems to have been brief (within 6 months we were signing premier quality players in Lawrence and Kitson) I feel like the reaction against Pompey was at least partially jealousy from our day in the sun as a Wigan fan, a baggie, a wolves fan, they work hard year on year but never actually win anything, ask any fan of these clubs would they take 10 yrs in the championship for an FA cup win, i dont know what the answer would be but i would take it - i dont think i would swap our day for anything. Why didn't we sink down leagues like Leeds, Wednesday etc? Mainly because of the quality management of 'Arry (see previous blog - http://whensolwentup.blogspot.com/2011/09/harry-redknapp-case-for-defence.html) - so should we feel guilty? should we have been punished more? Well i guess those decisions arent ours to make.

That day wasn't prefect but I will never be ashamed, I love it that I can honestly chant: When Sol went up to lift the FA Cup, I was there.

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What Next?

The Demise of Steve Cotterill

So Cotterill has jumped ship. Seemingly not at his request but because the club agreed a deal to let him go. This seems to be a good deal for all parties. The club get some money and remove a manager that was becoming increasingly unpopular with fans and Cotterill gets to start anew with his reputation undamaged and maybe even improved (Sky sports described him as 'one of the countries brightest young managers') after an average spell at Fratton Park. I thought CSI's statement was interesting with a couple slightly snide comments alluding to their dissatisfaction with Cotterill's performance ensuring this would not be viewed as a big club poaching a manager.

So who is correct the Forest board or the Fratton End? I think his tenure will be viewed in time as a success. He came when the club was on it's knees, with a skeleton squad. Over the season he lost the clubs two most expensive players (Utaka and Nugent) was not able to play TBH, Brown or Hughes. Yet the club went on a record breaking run and was in with a credible chance of an unlikely play off place. His signings have been good. I still think Wilson for Kitson and Lawrence plus cash was a great deal, Varney and the Viking look good and Halford and Pearce have the potential to be a Symons/Awford-esque centre back partnership. However the start to this season has been poor and the fans had began to turn. Long-ball one up front tactics are acceptable as long as you are winning but Pompey were not.

There is the real potential that he will be Pulis #2 a good manager but not liked at the Park. I'm probably in the minority but I wish him the best.

But what to do now? Well I've already written at length about how I would implement a radical new General Manager / Director of Football approach - but failing that the new appointment will force the new owners to show their hand and wallet. They've done nothing wrong yet, but you would hardly call them transparent however they will only be able to attract a quality manager with certain budgetary reassurances. Potential managers can be categorised in three groups:

1) Top draw: O'Neil, Benetiz - would send a massive signal as they would only come if money was offered

2) Championship level: Davies, Curbishley - the sort of manager who would only come to a mid-to-top half side

3) Inexperienced: O'driscell, Bradbury, whittingham/Grey - this would be worrying but Lampitt has already commented that this will be a good opportunity for new blood, making a Grey/whittingham appointment unlikely.

I think the most likely is a middle ground appointment a Grant or Strachan who are probably the lower end of category 2, Strachan has lived in the area and Grant has some good will from his FA Cup run and dictatorial 'they can't take our spirit' this would placate but not excite the fans. And right now that's what the club and it's dwindling attendances needs.

We shall wait and see. A spanking by Barnsley would probably put an end to Grays / Whittinghams chances. But on Monday it will be time for Lampitt to earn his money and CSI to start showing theirs.

Off his face Portsmouth FC fan "Pompey till i Die"

Pompey - a new approach?

So after the dismissal of Keith Mullen and McClaren leaving the city ground, Cotterill is the next favourite for the boot. But then what? Dave Jones? Billy Davis? I remember when Cotterill was appointed he was a popular choice - he had done a good job at Notts C, his record at Cheltenham was remarkable and he built the foundations for Burnley's promotion - when it became apparent he was going to be appointed I dont remember there being an outcry of complaints.

But now his demise is being called for increasing numbers of fans. The average Championship manager is in post for less than a year and according to the albeit vested interest of the LMA a sacking will cost the club around 99m http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/15159931.stm but the ramifications go further than financial, not least in terms of the squad. The new manager might have a different focus than on attacking wide midfielders and all of a sudden the squad containing Varney, Lawrence, the Viking, Risse and Williams looks increasingly unbalanced. For the gambles Cotterill has made, like Fuctas, the future is even more uncertain. So there is more turnover, more churn and we write off the rest of the season as reconstruction. If the new manager has a poor start to next season we are in the same place yet again.

So whats the answer? More patience with managers? well no, not unblinkered trust. The patience needed to weather the storms of dodgy spells has to be earned. I favour a more radical approach and i think Pompey are in a good position to try it.

Successful football teams have continuity. But continuity only comes with success. Man Utd, and until this season Arsenal have built their success on having the best manager, but these are hard to find and harder still to attract to the South Coast and harder still to retain once their success becomes evident. But there are other models of success in Barca, and probably more relevantly, Swansea.

These clubs build a culture, a footballing philosophy independent of their manager, led by a consistent back room staf and an overseeing general manager (or director of football) Choose a formation, every team from the youngest youth teams to the first team play the formation. The squads are based on Mourinho's rule of a 24 man squad http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/6638377.stm 2 players for every position, an extra keeper and a youth squad member gaining experience. Any new signings lead to the departure of another player.

The manager or head coach comes in accepting these parameters. Surely we wouldn't be able to attract an established manager? But do we really need an ex-pro? The examples of head coaches without footballing experience are mounting, scour the world for a young smart individual to be head coach. I recently was in the US and heard an interview of a college football coach, their first meeting during the week is at 630am, they work all day before a 10pm wrap-up meeting. We might not need this but we can certainly set the standard. There is a fantastic book, Moneyball (about to be made into a film starring Brad Pitt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4QPVo0UIzc) about Billy Beane the manager of the Oakland A's baseball team, one of the poorest sides in the US, but by re-examining perceived wisdom of what makes a good baseball player he had incredible results - I want Pompey to be the blueprint.

The results would not be instant, or even quick and not guaranteed. So Pompey would need the fans onboard, but with good communication this can happen. I completely agree with Mike Hall's excellent blog article http://www.fansonline.net/pompey-fans/article.php?id=358 he discusses the fact we have no leader on the pitch, a lack of character for the fans to get behind. I broadly agree (although I hope Halford and Pearce can be that bedrock) but i think the current apathy goes further. If we are honest football wise Pompey are going to struggle to beat the last decade, I think consciously or subconsciously Pompey fans know this, for many fans this doesnt matter but the crowds this year suggest for some it does.

Lets make Pompey a team to be proud of again. The example of how to run a club. Perhaps invite all season ticket holders to a Q&A session where the club could explain the new approach. The general manager / DoF has a weekly hour long phone in session to keep fans up to date and answer their questions. The club, via e-mail asks Season Ticket holders to vote on how the club does certain things, such as pre-game entertainment. Get everyone involved and lets go on another football adventure, like the one started that night vs Stockport, or 'Arry's promotion season, or Mendez's volley.

Well thats what i'd do if i was in charge!

Stat attack - Pompey underperforming

Before you read this i want you to know that sometimes I get bored at my job. Really bored. Right...

Stats back it up – Pompey are underperforming...

Before the game against ‘boro Ferguson made a claim that a number of managers have made before him - Pompey's squad is as strong as any in the league. I think this is the core argument of the Cotterill out campaign, the squad is good and experienced and is much better than current results suggest. When I looked at the team sheets on Tue night it is difficult to argue that Pompey had a weaker team. If you have faith in football managers, scouts, general analysis there is a basic hypothesis that the best players play in the premier league - so I had a look at the stats. Pompey's starting 11 had 464 starting premier league appearance between them:

Ashdown 38

Ward 1

Halford 22

TBH 133

Lawrence 51

Mullins 123

Riise 5

Benjani 90

Of course there are a lot other components that feed into whether or not a team is succesful other than if their players have been given a chance in the Premier leage. But the experience of players at the highest level is as good as any other relatively arbitary measure of the strength of a squad.

I did a comparison with the other championship teams for the starting 11s for the last round of games.  As i had already done the research I also looked at clubs relative positions compared to where there premier league experience indicates they should be:

			Division by total premier league appearance of last starting 11			Current table		Team over / under performance
	1		WHU	1253		Scum		Derby	+19
	2		Brum	883		Boro		Scum	+19
	3		Ipswich	792		Derby		Peterborough	+16
	4		Bristol C	579		WHU		Middlesboro	+12
	5		Leicester	508		Brighton		Palace	+8
	6		Blackpool	480		Cardiff		Leeds	+7
	7		Pompey	460		Hull		Brighton	+7
	8		Forest	347		Peterborough		Cardiff	+7
	9		Donny	309		Palace		Reading	+5
	10		Watford	168		Blackpool		Hull	+4
	11		Hull	137		Leicester		Milwall	+1
	12		Brighton	126		Ipswich		Barnsley	-2
	13		Cardiff	121		Leeds		Coventry	-3
	14		Middleboro	118		Reading		Burnley	-3
	15		Burnley	107		Watford		WHU	-3
	16		Barnsley	49		Burnley		Blackpool	-4
	17		Palace	48		Pompey		Watford	-5
	18		Coventry	37		Barnsley		Leicester	-6
	19		Reading	35		Birmingham		Ipswich	-9
	20		Leeds	35		Notts f		Pompey	-10
	21		Scum	28		Coventry		Notts f	-12
	22		Derby	11		Millwall		Doncaster	-13
	23		Milwall	8		Bristol		Birmingham	-17
	24		Peterborough	0		Doncaster		Bristol	-19

What does this tell us? Well it tells us that Pompey are not doing as well as they should be (with the huge caveat of this of course not being the only indication of how a team should be doing).  The teams who are doing even worse than Pompey include Brisol City and Doncaster whose Premier league experience is horribly skewed by their goalkeepers. Without David James Bristol City have just 8 premier league games experience, which would put them about where they should be in the league, similarly without Neil Sullivan’s 246 games in the premier league Doncaster would have 63 premier league games experience and would be above Pompey in the team under performance league, Brum have two games in hand.

Anyway before i get tied up in stats I shall conclude I still feel Cotteril should be given more time, i felt they werent far off on Tuesday, although along with the rest of Fratton Park my patience is wearing thin. The next two home games are Barnsley and Doncaster, anything less than 4 points should surely see the end of Cotteril. The stats here also back up my opening sentiment – sometimes my day job is boring enough for me to consider spending my time doing this.

Pyschology of support

Tuesday night was strange. I thought Pompey played ok, in fact when Pompey went 2-1 down I was confident enough to put a cheeky fiver on us winning 4-2. There was a 15 mins period in the second half when we battered boro and my money should have been safe. But alas.

The team was let down especially by two poor performances from Ashdown and Ward. Cotterill is quite right to point out that teams win together and lose together. But i think the fans reaction to those players is very different. My pop pyschologist mind wonders if Pompey players have ever disassociated Ashdown from his history at the club. Instead of being rewarded for longevity of service he is under-appreciated because he wasnt good enough when James was at the club, he wasnt good enough when Asmir was at the club, so why is he good enough now? Ward however is given extra credit because of his place of birth, and I am all for that, fans love nothing more than a local boy, and one who works hard at that.

Either which way, both need to up their game to retain their places in the team.