Last Post

So this is the end of another blog, and what a season it has been. What is going to happen next season well let me look into my crystal ball ......................... I see but I am not going to tell you!

With no official announcement on new owners yet, I have decided to take no notice of any press or fans site until it is announced on the Portsmouth FC web site. We are very close to the deal going one way or the other, I am getting fed up with one paper saying one thing and the other saying the other. The only people who know what is going on are the club and the Dr and his representatives. So untill they come out of that smoked filled room so to speak we and evryone else know nothing.

So till the next blog gets going Good Bye Pompeygary

New blog at this link BANANA AND STARFISH

Watching Idiots

I used to say to myself when I watched Sunday Supplement " what are these people on?" they used to talk such utter drivel, they seemed to think they new it all. To me they were Football fans last and bully boy hacks first, they are so far removed from what the real fan is thinking it is a bit scary. So I was not surprised to find the Pompeytgate rubbish is the work of one of these morons, a none story story, what is his problem with my team? well I tell ye in hack fashion

Headline "POMPEY-HATING GEORDIE HACK FILLS THE SUN WITH LOAD OF CACK"

And there is more substance in that headline than anything this idiot has ever written.

At This Time

As things stand in my mind Pompey are in the same position as we were at the end of the season, the owner wants to sell the club and will not put more money in. The club are still cutting costs and balancing the books to make the club break even. The players that are going or gone want to go, and I think there must be a clause in Glen Johnson's contract to the effect that if a big club come in for him he can go, and I think the money for him is a good deal but it is sad to see him go.
As with the proposed sale of the club to Sulaiman Al-Fahim we are in the process of Due diligence as of the time of the announcement on the club web site and to the press so we are only half way through, the announcement of the selling of the club is usually done when Due diligence is completed and finalized but with other clubs trying to tempt Sulaiman Al-Fahim away from Pompey Peter Storrie had announce it to the world. We would know nothing about this now but it has been pushed to the public for the sake of the take over.
The selling of players is ultimately up to the owner not Sulaiman Al-Fahim who is not, until the sale of the club goes through.
So until we get a new owner things will stay on course with what Peter Storrie has said all along "we need to balance the books"
By the way I am not going to waste my time talking about the rubbish in the National press over this story so I wont. Play Up Pompey!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dr in the house

So the good Dr made a visit to Fratton Park yesterday, I have been waiting for something more than just paper talk and to see the Dr at the park was encouraging and by all accounts he was a nice guy.
Questions on the message board and in the press are as follows.
When will the deal be completed? I don't know
What are the Dr's plans? Who knows
Where is the money coming from? Your guess is as good as mine.
This is what I want if all goes well, the redevelopment of Fratton Park, the new training facility and keeping of our best players and improvement of the squad and a new stadium.Not much to ask for then! oh I forgot paying of our debt.
The only thing the press can find to be negative about this (I do believe that some of the press hate Pompey and every year they can't wait or Pompey to fall) is the FA's Fit and Proper checks, I hope this gets the go ahead witch I think it will, as Portsmouth are one of the proposed city's for the world cup and the Dr is the only man to deliver a world class stadium for Pompey and England that may help things!. Why are we the first club to get problems when we are going to get a rich owner, they are all against us I tell you!!!!!!!!

New Owner

It was one afternoon I was looking at some message boards and one of the headers came up and said "Pompey bought by Billionaire Arab" so looking at it thinking it would be a joke article or a wind up. But no as the afternoon went on it started to appear on more and more reputable web sites until this below appeared on the Portsmouth web site. I am not going to get to excited until the deal is done and dusted. The press I think were caught with there trousers down with this one, I had a feeling they were sharpening their knives for our potential fire sale and demise. So they can go and pick on someone else so to all the press I say "Fuck Of And Die"

So I am going to extend this blog until the sale goes through, so if it does well done Peter Storrie.

Portsmouth Football Club can confirm that it has accepted an offer from Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim to buy the club.

This follows initial due diligence and negotiations with Portsmouth executive chairman Peter Storrie on behalf of club owner Alexandre Gaydamak.

Peter Storrie concluded the deal with Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim in Rome on Tuesday night.

A period of formal legal and financial due diligence will commence next week so that the transaction can be completed as soon as possible.

The club cannot make any further comment on the future structure of the club until this period has been completed.

Wigan1-0Pompey

So we ended this season on a defeat, I did not even have the radio on for this one I was watching Newcastle get relegated sad I know. So that's it for another season a slightly different end to this season than the last, what will happen next term?

Wigan: Kingson, Melchiot, Boyce, Bramble, Figueroa, Valencia, Cattermole, Brown, N'Zogbia (McManaman 78), De Ridder (Routledge 90), Rodallega.
Subs Not Used: Pollitt, Edman, Cho, Watson, Kupisz.

Goals: Rodallega 26.

Portsmouth: Begovic, Kaboul (Kanu 72), Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Pennant (Thomas 72), Hughes, Mullins, Traore, Utaka, Crouch.
Subs Not Used: Ashdown, Primus, Pamarot, Cranie, Basinas.

Booked: Hreidarsson, Hughes, Crouch, Thomas.

Att: 17,696

Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire).

Portsmouth 3-1 Sunderland

Well what a good Finnish to the season at home. It seemed for the first half that as we were safe that we might lose this, we started with quite an attacking formation for once 4-3-3, but strangely I am glad to say when we went to 4-4-2- in the second half and went on to win from one down. But to me the highlight of the night was when Linvoy came on for the last five and it gave the game that added extra punch that we have been missing at home since the AC Milan.

It was good to go back to my old haunt and have a couple of drinks. The place soon got busy with a glow of relief that we were now safe for this season. The only downside for Mum was the lack of Stella. Well there is no accounting for taste.

The visitors took the lead against the run of play when Calum Davenport's cross was tapped in by Kenwyne Jones.

John Utaka fired in an equaliser a minute later and then forced Phil Bardsley to bundle in an own goal that gave the home side the lead.

Portsmouth went down the other end to score; Utaka finding Traore on the left and the defender drilled a shot past Fulop into the far corner to seal the win.

So except for pride and a bit more money, the game against Wigan there is not much to play for I still hope for a win, but I will be more interested in the 4 way who is going down matches that will be one afternoon in front of the box.

Portsmouth: Begovic, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Utaka, Davis, Mullins, Hughes (Traore 46), Kanu (Kaboul 46), Crouch (Primus 90).
Subs Not Used: Ashdown, Nugent, Basinas, Belhadj.

Booked: Utaka.

Goals: Utaka 60, Bardsley 68 og, Traore 88.

Sunderland: Fulop, Bardsley, Davenport, Ferdinand, Collins, Tainio (Cisse 80), Malbranque (Edwards 54), Whitehead, Leadbitter (Murphy 85), Richardson, Jones.
Subs Not Used: Colgan, Reid, Healy, McShane.

Goals: Jones 59.

Att: 20,398

Ref: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire).

New Owners? Are the getting round the table?

From SkySports.com

Portsmouth supremo Peter Storrie says he is in advanced talks to sell the club - and there will not be a fire-sale of players this summer.

The Fratton Park chairman says there are two interested parties looking to take over the club from owner Sasha Gaydamak.

He believes a deal will be done and dusted by the start of July and he is optimistic about the future.

Storrie told the News of the World: "I am in advanced talks (to sell the club) with two interested parties and believe a deal will be struck by the start of July.
Prepare

"That's when the transfer window opens and that's when we will need to know what money we have to prepare for next season. So I am optimistic about the club's future.

"I have heard all the doom and gloom stories about us being loaded with a mountain of debt which will mean we have to have a fire-sale of players in the summer. But I am telling you that's absolute rubbish.

"Sasha has been very open and honest about this. He made it clear earlier in the season that he would not continue to invest in the club and that he wanted to sell.

"And I can tell you he will lose a lot of money when he does complete the sale of the club - money that would make most people wince.

Long-term

"But he is prepared to do that because he is so concerned about the long-term future of this club."

Pub for Monday

The good old Traveller's Joy, my old regular haunt.

Safe!

So we are safe at last. Thanks to Newcastle loosing to Fulham, so Monday night I can relax a bit more and party! So I expect an announcement about a new owner very soon me thinks.

Will we be safe today?

If Hull or Newcastle lose today Pompey will be safe for another season. I would go with Hull I'm afraid but it would be nice if they both lost, but knowing how it goes with Pompey they will both win so hold on tight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So still not safe

I was hoping for a point at Blackburn, so with two games to go we must get about two points but I think we will need 4, never easy as a Pompey fan. Thankfully the teams below us are worse than us so we may not need the points, and by Monday it could all be over I hope. Play up Pompey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blackburn 2-0 Portsmouth

Blackburn all but sealed their Premier League place with a comfortable win over a Pompey side still desperately seeking the win they need to survive.

Morten Gamst Pedersen put Rovers ahead after David James had flapped under pressure from Christopher Samba.

Benni McCarthy made victory safe from the penalty spot after Hermann Hreidarsson had needlessly handled.

John Utaka wasted a chance to set up a tense finish when he hopelessly blazed over from the penalty spot.

Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce:
"This has not been a great escape, it has been survival we worked hard for over several games.

"We have been clear for a while and are nearly there with two games to go. Forty points guarantees nothing but I don't think we can be caught now."

Portsmouth manager Paul Hart:
"You have to be on your toes against teams like Blackburn. They are hard to play against but I felt we gifted them two goals and that is disappointing.

"I have said all along that there will be no complacency from us in our preparation. If anyone thought we were safe already then today is a timely reminder that is not the case."

---

Blackburn: Robinson, Andrews, Nelsen, Givet, Warnock, Diouf, Grella, Kerimoglu, Pedersen, Samba, McCarthy (Mokoena 83).
Subs not used: Bunn, Khizanishvili, Villanueva, Treacy, Olsson, Doran.

Booked: McCarthy, Andrews.

Goals: Pedersen 31, McCarthy 58 pen.

Portsmouth: James, Kaboul (Pennant 64), Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Johnson, Hughes (Kanu 53), Davis, Mullins, Belhadj (Utaka 53), Crouch.
Subs not used: Begovic, Nugent, Basinas, Cranie.

Booked: Johnson

Attendance: 24,234

Referee: Mike Riley (Yorkshire)

POMPEY 0-3ARSENAL (Youth)

Well I had this one down for a defeat before the game and I was right about that one.

Got to the pub nice and early, got the drinks and sat outside in the sun and waited for Mum. with only two tables it got a bit busy on the street. When Mum arrived there must of been about 15 odd people standing around the other table, one of them said to me and Mum " are you with us?" I said "no we are with ourselves" He said they were with an internet fan group the Vital Pompey and they had decided to meet up for an end of season bash And take some pics of the group, if you look at the pic below you will see Pompeygary (Me) and my Mum enjoying a pint in the sun on the right of the picture. It was a lovely worm day so we headed for the ground.

The first half we played badly with one up front and went 2 down in the first half, the whole team were quite pore. The second half we were all over Arsenal but they got a third and it was all over.

Pompey goalkeeper David James gifted Arsenal the opener when he fumbled Nicklas Bendtner's header into his net.

The Dane then grabbed a second from the penalty spot after Sean Davis was ruled to have fouled captain Andrey Arshavin.

Carlos Vela lashed home a third before Noe Pamarot was sent off for bringing Arshavin down when through on goal

Portsmouth manager Paul Hart:
"The boys are adamant that it was not a penalty for their second goal and I agree with them. There was no physical contact.

"I am not here to vilify referees. We have had a few decisions go against us recently but it is a tough life for referees and it is for us.

"Everyone around us in the table has lost today, so there is no change. We just have to look after ourselves."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger:
"I wanted to give a breather to some of the players

"I have no doubts about the younger players because I see them every day and what we work on, you could see that on the pitch today.

"We were sharp, composed and mobile with a great attitude."

---

Portsmouth: James, Pamarot, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson (Kanu 46), Pennant (Utaka 46), Davis, Hughes, Mullins, Belhadj, Crouch.
Subs Not Used: Begovic, Primus, Nugent, Basinas, Cranie.

Sent Off: Pamarot (78).

Booked: Campbell, Kanu, Davis.

Arsenal: Fabianski, Sagna, Song Billong, Djourou, Eboue, Walcott (Bischoff 64), Denilson, Ramsey (Randall 82), Arshavin, Bendtner (Merida 77), Vela.
Subs Not Used: Mannone, Coquelin, Emmanuel-Thomas, Frimpong.

Booked: Arshavin.

Goals: Bendtner 13, 41 pen, Vela 56.

Att: 20,418

Ref: Lee Mason (Lancashire).

PUB

Drinks will be at The Milton Arms , yes this fine pub is a favorite of ours one of the few real pubs left.

Historic old Brickwoods pub which was almost demolished in the 1920s. The main bar consists of a long public bar which runs the length of the frontage and there is an old barn at the rear of the property which doubles as a lounge and function room, where live bands sometimes perform.




Football away fans beware - the pub is known to be very partisan when it comes to Portsmouth FC and the house is therefore not suitable for visiting supporters.

Newcastle 0-0 Pompey

So it looks like the fat man is singing for the Toon, and with the abuse he gave the Pompey fans I hope they go down now!
What a nervy night I had with the radio on, and I am very happy with a draw. And that bloody woodwork got in the way again!
This point will be almost enough for us, but not for the Toon.

Newcastle: Harper, Beye, Coloccini, Bassong, Jose Enrique (Guthrie 28), Smith, Butt (Gutierrez 71), Duff, Viduka (Carroll 64), Martins, Owen.
Subs Not Used: Krul, Barton, Lovenkrands, Edgar.

Booked: Bassong, Carroll.

Portsmouth: James, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Davis, Belhadj, Hughes, Mullins, Nugent (Pennant 65), Crouch.
Subs Not Used: Begovic, Pamarot, Utaka, Cranie, Kanu, Basinas.

Booked: Hreidarsson, Johnson.

Att: 47,481

Ref: Mike Riley (Yorkshire).

Southampton

On this I will gloat, for all the years of stick I got when Pompey were shit, the name calling in the street the "your going down" in the pub from complete strangers. I can take stick no problem, but for all the years that Saints fans looked down on Pompey it's time for us to claim Kings Of The South goodbye Southampton FC.


Southampton have been effectively relegated after being docked 10 points by the Football League.

The ruling comes after Saints' parent company went into administration, though the club and administrators say they expect to launch an appeal.

Four points off safety with two games to go, Saints will lose 10 points if they stay up in the Championship.

And if they do not avoid finishing in the bottom three then the points penalty will take effect next season.

The south coast outfit had hoped to avoid the punishment as they argued that it was their parent company Southampton Leisure Holdings plc (SLH) which had gone into administration on 2 April - not the football club.


But a League investigation by "independent forensic accountants" found that the football club and SLH were "inextricably linked as one economic entity" and applied their mandatory penalty.

The League also found that: "The holding company has no income of its own; all revenue and expenditure is derived from the operation of Southampton Football Club and the associated stadium company.

"The holding company is solvent in its own right. It only becomes insolvent when account is taken of the position of Southampton football club and the other group companies."

The statement added that there was no alternative other than to invoke the 10-point penalty.

It was also revealed that the company commissioned to look into the matter reported that co-operation with them was withdrawn towards the end of their enquiries.

However, Mark Fry, joint administrator of SLH, insisted he was "shocked and extremely disappointed" with the League's decision to deduct points.

Former chairman urges fans to back club

"The football club was not even aware that the investigation had been concluded," he told the BBC.

"We remain very firmly of the view that the rules do not apply, and that the Football League has stretched the rules to meet the circumstances. The football club is not in administration.

"The Football League is a members' organisation, and with any such body of that nature, you run the risk that if there is any grey area, they can interpret the rules as they see fit.

"I think they've interpreted the rules to suit the conclusion they wanted to reach.

"It is expected that an appeal will be launched."

Leon Crouch, who has had two spells as chairman of the football club, hit out at the "terrible timing" of the League's decision.

He told BBC Five Live Sport: "Southampton Leisure Holdings and Southampton Football Club are two separate companies.

"Mark Fry is the administrator for SLH, he's not the administrator for the club. We're not in administration, we're paying our bills and I don't see how they can take these points off us.

"Southampton Football Club was set up so that if this ever happened, we would not have these points deducted - it's the way they have interpreted the rules.

"I think we have a very strong case, I hope we appeal and we now have to focus on winning against Burnley on Saturday, we need to safeguard our Championship status and then hopefully have this decision overturned - then we'll be back where we belong next season."

Responding to Crouch on Five Live Sport, Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney said: "What he said that was of particular interest of me was when he said this structure was set up to avoid the football club having a penalty if it got into financial trouble.

Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney
The board is acting on sound legal advice, implementing the rules the clubs themselves wanted put in place

Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney

"We have looked carefully at the holding company's annual accounts, which include the football club, we sent forensic accountants into the company - not Football League staff, but people whose expertise is to get to the bottom of relationships between companies - and we have taken external legal advice.

"It's quite clear the holding company and the football club are inextricably linked as one economic entity.

"All of the evidence pointed us to the conclusion that an administrator has been appointed that covers the club or aspects of the club as well as the holding company, and that being the case, we had no flexibility under Football League regulations - we had to apply sporting sanctions.

"It's worth pointing out that those sporting sanctions were agreed by all the clubs. This is not a runaway decision - the board is acting on sound legal advice, implementing the rules the clubs themselves wanted put in place."

The 10-point deduction for Football League clubs entering administration was introduced in 2004, with Wrexham the first League team to suffer a deduction in the 2004/05 season.

In 2007, the rule was amended so that clubs going into administration after the fourth Thursday in March would have the 10-point deduction suspended, after Leeds United and Boston United both entered administration when they were all but relegated, just before the end of the 2006/07 season.

Manchester United 2-0Pompey

Well I knew we would not get much from this, especially after Manchester United left out key players for the FA Cup game at the weekend, by all accounts we played very well. Next stop the Toon!

Pomey1-0Bolton

Three points nice just what the Doctor ordered.
With no pub picked for this game as Mum was staying over for the night, we thought we would pick a place to pick at random, having got to Pompey fairly early we went of in a random direction and went for a cuppa in a cafe.
We left and went in search for a pub,the Fort Cumberland was the first pub we found, after ordering the drinks we went into the Family room mainly because some bloke was talking over the bar to people on the other side in a very annoying voice, why he could not walk over and sit closer to them I do not know? Although he did ask a Pompey fan in a hat and Pompey shirt and flag wrapped round and all sorts of Pompey paraphernalia "Are you going to Cricket then?" I found that very funny.

So to the game I don't care for Bolton that much, I don't hate them but now they have Megson in charge I like them less.
This was a game I just knew we would win and we did, so now we are six points of the bottom three with a game against Manchester United coming up no points there then.
Portsmouth had dominated the first half, with Glen Johnson, in an unusual midfield role, going close to breaking the deadlock on three occasions.It was an interesting first half, especially for 24-year-old England international Johnson, whose return from suspension saw him find a series of attacking opportunities.With Younes Kaboul playing an industrious role directly behind him, Johnson frequently found himself free to drift inside and even towards the left side of the field as Bolton's defenders struggled to track his movements.Substitute Kanu's faint touch from a Nadir Belhadj corner gave Portsmouth a vital home win over Bolton.

Portsmouth manager Paul Hart: "I didn't really see what happened for the goal but we'll take it. I'm told Kanu has claimed it but it doesn't matter to me who scores as long as it is us and I thought we deserved it today.

"Bolton have a way of playing that makes them difficult to play against but I think you have to give our players credit even though we didn't dominate in the second half as much as in the first half."

Bolton boss Gary Megson: "We were poor and Pompey were not that much better than us. We've got to show a big improvement on this even though three of our last five matches are at home. We are certainly not thinking we are safe yet.

The defending for the corner was very bad, letting it go straight in like that from Belhadj's corner. Did Kanu claim it? Well, he would. I should know, having had him at West Bromwich Albion!"

---

Portsmouth: James, Kaboul (Pennant 90), Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Johnson, Davis, Mullins, Nugent (Kanu 71), Kranjcar (Belhadj 77), Crouch.
Subs Not Used: Begovic, Pamarot, Utaka, Hughes.

Booked: Kranjcar, Distin.

Goals: Kanu 78.

Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Andrew O'Brien, Cahill, Samuel, Basham, McCann, Gardner (Muamba 12), Kevin Davies, Elmander, Taylor.
Subs Not Used: Al Habsi, Hunt, Smolarek, Puygrenier, Makukula, Cohen.

Booked: Kevin Davies, Andrew O'Brien, Hunt, McCann.

Att: 20,158

Ref: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire).

Pompey 2-2 WBA

Well a game we should off won, but at least we had a point and came from behind, but we could of done with a win!

The pub was a nice one if a bit empty, only for a locals baby in a chair who seemed to enjoy dropping everything on the floor, as we left more children arrived so it must of been the baby's birthday.

The home side took the lead through Younes Kaboul who fired high into the net from 12 yards.

West Brom equalised after the break when Jonathan Greening placed his six-yard shot past a helpless David James.

The Baggies then took the lead when Chris Brunt smashed in a free-kick from 25 yards before Niko Kranjcar's 30-yard strike won Pompey a precious point.

For Paul Hart's men, who began the day three points off the relegation zone, the point will improve immensely valuable but bottom-of-the-table West Brom will feel they missed a huge chance to gain a priceless win.

So it's Bolton next we must win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pompey boss Paul Hart:
"We didn't play well today and it would be wrong to say otherwise, but we've come out of it with a draw.

"We've moved up two places and 10 points from seven games is the best run we've had since October.

"We're not sprinting our way over the line, we're crawling. But if that's what we need to do then we'll crawl."

West Brom manager Tony Mowbray:
"We've been here for a long time. We need to win at Manchester City and get on with it.

"The fans deserve a team that is playing for them right until the death and I think they are getting that.

"The desire and the commitment of the players is clearly still there."

---

Portsmouth: James, Kaboul, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Pennant (Gekas 90), Mullins, Hughes, Nugent (Belhadj 64), Kranjcar, Crouch.
Subs Not Used: Begovic, Pamarot, Kanu, Utaka, Basinas.

Booked: Hreidarsson, Kranjcar, Kaboul.

Goals: Kaboul 33, Kranjcar 65.

West Brom: Carson, Zuiverloon (Hoefkens 77), Meite, Olsson, Robinson, Morrison (Chris Woods 75), Greening, Koren, Dorrans, Brunt (Mulumbu 81), Fortune.
Subs Not Used: Kiely, Menseguez, Borja Valero, Simpson.

Booked: Dorrans.

Goals: Greening 48, Brunt 62.

Att: 20,376

Ref: Mike Dean (Wirral).