Portsmouth FC
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The Fratton faithful may be cautiously optimistic today
Pompey go into today’s game with Sheffield United with all the statistics and form tables suggesting they should walk away from Fratton Park with another three points this afternoon.
If results go their way Pompey could be as high as ninth in the Championship table by this evening, and they could have broken this season’s league record for longest period of time without conceding a goal.
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Nwankwo Kanu’s late strike gave Pompey another much needed three points in their nPower Championship tie against Barnsley at Fratton Park.
Kanu scored his second goal of the season
Greg Halford’s free-kick was headed home by Kanu, who had come on as a substitute for Joel Ward after 70 minutes.
And the goal means that the Blues’ second crucial win in as many weeks sees them leap to 16th in the Championship table, and are now nine points clear of the relegation zone after more favourable results were recorded by the teams around them.
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John Utaka has followed the likes of Kevin Prince-Boateng out of the club
Protests. Uproar. Deceit. Lies. Hypocrisy. All issues banded about between fans in the last 24 hours. Can I take this opportunity once again to remind everyone we’re lucky to still be here!
Not so long ago it didn’t look like we’d even have a club. Worst comes to worst yes we could be a League One side next season.
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The main issue with having a micro-sized squad like Pompey have right now is that each area of the team is under the microscope as people ask ‘where do we most need to strengthen?’
Remember celebrating?!
The answer is obviously everywhere, but in particular up front. Long has goalscoring been Pompey’s problem, with the Peter Harris’ and Guy Whittinghams of today nowhere to be found – or even the Yakubus and Sletoslav Todorov’s, who were prolific at this level for the Blues as they scored 97 goals in the promotion season of 2002/03.
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Pompey survived HMRC’s high court challenge, and with the surprising news that the taxman will not appeal the road looks clear for the club to exit administration.
Chainrai is the only realistic buyer for the club
What a relief. I honestly didn’t think the Blues would get the decision on Thursday, let’s hope Balram Chainrai can now takeover. He has issued worrying quotes about the club selling to him rather than him buying the club- perhaps suggesting he is a reluctant investor.
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Portsmouth Football Club awaits the next twist in their fight for survival as the hearing for HMRC’s CVA appeal is heard tomorrow at the High Court.
Pompey's season could be effectively over this time tomorrow
10.30am is D-Day for Blues fans as they will wait anxiously of news of the hearing in front of Mr Justice Mann- who hopefully will keep the average mann on the street in his thoughts as he passes judgment.
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs are making an example out of Portsmouth Football Club- I doubt even they would deny that now if the question were put directly to them. They disagree that the taxpayer should come second to outstanding business debts.
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So the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa is well and truly over now- the dust has settled, and those who represented Portsmouth on the biggest stage in world football have returned to the club. But for how long?
John Utaka and Kanu seem most likely to feature this season
The likes of Nadir Belhadj and Hassan Yebda have already exited from Fratton Park, signing for Qatar-side Al Sadd and returning to parent club Benfica respectively, and the four other players who represented Pompey this summer have returned with big question marks over their futures.
Read the rest of this entry »
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I can’t say the bar was set very high for Pompey as we headed into the match with Fulham. That being said, I was pretty impressed with how we looked on Saturday.
Piquionne impressed me, I’m glad we picked up the Frenchie. Hopefully he can keep playing with the same intensity throughout the entire season. I’d like to see another striker play up with Piq–though we had a nice number of shots (17) vs. Fulham, I doubt we’ll be able to penetrate the defenses of many of the teams we face down the road with only Piq up front.
Also, Kranjcar needs to get more involved. He is a skilled player, but I hardly heard his name during the match. Was Utaka even playing?? Our defense played pretty well overall. I thought Belhadj played exceptionally well, but was left stranded a couple times.
Nobody needs to hear anymore that this is going to be a tough season for the Blues. The question is, how tough will it be?
Tomorrow is a must win. Not looking forward to the following matches with Arsenal at the Emirates (those 6 goals Saturday have me shaking in my boots) and MC the following week.
I’m hopeful though. I think if the players play with the same fire they played opening day, we should be able to avoid relegation. But it almost gurantees to be a trying season, which could break some players’ spirits.
Rumors are circulating about possible late-additions to the club. I’ll do my best to keep y’all up to date as speculation becomes more concrete.
I’m predicting a 1-0 win for Pompey tomorrow. PUP!
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The club, in what I have to assume was a move timed to quell fans’ growing disaffection with management, signs another 30-year old footballer, striker Frederic Piquionne.
Reviews are mixed of the former Les Gones player. Sky Sports rates him a 5.0, which means “Below-average- some faults, out-of-touch.” David Nugent, graded by the same scale, is a 5.9.
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On a side note, do these ratings mean anything to you?
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The club sure is “playing up” the importance of Piquionne to the public. The announcement posted on the OS praises the striker as being “renowned for his pace and power” and touts his lengthy record as a player. Here is a detailed player summary from GFDb.com.
It appears his glory days were played earlier this decade in Ligue 1. In his 2004-05 season with Saint-Etienne, he landed 11 goals on 36 games. Since then, he had 11 goals on 30 games split between Saint-Etienne and AS Monaco during the 2006-07 season. From 2007-08 he scored 7 goals on 26 starts with AS Monaco, and last season he started 6 games with Lyon, scoring 3 goals (including one during Lyon’s UEFA matchup with Fiorentina).
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Peter Storrie gushed over the striker, saying in Portsmouth Today:
‘We have him on loan but you could easily pay £5-6m without hesitating.’
‘Harry (Redknapp) and I tried to get him before but couldn’t get him out at the time. He was at St Etienne at the time and I sat in their club offices all day. We had agreed a deal to buy him but they couldn’t find a replacement. They were all day on the phone on transfer deadline day and it collapsed.’
‘As a club, we’ve always tracked him and he’s the type of player our fans will like. If you look at his career, he’s always had a very good scoring record. He had some issues last season in terms of playing and got a bit frustrated being on the bench, but finished the campaign in the team. He’s played in their four pre-season games and can go straight into the team against Rangers – subject to international clearance.’
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The acquisition of Piquionne, combined with the Pompey in Portugal fracas with teammate Marc Wilson involving a “lump of wood”, could signal the end of David Nugent’s stint at Pompey.
Storrie mentioned that the club has already received an offer, but refused to comment further. Reports claim that Stoke is the most likely destination for Mr. Nugent.
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In other news…
David James has reaffirmed that he will stay at Pompey. He shares the sentiments of the fans and supporters, stating that he understands that “it is going to be a hard season and (I) just hope we don’t get rid of anyone else.”
Despite his pledge of allegiance, rumors are still circulating about the possibility he will leave after we sign Antti Niemi. I’m just not ready to jump on the Niemi bandwagon.
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The Zaki loan deal could still potentially happen. However, there is not very encouraging news stemming from a Goal.com interview with the striker as he sums up the situation saying:
I am only focusing on Zamalek. I don’t know anything about Portsmouth as this issue is between my club and agent and Portsmouth.
The days are numbered, so news is surely to break soon regarding this, and all other transfers.
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A Soccernet report affirms that looks are still being given to Mark Viduka.
It didn’t sound like we were going to sign any more players after this week’s statements and to-and-fro amongst management. It is very, very difficult to find out what exactly it is that we are up to!
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If you haven’t already read the grim posting on the official Portsmouth website, check it out in its entirety here.
The basic gist of the article is that they’re just trying to keep the boat afloat. This piece is worth reprinting:
While it is our intention to add strength to the existing squad we cannot rule out the possibility of having to sell more players should the takeover not happen.
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…… “Should the takeover not happen??” August 15 is rapidly approaching.
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The statement was posted in response to an article published today in The Sun, who we all know is undoubtedly the UK’s most reputable source for football information. But there obviously must have been some truth in the report, as it merited a prompt explanation from the club.
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Mr. Al Fahim, just hours later, released his response to the ordeal. He states that he has “duly met both deadlines” in regards to due diligence process and the “Fit and Proper Person Test.”
Al Fahim defers responsibility for this summer’s mismanagement by saying that he is “exercising every effort to complete (the transaction) as soon as possible” and commends the Pompey supporters for “showing an extraordinary level of loyalty to this great club.”
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So what do we make of this?
Nothing new. And damn surely nothing good. The club is still very much in limbo, with what’s looking to be a bleak end to the transfer period.
We could possibly be saying goodbyes to the likes of Sylvain Distin, Nadir Belhadj, John Utaka, and Sol Campbell by the season’s end.
I’m going to mail all of my bar tabs from this summer to Peter Storrie.
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