Portsmouth collapse completes South Coast turn-around
Posted by DavidM in Portsmouth, Southampton | 3 March 2010
Last Friday Portsmouth Football Club went into administration. This week they will be docked 9 points, leaving them 14 points adrift at the bottom of the table with 10 games 'til the end of the season. This virtually guarantees relegation to the Championship, with the shadow of closure of the company and the club still a very real possibiity.
But it was only at the beginning of last summer when Portsmouth fans were enjoying the pain that Southampton were feeling. Relegated to Division 1, entering the season on -10 points and having continuously sold it's best players in an attempt to balance the books, Southampton appeared terminal.
I know a lot of Southampton fans and they had passed beyond anger at the meltdown and were despairing at the state of their club - especially when Pompey were riding high.
It was a dream come true, then, when Southampton announced a new owner. And not just any owner, but a bona fide billionaire who made all the right moves from the beginning.
Unlike Notts County, Southampton's new management recognised the reality of their situation. There really isn't much point hiring Sven and Sol for a team that far down the leagues. The nature of the game and style of play is totally different. Southampton were astute and brought in Alan Pardew who, while experienced in the top flight, also has a wealth of Championship and league knowledge. He was a great balance between building a successful League One team and creating a platform for future performance through the Championship and into the Premiership.
While it looks unlikely (though still possible) that Southampton will reach the play-offs this year their performance has been excellent. Despite their deducted 10 points and a very poor start to the season they are now in 10th place and 14 points adrift of 6th place. They may not be there yet but with results like Tuesdays 5-0 demolition of Huddersfield, the Saints fans are bouyant.
So can Portsmouth survive and copy the transformation seen along the coast? It depends if the right person steps in and buys them. The bad news is they aren't as attractive as Saints were. A recent BBC article sums it up, describing Portsmouth as "an indebted Championship team in a shabby stadium with almost no corporate seating, a battered credit rating and a murky recent ownership structure".
I hope they make it but I have a feeling Portsmouth fans have more pain to go through before things get better.
Comments
hahahahahaha scummer website **** pup 4-1 4-1 4-1 4-1
Turnaround??? 4-1 What turnaround? Business as usual me thinks lol
Yeh but look at the head-head stats.
I heard Portsmouth are merging with Havant...
Havant got any money FC.
Ps good read.
Nice article but an even better post by the eloquent 'pup' which typifies most of his fellow pimpey supporters (going down no money in the bank).
So was it worth it, pup, to have laid out all that dosh that bought you the FA Cup and also kept players that should have been sold, as you were almost certainly lillegally trading whilst insolvent when you lot played Southampton? Do you still derive satisfaction from beating them, a side two divisions below, when your club is quite possibly going to be liquidated and cease to exist a short while later?
One really does have to wonder at the mentality of some of the Skate's so-called fans. Juvenile and puerile.
4-1 says it all.
2 FA Cups & 2 League Championships v 1 FA Cup
You scummers will always be in our shadow.
Well reasoned article - Southampton FC as an investment must have looked a golden prospect to an astute businessman such as Herr Liebherr.
PFC however would attract only nutters & gunrunners presumably....ah - proof already! Four skint owners, a fifth who is desperate to unload in much the same way as you would be desparate to clean your shoe after treading in dog-doo. If natural justice takes it's course then the HMRC will be remembered for ridding the footballing world of a club that cheated it's way to a sordid FA Cup, bought (& outbid other clubs for) players it could not afford & didn't even own a blade of grass. The epitaph will be 'Good Riddance' - & that is the politest I can be.
HAHAHAH nahhh your in the shadow (still) of our amazing new stadium.
Stop winding us up...you're the ones that are meant to be wound up!
AFC Pompey here you come!!!
POMPEY GOING DOWN WITH NO MONEY IN THE BANK!
'you scummers will always be in our shadow'
you're in denial lol
27 years of consecutive football in the top flight.
far bigger reputation than pompey
who cares if you won the league 60 years ago, post war leagues never really recovered until 1955 anyway.
southampton have always been a bigger team, and you know it.
Poor old deluded Portsmouth.....We are laughing long and hard at you .......shower of shite
Your shadow?
Do you mean the "we-can-only-attract-14,000-diehard-fans-despite-being-in-the-premier-league-and-being-desperate-for-money" shadow?
Massive club, Portsmouth. Massive. LOL.
If Carlsberg did football owners.... they'd be Markus Liebherr!
If Carlsberg did CEO's.... they wouldn't be Peter Storrie. Although pup probably still chants his name.
If Carlsberg did Barristers.... they'd belong to HMRC!
all of you scummers seem like your breathing a sigh of relief now that pompey are having a bit of trouble. i think you all know as well as us pompey fans do that we are 'pride of all england and top of the south' and it will stay that way for a while yet.
we are 'pride of all england and top of the south' and it will stay that way for a while yet
While (not being 27 years) and yet being the most obvious correct word.
We have the better record against you and the longest stay in the premier league (a founding club of the PL) you're punching above your weight as you can tell by the standard of everything at P*mpey.
Southampton have premier league facilities, premier league manager, MONEY and a great fanbase...and the result of 4-1 doesnt really bother any of us due to our head to head stats and couldn't care about your tiny club that is about to become smallest of the smallest.
If breathing a sigh of relief is the same thing as p*ss*ng yourself laughing Joe then maybe that's so. If your diminutive band of inbreds hadn't been so smug when we were having our own issues then the schadenfreude that we're now enjoying immensely would have nowhere near so great. Is pride to do with 14k turning up to see you play Sunderland when your club is desperate for money? Small minds, small club, soon to be no club!
Are you still here, Skate?
Why don't you go rattle a spare change bucket in the centre of Chichester or something...
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