Talk Pompey

Pompey trio called up into provisional England Squad

JenniP — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:23:00 GMT

Three Portsmouth players have been called up into the England's squad for friendlies with the United States and Trinidad and Tobago.

Keeper David James, Right back Glen Johnson and striker Jermain Defoe all feature in the 31 man squad.

England squad:

David James (Portsmouth), Joe Hart (Man City), Chris Kirkland (Wigan) ,Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), Wes Brown (Man Utd), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), John Terry (Chelsea), Stephen Warnock (Blackburn),David Wheater (Middlesbrough), Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham), Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), David Beckham (LA Galaxy), David Bentley (Blackburn), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Owen Hargreaves (Man Utd), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Dean Ashton (West Ham), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Jermain Defoe (Portsmouth), Michael Owen (Newcastle), Wayne Rooney (Man Utd).

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Think you have FA Cup tickets - Update

JenniP — Fri, 09 May 2008 09:37:00 GMT

Yesterday I posted a story about Ticket Master cancelling FA Cup final tickets for those who didnt appear to be on the Portsmouth Football Club database. I imagine quite a few people had a bit of a shock when the Ticket Master letter or email arrived yesterday.

Well yesterday I called the ticket office, told them what had happened, and they said yes I was entitled to tickets put something in writing send it to the club and everything will be sorted.

Not trusting Royal Mail I took my letter down to the club personally, while I was in reception I heard the receptionist dealing with several irate people who thought sending a letter was too much like hard work and demanded to speak to someone, dropped my letter off and waited......

Then around 4:50 yesterday afternoon I had a call from the ticket office saying they had looked into my case and everything checked out, would I like my tickets posted or would I like to collect them from the ticket office early next week, again not trusting Royal Mail I said I would pick them up.

I would like to thank the club for dealing with this so quickly.

While this whole thing has been a bit of a cockup, the club is doing their best trying to resolve this for fans who have been affected by this. Just one word of warning I was told they needed the letters by Monday, so if you have been caught up in this call the club as soon as possible, it may take awhile but its worth it to see Pompey at Wembley in an FA Cup final.

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Think you have FA Cup final tickets?

JenniP — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:36:00 GMT

If you bought FA Cup final tickets and have not received them you may want to check with Ticket Master that your order has not been cancelled.

Portsmouth FC have cancelled ticket orders that did not meet the criteria of at least one home ticket purchased this season. However as several fans including myself have found that fans with a legitimate claim are having their tickets cancelled due to failings in the Portsmouth FC database and that Ticket Master didn't follow the correct procedure when selling the tickets. Worse than that is that the club don't seem to be telling people their orders are being cancelled possibly leaving people ticketless and not giving people enough time to make representation to the club.

In my case the club had not updated their customer database with my correct address even though I had asked them to when buying tickets earlier in the year, and that Ticket Master had not asked for the details of any other person on the database. I even got a email from Ticket Master with the Royal Mail tracking number of the tickets, they were that close to dispatch before being held.

Calling the club today I found that they indeed have a record of me purchasing the correct number of tickets, however not at the right address. After a bit of digging they found both my purchases and my housemates and I will have to write to PFC with all the details and I should get the tickets I ordered reinstated, although any inquiries about this have to be with the club by Monday. Here's hoping all of this has a happy ending.

After writing this I did receive an email today telling me of the cancellation from Ticket Master.

To check your tickets

If you don't have one already create an account on Ticketmaster.co.uk

Click "My Ticket Master"

Click "Order History"

Enter phone number and credit card used to order the tickets

You should see a list of purchases made with Ticket Master, select the FA Cup Final

At the top of the page it will tell you the status of your order.

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Fans favourite due for contract talks

JenniP — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:45:00 GMT

Fans favourite Linvoy Primus may yet have a Pompey lifeline after chief exec Peter Storrie revealed that talks aimed to keep the defender at the club are set to take place before the summer.

The long serving defender who joined Pompey in 2000 on a free transfer from Reading is out of contract in the summer and has an injury wrecked season not playing at all after having knee surgery

Talking to The News Storrie said: 'We will be looking at the players who are out of contract at some point over the next few weeks.

'We will certainly look after Linvoy – he has been a great servant to the club and we will be sitting down with him as and when the time is right.

'Linvoy is certainly one who deserves to remain with the club.

'We haven't met with anybody regarding new contracts yet, but my personal opinion is he is one player we will definitely support as a club.'

While Primus wont take any part in the rest of the season he has been given the all clear from famous knee surgeon Dr Steadman in January and has been gradually working towards his recovery, targetting a return in pre-season.

With a possible European campaign to prepare for next season having a reliable defender like Linvoy around certainly makes sense, and hopefully the club will decide to retain him.

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Pompey FA Cup final tickets sold out

JenniP — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:19:41 GMT

Pompey sold their remaining 3900 tickets for the FA Cup final at Wembley today in around 4hours. While things had been nice and organised for season ticket holders and members the "general sale" was as frustrating as the previous one.

People ringing up the ticket line only to get a BT announcement saying the phones were in meltdown, an engaged tone or if you did manage to get through the majority of the time you got an "all our operators are busy" message and were promptly disconnected.

Reading around the various Pompey forums people are getting quite irate at this seemingly being a shamble, however it was always going to be like this. Again there were people seemingly getting through on alternate and again unpublished numbers, although most of these were not checked against the database at the time and were told this would be done later and their tickets may be cancelled.

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Redknapp support Bluebirds UFEA Cup bid

JenniP — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:40:00 GMT

Redknapp has given Cardiff's bid to earn UFEA cup surprise backing today if the Bluebirds defeat Pompey in the FA Cup final and FA red tape should not get in the way. However under current FA rules Cardiff will be denied a place in the UFEA cup due to the fact they are a Welsh team not an English one.

Redknapp told The News "If Cardiff beat us, I will support them 100 million percent in their bid for European football.

"I'd be first in the queue. If they win the FA Cup they should be in Europe – what's wrong with that?

"Cardiff have been in the English league for 80 odd years. If they beat us, I will shake Dave Jones hand and wish them the very best – they would have deserved the prize of European football and the very best to them.

"Why it's a question in the first place beats me. What is the point of them entering in the first place then?

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Harry hails team spirit

JenniP — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:14:00 GMT

Pompey boss Harry Redknapp has praised the sprit amongst the Portsmouth squad saying it's the best he's ever known and this togetherness has been a large part of the clubs success this season.

Redknapp told The News "There's a great spirit among these players. Over the years, I must admit I've always had one or two players who you just didn't want to see in the morning.

"You come in and think "I don't like him, he's a nuisance" or "I wish I could get him out of the building he's a disruptive, horrible influence".

"But there is not one player here who I would want out of here. They are all good lads."

"When you've got good lads, they all stick together and it's got them through plenty of games this season. They could moan about things. They've been at Chelsea and Arsenal where they have under-soil heating on the training pitches and they could be moaning about that."

"But they don't they just get on with things. There's no-one who you wonder if he's trying to cause problems. We've all had them over the years at every club, but there's not one here."

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Portsmouth FC announce FA Cup final ticket news

JenniP — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:57:00 GMT

Portsmouth FC have today announced the ticket allocations and schedule for buying tickets for the FA Cup final against Cardiff. While its not going to please all fans the club have taken on board the issues with the scramble for FA Cup Semi Final tickets.

From the Official Portsmouth FC Website

Portsmouth Football Club today outlined plans to sell its 24,789 allocation of tickets for the FA Cup Final against Cardiff City at Wembley on Saturday, May 17.

Tickets will be sold via Ticketmaster on seven separate days – from 11am to 10pm - between Monday, April 21 and Tuesday, April 29.

The club has consulted supporters' groups and will begin by selling tickets to season ticket holders stand by stand (see timetable below).

Every season ticket holder, club member and Junior Blue is guaranteed a ticket. This will be one per ticket holder. This together with tickets for commercial partners amounts to 18,000.

Supporters groups, including exiles and away ticket holders, will receive 1,800 tickets and the groups themselves will supply details of their members to Pompey.

Every fan on the database who has been to three or more matches at Fratton Park this season - nearly 900 supporters - can also purchase a ticket. This will be one per person named on the database. They will be notified of their eligibility by post.

A further 196 will be made available to those fans (excluding season ticket holders and members) who made the journey to Preston North End for the fifth round FA Cup tie. This will be one per person named on the database. They will be notified of their eligibility by post.

A total of 100 pairs of tickets will be made available to disabled supporters and another 50 pairs to visually impaired fans. These will be handled by the club’s ticket office. But only postal applications will be accepted, with proof of disability and correct remittance. Send correspondence to: Allison McNeil, Disabled Liaison Officer, Portsmouth Football Club, Rodney Road, Portsmouth P04 8SX.

Supporters with hearing difficulties can purchase their tickets via Ticketmaster’s text phone service on 0870 145 1178.

There will be 3,000-plus tickets made available for general sale after the ticket allocation for players, club staff and officials.

The 3,000-plus tickets will be on general sale to the 13,500 supporters on the club’s database who have bought tickets to one or two home matches this season. Of those more than 10,000 have come to only one match. This will be one per person named on the database.

Ticketmaster will have 200 lines dedicated to Pompey and there will be only telephone bookings taken - there will be no automated service. The phased purchasing system will ensure waiting time is kept to a minimum for fans.

All Pompey's tickets are in an arc on the east side of the stadium from one side of the 18-yard box to the other. The vast majority - some 18,000 - are in the £60 and £80 categories. Other prices are £95 and £35 but the club has only a limited supply of the £95 tickets. There is a £10 discount for those aged 16 and under and 60 and over.

Ticketmaster will be applying a fixed charge of £3.50 per ticket and £4.90 for registered post per delivery. The postage fee is necessary as the FA do not issue duplicate tickets. Fans can also book coach travel at the same time as buying their tickets.

FA Cup Final ticket timetable (tickets go on sale on each day from 11am to 10pm):

April 21: South Stand Upper (220 tickets at £95 and 2153 at £80)

April 22: North Stand Upper (220 tickets at £95 and 2271 at £80)

April 23: South and North Stands Lower (3201 tickets at £80 and 1171 at £60)

April 24: West Stand (Fratton end) (3201 at £80 and 1300 at £60)

April 25: Club Members and Junior Blues (100 at £80 (Junior Blues only) and 1910 at £60)

April 28: Three home matches/ Preston (357 at £60 (Three Home Matches only) and 739 at £35)

April 29: General Sale to 07/08 database (3150 at £35)

Only call on your allocated day.

Ticketmaster can be contacted on 0844 847 1898.

Season ticket holders can order in groups with operators able to take bookings for up to eight tickets in one transaction providing they have the reference numbers of the other season ticket holders.

If they require more than eight people sitting together another transaction can be completed in the same call so long as the operator is informed at the beginning of the call.

Season ticket holders who have children as Junior Blues members can also book them at the same time to ensure they sit together.

The club would like to point out that it is a criminal offence to sell tickets to a third party and any tickets traced back to Pompey fans will result in a ban on future purchasing by both the FA and the club.

Peter Storrie, Chief Executive of Portsmouth Football Club, said: "We have tried to be as fair as we can to supporters across the board and have consulted the representatives of our supporters clubs around the country, as we did with the semi-final.

“They were very positive in their feedback to us and believe this to be the best way of selling our allocation.

"The decision to allow fans of different areas of the ground to purchase their tickets on dedicated days will mean that we will avoid the majority of supporters calling at the same time as was the case with the semi-final.

“The small number of £95 tickets have been made available to those supporters in the upper north and south stands who have the most expensive seats at Fratton Park.

“Ticketmaster has 200 lines and each operator will be averaging around 10-12 transactions a day so there should be no problem with fans getting through this time. With only seven lines and seven windows in our ticket office we could not possibly cope with the number of calls coming in.

"Once a fan has completed his telephone transaction he will be removed from the database, which will also stop duplication purchases."

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Defoe returns to Pompey attack

JenniP — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:14:00 GMT

After missing the West Ham game for personal reasons striker Jermain Defoe is back to the starting line up for the Newcastle game tomorrow.

However with Baros and Utaka both unlikely to feature due to injuries, Harry has a difficult choice to make, while Kanu is available its likely he will be kept out of the action to give the FA Cup hero some rest and to ensure he doesnt get injured with him being the main strike threat in our upcoming FA Cup final with Defoe cup tied.

Nugent may be called in after his rare start at West Ham on Tuesday.

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Jamo nominated for PFA player of the year

JenniP — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:51:00 GMT

While Pompey fans regard goal keeper David James as one of the best in the country today Jamo has been nominated by his peers as one of the top 6 players in the English football this season

The Professional Footballers' Association Players' Player of the Year is an annual award run by the players trade union the PFA. Each member of the PFA is entitled to vote for 2 players, these votes are tallied and a short list announced in April with the winners normally announced a few days later. The award is currently held by Manchester United midfielder Christiano Ronaldo who is tipped to retain the honour.

Its seen by players as extremely prestigious with former winners such as Chelsea's John Terry describing it as "the ultimate accolade to be voted for by your fellow professionals whom you play against week in and week out".

Arsenal pair Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor and Liverpool pair Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard complete the nominations.

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Semi Final Photos

JenniP — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:16:00 GMT

I've posted up my photos from our Semi Final trip to Wembley today. Its an amazing stadium and we all had a fantastic day.

To view them as a slide show go here

To view them individually go here

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Pompey get big 110th Birthday Present

JenniP — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 19:13:00 GMT

Que Sera Sera what ever will be will be, we're going to Wembley.....again.

In their first Wembley appearance since the War Cup in 1942, Pompey made Championship site West Brom pay for not taking full advantage of their superiority in the first half with former Albion player Kanu grabbing the only goal of the game.

After a scrappy first half with West Brom having the majority of possession Harry did wonders at half time and Pompey performed better in the second half, with Kanu poking the ball into the net in the 9th minute of the half. Pompey didnt have everything their own way with Robert Koren smashing a shot against the bar on the 75th minute.

With today being the 110^th anniversary of the formation of Portsmouth Football Club the current squad gave the club and its fans a huge birthday present, a ticket to the FA Cup final.

Talking to The News Harry Redknapp said: 'We're over the moon.

'We knew how tough it was going to be and they did have a right go at us.

'We struggled to get hold of the ball in the first-half. They overloaded us in midfield and it worked for them.

'But we improved in the second-half and I was quite comfortable once we got the goal.

'It's a brilliant day for the club and a brilliant day for our fans.

'They were superb as they always are. It was for them really.

'I haven't done too bad in my career and it's another good day.

'Now I'm going to go out with my wife Sandra and have a nice night.

'We'll have some pasta and a glass or two of wine to celebrate.'

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Is there anyone to blame over FA Cup ticket sales?

JenniP — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:02:00 GMT

Pompey fans are going to Wembley

Lets face it no matter how the tickets were allocated and distributed someone would be unhappy and a lot of people are so who if anyone is to blame?

The Fans

Most fans have been more than patient, running up large phone bills and ended up pulling out hair trying to support their team, however there do seem to be some bad apples who may of obtained more than they should have done and some seem to be wanting to make a profit out of the shortages of tickets but these are a very small minority and overall all they have wanted to do is see their team at Wembley.

Ticket Master

This may be a bit controversial but I think Ticket Master have done a good job after all they have sold over 30 thousand tickets in a matter of days, ok the phone number fans were given were clogged solid however if you knew alternative phone numbers most people I have spoken too got through fairly quickly and the whole process was reasonably painless. So its clear that Ticket Master had the capacity to handle this event it was just the dedicated club line that causing a large number of issues. The postage and handling charges could have been less especially as there were no collections or ticket office sales but these werent completely unreasonable although did come as a surprise to some.

The only parts I have heard that was a bit shambolic was the online offering in phase 4 with no-one really knowing what to put in for the “Client reference number” including it seemed Ticket Master themselves and the availablity of the different types of ticket (£55, £45 and £25) in Phase 1 being a bit hit and miss.

The Club

Where do we start here, the club has put out conflicting, misleading and plain wrong information, changing the goal posts, especially with the original statement that any unsold tickets will go into the general sale pot only to announce later unsold tickets from Phase 1 will go on sale again to season ticket holders only giving season ticket holders the chance to buy 5 tickets (1 in phase 1, 2 in phase 2 and another 2 in remainder of phase 1), yes the club has asked for season ticket holders who already have Wembley tickets not to apply but doesn't seem to be actually stopping them. Also had the club advertised other numbers to call and buy tickets on perhaps some of the carnage on the phones this morning and other phases could have been avoided. Even so by Pompey standards this has been quite sucessful although things could be improved.

So what lessons can be learned?

• Put out accurate information and stick to it
• Don’t use the lure of getting a ticket to fill games that may not have been sold out otherwise.
• Publish alternate numbers for Ticket Master to avoid meltdown of the published one
• Ensure people who have played the system to get extra tickets cannot do so again

Overall I think Pompey have allocated the tickets pretty fairly and yes caused heartache for many but that was always going to happen, and if we progress to the final the club will have a chance to iron out the issues with the process.

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FA Cup Semi Ticket Phase 4 a sell out

JenniP — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:24:00 GMT

The Portsmouth Ticket Master line is now reporting that the FA Cup Semi Final against West Brom has now sold out. Although the website for members is saying there are still single seats available.

I hope if you were trying you managed to get some before they all went, if so see you there.

This means Pompey are very close to selling out their entire allocation with only the unsold Season Ticket and Club Wembley seats going on sale to Season Ticket holders next week.

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We survived phone hell.....and have tickets

JenniP — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:48:00 GMT

After 1 and a half hours of phone hell trying the published Ticket Master number for Portsmouth FA Cup Semi final tickets we did a bit digging and found some alternate numbers that may help.

The number I got through on was 0161 385 3211, this number may be for West Brom fans but you CAN buy Portsmouth end tickets. Took me 5 minutes of trying this number rather than the 0844 one published.

Process takes awhile, and gives threats of cancelling tickets if your not on the Portsmouth ticket database (Lets hope they updated my address details) but it works.

Hope you can get through and join us and the rest of the lucky Blue Army at Wembley.

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Just what does Defoe have to do to get into an England squad?

JenniP — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:37:00 GMT

Following the Villa game it looked so bright for Pompey striker Jermain Defoe, scoring a amazing goal against Villa with the England manager watching getting a place in the provisional England squad and looking forward to proving his worth against his Spurs today.

FA rules stopped Defoe playing against Spurs today and now Defoe has been left out of the full squad to face France midweek.

Since joining in a complex deal at the end of the January transfer window Defoe has been in electric form scoring 6 goals in 6 games, leaving the England front line of Owen, Rooney, Crouch and Walcott a group that often doesn't have 6 goals between them in 6 games.

On the positive side for Pompey goalkeeper David James and defender Glen Johnson have made it into the final squad and hopefully Capello will give Johnson his chance to shine.

Full England Squad

Goalkeepers: David James (Portsmouth), Paul Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur), Chris Kirkland (Wigan Athletic)

Defenders: Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), Wes Brown (Manchester United), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), Joleon Lescott (Everton), John Terry (Chelsea), Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham Hotspur)

Midfielders: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United), Joe Cole (Chelsea), David Bentley (Blackburn Rovers), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), David Beckham (LA Galaxy), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough)

Forwards: Michael Owen (Newcastle United), Wayne Rooney, (Manchester United), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Theo Walcott (Arsenal)

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Pompey crash out of the Carling Cup

JenniP — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 07:43:00 GMT

Both Portsmouth and Blackburn came into this Carling Cup game with similar histories. Both had beaten a team starting with the name B, Burnley in Portsmouth's case and Birmingham City for Blackburn, to make it to the fourth round. Both had been knocked out in the third round of the Cup last year. And for both Harry Redknapp and Mark Hughes, the Cup probably represented their only chance at silverware this season.

Portsmouth came into this game on a seven game unbeaten streak. Blackburn's only domestic defeat this season was at the hands of Pompey. But they had recent form on their side, having never lost away from Ewood Park domestically since their April FA Cup semi final loss at the hands of Chelsea.

The home side stepped on the pitch without Herman Hredairsson and Sulley Muntari, opting for Noe Pamarot and Sean Davis in their place. With Benjani and John Utaka starting upfront, both David Nugent and Kanu were relegated to a spot on the bench. Blackburn were without the experienced Robbie Savage, and Hughes chose Aaron Mokoena as his replacement. The South African did not disappoint, crossing for compatriot Benni McCarthy to score after eleven minutes. The Portsmouth defenders were conspicuous by their absence when McCarthy slotted it home, and the home side's performance in the first half was disappointing to say the least.

Goal provider Mokoena had to be stretchered off after 28 minutes with a suspected broken leg , and Australian Brett Emerton came in. 10 minutes later, David Bentley was replaced by Matt Derbyshire. With Blackburn leading at half time, Redknapp brought on Matthew Taylor and David Nugent in an attempt to rejuvenate the home side. The former Preston striker failed to convert an absolute sitter from Kranjcar's cross, and at the other end, David James kept his side in the game after stopping a powerful Cherno Samba shot.

Pompey brought in Kanu with 15 minutes to go, but only 2 minutes later, McCarthy capped a magnificent individual performance when he robbed the Pedro Mendes of the ball and set it up for Morten Gamst Pedersen, who duly did the rest. Kanu sneaked in a goal in the dying minutes, but it was too late for the South Coast faithful.

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Redknapp advises Jol to sell star striker

JenniP — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:05:00 GMT

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has told Tottenham manager Martin Jol that he needs players who want to play for the club and help them out of the drop zone and not players with a bad attitude and has recommended that he would be best off selling Dimitar Berbatov for the sake of the team.

Redknapp who is many spurs fans favourite to replace Jol is no stranger to relegation dogfights in his long managerial career and in recent years has worked miracles keeping Portsmouth in the top flight when it looked like they were dead and buried.

Writing in his column in The Sun Redknapp wrote :"The very last thing boss Martin Jol needs right now is Dimitar Berbatov spitting his dummy out because he's not in Tottenham's starting team every week.

"You only find out the true character of your players when the chips are down and the pressure is on. And we all saw what Berbatov is made of when he was sat sulking on the bench at Newcastle the other night with a face like a big baby.

"Everyone knows what a terrific player the Bulgarian can be. He showed what he is capable of with 23 goals for Spurs last season. But he's not the striker he was a year ago and, from what I've seen, he looks to be disinterested and playing for himself rather than his team.

"His attitude is terrible and his behaviour at St James' Park sent out all the wrong signals. Maybe he's sulking because he didn't get a move to Manchester United in the summer.

"But he's done himself absolutely no favours on that account because I know for a fact Alex Ferguson would never stand for any player who behaves the way Berbatov has done this week. When your team is in trouble you need the big characters to stand up and show some b*******.

"That's just what Robbie Keane has done for Spurs and Berbatov should show the same attitude. I have always believed that when you lose a player's support you get him out as quickly as possible. No matter how good, you're better off without him."

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Pompey push past lacklustre Wigan

JenniP — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 16:46:00 GMT

An away game at the JJB was never going to be an easy outing. But an inspired Pompey side did just enough to notch up their fourth consecutive win in the Premier League and take their points tally to 18, and increasing Wigan's goal less streak to over 5 hours of football.

With no score after 80 minutes, the match was headed for a dull 0-0 draw when Benjani Mwaruwari scored with a neat near-post finish from Sulley Muntari's inviting cross. Five minutes later, Glen Johnson made a strong run from the right flank, cut in and drove a low shot home past the hapless Kirkland.

Wigan started the game brighter of the two teams. Paul Scharner hit the post with a header as early as three minutes into the game. The first half was a bit of a stop start affair - Glen Johnson and Antoine Sibierski both shrugged off minor injuries to continue for their respective teams. After a strong start to the half, the tempo dropped drastically. Neither side had a decent chance after that in the first 45 with Kranjcar's long shot being the only shot of note for Pompey in the first forty-five.

The second half saw the injured Sibierski being replaced by Julius Aghahowa who managed to get himself a yellow card less than a minute later after clattering into Sol Campbell.

Pompey were always the better side but failed to convert the possession into clear cut chances. On 63 minutes, Suley Muntari's cracking free kick came back of the post - Pompey's best chance thus far. Wigan sat back and soaked up incessant Pompey pressure. So it was no surprise when a quality cross from Muntari was converted by Benjani on 81 minutes to give Pompey the crucial first goal. And the win was sealed with a finely taken goal by Glen Johnson.

Wigan 0 – Pompey 2 (Benjani 80, Johnson 86)

Attendance 17695

Booked

Wigan	Portsmouth
Bramble, Aghahowa	Campbell, Muntari, Davis

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New Pompey training ground takes a step closer to approval

JenniP — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 15:00:00 GMT

Pompey's new training complex at Titchfield has moved a step closer ahead after a group of dormice threatened to stop the project. The club announced its plans for a new purpose build training complex back in Feburary at the former Titchfield Golf and Fishing site; however the planning application was put on hold due to concerns about the environmental impact of the plans.

An environmental survey was done of the side and found the presence of dormice which are a protected species which threatened to red card the project. However since then the club has been assured that the complex can be built without harming the environment as long as certain provisions for the mice are made.

The plans have now been submitted to Fareham Borough Council to consider and a decision due by early next year, and if approved the club hopes to have the development ready by the 2008 season.

Talking to The News Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie said "The application has been a long, long wait which has taken hundreds and hundreds of different requirements which unfortunately we have to do nowadays.

"They have gone on forever; it's part of the application process in the UK I am afraid. We've had to do all sorts of reports on all kinds of things. They take up many, many binders."

"A lot of things came out of the studies and the report of dormice was one of the items. The only place that would be an issue is at the front entrance but we will find a corrective safe passage for them"

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Redknapp : We’ve neglected our youth policy but that’s all changed

JenniP — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 12:06:00 GMT

Pompey manager Harry Redknapp has said there will be a focus on the youth team and expect Pompey to sign Paul Hart to continue the good work he has done so far spotting good young talent. This follows Pompey last week paying a rumoured £400,000 for Millwall starlet Tom Kilbey and the trio of Rushden and Diamond players signed in the summer, and recent admissions by Tony Adams that Pompey are looking at Southampton right winger Nathan Dyer.

Chairman Sasha Gaydamak is looking to this investment in the youth team to bring new players into the Pompey first team, and to give the newly founded Pompey Academy a good start.

Talking to The News Harry Redknapp said "Tom Kilbey is a young player who Paul Hart rates highly. He is a tall lad with a good physique.

"Paul likes him so we are giving him some backing. He has come in and got on with setting up the Academy.

"We will back Paul Hart's judgement – and he says he is a good player.

"The youth system is something that has been neglected here over a number of years. Mr Gaydamak wants to see young players coming through.

"Nowadays, players often come from other clubs and are brought into other setups.

"Southampton did it with a lot of players. Theo Walcott came from Swindon, David McGoldrick and Leon Best came from Notts County.

"Then there was Dexter Blackstock from Oxford. Paul knows about the young players in the game and is a big asset to us."

With our story yesterday about Kanu being the key to unlock the pool of African young talent perhaps we will see some of those coming to our Academy soon (Full Story)

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Kanu can help Pompey net young stars

JenniP — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 22:16:00 GMT

With Harry Redknapp in the last few days proclaiming that there is a vast mostly untapped source of good young players in Africa, Kanu's agent feels that the widely respected striker is the man to help Pompey tap the talent in teams such as the under 17's World Cup winning Nigerian side who are bound to be in demand after sweeping aside Colombia, Argentina , Germany and finally defeating Spain in the final.

With Pompey already bring several high profile young players to Fratton Park and with Gaydamak wanting to get the new Pompey Academy off to a good start these could be ideal times for Kanu to use some of his influence to help Pompey land some of these promising starlets.

However these flying Super Eagles are already bring tracked by other clubs, Spurs are said to be interested in Macauley Christanus who finished top scorer in the under 17's World Cup.

Talking to The News Samuel Okoronkwo said "I have spoken before about what he can do for Portsmouth because of his influence in Africa.

"There is plenty of talent there. We have seen that with Nigeria winning the junior World Cup.

"They have all been on the phone speaking to Kanu since they won the competition. There is every chance some of these players will end up playing in England.

"But at the moment I think it is teams like Manchester United and Liverpool who are interested in them.

"These are outstanding players. It shows you the kind of influence Kanu can have for Portsmouth"

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Redknapp blames modern culture for lack of English talent

JenniP — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 07:38:00 GMT

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp thinks the current lack of good talented English youth players is not due to clubs not giving English players a go prefering to import them from abroard but the talent just isnt there. He blames modern culture where kids stay in playing games consoles and not outside playing football like kids of previous generations.

"I'm fed up with managers being made scapegoats for the state of our domestic game," he said in his column for The Sun.

"The English working class is turning its back on football - and that is not my fault.

"I do have a lot of foreign players at Portsmouth but believe me I'd love nothing more than to field a team of 11 so-called 'home-grown' lads born within the city limits.

"But it has become harder and harder to find enough kids of the kind of quality required to make the grade without buying an air ticket."

Redknapp added: "It may sound old and corny but when I was growing up, working class lads like me in the east end lived and breathed football.

"Now I rarely see a kickabout in the park. All I see are the dazzling lights of bedroom windows from the glare of TVs and computers. It seems football cannot compete with an X-Box."

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Kallon fails to impress Redknapp

JenniP — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:11:00 GMT

The former Monaco forward Mohamed Kallon has left Fratton Park after being on trial for the last week. The out of contract 28 year old appeared in the 2-2 reserve team against Aston Villa along side David Nugent and did well.

Steve Bruce had already taken a look at him at Birmingham but decided against a deal but after concerns over a work permit Kallon was not offered a deal. Even though Harry has been reported as wanting another striker he felt that there was not enough difference between what he already had to make an offer.

Talking to The News Harry Redknapp said "We were just having a look at him. He's out of contract so it was worth a go.

"He trained with us all week and played a reserve game and he did all right. But we're not going to take it any further.

"He's a good player, but we've got Benji, Kanu and Nugent at the moment and they're all doing well and scoring goals for us.

"For someone to come in he's got to be better than them, he's got to improve us or give us something different.

"So we wont be following that one up and he's gone. I'm pleased with the strikers we've got already."

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