New Website www.wswu.co.uk

Hi! thanks to all our readers we have now moved to our own site www.wswu.co.uk, come join us over there. PLAY UP POMPEY

Chainrai or bust? Its plan B for me

Im no financial expert, I have read as much as I can to understand the situation at Pompey. I'd love anyone who knows more or can correct any of the below i'd love to hear from you.

So Chainrai has burst back on to the scene, as a potential saviour of the club. The reaction from some seems to be vitriolic. Well lets examine how he got involved in the club. When no-one else would loan Pompey any cash Chainrai would. This was of course not altruistic, he is a businessman with no emotional ties to Pompey. He is involved in the club to make profit. I dont know much about liquidation law, but surely he is less likely to get his investment back if the club folds? But he doesnt care as long as he gets his cash back. I dont begrudge him that. He is a businessman, and he made a loan that was obviously risky at the time (why else would the banks not loan us cash) it went wrong so now he is attempting to get back his investment – I dont see him as much of a villain as others (although have a look at my favourite Pompey writer SJ Maskell's excellent article to see why you might)

If, and its a big if, Chainrai's involvement can save the club from going into liquidation, what happens next? He does not want the club, he just wants his money. So presumably he does one of two things he sells the clubs assets and winds it up or he sells it on.

Picture the scenario he steadies the ship but Pompey are relegated he then finds from somewhere someone to buy the club. Lets say for arguments sake he is the stereotypical buyer of a championship club, say a Latvian millionaire, business investments in the states, 17^th richest man in Latvia wealth estimated to be £200m, he has had a couple of business fail, and there was that investment in Austria that he was accused of avoiding the taxman, but he denies any wrong-doing. He then puts £5m into the club, talks of increased discussions with the fans and Pompey start league 1 4^th favourites for promotion, as the managers of other clubs talk of our premier league experience as Hayden Mullins, TBH and Ashdown stay at the club. Gaydamark owns the land around Fratton Park, Chainrai is owned £17m and local businesses and charities are ripped off being repaid 3p in a £. The Pompey trust promise to do as much as possible to get a seat on the board and early conversations are positive. But as the year goes on Pompey fans being to forget the debt surrounding the club and settle into supporting their team once more, this chap doesnt seem so bad.

This is where and why I increasingly think Plan B is the way forward. This period of ownership has tainted our club and has demoralised the fans. Other fans look on us as a representation of all that is wrong with football currently and I am a bit sick that my club is the manifestation of this negativity, what is most likely to happen is Pompey get towards some sort of ugly status quo.

If I am being brutally honest, and I know this will not go down well with many fans, it is never going to be as good as it was in 2008, we are never going to have a team better than the Diarra, Johnson, Muntari, James, Playing Milan and winning the FA cup. We will keep going and we will love watching our team. Football is an unsustainable luxury, both for owners, the banks who loan them money and the supporters who are struggling in the economic climate. Within 5 years it wouldnt surprise me if a number of teams went under, the new Portsmouth football club (who incidentally I would just call Pompey) could be the trend setter, we could lead the way and join AFC Wimbledon and FC United as a club run by the fans and respected by other supporters, rather than watching a club flirting between Championship and league one, reminiscing about the late 2000s and always being associated with financial mismanagement.

It would be an exciting new adventure. Football is littered with clubs who have replaced previous clubs, who have morphed and changed names of clubs but have absorbed their histories, Woolwich Arsenal, Newton Heath and Pompey's predecessors the Royal Artillery Football Club just a number of examples. Having said all that, I would never want a Plan B team setup in an attempt to compete with a Chainrai owner Portsmouth FC. I say other than a rich Portsmouth fan buying the club, agreeing to a small percentage of fan ownership and much clearer accountability, I will never trust owners again and that will surely only damage my relationship with the club and the team. If you read Maskell's article and the interconnectedness of all of the dubious owners, management and administrators, it will only depress you more. I will always be a Pompey fan and I struggle to see a time when I wont watch the team, but in answer to administrator Birch's question Pompey or bust? I love our history and dont want to throw it away, but I am increasingly leaning towards bust.  

Going, going...

My days it is looking bleak isnt it?

Unfortunately we have a lot of experience of this situation and this seems worse than previously. Maybe our new administrator is just more realistic than Admin Andy, but Mr Birch is all over the media saying we are in real trouble, adding to that Appleton's statement that we may need to loan out further first team players and then even the self-publicist Howe saying Pompey are simply not a viable financial option. If players are loaned out then the chances of us staying up is even lower, if we are in league one surely there is even fewer chance of us getting a new owner.

I know this is a time for solidarity. Indeed some of the Pompey trust members were frustrated with our last article being vaguely critical of their actions. But i will reiterate Pompey fans now need to focus on Plan B. We can not afford Plan A, we can still await our knight in shinning armour, but lets starting focusing on that and letting Mr Birch keep up his search for a new owner.

I really hope that comes to pass, because the club feels incredibly cohesive at the moment. After the years of success there was inevitably a distance between the Pompey fans and the millionaires on the pitch, but in the years of Twitter and Captain Liam Lawrence leading the way in attempting to help the club out, and with Michael Appleton saying all the right things and having a very positive but difficult start to his managerial career - there is a nucleus of a good team. Lets get the club bought and get out of this mess and look at next season.

1. Pompey saved my bacon

Perhaps the most inappropriate title ever, but Tony Restall's support of Pompey may have saved his life. He was working for the EU in Yemen. he and his bodyguard were dragged from their car by gun totting bandits who proceeded to rough the pair up until one observant hoodlum spotted the famous moon and crescent of Portsmouth FC - but his visual skills were far superior to his knowledge of English football and he misinterpreted the crest as an indication of Restall's Muslim faith. The evidently resourceful Pompey fan then blagged his way out of the situation convincing his aggressors that he was a white Muslim who was working for Islamic welfare in the country. I think Pompey are superior to Southampton in many ways, but I'd wager that even the most ardent scummer would admit being a Pompey fan would be preferable to being a saint in this situation! Interestingly the supposed reason why Pompey has the crest is that Richard the lion heart's fiancé was kidnapped by a Cypriot prince named Isaac. On one of his crusades Richard stopped off to free his beloved and as he defeated Issac was entitled to take his coat of arms, a blue flag with a yellow moon and crescent. On his return Richard gave the crest to the newly formed city of Portsmouth, a conurbation he was fond of, having spent a fortnight of the seven months he actually spent on the British isles, on Portsea island. However the Yemenese bandits were wrong to automatically associate the moon and crescent with their religion, the symbol predates the rise of Islam. So there.

2. Jack Tinn's lucky spatts

Jack Tinn took over Pompey in 1927. He took Pompey to THREE FA Cup finals, of course winning the cup in 1939. He left the club two decades later in 1947, so is credited as the man who built the foundations for the title winning teams.

The victory in 1939 bought the players a bonus of twenty pounds, apparently less than the pre-match band were paid for their contribution to the days entertainment.  And who did they have to thank for this windfall? well according to their gaffer at the time, it was all due to his lucky spatts. Not his post-match press conference clashes with journalists but curious sounding fabric shoe protectors which covered the ankles and some of the instep. But for whatever reason ol'Jack Tinn thought they bought him luck. As one of the most successful managers in Pompey's history who am i to argue?

Not that he was only superstitious member of the team. Winger Jimmy Guthrie had FIVE lucky charms. And he was a real devote to superstition because all of them made there way on to the pitch with him, a small horseshoe in his pocket, a sprig of white heather down each sock, a small white elephant tied to a garter and a lucky sixpence in his boot!

Pompey fans can only afford Plan B

First of all let me say hats off to the Pompey trust. They are working hard and all off their own back, im pleased there are people out there who are willing to give up their own time to try to ensure our club survive.

Everything I write below must be seen in the context of the above.

But here is my problem with the idea of fans ownership. They are two fold.

We dont have enough fans, with enough money, for the club to be competitive. Lets be honest, we get around 12-14,000 fans to a home game. I know there are people who say they dont want to go because they dont know where the money is going. But i dont buy it. Of those 12-14,000 lets say half of them are seriously hard-core devoted fans. I count myself as one of them. I earn just over £24,000 pa. After tax, rent, bills etc i have around £1,000 per month disposable income. How much would i be ready to be able to give to the Pompey trust? Maybe £500 a year?

The average wage of a UK person is £20,800 pa. I would bet the average wage of the 6,000 odd devoted fans is lower than that. But even if all 6,000 donated £500 pa that would give the club 3,000,000 pa. Which is not enough to run a championship club. To get more finance into the club we would have to ask the wealthier fans to invest more. What do they get for their additional investment? Then you get into massive complications of two-tiered ownership.

Secondly, I already own Portsmouth football club and I already pay for that ownership. I dont really care who is chairman, the club is the fans we are the only constant. I pay a great deal to support and follow the team. Now, through no fault of our own we are now being asked for more money. I already  struggle to justify my expenditure on Pompey to my girlfriend. What do i get for my contribution? I know this might seem selfish, but its true.

The only way fan ownership can be beneficial is if 'plan b' comes into effect. Then all of a sudden we are a well backed non-league team both financially and in terms of support. We could then re-start the club in the way we want it to be run. Then if it is successful and other investment wants to come in the future, we can build safeguards into the deal to ensure we never ever have to go through this again.

If i was the trust, i would focus solely on Plan B. Can we really afford to buy and run the club under Plan A?


A couple of criticisms of the Trust - they are minor, and they should be seen in context of praise that we opened this article with.

I am concerned by what i perceive to be a lack of focus. In the interim between the two crisis, i.e. the CSI period the Trust began to take the form of another supporters group - writing on things like Police videoing of fans and writing at length about the 'bubbling' of fans.  There is a whole section on whether or not trust members should get membership cards and whether or not these should be dated. The trust should be focused on one thing - getting fans representation at the club either through complete ownership or as a board member, they cant get distracted by other things, they have a big enough task on their hands.

Secondly there is an unprofessional slant to some of the Trust communications. They contain spelling mistakes, there are unpopulated sections of the website. This might seem pernickety, but the trust and its board are asking us to put our faith in them, to give them our money and to support them as a representation of the fans with something we hold dear, our football club.

Pompey Pool, alls well on the pitch at least

I know our Pompey world is once again collapsing around our ears, but i thought i would take 5 mins to write about how the team is doing on the pitch after re-watching it on TV yesterday (yes i know).


The performance at Blackpool was quality, against a team who were undefeated in 8 games who hadn't been beaten at home since October.  Erik and Marko seem to be a good combination up front save for Erik's finishing. 


There is still room for improvement in the team, despite the tiny resources available to us. Halford does not seem to be able to contribute as much going forward at present, i dont know if this about his switch to the left or perhaps Appleton has asked the full-backs to sit back a little more, especially away.  I dont know if Lawrence is best utilised in the middle of the park. Actually i wonder if he would be best placed behind the frontman, but Erik seems to be doing this well at present. When / if Norris and Varney get back to full fitness Norris can come into midfield and then i would personally put Lawrence out wide in place of Ward who i am still not entirely convinced by. Varney can then compete for Erik and Kelvins place.


The defence has been threatening to be a solid unit all season, Pompey have only conceded more than one goal once since November. We have the joint second best home defence in the league (10 goals in 13 games) the team is in good shape.


I did not think Blackpool looked bad, especially in the first 20 mins. Lualua (who it was great to see) looked sparky, although he may have slightly been defeated by the bobbly pitch. They had a good shape, but we created at least 4 goals scoring opportunities, which must have been concerning. I felt they were saved by a great freekick. During the game the Blackpool fans seemed to be getting on the back of the referee, i dont think he had an awful game. Rewatching it he made one bad error in the middle of the pitch by giving LuaLua an advantage and not pulling it back when the advantage did not develop but other than that i thought Blackpool fans were scapegoating him in lieu of a positive performance from their team.


A great deal has been written about the fans on the night who were fantastic. I genuinely think Pompey fans are among the best in the country. However I think even Pompey fans were struggling to get behind the club because of the number of times we have been hit by events off the pitch. But in Appleton the team are bringing some pride, the refusal of some of our best young players to leave and our backs properly against the wall it looks like the fans are rallying behind the call.


An evening game against a team who failed to take our team apart, a couple of days after a good away performance from the fans? Stockport mark two anyone.


PLAY UP POMPEY

Preview to Blackpool game

WSWU contributed to this preview featured on http://upthepool.blogspot.com/

Forethoughts on... Blackpool vs. Portsmouth

Blackpool will be looking to extend their recent run of good form in front of the Sky television cameras as they welcome troubled Portsmouth to Bloomfield Road. Here's your match preview:

1. The Last Meeting

Blackpool and Portsmouth last met back in September at Fratton Park, in what was their first league meeting for 30 years. That day Pompey ran out 1-0 winners courtesy of a stoppage time goal from Erik Huseklepp. It was a game that Blackpool had easily the better of, but failed to convert their best chances before succumbing to a heartbreaking late goal. The man who took a portion of the blame was Matt Phillips, who spurned two very good opportunities - incredible to think that was fewer than five months ago given his dazzling form lately.

Tom Ince was the one who impressed on the South Coast making his first league start, appearing comfortable with the ball at his feet and always a threat for the Portsmouth defence. Yet whereas Phillips has gone from strength to strength since returning from his loan spell at Bramall Lane, Ince has gone backwards slightly and could drop out of the side for this weekend with a glut of other attacking options open to Ian Holloway.

Another curious difference from the last encounter between the two sides was the make up of Blackpool's substitutes - Mark Halstead, James Hurst, Hill and Daniel Bogdanovic were all on the 'Pool bench alongside Ludo Sylvestre. Ian Holloway has decided against having a goalkeeper on the bench since the departure of Mark Howard, James Hurst is currently involved in a relegation battle on loan at Chesterfield, Hill hasn't been seen since his performance at West Ham, while Rochdale opted not to extend the loan of Bogdanovic. The strength of Blackpool's bench for the return fixture will demonstrate just how far the Seasiders have come since then.

2. How They Play

I asked the good people over at When Sol Went Up for their inside knowledge of Portsmouth. Here's their view:

Pompey have flitted between 4-5-1 and 4-4-2 all season, although Michael Appleton seems to be playing a 4-4-1-1 of late. By virtue of the tiny squad (the smallest in the league and the second smallest in the Football League), there are not many significant selection dilemmas, other than up front - Portsmouth haven't scored enough goals this season so are still searching for the best striker combination. Considering the squad issues, Pompey have a number of relatively recognisable options, namely Benjani, Kanu and Dave Kitson - but they are all out of favour at present because Marco Futacs, a young 6ft+ Hungarian has been scoring goals (three goals in six games, a total Kitson has managed in 18 starts).

The next question is who plays in the supporting role - at present Erik Huseklepp the Norwegian striker (who starred in this comical fruit advert) who has shown flashes of quality, but has been frustratingly inconsistent, currently holds the position. The midfield is fairly steady, and David Norris will return having served a recent suspension. He will play alongside Liam Lawrence and Hayden Mullins who both have significant Premier League experience. The other choice to be made is who to drop for Norris - either Kelvin Etuhu (a former Manchester City trainee who was released following a stint in prison following an assault who signed on a free transfer and seems to be doing OK as a strong midfield presence) or Joel Ward a local lad, 20 yrs old and a utility player who was subject to a transfer deadline day bid from Ipswich Town.

There are no choices to be made in defence. Greg Halford will play at right back, Jason Pearce and Ricardo Rocha in the middle and Ben Tal Haim at left back. The defence is solid, the midfield experienced and the current strike partnership youthful and willing. As Blackpool fans you will recognise a number, if not most, Portsmouth players, but the squad has very limited depth and at the moment the club is in turmoil with the financial situation coming to a head (£1.6m is needed by 20th February) with the players and staff unpaid last month. The motivation of the players is the greatest concern, along with awful away form - with just two wins on the road all season, Pompey will go into the game as underdogs.

3. The Key Men

Blackpool - Matt Phillips

Phillips Jnr. is the man everybody's talking about at the moment, and with some justification. His form over the last couple of months has been sensational and he followed up his two goals at Cardiff City with another strike in mid-week against Sheffield Wednesday. With his confidence high, Portsmouth will do well to keep a tight leash on the former Wycombe man. As mentioned by his manager this week, Phillips appears to have learned that he doesn't need to snatch at chances, with his shooting now a lot more accurate. Matt Phillips should have had at least one goal down at Fratton Park, and he will be eager to carry on atoning for his wastefulness earlier in the season.

Portsmouth - Marco Futacs (by When Sol Went Up)

21 year old, 6ft 5, and purchased from Wolfsburg, Futacs looked like a punt that had gone wrong until Appleton gave him his chance. Three goals in six starts is a decent return but it is yet to be seen if this is beginner's luck or whether he will develop into a quality player. He leads the line well and when you have a player with Liam Lawrence's quality in terms of delivery, a player with Futacs' height should always be able to get goals. He shouldn't be so important - Kitson, Benjani and Kanu should all be able to get goals, but they haven't managed that this season and now the pressure is on Futacs' substantial shoulders

Blackpool - Ludo Sylvestre

After being rested for the trip to Wales last weekend, Sylvestre returned to the side in the FA Cup and capped a splendid performance with a rare and well-taken goal. Despite this, with competition for places throughout the team so fierce, Sylvestre isn't a certain starter. However, Ian Holloway has favoured the Frenchman for home games lately when 'Pool have often set up in an attacking shape, so he could well keep his place. At his best Sylvestre can move the ball quickly and has a penchant for backheels and flicks to frustrate the opposition. With a little more help in midfield if Holloway does opt for a 4-2-1-3 formation, Sylvestre can help Blackpool dominate games.

Portsmouth - Liam Lawrence (by When Sol Went Up)

Lawrence started like a steam train at Fratton Park. He was brought to Portsmouth in what might have been deal of the century with the overrated Marc Wilson going to Stoke and Lawrence, Kitson and a couple of million pounds coming to Pompey. However, Kitson has struggled and Lawrence's form nose-dived at the end of last year - a recurring injury has meant that he has been unable to recover his form. Yet he still has quality, and with Luke Varney injured and Huseklepp even more inconsistent than Lawrence, the team is overreliant on Lawrence in a similar way to Futacs.

4. The Form Guide

• Blackpool sit 3rd in the form table based on the last six games with four wins, one draw and one defeat
• Portsmouth lie 14th in the form table based on the last six games with two wins, one draw and three defeats

• Blackpool have won their last three home games and are unbeaten in the last seven
• Portsmouth have the fourth worst away record in the Championship, winning only twice away from Fratton Park

Up The 'Pool Prediction

With the form Blackpool are currently in, one would expect them to continue this run against a Pompey side under the threat of liquidation. As has been the case in many recent home matches, breaking the deadlock will be the tricky part, but taking the lead at Bloomfield Road is surely overdue as the Seasiders start to set their sights higher than just a play-off place.

Expect Blackpool's run to continue - 2-0 home win.

3. Kevin Bond Zairian approach to the law of Association Football

Steve Claridge, local boy and suffering for no lack of self confidence in his own ability (quite rightly so in my book) is making his living out of offering his expert opinion on games involving 72 league clubs in what looks like an abandoned warehouse with Manish. At the same time Kevin Bond is making headlines as being part of a well regarded coaching setup guiding Spurs towards what could be a norm busting third spot in the Premier league via a corruption scandal of his own having been assistant manager up at Newcastle.


During Claridge's spell at Fratton Park the now highly regarded Kevin Bond was the assistant manager under Alan Ball. Bond, who Claridge describes as having a personality similar to his playing style 'that of little character' is slated by Super Steve in his excellent autobiography takes from the bootcamps. In a farcical tale Claridge explains that Kevin Bond was taking the players through a free kick routine. A player would run over the ball and the other would then take the Free kick. Fair enough but Bond had a genius almost Zairian idea, once the player had ran over the ball the defense should charge thus closing down the free kick taker. The senior players attempted to explain to Mr Bond that this would be encroachment, but the assistant manager was having none of it. In the end Alan Ball had to come over to clarify the rules of Football.


Ladies and Gentleman the assistant manager of the third best club in england, Kevin Bond

4. Henry, the new Vieria

As 'Arry heads to court to discuss tax evasion he must know that this trial has the potential to derail not only Spurs tittle bid this season but also his chances of taking over the management of his country, a job that must be the holy grail for a man of his arrogance. He must rue the day he heard of Amdy Faye. This fact makes the lengths he went to (apparently) to sign him even more amusing. Amdy was by all accounts a wanted man - not least by Steve Gibson's Middlesborough. 'Arry talked Amdy in to training with the blues and played the 'new Patrick Vieria' against Kilmarnock in a preseason friendly. In what must have been quite the performance 'Arry using all his east-end nous came up with the genius plan of playing him under the pseudonym so 'Andy Henry' played his one game for Pompey - and the watching scouts from Villa and Boro were suitably impressed.'Arry, who apparently as well as dealing with training also was at the time the single point of contact for PFCs admin and was ensuring that none of the messages to Faye got through as he attempted to finalise the deal with Auxerre. The next day 'Arry is on his way with Sandra to a BBQ at Jamie and Louise's when he is contacted by someone who has apparently stationed outside Amdys hotel room, apparently ineffectively because he reports the midfielder has displayed an uncharacteristic turn of pace and is heading to the airport to return to France to sign a better deal with a bigger club. But Arry (and the apparently long suffering Sandra) catch up with Faye, bundle him into the car and imprison him in sandbanks where the Redknapp hounds were set to guard him until he signed the deal. Sometimes people say 'you couldn't make it up' but I'm sure 'Arry did to some extent, but it makes a good yarn. Unfortunately Faye didn't really live up to the effort expended to acquire him, playing under 50 games for the club. He was released by Leeds last year and as a 34 year old is still a free agent after failing to find a club.

A good transfer day...nothing happend

Morning all,


Just some very quick thoughts on Pompey's transfer deadline day.


I dont think it is as of yet completely clear what happend with Ipswich yesterday. My best understanding is they agreed a deal for both Henderson and Ward, who then rejected the deal on personal terms. Pearce was subject to numerous bids but I dont think the blues accepted any of them.


From a footballing view you have to be delighted we didnt see the family silver. Appleton has the team playing well and if we lost all three, our bench would have been threadbare to say the least. Although I would love to applaud the players for their loyalty my more cynical side wonders how much money they are on at Pompey and how little they were offered by Ipswich. Ward is from Pompey and probably didnt fancy moving away. But Henderson has just seen last months wages bounce - why didnt he go?! Its a strange position for a fan to be in but if the situation is as bleak as we are led to believe will we look back on this day in a couple of months as the club is wound up thinking that 2 million would have come in really useful?!


I am surprised there wasnt more interest in other players. Lawrence, Varney, Norris, Mullins, Halford, Erik etc all could do a solid job for Championship sides and i imagine would have been available at knockdown prices. You could be really hopeful and speculate that maybe just maybe the club are hopeful of a buyer? You could be really negative and wonder about prohibitively high wages.


Williams left for half a mil. Seems like a good deal. Pompey's three managers this season have not seen fit to play him, despite Appleton bemoaning his lack of winger options, so to cash on him seems sensible. I will watch his career development with interest.


One negative was Mattock going to Brighton instead of us on loan despite stating we were the only place he would go. But WBA quite rightly pointed out it was unfair to send him somewhere where he might not get paid.


On to Hull...

5. Erik the Fruit-king

I think most of you will have seen this already. But even at the height of Pompey's cup winning, Milan drawing genius, i dont think we had much commercial appeal and as far as im concerned none of the players (save maybe Yoshi) were in adverts. So behold, Erik the Viking is the star of this fruit based love in with fellow nordic superstars Riise and Mosten Gamst.

The advert is cheesy. But things could be worse...

6. The game is afoot

As millions of TV viewers settled down last Sunday to watch Tim out of the office and the spectacularly named Benedict Cumberbatch muddle through an expensively constructed riddle in Sherlock and even more around the world munched their way through popcorn whilst observing Jude Law and Robert Downy Jnr in the more extensively titled Sherlock Holmes I can't imagine many would have spent any length of time considering the genius expert penmanship of the original manuscripts from Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle himself has a fascinating back story including being a ships doctor on a West African voyage, a political figure campaigning about Congo ( I can only imagine LuaLua's gratitude), his works were banned in the Soviet Union for reasons I can't grasp and he was a close personal friend of Harry Houdini. Of course his most famous achievement was playing in goal for Portsmouth football club, kind of. He left Portsmouth in 1890, 8 years before Pompey were formed with one Matt Reilly in goal, but Doyle certainly played amateur football for AFC Portsmouth under the pseudonym A C Smith, and a number of AFC Portsmouth players joined Pompey when they were formed so he was a forerunner. I like to think as he waited for games to kick off he would mutter to himself: 'the game is afoot'  

7. Pompey saved by rubbish striker

Yakubu had turned up from Israel at the tail end of the promotion season, with some classically lazy, slightly racism journalism speculating that no-one knew how old he really was and how the club were going to have to age test his bones to see how old he actually was. Anyway he provided an important boost to the promotion push that had suffered a Christmas slump. The next year in the Premier league he had gone ten games without scoring, 60 shots had led to 9 goals (still a significantly better ratio than Kitson's 1 goal for 15 shots). So 'Arry had a brainwave, Yakubu needed help, and that help was going to come in the form of a man who had been subject to a transfer deal to AC Milan af the man they needed came in the form of Luther Blisset, to continue the mild racism, Blisset had himself apparently been sold to AC Milan after they had mistaken him for John Barnes (!). Luther 'It doesnt matter how much money they pay you to play in Italy, you cant get Rice Krispies' Blisset was employed as a striker coach. Unbelievably it worked and Yakubu went on to score 14 goals in the last 16 games of the season. I distinctly remember signing 'One Luther Blissett' in celebration as the Yak blasted one in at Ewood Park. In fact it was so successful 'Arry reused the formula in inviting Les Ferdinand to the Spurs coaching staff when he traitored to Spurs.

8. Pompey myth Kev the kitman used to be Kev the hitman

Kev 'the Kitman' McCormak has certainly been Pompey kitman for a long time, he has been a constant in a period of incredible flux. But prior what must be an tedious job of picking up the kit of rich twenty somethings, he was also a Commonwealth Games Boxer. In 1990 he represented Wales in New Zealand and he apparently came close to a medal. He is a big bloke and looks like he can look after himself. But there is a bit of an urban myth that he beat Audley Harrison in a fight. 

Unfortunately I cant find any evidence of this despite Audleys entire amateur career record being readily available, although Kev did hold the Amateur Boxing Association of England Super Heavyweight Championship in 1990 and 1991 a title that was held by Harrison six years later in 1997. I suppose the fight is possible as Harrison was born in 1971 so would have been of age when Kev was at the height of his powers. But I like the idea that when the bailiffs finally come to close us down they will have to get past Kev. I also like the idea that someone has taken the time to write a childrens educational book, check it out:

9. Fast down the wing, faster at spitting rhymes

The situation looks even more bleak today..so lets be increasingly irreverent..

Paul Hall – One of my favourite players of the 90s, fast as you like, and a direct runner – he still couldn’t finish. He and Paul Hall creeped off to Jamaica in the middle of the season in 1997 annoying the fans and were booed on their return. However they re-established themselves in the team and in the fans affections, During their time at the club they were part of a semi-successful cup-run in '96-'97 and although it ended at the Qtr final stage the the news were excited enough to ask who would record the official Pompey Cup final song (why have they disappeared of late?) the answer was unequivocal, Hall and Fitz! Now a over a decade later it turns out that Paul Hall is as fast at spitting rhymes as he was down the wing as part of S.K.O I'm not gonna lie to you, its not my kind of music but 10,000 people (including someone purporting to be Jimmy 'Sanjay' Carter) have watched the video

and while your at it why not follow Paul on twitter @paulhall22

Top 10 Pompey stories - 10: Thats entertainment

In a week in which Pompey lost to an injury time winner, were offered a derisory sum by an average championship rival for two of our best young players, purchased a 23 yr old centre forward who having scored 3 times in 6 seasons as a professional spent nine months inside before Pompey promptly made him into a midfielder, were subject to yet another winding up order and were relying on, in this of all weeks, an Italian whose main business idea were semi-submerged cruise liners marketed as 'underwater' casinos or the lead singer of a washed up rock group who he didn't even front during their best years, I thought it might be an idea to attempt to remember some of the reasons we invest financially and emotionally in Portsmouth football club. These are not the stories of our title winning years or cup final reminiscence but our top ten favourite stories or myths involving our club, the things that generally only true fans would know or care about. So over the next ten days we will blog from ten to one, who knows by the time we are through maybe the future will be brighter for the blues!

Number 10. Now Thats entertainment

The match day entertainment at Fratton park has befitted our stadium, dated. I enjoyed laughing at my fellow fans as they stumbled around during dizzy and came up woefully short during the crossbar challenge. There was always the spectacle of the Pompey announcer trying, and inevitably failing to rouse the fans interest in some individual picking a box at random to be told they had hilariously won the booby prize of a Pompey calendar instead of the super grand prize which usually amounted to just shy of 20 quid or the awkwardness as 20,000 grown men watched the enthusiastic gyrations of prepubescent school girls in the guise of the ingeniously named Pompey belles cheer leading squad. But rarely, v rarely the halftime show conjures up more entertainment than the preceding three quarters of an hour. My memory of the details of this remain sketchy but during one of numerous great escapes from relegation to third flight football in the mid to late 90s one fresh faced youngster no more than 10 years old was on the pitch for some contrived reason or another, touch line Tony cheerily asked his name, age, where he came from before finishing with the equally benign 'whose your favourite player' scamp, without missing a beat replied with brutal honesty, 'no-one, they're all crap' I swear the cheer was as loud as when Pompey went two up vs Milan or Mendes volleyed our relegation worries further away. As the Jam might say,now that's entertainment. 

Appleton's start not as good as you may think...

An easy ride for Appleton?

As we come into the New Year, the team is playing well, Appleton has had the bottle to play Futacs and that is paying dividends. The atmospherics coming from the club are positive regarding his tenure thus far. After the Chelsea game, as often during cup games you come away thinking, if we play like that in the league, everything will be fine.

Appleton is doing a better job than Cotterill, correct?. Well yes but i'd argue he has had an easier ride, everyone is aware that Pompey are better at home than they are away, and that is borne out in the statistics.

Whittingham/Grey Points per game at Home              3.0

Appleton PPG at Home                                             2.0

Cotts PPG at Home                                                  1.4

Appleton PPG Away                                                 1.0

Cotts PPG Away                                                       0.4

Whittingham/Grey PPG Away                                    0.3

But that has to be compared with the respective quality of the clubs they have played against:

Cotts Average position of opponents            Home                             3.3

Whittingham/Grey                                       Away                              6.3

Cotts                                                          Away                              6.7

Appleton                                                     Home                             13.5

Appleton                                                     Away                              16.25

Whittingham/Gray                                        Home                             19.3

Cotterill was unlucky with the opponents he had, and at home especially did very well, on the flip side Appleton has had a relatively easy start (save the Scum game but even that is an anomaly due to the derby nature of the game) no doubt you can only beat who is put in front of you, but Appleton is about to have the opportunity to prove himself the next 6 fixtures are:

                                 Current league position

West Ham (H)                                            2

Cardiff (A)                                                  3

P'boro (H)                                                 15

Hull (H)                                                      6

Birmingham (A)                                         14

Blackpool (A)                                             7

By mid-February we will be in a much better place to judge Appleton's start. Hopefully the future of the club will be in better hands by then and certainly not owned by a man who is attempting to start up an 'underwater casino' which once you have looked at the plans is actually a semi-submerged boat and not quite the Poseidon adventure it seems (we will blog re the takeover next week when there is hopefully something more to say).

Kitson not shot shy...

Pompey have the 7^th best defence in the league and the 15^th best attack. So we thought it was time to stat attack on the strikers who are failing us.

                    Goals       Shots per game      Shots on target      Shots per goal

Varney                5       1.7 (3)                      37.5% (7)              7.5 (4)

Norris                  4        1.3 (5)                     26.7% (10)             7.5 (4)

Kitson                 3        1.9 (2)                     35% (8)                 15.5 (9)

Erik                     3        0.7 (10)                   63% (2)                   2.7 (2)

Halford                2        1.3 (5)                     21% (11)                 14 (8)

Ward                   2        1.0 (8)                     33.3% (9)               7.5 (4)

Futacs                 2         2.5 (1)                    40% (5)                   2.5 (1)

Benjani                1         1.5 (4)                    44% (3)                      9 (7)

Kanu                   1          1.3 (5)                   75% (1)                      4 (3)

Mullins                 1         0.9 (9)                   40% (5)                    20 (10)

Lawrence             0          0.7 (10)                 43% (4)                   n/a (11)

I am not a Kitson hater, I appreciate his effort more than other Pompey fans but he has a poor shots on target ratio, and a worse shots per goal ratio. He works hard but only has one assist so far this season. I think we all know how important Varney is and we look forward to his return. Kanu is still accurate and actually manages to get a surprising number of efforts on target, as opposed to Erik, who does not shoot often, but will also get it on target. I imagine Halford would be frustrated with his accuracy, because he has one hell of a pile driver on him.

To be fair to Lawrence, although he has not yet scored this season (although he did against Watford for it to be incorrectly ruled offside) he tops the clubs assist table with 5, the 16^th best record in the Championship.

Pompey and Saints, same number of players used, different results

Pompey have a tiny squad as the News have pointed out a number of times, but we have used 24 players this season, which is the same number as scum, (albeit 12 shy of the Doncaster Willy McCay experiment) and Pompey fans (myself included) maintain the spine of the squad is strong, so I think Appleton is right to be looking at the peripheral players (Benjani and Kanu included)

Anyway enough statistical meandering. I have faith in Appleton but he needs the backing and soon.

Belhadj - what a man

Didnt think it was possible for Belhadj to be any more of a legend than after this?

well read on...

Police probe Belhadj bigamy allegation

(AFP) 

BESANCON, France — Former Lyon and Portsmouth footballer Nadir Belhadj is being investigated for bigamy following a complaint made by a woman claiming to be his wife, a judicial source revealed on Thursday.

The woman made the complaint in December after discovering that Belhadj had married another woman at the French embassy in Qatar in June last year, according to prosecutor Virginie Deneux, confirming a story that had appeared in Le Progres regional daily.

The woman, who is Algerian and lives in the Jura region in eastern France, told investigators that she married Belhadj in 2009 in Oran, Algeria and gave birth to his child in June 2011.

According to her, Belhadj had opened divorce proceedings in Algeria but they were yet to reach a conclusion.

"We're right at the start of the inquiry and the investigations," Deneux told AFP.

"The complainant has made statements and provided us with documents. The police investigators must now confirm that they are accurate.

"Bigamy is rarely treated in the criminal courts. In general, it tends to go to the civil courts."

If investigators conclude that bigamy has taken place, prosecutors may ask for Belhadj's second marriage to be annulled.

Belhadj, 29, is a France-born Algerian international and currently plays for Qatari side Al-Sadd, with whom he won the Asian Champions League in November.