Plight of The Pompey

On a night when most of the footballing world turned its eyes towards the Champions League to see Manchester United woes continue. Meanwhile, another club looked to end theirs. Portsmouth against Accrington Stanley, an unlikely fixture until a few years ago. It wasn’t so long ago that Pompey played in two FA Cup finals in three years and went on to face Kaka’s AC Milan in the Europa League in 2008, taking a 2-0 lead at Fratton Park before Ronaldinho came on to help rescue a 2-2 draw. Portsmouth FA Cup win ended a 58-year wait for major silverware. Now almost six years ago, it may well seem like a lifetime ago for many fans since the superstar names graced the hallowed turf.

 

Shortly after lifting the cup the club were plunged into a much documented financial meltdown. Sacha Gaydamak’s glory days were abruptly ended by the global financial crash; owners have since included a tycoon from Dubai without proper funds, a shady Malaysian money lender, a Russian who has since been charged with a £400m fraud. Oh and not forgetting a Saudi businessman no one ever met, and is still disputed to this day whether he actually exists – just where were the so called ‘fit and proper persons’ tests when this calamity was occurring.

As a result of the off the field problems, which eventually saw them become the first Premier League club to enter administration in February of the 09-10 season and leading to relegation after the subsequent 9-point penalty, as well as a hefty transfer embargo emplaced. The following campaign saw them relegated to League One due to another 10-point deduction, due to re-entering administration. This was swiftly followed by a mass exodus of players and staff, with only seven wins over the course of a 46-game campaign combined with a 10-point deduction due to failing to pay footballing creditors Pompey were relegated to League Two, before being rescued from insolvency by their own fans last April.

 

The Portsmouth Supporters’ Trust (PST) are formed of eleven wealthy supporters, who raised £1.7m, and a remarkable £2.4m was put up by 2,400 less well-off fans each pledging £1,000. After an expensive year-long legal battle (that investors had to fund) to the sum of £1m and settling a claim brought by another former owner, Balram Chainra the club was finally out of administration and in doing so becoming the largest community-owned football club in the country.

Pompey has seen more than their fair share of managers come and go over the past few years. The latest, Richie Barker, along with Director of Football, Steve Coppell inherits a team some great young talent such as Jed Wallace and Jake Jervis but, with same defensive fragilities. They have a lot of work to do to protect Portsmouth from their fourth relegation in five seasons. The club, who had started the season as favourites to win the division are now locked in a survival battle, flirting with the possibility of losing their Football League status altogether!

 

However, all is not doom and gloom on the South Coast, the club still draws an average crowd attendance of 15,379 – a figure that wouldn’t be out of place in the Championship! The dark days seem to be over and the club are now very much in control of their own destiny. History has shown that it’s possible for clubs to bounce from financial crises, with the correct financial backing and strategy in place; such as neighbours Southampton and Swansea's rise from obscurity. Pompey’s plummet has undeniably influenced UEFA new ‘Financial Fair Play’ regulations that aim to prevent these tragic incidences from being so frequent. Pompey went on to gain an invaluable 3-points against Accrington and climb to 18^th in the league and 7-points off the drop in a tightly-fought league.

“You can be friendly, comfortable, have the cheapest tea in the league, the best beer and the nicest pies, and make everyone involved — but you know what?” said Iain McInnes, chairman of the Portsmouth trust “If you don’t do it on the pitch, no one gives a toss.” A message that Hoof! fully approve.

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