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The Plight Of Portsmouth: Supporters Willing To Sacrifice Premier League Status To Save Their Beloved Club
Loyal fans left feeling alienated by the board...
Feb 8, 2010 4:45:00 AM
By Richard Parry
Two years can prove to be a long time in football, and for the supporters of Portsmouth Football Club their transition from FA Cup winners in 2008 to sitting rock-bottom of the Premier League with the arrival of a fourth owner in six months has left many wishing that their seven year stint in the top flight would come to an end.
They feel let down and disillusioned, and their message to the board is clear; they want their club back.
After attending a meeting of the Portsmouth Independent Supporters' Association [PISA], member Barry Dewing discussed how the frailties and the mistakes made by the club’s administration are finally catching up with the south coast side.
“The club’s been built on sand, we’re not running a desert, it’s a football club, and it’s about time it had solid foundations,” Dewing informed Goal.com UK.
“For seven years, all the money that has been generated from our successes has not been ploughed into the infrastructure.
“The infrastructure is still the same as [that of] a very mediocre team that would come 18th every year in the old first division.”
Of utmost concern to the supporters is the decline of the club’s fan base, as they believe the board are removing the ‘true fans’ from Fratton Park, whilst failing to attract new support to a ground which they describe as "perhaps the worst in the league".
Dewing added: “They’ve priced out your typical Portsmouth fan.
“The middle-class fan that lives within a 10, 20 mile radius, the facilities are not where they want to take their kids to, and the prawn sandwich eaters won’t go because we haven’t got the executive boxes – so we haven’t got any market, they alienate everyone.
“It needs a big shake-up, a different mentality and an understanding of Portsmouth.”
Fellow PISA member Tony Goodall conceded that progression had arrived too soon for his side, and that the club have struggled to make the necessary and correct adjustments.
“We were promoted too quickly, because we didn’t have the infrastructure.
“But it’s like being on a rollercoaster, sometimes you just can’t get off. Suddenly we’re in the Premier League and you build the squad to keep you up, adding players when you can, and it’s cost us.
“Pompey is a proud city,” Goodall added.
“We’re a little bit insular, we’re an island city and people are getting fed up with being embarrassed on a daily basis in the national media, be it in the newspapers, on the TV or on the radio.
“We’ve had enough of it. Put us out of our misery, take us down [into the Championship] but whoever comes in, let us get it right from the word go.”
This belief that relegation could allow for the much-desired rebuilding of the club is not one that is merely limited to a few affiliates of PISA, as Portsmouth FC Supporters Club member Matthew Rogers concurs.
“To be honest I wanted the club to go down even before we won the FA Cup, because of the way the club had changed,” Rogers told Goal.com UK.
“The club I loved, the reasons I’d followed it for all those years, what I loved about it was gone.”
On being quizzed regarding the transactions of then Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, Rogers conceded that whilst at the time player acquisitions were welcomed by the supporters, the club went through a period of unnecessary expenditure.
Reflecting on the signing of Peter Crouch from Liverpool in the pre-season that followed the club’s 2008 FA Cup win, Rogers admitted that Portsmouth were pursuing a dream which outweighed the desires and expectations of their own supporters.
“We were strengthening for the sake of it,” said Rogers.
“At the time you thought ‘this is great’, I mean look at what they’re doing now at Spurs [Crouch and Defoe]. We had one of the best strike partnerships in the league.
“But don’t do it at the expense of the club, we didn’t need to take that risk.
“People would have been more than happy with mid-table finishes, not top four, not winning FA Cups – that was a dream, and a one-off achievement.”
Asked whether he felt that the FA Cup success had been worth the present plight of the club, Rogers was subdued in his response.
“Definitely not, not to the level we’ve taken it to.
“I’m all for taking the risk for success, I’d even take relegation, if I’m honest, for winning the FA Cup and getting into Europe; but what’s on the line now is the very future of our club.
“Teams like Stoke, Sunderland – you don’t have to go crazy and spend a fortune to get to those levels.
"We want our club back.”
For more news on England, visit Goal.com's England section!
They feel let down and disillusioned, and their message to the board is clear; they want their club back.
After attending a meeting of the Portsmouth Independent Supporters' Association [PISA], member Barry Dewing discussed how the frailties and the mistakes made by the club’s administration are finally catching up with the south coast side.
“The club’s been built on sand, we’re not running a desert, it’s a football club, and it’s about time it had solid foundations,” Dewing informed Goal.com UK.
“For seven years, all the money that has been generated from our successes has not been ploughed into the infrastructure.
“The infrastructure is still the same as [that of] a very mediocre team that would come 18th every year in the old first division.”
Of utmost concern to the supporters is the decline of the club’s fan base, as they believe the board are removing the ‘true fans’ from Fratton Park, whilst failing to attract new support to a ground which they describe as "perhaps the worst in the league".
Dewing added: “They’ve priced out your typical Portsmouth fan.
“The middle-class fan that lives within a 10, 20 mile radius, the facilities are not where they want to take their kids to, and the prawn sandwich eaters won’t go because we haven’t got the executive boxes – so we haven’t got any market, they alienate everyone.
“It needs a big shake-up, a different mentality and an understanding of Portsmouth.”
Fellow PISA member Tony Goodall conceded that progression had arrived too soon for his side, and that the club have struggled to make the necessary and correct adjustments.
“We were promoted too quickly, because we didn’t have the infrastructure.
“But it’s like being on a rollercoaster, sometimes you just can’t get off. Suddenly we’re in the Premier League and you build the squad to keep you up, adding players when you can, and it’s cost us.
“Pompey is a proud city,” Goodall added.
“We’re a little bit insular, we’re an island city and people are getting fed up with being embarrassed on a daily basis in the national media, be it in the newspapers, on the TV or on the radio.
“We’ve had enough of it. Put us out of our misery, take us down [into the Championship] but whoever comes in, let us get it right from the word go.”
This belief that relegation could allow for the much-desired rebuilding of the club is not one that is merely limited to a few affiliates of PISA, as Portsmouth FC Supporters Club member Matthew Rogers concurs.
“To be honest I wanted the club to go down even before we won the FA Cup, because of the way the club had changed,” Rogers told Goal.com UK.
“The club I loved, the reasons I’d followed it for all those years, what I loved about it was gone.”
On being quizzed regarding the transactions of then Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, Rogers conceded that whilst at the time player acquisitions were welcomed by the supporters, the club went through a period of unnecessary expenditure.
Reflecting on the signing of Peter Crouch from Liverpool in the pre-season that followed the club’s 2008 FA Cup win, Rogers admitted that Portsmouth were pursuing a dream which outweighed the desires and expectations of their own supporters.
“We were strengthening for the sake of it,” said Rogers.
“At the time you thought ‘this is great’, I mean look at what they’re doing now at Spurs [Crouch and Defoe]. We had one of the best strike partnerships in the league.
“But don’t do it at the expense of the club, we didn’t need to take that risk.
“People would have been more than happy with mid-table finishes, not top four, not winning FA Cups – that was a dream, and a one-off achievement.”
Asked whether he felt that the FA Cup success had been worth the present plight of the club, Rogers was subdued in his response.
“Definitely not, not to the level we’ve taken it to.
“I’m all for taking the risk for success, I’d even take relegation, if I’m honest, for winning the FA Cup and getting into Europe; but what’s on the line now is the very future of our club.
“Teams like Stoke, Sunderland – you don’t have to go crazy and spend a fortune to get to those levels.
"We want our club back.”
For more news on England, visit Goal.com's England section!
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