The darkness before the dawn?
With roads closed off for the Great South Run, and the visit of Fulham this afternoon, the streets of Pompey were always going to be thronging today. And yet, even more bodies than expected will be milling around Fratton Park after the unbelievable events of the past 24 hours.
I started getting text messages around 2am. It's an obvious point to make, but it seems rather symbolic that news of Redknapp's departure was breaking as the clocks were going back. Because this is undoubtably the end of an era, and the overwhelming feeling is that the upward trajectory we've all enjoyed over the past few years is about to take a nosedive...
I fully apologise if this pessamistic outlook upsets people. Like everyone else I am reacting while the shock sets in and perhaps I will feel differently in the morning. I am going to state/address some of the key points as I see them, and if anyone wants to try and make me feel any better about any of this then please chip in with some comments!
1. It isn't the most important consideration right now, but for me it's the most immediate one: 'Appy 'Arry walks out on us again. It is hard to seperate the fact from fiction amongst the club statement, the forum posts, and the media speculation. But given Redknapp's declarations of loyalty since returning from the-team-that-shall-not-be-named I think Pompey fans are justified in feeling betrayed. Yes, he engineered the 'great escape'. Yes, he delivered the FA Cup. But in any walk of life you can blacken your reputation and undo your good work.
2. Redknapp's Five Live interview on why he left may have been intended to placate fans. I think it will have wound them up. "It's a big opportunity to manage a big club before I retire" - this implies Pompey is small time. I know that PFC isn't as high profile as Spurs, and that Spurs arguably have more of a history in the eyes of the wider footballing world. But this statement hardly spares the feelings of Pompey fans. Redknapp went on to say that "Pompey couldn't sell a player in the transfer window so we sell the manager" and suggesting that getting £5million in compensation was a good deal for PFC. This is a revealing statement, but it publically belittles the club. The most worrying part of the interview was his comment that he wouldn't rule out signing Pompey players in January. As much as Defoe has been awesome for us I think he has always wanted to return to White Hart Lane, and I would expect him to be the first out of the door. I'd also be worried about Johnson, Diarra, the Krank and Crouch.
3. We have been linked with Sam Allardyce. Need I say more? I know some people would be happy to see the big man at Fratton Park but I've never been a fan of his style. Pompey haven't always been awesome to watch of late, but we've had the potential to play creative football. I fear Allardyce would strangle the life out of our team and reduce us to the long ball game. On the other hand, I can't think of one realistic name that I would get seriously excited about right now.
4. The media coverage has just rubbed salt into the wounds. I have read, listened to and watched hours of news on the story and the focus has all been on what this means for Spurs. I guess this proves the point I made above about them being a bigger club in the eyes of the general football world. It would just be nice for people to spare a thought for us. From the coverage so far you can almost hear the journalists breathing a sigh of relief: "phew, at least Spurs might be safe now." Where as I think most real fans were wishing for them to be relegated this seasons as a lesson to other clubs on how NOT to run your affairs...
...but then maybe we are in no position to judge? Undoubtably the most important matter in all of this is where PFC is right now, and where we will go from here. I don't want to comment too much because I think the facts in this area are far from clear. But some big questions need to be answered by the club around the training facilities, the ground and the financial situation in general. No doubt Redknapp was aware of the problems behind the scenes, and this must have filtered through to the players - it would explain our lack of consistancy this season.
As I said earlier, please chip in if you can make me feel better...
I started getting text messages around 2am. It's an obvious point to make, but it seems rather symbolic that news of Redknapp's departure was breaking as the clocks were going back. Because this is undoubtably the end of an era, and the overwhelming feeling is that the upward trajectory we've all enjoyed over the past few years is about to take a nosedive...
I fully apologise if this pessamistic outlook upsets people. Like everyone else I am reacting while the shock sets in and perhaps I will feel differently in the morning. I am going to state/address some of the key points as I see them, and if anyone wants to try and make me feel any better about any of this then please chip in with some comments!
1. It isn't the most important consideration right now, but for me it's the most immediate one: 'Appy 'Arry walks out on us again. It is hard to seperate the fact from fiction amongst the club statement, the forum posts, and the media speculation. But given Redknapp's declarations of loyalty since returning from the-team-that-shall-not-be-named I think Pompey fans are justified in feeling betrayed. Yes, he engineered the 'great escape'. Yes, he delivered the FA Cup. But in any walk of life you can blacken your reputation and undo your good work.
2. Redknapp's Five Live interview on why he left may have been intended to placate fans. I think it will have wound them up. "It's a big opportunity to manage a big club before I retire" - this implies Pompey is small time. I know that PFC isn't as high profile as Spurs, and that Spurs arguably have more of a history in the eyes of the wider footballing world. But this statement hardly spares the feelings of Pompey fans. Redknapp went on to say that "Pompey couldn't sell a player in the transfer window so we sell the manager" and suggesting that getting £5million in compensation was a good deal for PFC. This is a revealing statement, but it publically belittles the club. The most worrying part of the interview was his comment that he wouldn't rule out signing Pompey players in January. As much as Defoe has been awesome for us I think he has always wanted to return to White Hart Lane, and I would expect him to be the first out of the door. I'd also be worried about Johnson, Diarra, the Krank and Crouch.
3. We have been linked with Sam Allardyce. Need I say more? I know some people would be happy to see the big man at Fratton Park but I've never been a fan of his style. Pompey haven't always been awesome to watch of late, but we've had the potential to play creative football. I fear Allardyce would strangle the life out of our team and reduce us to the long ball game. On the other hand, I can't think of one realistic name that I would get seriously excited about right now.
4. The media coverage has just rubbed salt into the wounds. I have read, listened to and watched hours of news on the story and the focus has all been on what this means for Spurs. I guess this proves the point I made above about them being a bigger club in the eyes of the general football world. It would just be nice for people to spare a thought for us. From the coverage so far you can almost hear the journalists breathing a sigh of relief: "phew, at least Spurs might be safe now." Where as I think most real fans were wishing for them to be relegated this seasons as a lesson to other clubs on how NOT to run your affairs...
...but then maybe we are in no position to judge? Undoubtably the most important matter in all of this is where PFC is right now, and where we will go from here. I don't want to comment too much because I think the facts in this area are far from clear. But some big questions need to be answered by the club around the training facilities, the ground and the financial situation in general. No doubt Redknapp was aware of the problems behind the scenes, and this must have filtered through to the players - it would explain our lack of consistancy this season.
As I said earlier, please chip in if you can make me feel better...
posted by Gliiitches at
Sunday, October 26, 2008
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