Pompey need local heroes

Monday, 30/01/2012

by Martin Cooper, Shoot's Portsmouth blogger

Even news that so-called Sicilian businessman Joseph Cala had pulled out of an attempt to buy PFC failed to cheer me up for long.

His classic quote: “I wanted to buy Pompey because Pompeii is my favourite city.” Like a bad euro, he says he has resurrected his bid and the race is on between Cala and Andronikou to see who can get their picture in the papers the most as they fiddle-faddle while Pompey burns.

Despite the horrors, I have never been so proud of a Pompey side as they recorded a second away win of the season – at Peterborough. A brace from Erik the Viking and a Jason Pearce header led to an amazing result after, as Michael Appleton succinctly put it: “All the rubbish that has gone on this week.”

The worst news of all was that HMRC has issued the club with another winding up order. HMRC has got it in for Pompey, never forgiving the club for escaping its clutches via administration. HMRC are fed up with football clubs stiffing the taxpayer and are desperate to make an example.

And what timing as Harry Redknapp and Milan Mandaric stand in the dock accused of tax evasion during their time at the club.

If no owner emerges quickly, and even Cala is starting to look good, the only way to escape liquidation may be to sell players. Sharks are circling in the shape of Paul Jewell's Ipswich, sniffing a chance to sign Joel Ward and Pearce on the cheap.

This is a dreadful scenario, to sell the only two members of the first team to have come through the youth set-up. I could stomach the sale of cult hero Benjani, cup hero King Kanu, or even fans' favourite Erik the Viking rather than those two young lads.

If the club slides into administration it will be hit by a huge points penalty, as the Football League is another body which can't wait to kick a dog while it's down.

This will guarantee relegation, no matter how well the team plays, and if it is to survive a mere league down, Ward and Pearce are players Appleton will need to build a side around.

More praise should be aimed at the Portsmouth Supporters Trust, which is feverishly working to save the club and, in a worst-case scenario, it has a Plan B to set up AFC Pompey Phoenix to rise from the ashes.

PST's excellent initiative – Pompey's 12th Man – calls for supporters to pack Fratton Park for Saturday's game against Hull and the one against the vampires of Ipswich.

Jed Limpett has said all money from tickets, programme sales, etc, will go towards staving off the taxman. More than that, it is a chance for the  fans to stand alongside players and staff and show the world just how much this club means to them. As the terrace chant goes: “You'll never know just how much I love you, until you take my Portsmouth away.”

To sign up for Pompey's 12th Man initiative, visit http://www.pompeys12thman.co.uk

* Martin Cooper is a member of the Portsmouth Football Supporters Club London. To join, visit http://www.pompeylondon.co.uk/ or email londonpompeymembership@hotmail.co.uk. The views expressed in this blog are purely the author’s and not those of the Supporters Club.

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