What a very good year for Pompey

Ive lost count of the number of times Ive been asked if Im worried about the Pompey fire-sale. When I say its a myth and point out the facts that we’ve only sold one player, for a fantastic profit, and he was always going to leave anyway, it always seems to bring surprise. When I point out the few other potential sales are underperforming players potentially being sold for great profit, it brings even greater surprise/disappointment. Its not as though Jermain Defoe is anything to shed tears about. Maybe if he had achieved half of Alan Bileys impact, or that of Hateley, Whittingham, Walshie,Toddy or the Yak to name but a few. No, Jermain has a long way to go to be remembered with anything like the same affection, and if we can turn a profit, then rather than negative news, surely this is another demonstration of the astute way in which Portsmouth Club has been run in 2008. The year we won back the FA Cup. The year in which in many England matches we had more players representing than any other club. The year we received £14 million for 1 midfielder then £20 million for the other. The year we qualified for Europe for the first time ever. The year we beat Man Utd at Old Trafford to prevent them winning the treble. The year the media tried to put a negative spin on everything we did cos they didn’t like the fact that we looked capable of toppling the big 4 monopoly. Maybe the Pompey rocket of progress may be shifting to a lower gear, but I see no reason why 2009 cant be as beautiful for Pompey fans as that very good year of 2008. What a very good year.
Heres to a Happy New Year for Pompey fans everywhere.

Pompey 0 Newcastle 3 - the inquest.

Pompey have been threatening to capitulate to this sort of defeat for a while. The only surprise was that it was to Newcastle, though in truth it could have been to any Championship-standard side. Maybe earlier in the season it would have been a shock to know that we would to lose 3 0 at home, but not now.
Since Captain Pugface deserted us it seems we’ve been all at sea. Is it because our able seamen are now led by the Cabin boy, or is this doing Tony Adams a major disservice and actually the problem lies with a few rebellious insubordinates?
Or maybe it is just a continuation of how things would have been under the deserter, after the early season 4-0 defeats to Chelsea and the 6 0 Man City drubbing.
Certainly something needs to change. Having installed Adams as the Captain of this ship, there is little choice but to give him a fair crack of the whip. That being the case, it has to be the players that change, a galling prospect given the promise we all felt in these players after last season and the potential they had of further great things, maybe even a champions league place. Now there seems to be little prospect that the side will stay together to fulfil its full potential. But if they dont want to stay and play then flog 'em, I say. Flog 'em.

Ex Pompey great Muntari firing them in for Inter

Its great to see Muntari continue to be a massive success after his move to Inter Milan, scoring another goal last weekend. Absolute top player. Together with Diarra and Kranjcar last season, I honestly felt Pompey had a midfield that matched if not bettered anyone else in the country, a claim which at the time sounded extremely biased, though I think time will prove otherwise (and not forgetting the massive achievement of Pompey's FA Cup win to justify that claim). If we had had Defoe and Crouch upfront all last season to augment that fantastic midfield (and defence), who knows where we might have finished. Certainly finishing 8th was a major underachievement.

Maybe Muntari leaving was the catalyst for Harry to leave; certainly Id have been disappointed to have to sell him, though Ive always wondered whether Muntari leaving was more down to his desire to be in Italy rather than Pompey cashing him in, as we didnt exactly get top dollar for him. Playing for Mourinho and sitting pretty at the top of Serie A, Muntari wont have too many regrets just yet.

Spare a thought for Ben

This article about Ben Sahar pulled at the heartstrings a bit. Poor guy, in Portsmouth he has no friends nor can he get a kosher meal. Cast aside your worries about the credit crunch, the value of all your assets plunging by the day, the prospect of unemployment and all the other current bleak news, and spare a thought for Ben, who cant cook himself a kosher meal and cant make friends. It cant be easy when youre special but noone else can see it. Im only thankful he gets paid lots of money.

Pompey 1 Wigan 2

Napoleon once said "I do not want a good General, I want a lucky one", and that’s exactly how I felt after Pompey endured all the bad luck in the world not to come away with 3 points against Wigan on Saturday. It really began to seem as though Pompey were fated to suffer agonizing near misses, terrible refereeing decisions, and general bad luck against the run of play. Its tempting to wonder if those near misses would have gone in if Lucky Harry was charge, as the 11 players on the pitch didn’t seem to be doing much differently than they would have previously, other than getting the rub of the green.
This feeling was amplified after yet another inexplicable Spurs result that owed everything to great fortune, leaving me in this week of Halloween, close to believing in the supernatural idea that the heavenly light that has been guiding Pompey throughout our recent successful period has followed Harry to Tottenham.

Dirty Harry reinvents his childhood

18/10/2008 – Harry ‘…I went with my Dad to watch Arsenal every week’

26/10/2008 – Harry ‘….it was Spurs I used to go and watch,they were the team I supported’

Hmm - feel this could easily become a daily feature, picking through Harry bullsh*it, not that Im absorbed with the cheeky colourful every-ones-favourite-uncle two-faced lying ****.

Happy days for Pompey after dispatching Guimaraes

Totally enjoyed Pompeys late late show last night away at Guimaraes, Peter Crouch’s double sending us through to the group stages of the UEFA cup. Fantastic result after enduring a storming Guimaraes first half performance that left Pompey dazed on the ropes, close to being knocked out.
Fantastic support, looked like a great fun out there, cant wait to be part of it in the group stages.
There were a few players whose performances were below the high standards they usually set, but they all came good in the end to give us a vintage night to remember, and earn their frolics in the sea the next morning.
Came in a week we gave sour Spurs a lesson in football, and after the up-themselves cockneys had the cheek to ask Pompey to explain how it dealt with the matter [of abuse], a case of trying to deflect responsibility straight out of the teflon-Tony Blair book of blame management.
Finally back to the Guimaraes game - I did laugh at the strange decision by the ref to blow for a goal kick after a Pompey cross was headed back across the box by Peter Crouch who was clearly a yard or 2 in front of the line, still in play - nearly as bad as last weeks phantom goal.

Bad day at the Office for Pompey

OK so we got beat badly, well thrashed infact. Im not as concerned as I would be if I was a fan of alot of the other Premiership clubs - Tottenham, Newcastle to name but 2 who’s expectations for this season aren’t yet being met, and whose concerns are maybe a bit more longterm.
A positive for me is the reaction to Man City’s win. For Mark Hughes it was the perfect day, his best performance as a manager, and he cant keep his cheesy smile off his face. Man City player Ireland now thinks they’re invincible , they all seem to see it as a benchmark; beating us has set the standard. Well it is a benchmark for Pompey too in a way. A benchmark in how we are perceived. The last time we were well thrashed was 21/1/2006 at Birmingham, and rather than being hailed worldbeaters as Man City are right now, the Brummies got few plaudits as to thrash us wasn’t seen as particularly special or unusual. Man City’s coming in their pants over wopping us is actually a great compliment, though unintentional on their part and not very enjoyable on ours.

Terry to face Pompey after red card ban lifted

John Terrys 3 match ban imposed after his red card on Saturday has been cleared by the FA after Chelsea were today successful in their appeal that it was a wrongful dismissal.
Terry's foul was a cross between a rugby tackle and a clothesliner and he made no attempt to win the ball, just cynically taking the attacker down - its cheating, its not football.
For me giving a red card rather than a yellow was far from a clearcut error of judgement by the referee Mark Halsey, so I feel its pretty shabby that the FA have chosen to overrule him. It not only undermines this referee, but all refs, who must now fear that all their decisions are fair game to debate and appeal, and who can no longer count on any level of support from their employers.
The 3 matches Terry can now play are vrs Merch Utd, Portsmouth and Stoke.
Was this irregular decision made so that the weekends Premier League showcase match V ManUre is played with as many 'stars' involved as possible? Is this sport or entertainment?

Pompey 2 Middlesborough 1

Relief all round that Pompey managed to get the 3 points. Despite dominating Boro, against the run of play Pompey fell a goal behind and Ive witnessed many a weekend ruined by that once-familiar storyline. However this seasons squad has been built with maximum flexibility at the forefront of the thinking, as Neville Dalton on Fratton Faithful observes. And this paid dividends when a bit of halftime tactical jiggery pokery by Harry provided the platform for Pompey to twice breach Middlesboroughs resilient defence for a well deserved victory (despite what Southgate might spin it to seem).
Pompeyrama’s view is here, Boromania’s is here, and a possibly impartial Setanta view with full match-stats is here.

Pompey V Boro Preview

Submitted by Pompeyboy @ Pompeyrama
Middlesbrough return to Fratton on Saturday, where hopefully they will find a very different Pompey side they managed to beat 1-0 last time. We also lost 2-0 at their place, thanks mainly to Pompey being in Wembley mode at the tail end of last season.
The Blues haven't scored against Boro since the fantastic 4-0 away win from August 2006, this time they will face the threat of the new strike force and probably the new 3-5-2. They will however be travelling south high in confidence, having made a good start this year; beating Spurs and Stoke with a reverse at Liverpool to bag 6 points.
Nadir Belhadj is expected to make his debut after starring for Algeria in his country's 3-2 win over Senegal last weekend. David James, Glen Johnson, Jermain Defoe, Lassana Diarra, Hermann Hreidarsson, Younes Kaboul and Ben Sahar have also all been away on international duty this week.
I'm predicting the first Fratton win of the season, score: 2-0. Pompeyboy @ Pompeyrama

Personally, whilst not wanting to go overboard after our last win, Middlesborough are a bit ordinary, and we do owe them, so Ill go for 3-0. For a decent Boro perspective preview try Boromania. HSBGuzzler

Heavens Light Our Guide is back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two years have passed since this site last submitted any new articles, and taking a glance at those 2006 postings shows how much Pompey have progressed in that time, not that we need reminding.
The motivation for writing for this site in this period of Pompey success has been strangely less for me than when we were up against it. Maybe thats true of actually supporting the club aswell, certainly for a generation or 3 of us who stuck with Pompey out of sympathy, a bloodyminded enjoyment of being the underdog and a hatred of glory-hunters, and who find this sudden success a bit alien. Of those, many are still not sure if it feels comfortable to be supporting one of the best teams in the country, a team that brings home silverware, and regularly beats the clubs with fans that have in the past laughed at us, lorded it over us, and condescended to us on the rare occasions they actually remembered we existed.
But actually it is lovely, especially to be shoving it up the arses of the plastic fans of those clubs who attract all the glory hunters, and seeing them bamboozled in the face of a proper football club with proper football history and tradition playing proper good football in front of proper football fans with proper passion. Long may it continue. Now that Im starting to get my head around the idea of us being good, hopefully this site will see some more articles at last, motivated now by the joy of being a Pompey fan rather than the anger. Play up Pompey.