It was a bit of an unusual Saturday for me in terms of my viewing habits. I began the day by watching Portsmouth against Birmingham City in the FA Cup. But instead of watching my customary 10am ET Premier League match, I watched Nottingham Forest against Swansea City and later regretted it after seeing Forest’s late winner go in to the back of the net. To end my day of soccer viewing, I watched Wolverhampton Wanderers against Manchester United, which ended up being a predictable win for United in a physical but boring match.

Out of the three matches I watched Saturday, the one that was by far the most entertaining was Portsmouth against Birmingham City. These are two teams that have been playing some of the best football outside the Big Four in the Premier League this season. But their positions in the league couldn’t be more different.

But in the FA Cup, anything is possible, so it was lovely to see Portsmouth put on another brave display in front of a sold-out crowd at Fratton Park. Not to take anything away from Birmingham City who could have easily won the game too with an admirable display, but it was Portsmouth who deservedly won the match and now find themselves in the draw for the semi-final of the FA Cup and will be playing at Wembley Stadium.

Portsmouth’s season is a Cinderella story with a ton of baggage. If you watched many of their matches this season, you know they’ve been playing an entertaining and attacking style that many oppositions have had a difficult time defending against such is their speed down the middle and flanks. Watching Portsmouth is a wonderful experience, whether it’s the football on the pitch or the passionate supporters who crowd into Fratton Park. But the club hasn’t been able to transfer that into much needed points in the league despite the herculean efforts of Paul Hart and now Avram Grant.

Commentator Guy Mowbray best summed it up on Saturday when he spoke of the joy of football and seeing Frédéric Piquionne celebrate his first goal with such glee as he bounced up and down across the pitch and encouraged the crowd to get even louder. Then, at the full time whistle, when the camera zoomed back to show the North Stand erupting with fans giving the players a standing ovation and unfurling flags and scarves, Mowbray again mentioned the joy of football.

It’s a joy that has been sadly missing for most of this season at Fratton Park. Not because of the flowing football, but because of the incompetent financial decisions made by the people in charge of the club. But such is the game of football that no matter how treacherous the financial state of a club is, the players can play out of their skin and turn the reality on the pitch into a completely different experience that what is being seen by the administrator assigned to clean up the financial mess at Pompey.

If you could predict what type of football Portsmouth would play this season based on the financial predicament they’re in, you would imagine it would be a tense type of football with the team playing pretty desperately by floating long balls into the box hoping that someone would latch on to it for a lucky winner. In fact, it would remind you of what Tony Adams was doing with Portsmouth last season before he got sacked.

But the Portsmouth players have been producing an exceptional brand of football that they should be applauded. I have a lot more respect for the Pompey players, many of them who have no idea when and where their next paycheck is going to come from, than I do for players at other Premier League clubs.

Speaking of players, Frédéric Piquionne has been inspirational this season. It’s not just the slinky skills he has, but it’s also his attitude. But my favorite Portsmouth player this season has been Jamie O’Hara who has so often been the playmaker in the middle of the park and has delivered so many inch-perfect passes to his strikers and wingers that have led to goals for Portsmouth.

I say that Portsmouth has been my guilty pleasure this season, which is true. I’m supposed to be unbiased and not supporting any club in particular in this league. While I’m not a supporter of Portsmouth Football Club, I have a deep amount of respect for what they’ve done on the pitch this season especially considering the hell that the players have been put through and how wonderful the football has been to watch.

With the end of the Premier League season just weeks away and a FA Cup semi-final on the horizon, I’ll continue watching Portsmouth with a deep amount of interest and a hope that more soccer fans will join me in this pleasurable experience.

Photo credit: Beefy_n1

During the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon claimed on national television that “There can be no whitewash at the White House”, yet history shows that there was indeed a whitewash and Nixon orchestrated it through delusions of power and presidential etiquette. It seems that time has taught people nothing about that lying whilst hoping no-one notices usually causes more of a fuss.

This week has seen the Portsmouth financial crisis reach such a point that they’ve simply stop talking to the press because, incredibly, no-one believes anything that comes out as an “official” statement. It is reaching the proportions of a footballing farce but the players have finally been paid after deadlines came and went on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Coming after the chief executive Peter Storrie said that he didn’t know when the financial situation would be resolved and players would have to be sold to keep the club going, today executive director Mark Jacob said this wouldn’t be the case but every player had his price. So two employees of the club and two separate versions of events. Add to that the Premier League are diverting January’s installment of the £7 million TV revenue money to Chelsea, Tottenham, Rennes and Lens and the on going battle with the HMRC, which Portsmouth claims is a mistake and the story gets murkier and murkier.

You see, throughout the last couple of weeks we’ve been told just how much the new owner Ali Al-Faraj had spent dealing with debts for the club, apparently £40 million, but they’ve had to get a loan to pay the wages and can’t clear the transfer debts they owe. So how can things be fine when they are still scraping around to pay wages and have to get more debt to pay existing debts? The Premier League don’t trust them to pay their own deals and I can’t think of another club that has had to have it’s TV money diverted to other clubs.

This situation is spiraling out of control and no-one knows where it’s going to end up next. When club employees don’t know which version of the truth to offer out, how on earth are the fans supposed to have a clue what is going on? With former owner Alexandre Gaydamak also weighing in claiming he’s still owed £28 million, how on earth did it come to this? Yet lets be honest, if Leeds United can implode so spectacularly as they did back in 2003/2004, can Portsmouth really find away out of it.

When I lived in Gosport many years ago and used to make the daily trek to the training ground out in Eastleigh, people would always show their love for the club be it in Fareham, Southsea, wherever. There is a real sense of pride in the side throughout Portsmouth, they are a tenacious and dedicated bunch of people and some of the best fans in the country. If you give your all for the shirt, they’ll give you their unconditional support and you can’t ask for more than that. I just wish the relationship was working the other way around and the club gave as much back.

If they gave a damn, they’d sort out this whole sorry mess and go into administration now. By doing so, they can clear the debts and take the ten point deduction on the chin. Hell, they may even be able to sign some players that could pull the deficit back in time. If not, then they can regroup ready for a promotion assault next season. I just wish the club would stop treating the fans with such indifference, they deserve better.

This weekend sees the entrance of the Premiership and Championship clubs in to the F.A. Cup as the worlds oldest domestic cup competition continues in its 128th year. It’s one of those weekends that gets football fans excited, throwing up all kinds of memories for fans of every club from every level of the domestic game. For fans of all clubs, the F.A. Cup offers us all the chance to dream that this could be our year.

This weekend the fans of Barrow, York City Luton Town and Forest Green Rovers will be bursting with pride as the take on league opposition. Disappointingly for the fan in me, only four non-league sides have made it through to the third round this season but there are still some tasty ties for this years game.

Stoke City, Sunderland, Southampton and Notts County will be the clubs trying to avoid the ignominy of a defeat to a non-league side, but with all three of the bigger clubs at home, I don’t think we’ll see any shocks in those particular ties. There are several ties that are eye opening for several reasons though and of those, Manchester United entertaining Leeds on Sunday is the pick of round. Leeds’ fall down the leagues has been spectacular, but they currently sit on top of Division One, looking certainties to return to the Championship.

It’ll be interesting to see how this resumption of the cross pennine rivalry will be played out, with no love love lost between either side. Of the top four sides in the Premiership, Arsenal certainly have the most difficult tie, with a London derby trip to West Ham United on Sunday as well. Chelsea and Liverpool should make light work of Watford and Reading respectively whilst Tottenham should win easily against Peterborough United.

Overall though, the chances of any Premiership clubs getting knocked out by lower league opponents look slim to be honest but there are a couple of tricky ties. Portsmouth will be hoping Coventry City won’t bring their recent good form to Fratton Park, whilst Birmingham City face a dangerous trip to Nottingham Forest. Manchester City visit Middlesbrough who have been bang out of form since they sacked Gareth Southgate but should be too strong.

Of the other recently promoted sides, Burnley and Wolves both face potential banana skin games at Milton Keynes Dons and Tranmere Rovers and may view the match as a chance to give secondary players a run out. Bolton Wanderers fans will probably be viewing the clash with Lincoln City, now managed by Blackburn Rovers old boy Chris Sutton, with renewed optimism following Gary Megson’s sacking earlier today.

What ever happens, 3 Premiership clubs will be out of the competition no matter what with three all Premiership ties in the third round. Aston Villa welcome Blackburn Rovers, whilst Wigan will be trying to put tonight’s thrashing at Old Trafford out of their minds as Hull City visit the D.W. Stadium and Arsenal travelling to West Ham United.

Overall though, this isn’t really a weekend for shocks, but the F.A.Cup has a reputation for shocking you when you least expect it and that’s why it’s still the best cup competition in the world. Here’s to a great weekend of cup football before we get back to the Premiership.

Is there a worse chairman in the history of the Premiership than Sulaiman Al-Fahim? I’m struggling to think of anyone who has misled, misinformed and treated the supporters of a club so clearly as Al-Fahim has in his 8 month relationship with Portsmouth. Today the HM Revenue & Customs have issues a winding up order against Portsmouth F.C. which will see the club declared bankrupt unless all debts can be settled by February

Now, for me, the Premiership board have to take a long look at themselves over this situation. They allowed a man who clearly didn’t have the financial muscle to own a Premiership club to purchase it and then sell 90% within 6 weeks to Ali al-Faraj who promised to invest significant sums that have still to materialise. Where is all the money going at Portsmouth?

So here we have a situation where the 2008 F.A. Cup winners are facing going under in 6 weeks. It is an absolute disgrace that this situation has come about and the club have just commented on this story, wholly denying the accusations but does anyone believe them anymore? The club are banned from signing anyone until the footballing debts are settled, the ground needs major redevelopment or a new ground and now the tax man has come knocking.

Going into administration would see them hit with a 10 point deduction immediately and would seal relegation for them. Selling players would leave them weaker than they currently are and it would seem highly unlikely that anyone can step in to bail them out financially. It’s a nightmare situation that has echoes of the crisis which engulfed the club in 1999 when Milan Mandaric rode to the rescue.

Yet football has changed immeasurable in the ten years since that crisis. Administration now means a points deduction and yet, when al-Faraj bought his 90% of the club in October, the debt to the Inland Revenue was claimed to have been settled. It now seems that once again, it wasn’t true and with the amount supposedly £2 million, where did that go? The statement from the club claims that they’ve paid £9.7 million but the HMRC have still sought a winding up order. Who’s telling the truth here?

Mandaric has actually stated just before Christmas that he wouldn’t be buying Portsmouth back which would be bad news for anyone hoping to see him return to the Solent. Yet the club has been hemorrhaging money for the last 3 seasons, losing over £40 million up to the end of the 2007-2008 season. Since then, the club have sold over £80 million of talent, but still owe money to Chelsea, Watford  and Rennes. The next allotted amount of TV revenue, which is £7 million could be diverted to those three clubs but it still wouldn’t cover all the outstanding monies.

The monthly wage bill at Fratton Park is £1.8 million and the only other option is to sell playing assets to try and keep going, but the wages have bounced twice already this season and with everyone aware of Portsmouths situation, they will do well to receive an actual value for those players that matches what they need. All in all, it’s a dire situation and there seems no light at the end of the tunnel for Portsmouths long suffering fans. As always these days at Pompey, they are the last to know anything. I could do a better job than the current incumbents at Fratton Park and I suspect most Portsmouth fans could.

Well, you wonder if sanity has left the South Coast this summer at Portsmouth, with weird takeovers, scraping around for signings, the chief executive being charged with tax evasion, another takeover, being banned from signing due to unpaid debts and now Paul Hart being moved out of the managers seat. What have the Pompey faithful done to deserve this mess?

Of course, Paul Hart is entirely to blame for Portsmouth’s misfortune isn’t he? Yep, everything that has gone on over the summer is all Paul Hart’s fault. It was Paul Hart’s fault that self publicising loudmouth Sulaimin Al-Fahim didn’t have the money he said he did. It’s Paul Hart’s fault that the previous owner, Alexandre Gaydamak refused to finance the club any more and it is all Paul Hart’s fault that he spent most of August trying to sign players as he had no team.

The statement from Portsmouth’s owners through Peter Storrie is typical of people who have absolutely no idea about football or sport in general. “Paul has worked under very difficult circumstances with the financial restrictions the club has faced since he took over, however, the board feels that the team should have accrued more points to date and that we need a new man in charge to ensure Premier League survival.”

What planet do these owners live on? Paul Hart has had to watch as an entire team is dismantled in front of him, then the all shouting and all singing Al Fahim turns up, promises the world but has no money, gets a loan to pay the wages and then sells 90% to someone who doesn’t know anything about football. Did Al Fahim ever have any money? I don’t think he did and he made a packet in 6 weeks for making outlandish statements and walking about with a replica kit on.Well done.

Manchester City’s owners jettisoned him soon enough after he continued to make stupid statements every other day. Al Fahim is well known as a celebrity chaser and loves the limelight ahead of any business sense he may have. He promises to buy the club and then the deal takes forever because he’s having trouble getting the money together. Al Fahim claimed he had £100 million to invest and did that ever appear?

Hart watched on as player after player was sold to keep the wolves from the door and the manager was left with the bare bones of a team with days to spare before the season started. Hart then spends every avenue open to him to try and create a team in a fortnight and they treat him like this? It’s pathetic at best and a disgraceful turn of events.

The board feels they should have more points? Could they clarify how a team thrown together in a fortnight is supposed to be winning games off the bat. Portsmouth have been playing alright over the last month or so, despite a transfer embargo and delayed wages again, Pompey were slowly coming together. These owners are out of their minds to treat Paul Hart like this.

Of course, Avram Grant’s there now, so I would expect he’ll jump at the chance at this poisoned chalice to try and prove that the rumour about Chelsea almost winning the Champions League in spite of him is untrue. Nicknamed the man from the B.B.C (balls, bibs and cones) during his first spell at Portsmouth due to the amount of input he actually had, this will be a real test of his abilities.

Yet, I feel real sympathy for Paul Hart. I’ve been critical of his managerial abilities before, because his record, other than at Nottingham Forest wasn’t all that good, but that was another situation where he had a talented side that was sold under him. Of course, the fact that David Platt had caused that situation before scuttling off was no fault of his but he had to carry the can and ultimately paid the price.

How can anyone be expected to manage a side with the chaos that comes pouring down from the boardroom at Fratton Park is anyone’s guess, but to do such a callous and despicable act to someone who has acted with the uppermost dignity throughout the last 6 months at Portsmouth is a disgraceful affair. Once again, I feel for the fans at Portsmouth, no club deserves the owners they’ve got their now.

It sounds as if Gary McAllister is about to named as Paul Hart’s assistant manager tomorrow morning. Reports coming from Radio Solent are claiming that McAllister, after turning down the same role under George Burley with the Scottish national team last week, has agreed to join Pompey. After the start that Paul Hart has had to endure with the loss of a team over the summer and then being expected to form one in about 3 days, he’ll be glad of the help.

McAllister’s reasoning for turning the Scotland offer down was that he wanted a full time position in English club football and it seems his chance has now arrived. It’s certainly a baptism of fire but when you’ve worked for Ken Bates, you can turn your hand to most situations without any fear at all. After being out of football for nearly 10 months, since being sacked from Leeds United on December 21st, it sees a welcome return for the likable Scotsman to the Premiership.

McAllister could actually do with such a position after two ill feted managerial positions at Coventry City and Leeds United. Both clubs had varying pressures that McAllister struggled to cope with, Coventry were desperate to return to the Premiership as quickly as possible but McAllister’s personal life was thrown in to turmoil when his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. He resigned in January 2004 to spend more time with her, but she sadly passed away in March 2006.

Leeds United were struggling to overcome the shock of Dennis Wise and Gus Poyet leaving, when McAllister came to the club and they managed to get to the play off final, but lost in a shock defeat at the hands of Doncaster Rovers. After that, it was always going to be tough for McAllister and a shock defeat to non-league Histon in the F.A. Cup sent the club into free fall.

Now he’s got a chance to come in as an assistant manager and cut his teeth in an environment where he can learn more than simply taking the managers job at a club he used to play for. There’s no pressure from supporters who remember him strolling around the midfield, spraying balls to all corners of the park. There’s nowhere else for Portsmouth to go and Paul Hart has continued to rise above the ridiculous levels of media pressure on his position.

The two go back to their time together at Leeds United, when Hart was in charge of the youth academy and McAllister was the club captain. This is not a decision based on a whim, the two obviously know each other well and are aware of each others strengths and weaknesses. The existing relationship could be crucial in allowing the duo to hit the ground running and Portsmouth aren’t too far away from getting some points on the board.

Hart has had to suffer the biggest asset stripping seen at a Premiership club since Leeds United’s implosion in 2003-2004. Yet he had to go through something similar when he was the manager of Nottingham Forest as the club desperately tried to recover the money that David Platt had blown in his dreadful tenure as manger.The irony of the situation will not be lost on him at all, but at least is should stand him in good stead.

The Premiership season begins on August 15th, just under four weeks away and for most clubs in the top flight, July has seen them scurrying about trying to strengthen their squads. At Fratton Park however, Portsmouth find themselves hampered by the current process of due diligence for Sulaiman Al Fahim’s proposed takeover to be completed. As such, no new players have come in and the board have allowed Glen Johnson to leave for £17 million.

The board have now accepted an offer of £12 million from Peter Crouch and it seems a simple matter of crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s. The only question is where Crouch will end up. Sunderland were in the driving seat but the player would like to remain in the south of England which would have put Fulham in the driving seat until Harry Redknapp threw his hat in ring. Having signed him twice before, Redknapp would now appear to be the favourite to see Crouch finally return the club where his professional career began.

Of course, this misses the bigger picture here, that of Portsmouth Football Club. The last few seasons have been eventful at Fratton Park, even by Pompey’s standards, but overall it has been a significant, if not a completely positive period in their history. Until Redknapp left for Tottenham, it had been a period of continual improvement and the F.A. Cup win was the icing on the cake for the whole project. The first team squad had the most quality it had seen in years sprinkled throughout it, with England internationals in every department.

That squad as of today looks threadbare even before Crouch’s departure. So far, 9 players have left the squad. Johnson, Davis, Djimi Traore, Lauren, Little, Thomas, Pamarot and the loan deals of Jermaine Pennant and Amand Traore have concluded. At the moment, the club have 15 professionals on their books. Kanu and Sol Campbell are currently considering new one year deals to extend their time at Pompey.

Now I know that takeover’s seem to take a matter of days when it comes to Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City’s buy outs, but they did take time, we just weren’t so aware of the facts that we are when it comes to the Portsmouth deal. Yet the clubs fans need it resolving as soon as possible. The playing squad needs strengthening as a matter of urgency because if not, it could be too late to get a squad together before the kick off in August.

The news that the shirt manufacturers, Canterbury, have also gone in to administration has meant that Peter Storrie has been having to work hard to secure an alternative. Yet, when you’re the third highest paid executive in the Premier League, it shouldn’t take too much to bring in a new shirt manufacturer, with Umbro leading the charge to take over the contract.

By all accounts, the deal should be concluded in a matter of days, but with no manager, no shirt manufacturer and now the smallest first team squad in the Premiership, Sulaiman Al Fahim is going to need to hit the ground running to get the club ship shape. A new manager is paramount as a first decision to get the transfer targets already positioned; I’ll be amazed if Al Fayed hasn’t got a manager already on board to takeover. For all the good work that Paul Hart did to rescue the disaster that was Tony Adams’ reign, he has made it clear he wants to return to the academy.

I just hope everything get’s sorted soon for Portsmouth and their fans. It’s a terrific club, with some of the most passionate fans I’ve ever come across. They don’t deserve to get caught in the blocks once the season kicks off, three relegation scares in 5 years will be pushing their luck.

Alarming reports are coming out of England this morning regarding the future of Portsmouth Football Club.

According to The News Of The World, owner Alexandre Gaydamak has put the club up for sale to avert a financial crisis, and is looking to sell Pompey for an initial £20 million.

Incredibly, the newspaper is also reporting that a stunning 90 per cent of Portsmouth’s annual income is used to pay player’s wages, which is a definite recipe for disaster.

“The financial position of the club is fully audited and is consistent with its peers in the football industry,” said an official from Portsmouth FC in a statement from the club this morning. “The club’s owner has already stated that the club is not for sale but, as with all businesses, should the right offer be forthcoming, serious consideration would be given to the proposal.”

What an absolutely ridiculous statement by Portsmouth. First, the club fails to address the newspaper’s statements head-on and says that their financial position is similar to bigger clubs in football — which is a scary thought for the other clubs. So, they don’t deny they’re in severe financial trouble.

And second, they say they’re not for sale, but if the right offer came along they would be. What politically correct nonsense is that? The club owners are too proud to say the club is for sale, but behind everyone’s backs they’ll tell insiders that they’re for sale. At least Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley had the balls to tell the public he wants to sell his club.

The problem for Portsmouth is that they may face a difficult task trying to find an investor willing to buy the club from Gaydamak. Their Fratton Park ground only fits just less than 20,000 and their new 36,000 stadium on Horsea Island is still up in the air and won’t be ready until 2011 at the earliest.

I know that Harry Redknapp has a penchant for buying lots of expensive players, but what sort of wages is Portsmouth playing their stars if that amounts to 90 per cent of its income? Sure, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, David James and Lassana Diarra must be making huge wages. But other than those players, what other stars do they have? Kranjcar, Distin, Diop, Lauren, Hreidarsson and Utaka to name a few.

Either Portsmouth is paying more than they should for wages, or their income they’re bringing in is inadequate. Whatever the case, this looks like an extreme case of poor management by Gaydamak, which spells disaster for Portsmouth if a wealthy investor doesn’t bail them out soon.