Portsmouth
Pompey's Harry Houdini Redknapp
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Tuesday, 01, Aug 2006 04:32
Billionaire owner, eccentric chairman, the ultimate wheeler-dealer manager, fanatical fans and a perennial rollercoasting team. Portsmouth have it all.
Forget Chelsea, they're too far-fetched. Pompey are the genuine Dream Team of the Premiership and this is why the blue south-coast club occupy so many people's second favourite team tag.
The fact they haven't won anything, barring the Championship, for over half a century is another reason why they're so popular, everyone loves a loser.
But Pompey, pound for pound, provide more entertainment on and off the field that many of their Premiership rivals put together.
Three successive victories through March and April was their form highlight last season but their crucial 2-1 win over fellow relegation strugglers Sunderland with two games remaining provided some of the celebratory scenes of the season as Harry, once again, pulled off his Houdini escape act.
With Premiership football secured, Russian moneybags Alexandre Gaydamak vowed to invest and subsequently, Harry, like a child in a toy store, has been scampering around looking at every player under the sun.
Great for tabloids but the bare truth is that Pompey desperately need quality players.
Glen Johnson, a loan signing from Chelsea, is promising but unproven, and while names are being thrown around all too freely, signatures of top class names are not yet forthcoming.
They need to be, and soon, otherwise Pompey fans are in for another long, scary season at Fratton Park.
Facts
Formed: 1898
Home: Fratton Park, capacity 20,288
Nickname: Pompey
Adult 2006/07 season ticket prices: £545 - £695
Pedigree
League champions: 2 -1949, 1950
FA Cup winners: 1 - 1939
Charity Shield: 1 - shared with Wolves 1949
People
Owner: Alexandre Gaydamak
Chairman: Milan Mandaric
Chief executive: Peter Storrie
Head coach: Harry Redknapp
Assistant coach: Tony Adams
Team captain: Dejan Stefanovic
Last season
Premiership: 17th - P 38 W 10 D 8 L 20 GF 37 GA 62 GD -25 PTS 38
FA Cup: 4th round - lost 2-1 at home to Liverpool
League Cup: 2nd round - lost 3-2 away at Gillingham
Major summer ins
Glen Johnson - from Chelsea - season-long loan
David Thompson - from Wigan - free
Sol Campbell - from Arsenal - free
David James - from Manchester City - £1.2 million
Kanu - from West Brom - free
Andrew Cole - from Manchester City - undisclosed
Roudolphe M'Bela Douala - from Sporting Lisbon - loan
Niko Kranjcar - from Hajduk Split - undisclosed
Major summer outs
Vincent Pericard - to Stoke - free
Gary Silk - Notts County - free
Brian Priske - to FC Bruges - signed
John Viafara - to Southampton - signed
Svetoslav Todorov - to Wigan - loan
Unheralded star
Svetoslav Todorov
Not quite so much unheralded but forgotten. Bulgarian striker Todorov was a revelation for Pompey after signing in 2002, bagging 27 goals in his debut season to help his new club achieve promotion from the Championship.
A torn medial ligament followed, as did a recurrence of the same injury after nearing full fitness, both of which led to him missing the best part of the next three years.
But he is now, finally, on the verge of returning and Pompey will be all the stronger for it.
A proven finisher, Todorov's return could prove crucial to Portsmouth's plight this season.
Benjani is unproven, LuaLua is as up and down as his celebratory summersaults and Collins Mbesuma is stuck firmly rotting in the reserves.
Admittedly, Todorov did fail to impress at West Ham where he moved in 2001 for £500,000, but this should only serve to additionally motivate him to silence the critics.
Good in the air, despite being under six foot, and a devastating eye for goal, Premiership defences could be startled into paying attention to Todorov if they underestimate him this term.
Starlet
Gary O'Neill
Voted the supporters' player of the season last year, battling midfielder Gary O'Neill is the engine room of Pompey.
The 23-year-old Londoner is that rare thing, a quality product from the club's youth system, and is therefore Pompey through and through, Pompey till he dies, as the team's faithful chant.
A tough tackler but also creative and forward thinking, O'Neill proved in spectacular fashion he has the talent to reach the very top when he scored that scorching volley at Old Trafford two years ago.
Injuries have hampered his progress somewhat but he enjoyed his most impressive season to date last term, bagging six goals in 36 league games, captaining Pompey in Stefanovic's absence and even earning a few England call-up murmurs.
Having also previously skippered the England under-21 team, O'Neill's influence on the pitch is unquestionable but it is his overall contribution that should make him standout even more this season.
Redknapp has an eye for flair but he will be well advised to build his team on O'Neill this season, to use him as a founding block and add players with pace and magic around him.
Should he do this, Portsmouth could just pull off another miraculous survival and O'Neill could force his way into the reckoning for England's much-hyped but gravely underperforming midfield.
Predictions
League position: 18th.
Harry hasn't sufficiently strengthened his threadbare squad and he has lost playmaker Andres D'Alessandro. Could be a long season.
Top scorer: Benjani Mwaruwari.
Club's record signing needs to repay some of Pompey's faith in him. Scored on his debut last season but then failed to score in the next eight games. Most likely to top the club's charts but will do well to net more than a dozen times.
Player(s) most likely to rock the boat: Uncertain.
Pompey have, for all their faults, held a united front throughout the past few years. Well marshalled by skipper Stefanovic, troublemakers tend to be clamped down on pretty quick.
Ben Arnold.