February 2010 - myPompey News

Class acts

Following recent calls for the resignation of Peter Storrie by our very own GoldenBoot (and other unnamed show me a cause and I'll cause it... activists), it struck me that Pompey's CEO deserved to have somebody fighting in his corner.

Trouble is I couldn't find anybody with a good word to say about the man.

Which is a shame really, because when everybody is having a go, our British sense of fair play dictates that even the guiltiest of guilty should have a fair hearing.

But does Peter Storrie deserve it?

Let's look briefly at the facts.

As one of the Prem's highest paid Chief Execs, Peter Storrie has presided over the biggest **** up in its eighteen year history. Yes we've seen other clubs struggle, notably Leeds and Derby (whose directors went on to be jailed) but nothing amongst these other clubs has seen INCOMPETENCE writ so large for so long.

Storrie defends himself (well who else would?) by spinning  the same laughable "I'm only an employee " over and over... most recently after having a  bunch of fives (sorry fivers) pushed in his face by on the ball Saints fans.

As if anyone ever believes him.

Remember it wasn't so long ago that he was claiming credit for keeping the Club afloat. Not so long after he'd told us that the Club wasn't in melt down and that in itself shortly after he'd tried to convince us that Defoe left because "he wanted to go...".

You see Peter Storrie relies on fans concentrating on the game and not on remembering what he said. The Press too have short memories, because if they bothered to check their archives they'd find contradiction after contradiction being spouted by the man that for so long has been the public face of the Club. The same man that behind the scenes pulled the strings and ultimately left this marionette a crumbled mess on the world's stage.

So why am I calling for Storrie to stay? Simple. Unlike those equally 'unloved' bankers that resigned and hid behind privacy laws to hide their personal and professional embarrassments, I want Storrie to stay in office and for someone, anyone,  be it an Administrator or other 'public  body' to expose him once and for all in full view of the world.

Love Pompey do you Peter Storrie? Well I don't believe a word of it and one day your actions that have been spun as being in the interests of Portsmouth Football Club for far too long now, will be exposed for what they really are.

Well, the 2009/10 Premier League season is fast approaching the home straight. Pompey have now played 25 of their 38 fixtures and provided we are in a position to fulfil those commitments there are 39 points still to play for. Theoretically, we could be sat at the bottom (which we are) with Zero points (which we aren’t) and victories in all of those remaining matches would see us accumulate a total of 39 points which would this season see us survive in the top flight. But that’s not going to happen is it.

And to be honest the writing has arguably been on the wall for us since pre-season. Much of the damage was done in January 2009 and further wounds were inflicted in the Summer to the extent that Pompey’s pre-season began with a roll-call of just 14 players. And despite a few reinforcements, the warm-up matches didn’t really instil too much confidence in our ability as a club to retain our Premiership status come May 2010. Less than flattering draws against both Havant & Waterlooville and Basingstoke Town were soon forgotten when Eastleigh were thumped 6-1 but then we Pompey fans tend to over-react consistently to both defeat and victory don’t we.

A pre-season trip to Portugal brought home the reality of the situation for the first time in the campaign with defeats at both Vitoria S.C. and Benfica, conceding six goals over the two games but tellingly failing to find the net in either. Admittedly, even I was encouraged by the 2-0 win over Glasgow Rangers in our final preparation game but lady luck immediately deserted us in the opening Premiership fixture.

FULHAM :  Bobby Zamora’s ‘bum’ shot wrong-footed David James and consigned us to a single goal defeat at Fratton Park. Unlucky! Previous seasons result 1-1. Points lost = 1.

BIRMINGHAM CITY : Had opportunities to win but in fairness a draw would have been a fair result had we not conceded a controversial last minute penalty that resulted in a 1-0 defeat. Unlucky again! No previous season’s result to compare against but we took more than an average of 1 point per game from the relegated sides so we effectively lost ground again on our 2008/09 results.

ARSENAL : Outplayed at The Emirates; simple as that. A 4-1 defeat and bad luck didn’t play a part. Got battered in 2008/09 too so no worse off with this result.

HEREFORD : A 4-1 win in the Carling Cup was no more than we should have expected. But at least it was a win.

MANCHESTER CITY : A first half Adebayor goal gave Manchester City the points in another game where Pompey could consider themselves unfortunate not to get at least a point. Previous seasons result 2-0. Points lost 3.

BOLTON WANDERERS : A topsy turvy match remembered for some horrendous defending by the hosts (Pompey) and another last minute goal that gave the visitors a 3-2 win. Probably the game where my sub-conscious (at least) became concerned - and it was still only September. 2008/09 result 1-0. Points lost 3.

ASTON VILLA : A game of two halves. Poor Pompey were 2-0 down at half-time and could, with better finishing, have salvaged a draw following a much better second 45 minutes - but they didn’t. Previous season’s result 0-0. Points lost 1.

CARLISLE UNITED : Carling Cup, went a goal behind before running out 3-1 winners in not overly convincing fashion at Brunton Park.

EVERTON : Another team to ‘get away with it’ at Fratton Park. A solitary goal scored by one team who took their chances against another team who were proving that they were simply incapable of doing similar. 2008/09 result 2-1. Points lost 3.

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS : Pompey’s first Premiership victory of the season on 3rd October against the side who were widely tipped as favourites for the drop. Says it all really. A slight gain in the points equation compared to 2008/09.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR : The one that most of us wanted to win and quite frankly we should have. But we didn’t. Defoe scored to put Spurs 2-0 up in the first half before Boateng scored a second half goal against his former club. We then battered them for the remainder of the game but fell to a 2-1 defeat. Previous season 2-0. Points lost 3.

HULL CITY : Talk about de ja vu. Another boring 0-0 at the home of the Tigers. Same as 2008/09.

STOKE CITY : Don’t get too excited. This 4-0 victory for Pompey came in the Carling Cup. A welcome result nonetheless but we DESPERATELY needed league points, even at this stage of the season.

WIGAN ATHLETIC : Some fans maybe thought that a corner had been turned. 4-0 against Stoke followed by another 4-0 against Wigan in The Premiership. Wow! We CAN score goals! Don’t be fooled - Wigan were as poor a Premiership team as I have seen on this particular day. But a welcome 3 points. 2008/09 result 1-2. 3 points GAINED!! At last!

BLACKBURN ROVERS : Brought back down to earth with a bump! They had Benny Macarthy and Jason Roberts up front, we had nobody of any note, and we defended poorly. Result 3-1 to the home side. Lost also in 2008/09 so no change there then.

STOKE CITY : Possibly a game that Pompey deserved something from but Ricardo Fuller’s goal was enough for the hosts who took all three points. Last season 2-2. Points lost 1.

MANCHESTER UNITED : Battered 1-4. Giggs - different class. BUT, played quite well and didn’t deserve the scoreline. 2008/09 0-1. No change.

ASTON VILLA : Lost this Carling Cup tie 4-2. Enough said. Don’t care anyway.

BURNLEY : A victory at home at last. It seems a long time since the last one. We won 2-0 but the Burnley Manager strongly believed that his side should have taken all three points. But they didn’t. Boot on the other foot for once. Didn’t play The Clarets in 2008/09 but the win represented a slight points increase over the sides relegated in 2008/09. So good news.

SUNDERLAND : Last season we travelled to The Stadium of Light and snatched a last minute equaliser. We did it again thanks to Younes Kaboul (Remember him?). We snatched a last minute winner last year in a 2-1 victory so 2 points lost here.

CHELSEA : Who cares. We lost again (narrowly though : 2-1). No change in terms of points.

LIVERPOOL : Liverpool got away with it in 2008/09. Losing 2-1 with 12 minutes to go, The Reds brought Torres off the bench and won 3-2. This season we deservedly beat them (and frustrated the hell out of Torres) by two goals to nil. 3 points GAINED!.

WEST HAM UNITED : Lost 2-0. Not a good performance. Never really looked like getting anything. Drew in 2008/09 so 1 point lost.

ARSENAL : Outplayed at Fratton Park; simple as that. A 4-1 defeat and bad luck didn’t play a part. Got battered in 2008/09 too so no worse off with this result. Haven’t I said all this before.

COVENTRY CITY : The reality that we weren’t a very good side at all hit home in this F.A. Cup tie. Coventry City are poor and we were no better. A 1-1 draw resulted in a replay which, a few days later, we won with an extra-time winner having equalised in injury time in normal time. Close!!

SUNDERLAND : The reward for beating Coventry was a Home tie in the F.A. Cup with Sunderland. A decent performance saw Pompey emerge as 2-1 winners which was great - but I really wanted league points, DESPERATELY!

WEST HAM UNITED : They absolutely battered us 4-1 in 2008/09 but at least we scraped a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park this time so 1 point gained.

MANCHESTER CITY : Lost 6-0 last season with a decent side; lost 2-0 this season with a poor side by comparison. That’s football I guess. No harm done when comparing this season’s results with last season.

FULHAM : Played as well as we have for weeks, especially in the first half BUT it’s all about taking your chances. Fulham scored one; we didn’t. Therefore, we lost 1-0 but compared to the 3-1 defeat in the previous season no real damage done in that respect.

MANCHESTER UNITED : It would be easy to pillory Pompey for this emphatic defeat (5-0) but in truth, at this moment in time, Manchester United could do it to anybody.

SUNDERLAND : The boys from the North East must be fed up with us. They went a goal ahead again but, as per usual, Pompey equalised and snatched a point. Both sides could have won it but because we beat The Mackems at Fratton Park last season it represents 2 points lost.

SOUTHAMPTON : The final two balls out of the drum for this F.A. Cup Draw. Fans were genuinely nervous prior to the game. Pompey had never won (or even drawn) at St. Mary’s; Southampton were playing very well (albeit in League 1) while Pompey were struggling both on and off the pitch. Potential upset? You bet it was! But we all slept soundly (if eventually!) on the night of February 13th following a 4-1 win courtesy of a much improved second half performance. We could have been out of the cup had the opposition taken their first half chances - but they didn’t, so we march onto the Quarter Finals and a Home tie with an in-form Birmingham City.

STOKE CITY : Tomorrow’s fixture. The first of the remaining 13. Currently on 16 points and arguably at least 20 points from safety this season. That alone says it all. In 25 matches we have accumulated 16 points and we need another 19 (or maybe even a couple more) from the final 13 games.  Impossible? - No. Realistically achievable? - Probably not.  Therefore, tomorrow is quite simply a MUST WIN. We beat them last season and if we don’t do similar this year ……… it’s 3 more points down the tubes compared to last year.

Personally I can’t see us reaching 30 points and that won’t be anywhere near enough. Currently, we are on target for about 31 points if we match last season’s results in the remaining fixtures. But then that includes a win at Everton. Can anybody really see us doing that this year??? Precisely. Relegation is almost inevitable and anything less than a win against Stoke will in my opinion make it a foregone conclusion. But if or more probably when relegation is confirmed this season it will be unfair to suggest that Pompey have under-achieved because in truth it was almost inevitable before a ball had been kicked.

I'm not sure whether I want to laugh or cry about this... 

but whenever myPompey carries a story about the plight of Portsmouth Football Club we get almost as many visits from up the road than we do from locals. Why is this?

Ok, let's get the wise cracks out of the way first shall we? We all know it's because Saints fans want to support a real team with real passion and even now are cursing their parents for not managing to 'drop' on the right side of Hampshire. There we are. I've said it. That should satisfy that sad and relatively small 'clump' of Pompey fans who seem to direct more energy towards the hatred of the 'Scum' than they do supporting their own team. It's one thing wanting to beat them on the pitch, quite another to spend your life frothing at the mouth at the mere mention of their name.

So.., back to the main point. Why is it that thousands of Saints fans hover over Portsea Island looking for any snippets that might make their day. Arsenists staking out their targets maybe and then going back for a self satisfying pat on their back when it's ablaze?

Think I'm being dramatic? Yes? Well have I got news for you. There's a web site up the road that seems to spend all its time discussing the affairs of Portsmouth Football Club. How do I know this? Closet Saints fan me? Nope. It's simple, when I check out myPompey's stats I see that a significant proportion of our 4,000+ unique visitors yesterday were linking to myPompey via Saints Web. A nice looking site with some serious dudes discussing PFC.

Serious? What do I mean? Well take a look and you'll see. 285  pages and counting of comments about the Pompey Takeover Saga. And some of the analysis is good, although it does beg the question why they can't find enough Saints stuff to occupy their day.

So my advice to all Pompey fans who want another take on the events at Fratton Park is to visit Saints Web and in particular the aforementioned thread.  Once you cut through the occasional myopic rendition, which as we mentioned exists on both sides of the Hamble, you might find it very useful.

Or it might leave you wondering why that lot up the road appear to be spending all their day discussing us. Mind you, they do appear to be doing a better job of analysing the current financial situation than we do. And.., make of that what you will.

You can find them here: Saints Web - Pompey Takeover Saga

Lily (8), upholding the tradition north of the border.

Well I am not long back from Manchester. I did not arrive with much hope but left with a great deal less.

After respecting the minutes silence for the anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster I think it would have been fitting to have had a minutes silence after the game for Pompey's Premiership future!

It seemed as if we were beaten long before the whistle was even blown. Man United won at a canter it could have been double figures in all honesty. We spent the first 15 minutes of the game defending corners and were giving them so much time on the ball Fletcher could have knitted a few more " Norwich scarves" before passing to one of his teammates

We had a couple of chances before they scored but in reality even those chances were never going to go in. They were hit in hope more than expectation.

Boateng looked as though he is definitely not up for the fight and I am afraid the rest of our team, even though they huffed and puffed look like a team heading for relegation!

The only saving grace was my mate a Man U fan who I was supposed to be going with missed his bus from Aylesbury twice!!! Don't ask.

So I ended up taking my eldest daughter Lily ( 8 ) to her first game. She loved the experience apart from the result obviously. Her favourite player was Freddie P as she like his hair. Says it all really.

I was a proud dad hearing her belt out " Blue Army" in her broad Scots brogue!

It was my first time at Old Trafford and now I very much fear it will be my last.

However great support as usual though with the  best chants of the day being

" shall we sing a song for you"

and

"5 nil and you still don't sing"

Just read all the other results and  they have dealt us a cruel hand too.....but it's not over until it's over and next up Sunderland who really do not like playing us at Fratton so come on boys show me you still have some fight left in ye!

Mac.

It’s the same old story. You wait for one to come along and then a couple turn up at once. Not buses on this occasion but articles written by members of the Press that are directly related to the plight of Portsmouth Football Club but at the same time offer some constructive thoughts on the underlying problems within the game that have in turn contributed to the situations at Pompey, Plymouth, Crystal Palace, Hull City, West Ham United, Cardiff City and of course Manchester United. Yes, problems even at Old Trafford - who would have thought it?

Generally, in my opinion the press coverage has been less than kind to our club. Of course, in many ways we have loaded the gun for the hacks to fire at us and they have had their eager fingers on the trigger ready to shoot at will. After all, we could argue that it’s the clubs own fault for getting itself in this state to start with.

But in fairness to some of the media, there seems to be a genuine attempt at flying the flag for the club that seem destined to be the first bloodied victims of football’s ‘success at all costs’ era. And unfortunately, the fact that Portsmouth Football Club are reluctant pioneers in this way will always be to their eternal discredit in the eyes of the majority.

Two articles recently published take a look at the bigger picture and whilst much of what has been written is what we already know and have probably discussed amongst ourselves it is gratifying to see it written on a national level at last. This is not to say that the game suddenly has light at the end of the tunnel or that the football’s authorities will take any more notice but anything that raises the concerns that a lot of us close to Pompey have already voiced has to be a good thing.

Both articles focus firmly and squarely on club finances and, in the main, those at Pompey and Manchester United whereas a third looks at how one of our own fans is suffering as a result of the club’s indebtedness. The fan in question is being chased by Creditors and the Courts for the payment of bills owed by the club. Why? Because when the legal entity “Portsmouth Football Club Limited” ceased trading, he bought the name “for a laugh” and as a memento, to mount in a frame and display it with other Pompey memorabilia - as you do! What he could never have imagined is that as Pompey’s finances went into meltdown he would be deemed by some to be liable for the debt. Pretty scary stuff to be honest and with the value of claims arriving through his letter box totalling several hundreds of thousands of pounds including one of over £200,000 and also a tax demand it is understandable that it is currently the source of many a sleepless night. The situation will hopefully be resolved quickly and common sense will ultimately prevail but it has already impacted on his own credit rating and through absolutely no fault of his own. A very unfortunate casualty of this whole sorry mess.

‘Clubs paying the price for living the dream’ says another report. And that’s a fact. But it shouldn’t be ‘news’ to too many people. In truth, this financial wake-up call has been a long-time coming in football and has been a situation that has for far too long been ignored by the game in general, and not just Pompey, Manchester United, Cardiff City etc. Manchester United fans would claim to have seen the writing on the wall for their club five years ago. Furthermore, it has been said that a former Crystal Palace manager identified the seeds of serious overspend being sown as long ago as 1992. And as a lifelong Pompey fan, whilst I wallowed in the glory of our F.A. Cup win and jumped on the bandwagon demanding more and more money be made available to enable our ‘high maintenance’ manager to continue his hungry pursuit of celebrity footballers, I strongly believe that sub-consciously I knew some time ago that it would all end in tears. I could visualise the pitfalls of my club playing the high risk game that others were indulging in to achieve glory but what else could we do if we wanted to compete and, after all, if you don’t compete, what’s the point? Ignorance turned out to be bliss - but only temporarily. And perhaps this is the real disease that has spread through the game in the current era; Managers, Coaches, Commercial staff and fans all quite simply getting carried away on the assumption that the owners would effectively ‘gift’ the finances required to satisfy the players and more appropriately their agents exorbitant demands. Consequently, the media have had a field day - the existence of an abundance of raw material making a journalist’s life suddenly easier although resulting in the written product also becoming much more questionable at times. Quantity over quality seems to have been the order of the day from most Sports Desks, particularly where coverage of our club has been concerned although again, we (the club) have probably been our own worst enemies at times.

The final article that caught my eye, and one that I hope gains sufficient profile to have an impact, carries the title of ‘Debt mountains tower over clubs but football’s rulers turn a blind eye’. The headline alone struck a chord. For the inaction of the Premier League and Football League during the evolution of this monetary mess has been nothing short of scandalous in my opinion. How long have players wages been disproportionate to their role in life? But the Premier League maintained less than 18 months ago that their clubs’ debts were sustainable and subject to responsible management across the board. Yet around that same time we see two players leave Chelsea for Manchester City and in one fell swoop increase their wages from an estimated £50,000 per week to an estimated £80,000 in one case and £92,000 in the other. Now I know we’re not talking about cost of living increases being the expectation in the world of the WAG but why on earth, regardless of how much money an owner may have, would they authorise this sort of contract. None of them have surely become as wealthy as they apparently are by throwing money away. As if £50,000 per week wasn’t enough (and therein lies part of the problem by the way because wouldn’t £10,000 or even a ‘paltry‘ £5,000 PER WEEK (!) be sufficient?) what would have been so wrong or insulting about saying to the player, “Your salary will stay the same but we will pay you a signing-on fee of £X”, or, “We’ll give you a 5% increase on your existing salary plus a signing-on fee of £X”. And here is where some Agents, in my opinion, are a huge part of the problem. In the same way as it doesn’t pay for a Lawyer to act too quickly on its client’s behalf it doesn’t pay for an Agent to do anything but inflate his or her client’s contractual demands to an absolute limit. Why should they care about killing the goose that laid the Golden egg when they’ve earned a lifetime’s money in one or two big deals?

Most football clubs are now technically insolvent if you remove the financial backing, in whatever form it has been made available by the owners. And of course, when they decide to walk away as Sacha Gaydemak did from Fratton Park, the consequences are frightening unless a replacement benefactor can be quickly found. But in reality that doesn’t solve the root cause of football’s problems. The Premier League made a pathetically weak attempt (in my opinion) at introducing controls in the form of tests that determine the viability of both the club and prospective owner. The “Going Concern Test” is applied by accountants, presumably during the annual audit, and of course we at Pompey are fully aware of the now infamous “Fit and Proper Persons Test”. But the latter appears to be little more than a standard credit check, so why it took so long to carry out when our friend Al Fahim was attempting to buy the club is anybody’s guess. Had the League been clever enough to ask probing and in-depth questions in order to establish the real ability of an individual to successfully buy a Premiership football club then the time taken would be time well spent and both players and staff at a club along with its long suffering supporters would be able to perhaps feel confident that the incoming regime are indeed whatever they have claimed to be. But if the Test doesn’t ask, for example, “How much money do you initially plan to invest?”, “How is this investment being provided?”, and,” In what way do you plan to invest the money - e.g. Stadium, Training Facilities, Players etc?”, then what does it serve to achieve? What is the Business Plan? It’s a fair and obvious question …………………. isn’t it?

In some small part, due to the failure of these controls, Portsmouth Football Club find themselves on the brink of a financial catastrophe. [I say that without removing any of the blame for the situation from those parties whose culpability is certainly much greater]. The club need to secure fresh investment quickly, and it needs to be proper investment. Football in general needs to stop messing around with loans; moving debt around from lender to lender in the same way as we are encouraged domestically to shift credit card balances for an initial period of improved terms without necessarily ever reducing the actual liability. Rumours persist of negotiations between Peter Storrie and a new group of potential investors. We can only hope that something positive is just around the corner for our club but Pompey’s plight in truth is probably the thin end of the wedge as far as football is concerned. And as much as I want to be totally parochial (and Pompey are very much my priority) a solution to the bigger problem will also benefit our club in the long term and give us a chance to rebuild our reputation and standing in the game, both on and off the field.

Maybe ultimately, the majority of clubs will be owned by supporters in the same way as operates successfully at many clubs in the German league and also of course at Barcelona and Real Madrid. And if it can work there …….!

All in all, it’s a time of massive challenge for football in this country and it’s difficult to predict how it will all end. Recognising that certain things are wrong is a start. Convincing the authorities, the Premier League, Football League, UEFA, FIFA, that the ball is now in their court would be another significant step - and they would then need to take responsibility and act promptly to plan a way forward and introduce some form of regulatory controls. New owners must be prevented in the future from simply using borrowed money to finance the purchase of a football club. The banks may not like it but when the going gets tough the banks get going, as we now know to our cost at Pompey. Change is needed. Doing nothing is not an option if the current structure of our game is to survive.