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Championship
Pompey stuck in the middle
Monday, 14/03/2011
by S.J. Maskell, Shoot's Portsmouth blogger
Where do we go from here? Mid-table mediocrity nicely confirmed.
If you have been at the last three matches you’ll know exactly what that means. A lucky 1-0 home win against Sheffield United, a desperate 2-1 defeat at Bristol City and the most appalling 0-0 draw at Fratton against Boro, confirmed Pompey’s place almost slap-bang in the middle of the table:
13 Portsmouth P37 W14 D9 L14 GF49 GA48 GD1 PTS51
It is hard not to let complacency set in. True, players and manager make rousing talk in the press about the outside chance of a play-off place. We are only nine points adrift.
But we have to play five other teams vying for the same places; Leicester, Norwich, Cardiff, Swansea and Burnley, in our last nine matches. This is a task that would daunt a team playing with more verve and rhythm than Pompey are achieving at the moment. Last Saturday the referee drew more attention than the football.
We seem to have a period in limbo coming up. Fans are beginning to look toward next season. Here the uncertainty principle bites.
What players will we have? Calculations show only eight of our senior players have contracts that take them beyond the summer. Under the CVA the salary budget is reduced and money will again be an issue as far as the transfer market is concerned. Nobody is expecting anything ambitious in the way of new signings.
So yet again, our team’s chances are closely tied to the ownership situation. Rumours of interested buyers continue to circulate. We see them surface and then disappear again, like U-boats in a World War II movie, most bearing more menace than promise in their vague and unsubstantiated press statements.
Some people hope that our safety might lead to more interest, but nothing has transpired yet. We will have to undertake that familiar stance of the eternally suffering Pompey fan since May 2009 – the long-term ‘wait and see’ so beloved by our CEOs of recent history.
Problem is, we are used to excitement as Pompey fans. This time last year we were wrangling with HMRC, being appalled at the steadily rising amount of our debt as revealed by the administrator and hearing more and more worrying tales of the way our club had been run since 2006.
Oh, and heading to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final against Spurs. Happy days!
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Total comments: 3
sneakay
Tuesday, 15/03/2011
To answer the question. Yes I have been to the last few matches, and we have been awful and still manged to win. Just imagine what we could achieve if we actually played well in the last nine matches. Hence the ‘lucky’. I certainly am not expecting it, and I doubt that a single Pompey fan out there is, but stranger things have happened. Just look at Blackpool last season as an example of a good end of season run in!
S. P. Angle
Monday, 14/03/2011
I don’t think this is negative - just realistic. We have a thin squad and a tough fixture list. We would all like to go to Wembley again this year, but most of us know it is unlikely to happen. Lucky enough to beat them all - you’re joking, aren’t you? Have you been to the last few matches?
sneakay
Monday, 14/03/2011
In our run in we are playing Reading, who also have a shoot for the play-offs. If on the best form we were lucky enough to beat them all, then why would we not have a chance? Let’s be honest, the team have just played 7 games in 3 weeks, so therefore they ran out of steam against City and Boro. It was always going to happen with our small squad. A full week off for Leicester, then a fortnight before Reading, and we should be able to challenge till the end of the season. It is a good time to be a Pompey supporter. Stop being negative.