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Though realistically relegation has been a foregone conclusion since Christmas, indeed, if you take an honest and unbiased look, it was pretty much highly probable before the season even kicked off. With the heavy defeat at Anfield on Monday night, even the most optimistic amongst us, must surely accept that escaping relegation is now as unlikely as the titanic staying afloat after she hit the unforseen iceberg.

So where do we go from here?....and more importantly, how do we get there?

Yes relegation spell’s the end of our brief sojourn amongst England’s elite. But it should not signal the end of the club itself.

The owners of the white star line would have loved to get the titanic back to port and rebuild her. Stronger, safer and more luxurious than before, then refloated her amongst the shipping elite. At least we have the opportunity to do just that, here’s hoping any new owner will not eschew that chance.

Starting from the keel upwards, the good ship “POMPEY” needs a good overhaul, rebuild her learning from past mistakes of the last seven years.   No more paying vast sums of money in fees and wages for squad players, who will only make up the numbers when needed, only to then refuse to leave when they are deemed surplus to requirements. We need to get the new training ground up and running, fit it out with the modern facilities needed in today’s game. Maybe then, we could attract some of the young upcoming and hungry for their chance, stars of the future. Invest properly in the academy, bring the youngsters through and give the promising ones a chance. Then we only really need to spend out on the recognised starting eleven and who knows maybe in three or four years we will have produced enough young stars to fit straight into the first team.

 Love it or not ( I adore it, so many memories ), dear old Fratton Park is past its sell by date. Now if you are like me and not getting any younger, you are probably as fed up as I am of hearing about our proposed ‘new ground’. Baffins Pond is probably the only area left that has not had plans for a new ground drawn up on it. A new stadium has to be another priority though. Either we start from scratch and build a completely new stadium or we transform ‘Fortress Fratton’ into a 21^st century sports arena. No "if’s and but’s" about it, we need a modern and up to date stadium, with a higher seating capacity if we are to return to and stay in the self putrefying mess called the English premier league ( now that description of England’s football elite demands an article of its own).

I fully realise that we cannot achieve all this with a few thousand American express card reward points and a couple of books of green shield stamps (anyone remember those?...) it will cost many millions of pounds. With the right investment and infrastructure set up by a new owner, it is more than achievable. I do not for one moment expect these things to happen overnight. It took a few years to build the titanic. O.K. she didn’t stay afloat for long, but that is what happens if you don’t plan for the unexpected and try to get somewhere faster than you safely should. Any new owner coming in should not seek success overnight, nor get carried away with the smell of filthy lucre emanating from the Premier league banquet doggy bags. If it takes four or five years to return upstairs, then so be it. Build a watertight ship and unlike the titanic, reach our destination safe and sound and not perched precariously on the edge of a financial abyss, where one weak minded CEO, or one overspending manager with a revolving door policy regarding the playing staff would push us over the edge, plummeting into the depths.

We have hit our iceberg, we are all but sunk. We can only hope and pray that we do not have to wait eighty years, before an adventurer discovers our rusted and rotting wreck. A once proud and famous club, now nothing more than a few lines and pictures in a dusty and forgotten history book. 

Two items of interest unfolded for Pompey fans yesterday.

Former sponsors OKI Printing Solutions announced the discontinuation of their popular Brown Paper Bag range, with future sales demands "no longer justifying" the production cost.

The other, more widely reported news of interest was the resignation of Chief Executive Peter Storrie, with the weight of public opinion seemingly becoming too much to bear.

The large majority of Pompey fans appear to be letting out a collective sigh of relief. They have been placated by the news, having called for Storrie's head for some time now.

Storrie said he'd leave once a new owner came in; that wasn't enough for the fans who'd finally had enough. The pressure rose to breaking point when Storrie kept his job while 85 others were cut; he was forced onto a paltry 400k a year, mind you.

Finally, the situation was untenable. Did he jump, or was he pushed?

Doesn't matter, say the majority of fans - we're finally free of Pete.

In the context of things, it probably does matter. I'd like to know who wears the pants at Fratton Park - UHY Hacker Young, or the same old mob that have been pulling the strings through all the mess.

Some Pompey fans would argue the case that they may be one and the same.

Back to Storrie then, and the terms of his "resignation". 

I raise my hands, I am one who has called for his removal from the club. So why am I claiming this resignation is a bad thing?

Well, before you join in with the rest and rejoice, put aside the rabble mentality for a minute; you'll see that it's not quite the clean surgical removal we'd all hoped for. 

So while I welcome the news, I can't help but feel the devil is in the details.

For one thing, he's not really going anywhere - he's sticking around in a consultancy role. 

Sure, he's no longer Chief Executive, but he's performing the same tasks he would have been. He's also being remunerated - in the words of Andrew Andronikou - accordingly. I wonder how highly paid that role will be?

Secondly, I'd have been a bit more confident in the whole process if the call had come from the Administrators, giving him the chop along with the other staff who met their fate earlier in the week. As it stands, once again we have Peter Storrie playing the acting in the club's best interests card. Still not a shred of culpability being accepted or acknowledged for his role in Pompey's downward spiral.

So once again, the questions remain: Who really wears the pants? Does Andronikou hold the key to uncovering Pompey's murky dealings, or is he merely another puppet?

The most worrying aspect of the news for me is the sudden backflip surrounding Storrie's position. Earlier in the week, we were told that Portsmouth could not let Storrie go. With Mark Jacobs being let go, Storrie was the last remaining Director. We were told the club were not allowed to operate without any Directors, hence Storrie's reprieve (albeit with a paycut that Peter was at pains to point out) 

As an aside: Nice job letting the press report Utaka's wage at 80k a week for months on end, by the way.

What exactly has changed in a few short days that would allow us to overlook this requirement?

And therein lies the problem as I see it. Once again, even with the almost universal celebration of this news, we fans have once again been fed just enough spin to keep us at bay.

Like a skilled magician, Peter has us right where he wants us; no-one knows quite how his latest trick unfolded.

So which is it? When we were told just a few short days ago that Peter couldn't be let go, was it more spin? And from which direction did it come this time?

There are already whispers that the Administrators are not as independent as they'd like us to believe. I'd love to give them the benefit of the doubt, but it does trouble me that Andrew Andronikou seems to have Peter's gift of the gab. Read the statements that have come from him and his people and you'll see that they're giving all parties just enough of what they want to hear; the Fans, the Staff, Avram Grant, the Creditors - he's got their interests at hand. He's certainly getting his fair share of publicity. [Ed's note: The only people that didn't hear what they wanted was the '85']

I'm not in any way suggesting that he's been a part of the Pompey Mafia that have cast a shadow over this fine club. I just hope he that he is the strong independent character required to get to the bottom of it all. At this stage, he's worryingly coming off as everybody's best friend. Just don't get too comfy with the current lot Andy - lest you lose your objectivity.

The questions surrounding this announcement cannot be overlooked. We were told that Storrie could not be let go, yet here we are - celebrating without question.

What could have changed? Many Pompey supporters suspected that Storrie was waiting for new owners to show, before pocketing a nice going away package.

Could it be that the Administration process has uncovered facts that could shift the balance of power away from him? The timing is certainly strange, especially given the news broken in The Sun [Ed: and now the Mail]. Many Pompey fans will feel it's only the tip of the iceberg as far as Storrie's dealings are concerned. Only time - and a transparent investigation process - will reveal the truth.

Whether or not there has been a power shift, one thing remains the same as ever. Pompey fans are once again fed half-truths as best, deliberate lies at worst. We are told only what we are allowed to hear. 

So the next time Andy or Pete happen to pull an Ace like this out of the air -  check their sleeves! These are skilled performers we're dealing with. 

Make sure you don't get too lost in the showmanship, or we'll end up once more with a pack of Jokers.

I thought you guys might be interested in seeing this great photo from Saturday's match. O'Hara realising that Piq's shirt might be a collector's piece, clearly wants it for his wall.

Doesn't this photo just encompass all that is good about Pompey's spirit under Avram Grant?

And... whose arm is that around Piquionne's neck? Answers below please.

More great photos on myPompey's front page here and you can also find us on Facebook here.

In stark contrast to the predicament that Portsmouth Football Club finds itself in Stoke City have recently announced an increase in operating profits.

Declaring a profit at any football club nowadays is worthy of note given the amount of debt that is sloshing around the leagues but to do so in The Premiership, where the costs tend to far outweigh revenues and the temptation to reach football’s agonisingly close pinnacle is so much greater, is highly commendable.

Stoke City look to have manoeuvred into an enviable position within the game. Promoted back to the top flight in recent seasons and with a new stadium designed and built to suit the demands of the area (no less and no more) the Potters appear to have got it right off the field.

In parallel, ex-Pompey Manager Tony Pulis has assembled a squad that has slowly gained a reputation for a level of efficiency on the field that has even the most experienced pundit thinking twice before forecasting defeat against the ‘big four’. And whether or not you fall into the “I wouldn’t want to watch them play every week” category, their style of play is reaping its rewards with results that now has the Britannia Stadium rocking in a similar manner to that which we pride Fratton Park with on certain occasions. The fans at Stoke City have bought in to the way in which they play to their strengths as a team and I doubt that there are too many places that Pulis takes his side now without strongly believing that they can get a result of some kind.

This is not written out of envy – they play in Red & White stripes after all! – but there is a slight irony in the different paths that both Pompey and Stoke City have taken over the past couple of years and the obvious connections that exist between the two clubs.

It isn’t that long ago when, in ignorance at that time of the way in which Pompey were buying their success, many sports writers and commentators were holding Portsmouth Football Club up as a ‘Blueprint’ to be followed by those wishing to challenge the elite. Now, with Pompey slumped against the ropes and their credibility as a well managed club in tatters, Stoke have emerged as perhaps the 2010 version of that Blueprint. They have also achieved their newly found status with, as already mentioned, a former Portsmouth manager PLUS a scattering of former players. And to be honest, each and every one was discarded from Fratton Park without an ounce of doubt or regret being uttered by the fans (with the exception of Asmir Begovic who hasn’t had an opportunity to make a serious contribution to his new club as yet).

Most importantly, Stoke City’s future as an established Premiership club is being built on solid foundations and in that respect they as a club are a million miles in front of Pompey and in reality probably have been for some years now. The simple fact that they were in a position to lure one of Pompey’s brightest young prospects for years away from Fratton Park leaves a bit of a scar that may take some time to heal and disappear. But it’s indicative of how Pompey have, on their way down, passed Stoke City on their way up.

Whether you like them as a club or not, Stoke City have set an example to clubs of a similar size and ambition – Pompey among them – as to what can be achieved and more importantly how.
1.    Get the infrastructure right. Build suitable facilities to match the ambitions of the club and the area.
2.    Manage the club professionally on all levels.
3.    Off the field : Operate within your means and within a strict budget.
4.    On the field : Play to your strengths.

It can be done. Stoke City appear to be proving it.

FIFA have obviously been following the situation at Portsmouth Football Club and no doubt there has been correspondence and discussion between them and the Premier League and Football League on the subject, if only casually.

And perhaps naively I expected that once they broke their own silence on the matter they would emerge with something a little more helpful or credible than they actually did.

Under the title of “FIFA HORROR AT POMPEY PLIGHT”, football’s governing body courtesy of FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke, stated that ‘Portsmouth’s dire financial crisis must serve as a warning to the rest of football’.

A good start I thought even if in effect the General Secretary was merely repeating what many have already said before him. The fact that it was FIFA that were saying it briefly offered cause for optimism.

Valcke continued by saying : "It is the richest league in the world so this is strange. If you talked about another league I would say fair enough, but the richest league in the world - what's the reason?”

And here’s the real eye-opener folks :

"It's because the club was badly managed, they ran it to have a chance of winning titles by buying too expensive players and just getting more in debt every day.''

Now excuse me if I’m being a bit tough on these guys but did we really need to be told that by the people at the top. Most people at the bottom (i.e. us) had already worked that one out. And reading between the lines, I further suggest that FIFA are adopting a fairly laissez faire attitude to the whole thing.

Yes the club was badly managed but it was also badly regulated by football’s powers that be. God forbid that a football club should be run to try and win things. We wouldn’t want that would we? Well, not apart from Manchester United and Chelsea anyway.

So, Pompey’s crime was simply to try and compete and, as a fan, I wouldn’t have wanted anything less because if you can’t compete then what is the point in playing the game. And this is where the football authorities are committing a crime of their own. The majority of the Premier League in England is being tempted more and more into digging its own financial black hole simply because they want to compete and the playing field upon which the beautiful game in this country is being performed is a million miles away from being level.

Clubs are under pressure from fans to constantly improve and achieve season-on-season. And in turn they put themselves under pressure by trying to meet the demands placed on the football club by the owners themselves, the players, the players agents, the supporters, and of course the other apparently wealthier clubs that are setting the financial benchmarks.

The situation at Portsmouth Football Club has also been cited by UEFA as a reason for the game to back its new proposals – that is, that clubs should only be able to spend what they earn, facing punishment if they don't break even. And whilst I wouldn’t argue that this is a sensible and much needed approach to correcting football’s ‘live today, pay tomorrow’ culture, I can’t see it making the Premier League any more competitive than it fails to be currently.

The top four will be the same top four, maybe with the very occasional surprise, followed by another half a dozen clubs all eager to convince the football world that they will be the ones to break into the top four (although in reality they probably won’t – possibly ever). Then come the remaining ten teams in the top flight; the bottom half of the league, all battling from Day One to reach that magical forty points. Clubs where a successful season is measured by finishing 14^th instead of last season’s 15^th.

Football needs something more radical than what it seems we can expect from both FIFA and UEFA – which incidentally is a lot more than I am expecting from the F.A. or Premier League. Hopefully, they will all prove me wrong. The severe nature of Portsmouth’s demise must not be wasted as a learning experience. It will quickly become apparent if it has.

"People talk nonsense about wages, you see all this rubbish about John Utaka earning eighty grand a week, he's not. He's earning £28,000 a week. Peter Storrie told me that, Peter showed me his contract the other week." 

Pompey’s plight has now divided the rest of the Premier League it seems. Ironically, those on either side of that divide appear to be taking their own moral high ground either to argue in favour of the Premier League advancing cash to Pompey or against it.

Everybody knows that Pompey owe HMRC a considerable sum of money and they will be due significant ‘insolvency saving’ cash from the Premier League in just over two months time - so the first point here is that the advanced cash isn’t being brought forward by a year or even half a year, it is in fact a matter of weeks so that has to be taken into account in the argument.




In the Blue corner we have the likes of David Gold who with David Sullivan has recently take over at West Ham. He said, 'We have allowed Portsmouth to get into this mess. The brand is 20 Premier League football clubs. We must take responsibility.'

In The Red corner we have the Hull City chairman and management who conversely (but equally based on a moral argument they would claim) believe that it would be totally wrong for the Premier League to ‘bail Portsmouth out’ in this way because it allows a club who has obviously been poorly managed to ‘get away with it’. And he has a point. I also heard it said that to rescue Pompey in this way would not send out the right message to other clubs edging towards similar financial meltdown.

Patrick Collins of The Daily Mail has heavily criticised Richard Scudamore’s part in this entire scenario. He says, “Four weeks have passed since the man who runs the Premier League reassured us that our fears were groundless. Debts were manageable, clubs were financially responsible and we shouldn’t be worrying our heads about the continuing prosperity of the greatest competition in the history of football”. And he adds, “I thought it a complacent, patronising view but it reflected Scudamore’s honest opinion”.

And Scudamore’s precedent-setting idea of bringing forward a relatively imminent payment to Pompey tempted Collins into offering this; “Some will see this as a compassionate reaction to Portsmouth’s potential extinction and recognition that a grand old club must not be cut adrift, that rules may be amended, and that this great game of ours really does have a big, endlessly generous heart. But I fear that they are quite wrong. Scudamore has been forced to adopt this course in a bid to protect the brand. If Portsmouth should go to the wall then the Premier League image would be seriously dented in places like Beijing and Bangkok”.

Three interesting angles on the drama in which Portsmouth find themselves cast in the role of lead man. All three protagonists would claim to be considering the bigger picture and thinking of others but let’s not be fooled because in truth all of the comments have their roots in “looking after No.1”.

David Gold, while appearing supportive of advancing the cash to Pompey, is more concerned with the adverse impact on his club of the removal of the four points that The Hammers have plundered from their two games against Pompey this season. For with Pompey removed from the equation entirely the Upton Park club would suddenly find themselves dropping several places and settling in one of the remaining two relegation positions.

And similarly, but in obvious contrast to Gold’s stance, Hull City’s best interests would lie in seeing Pompey forcibly ousted from The Premiership thus improving the chances of survival for The Tigers who would only lose a single point from the one fixture between the two clubs so far.

Quite perversely, it could even be argued that the liquidation of Portsmouth Football Club could personally benefit the playing squad at Fratton Park as they would be freed from their contracts to move to whomever would offer fresh and undoubtedly at this moment in time more secure employment.

As for Scudamore, it seems to be about saving face with his own managerial reputation on the line should Pompey suffer the worst. Patrick Collins continued in his article saying, “The old co-operative of the Football League, with its woolly ideas of fair shares and mutual benefits, was swept aside by a system in which the rich became immeasurably richer by annexing T.V.‘s millions while leaving the poor to squabble over the petty cash. We have lived with this grubby imbalance for so long it is difficult to remember how things were in that earlier, more equitable era. They (Pompey) may have been largely hopeless, they may have been surrounded by people even more inadequate than themselves, but they would surely have valued some clear guidelines, intelligent advice and practical assistance. Personally, I believe the Premier League long ago gave up on Pompey. They saw the people running the place and decided the cause was hopeless. And I further believe that any attempt by the Chief executive to reschedule payments is no more than sleight of hand, an attempt to paint a caring face on free-market realism”.

Personally I am undecided on this issue. Of course I can see the benefit of bringing the cash forward to meet and clear substantial debts and it does feel a good fit at this moment in time and not just because it is my club that are centre-stage. But it is against my personal financial disciplines i.e  money becomes payable on the day it is first owed and similarly becomes receivable on the first day that it is due. So for cash to be advanced to Pompey in this way would (a) go against my own principles and (b) set a potentially risky precedent for the Premier League and complicate their future financial planning. It may also be significant if they operate with a March 31st financial year-end as we could be traversing two accounting periods which may also complicate matters for the Premier League.

As for the stance being adopted by the other league clubs that have chosen to speak up on the matter I would prefer that they remained silent on the matter as their own varying agendas are not required in the decision making process, They have solely their own interests at heart and to wrap this up and disguise it in any other way is simply deceiving. The ideal scenario is for Pompey to resolve the ownership in double-quick time and negate the necessity for any advance ‘handouts’ of the kind that have been mentioned. This would save West Ham and the like from having to fight our corner for us in a less than sincere fashion and Hull City and their counterparts could relax in the knowledge that Pompey have not received any ‘favours’ from the Premier League but leaving The Tigers to focus again on their own relegation battle knowing that they also would be receiving no favours from Portsmouth Football Club going into liquidation and for that we won’t be apologising.

If Pompey could emerge from this intact and as a result of it’s own self-sufficiency resulting from new ownership then it would also leave Mr Scudamore free from his own self-inflicted financial dilemma but with the ongoing problem of (a) how to stabilise the future of the game, (b) level the playing field more than it is in today’s game and (c ) prevent the scenario at Portsmouth being repeated anywhere else in England in the future. A suggestion that 50% of T.V. revenue should be retained to accrue ‘in trust’ by the league for spending by the clubs on ground and infrastructure improvements with the other 50% going to the clubs as a contribution to the operating budget may be the seed of a good idea that needs nurturing. Whatever, a resolution in this regard would be a worthwhile legacy to the national game but it is difficult to have faith in the ability of those currently in charge at the Premier League given the way that they have sat back and watched football deteriorate financially in the way that it has.

Be rude not to, wouldn't it?

Fans at various points around the country (and also in Scotland of course) will claim that their derby is "The Big One".

But biggest or smallest, I doubt that there are any that carry the "edge" that our own South Coast Derbies do. With the blatantly obvious bad feeling that exists going evolving from 800 years of history, the source of this feeling has been successfully embellished by events and controversy on the pitches at Fratton Park, The Dell, and more latterly St.Mary's.

Disputes over the control of trade in the Docks (Southampton owned Portsmouth Docks for 600 years) bred an animosity that has simply failed to fade into history. And whilst I'm guessing most of us don't carry a personal vendetta borne out of those port disputes we have bought into the related rivalry that has carried itself into football matches between the clubs from Portsmouth and Southampton.

But to compound all of that, moments of controversy have occurred in these games with monotonous regularity, and this has served to add to a South Coast Derby and give it, in my opinion, an edge over others.

For two clubs that are so geographically close, the clubs have met on relatively few occasions - but when they do .....................

As far as I can remember, my first Pompey v Saints match was in the 1970's at Fratton Park and I can't recall a single game that failed to contain at least one controversial moment.

The 20th January 1984 saw the first meeting in 8 years and it was an F.A. Cup 4th Round tie at Fratton Park. And eight years after I watched Mick Channon (in 1976) steal the game with an injury time winner at the then uncovered Milton End, i endured the sight of Steve Moran doing similar to knock Pompey out of the F.A. Cup. [Remember the angel that was Mark Dennis!!?]. And this was after Biley and Co had missed a hatful of chances, failing to beat the intimidating figure of Peter Shilton. When lightning strikes twice in this way, it hardly endears you to your fiercest rivals.

We recovered a large slice of pride in season 87/88 when both clubs were in the top flight (The First Division, now The Premiership). Drawing the Home encounter 2-2, we then travelled to the Dell and came away with a famous 2-0 victory; a match where if I remember correctly, the TV cameras were not allowed in.

Then came 1996 and another F.A. Cup tie - and another defeat - losing 3-0 in the last meeting of the two sides to take place at The Dell. Further disappointment followed with the bragging rights firmly remaining 26 miles West of Pompey. Two defeats during 2003, failing to score on both occasions and conceding five into the bargain. Yakubu's goal gave us a 1-0 win at Fratton Park in March 2004.

31,000 watched the Premier League game in November 2004 but yet again Pompey came away with nothing, losing 2-1 at St.Mary's after taking the lead. They (that lot down the road) repeated the dose in January 2005 in yet another F.A. Cup tie when Matt Taylor was adjudged to have handled the ball deep into injury time leaving Peter Crouch to step forward in one of those horrible Red & White striped shirts and grab the winner. And it's this sort of thing that keeps stoking up the heat on this game.

The most recent meeting was almost five years ago and on that great, great day I witnessed the most fantastic 28 minutes of pure magic. And it still gets watched - captured on DVD! It was the return fixture from the 2-1 defeat in Nov 2004 and the thought of Saints taking all six (or even 4) points from the two games that season was unbearable. The atmosphere for the game was predictably electric - it always always is. And Pompey got off to an absolute flyer. 1-0 up very early (Yakubu Penalty), soon became 2-0 (De Zeeuw) after about 15 minutes. Henri Camara then pulled a goal back and, typical of many Pompey fans because we've been there before, I feared the worst and sensed that THEY would quickly get another goal back, and of course if they did that then they would surely win. But after a confidence-induced two or three minutes when they passed the ball through and around us Lomana Lua Lua took centre stage and lifted a very classy lob over his shoulder into the net before, on the verge of being substituted through injury, he bent a wonderful shot by the hapless Anti Niemi (who had an absolute nightmare). And all of this in 28 minutes _ I was close to spontaneously combusting!! It was that good. And I am convinced to this day that if Diomansy Kamara had been half a striker then he would have claimed a hat-trick after replacing Lua Lua and we would have racked up a history making scoreline.

Add to this the little sideshows that have taken place courtesy of the involvement of the likes of Administrators, Harry Redknapp (Agent Harry), Milan Mandaric (and Rupert Lowe [bless 'im]) etc and it all adds fuel to the furnace. Great stuff. Losing can not be an option this weekend.