It is time
for the fourth edition of ‘My Club.’ ‘My Club’ is a monthly feature where I ask
a set of questions to a supporter about their football team and the passion
they show for their club.
In November,
I have spoken to Gary Peters. Gary is a freelance journalist and a reporter for
Sports Mole, a website that delivers the latest stories from not just the world
of football but also, other sports such as golf, tennis, Formula One, boxing
and rugby union.
Peters talks
to me about his passion for supporting Portsmouth, a club that has been the
headlines a lot in the past five years for the severe financial constraints
that twice put the club on the brink of going out of business. Now owned by the
fans, Gary speaks about the good times, the dark days and hopes for a brighter
future for the FA Cup winners of 2008.
What are your first memories of
watching football?
My first
memory is the 1998 World Cup in France but the most vivid of my early years is
my first match I went to in the year 2000 as Portsmouth travelled to Ipswich. We won 1-0
thanks to a goal from Steve Claridge.
When did you realise that Portsmouth
was the club you wanted to support?
I don’t think
I ever realised I wanted to support Pompey. My parents bought me a shirt and
that was it, I was hooked. I never really had a choice to be honest.
In the time you’ve followed them, who
has been your favourite player for Pompey and why?
Even though
many great players have joined and left in my time supporting Pompey, my
favourite player has to be the Bulgarian striker Svetoslav Todorov. He worked
so hard for the team and his 26 goals in our title winning side of 2002/2003
certainly didn’t hurt. He also scored the goal that officially clinched promotion to the
Premier League and always played for the shirt.
What are your highest moments
following the club and also the lowest moment?
That’s a
tough question. The promotion to the Premier League in 2003 was unbelievable,
as was our great escape three years later when Harry Redknapp returned from
Southampton and we stayed up when every pundit had written us off. Of course,
there is also the FA Cup triumph in 2008 but what beats them all is our 2-0 win
against Tottenham in the FA Cup semi-finals of 2010.
We had just
been officially relegated, were in administration and had points deducted and
were generally seen as a joke. That day though was something I’ll never forget.
The players were tremendous and the fans unreal. That day, I was bursting with
pride. I think you can guess the lowest moment for me and the fans and it
involves finances.
How happy are you that the club is now
in the ownership of the fans?
Having our
fans as owners of the club means the ownership is finally back where it
belongs. We know that the board won’t overspend, there will be no more
delusions of grandeur and we can start afresh. Pompey is alive again.
Would you get value for money going to
Portsmouth games? If not, why?
It all
depends how you judge value for money. Is it winning? Is it a comfy seat? Or,
is it a good atmosphere? I think most fans will say seeing their club is value
for money. I’m no different. However, ticket prices across the board are very
high.
Which football sides do you enjoy
seeing Pompey get the better of?
Southampton
and Tottenham are top of the list. The Saints are our arch rivals of course and
as a Pompey fan, you learn to dislike them. The reason I say Spurs is purely
because of the previous Redknapp connection. However, much of that has gone now
and I guess it depends how fans view Redknapp. For me, he was a brilliant
manager but often opened his mouth too much.
Can you share with me your view on the
financial mismanagement at the top level in the last few years at Fratton Park?
There’s only
one word for the financial mismanagement; disgraceful. People took our club for
a ride and left us dangling from the cliff. Many days I woke up expecting to
see that the club had been liquidated. That wasn’t a nice feeling. Other
owners, fans, the Premier League, the Football League and the FA need to
examine what happened at Fratton Park (pictured) and say, ‘OK, we almost lost a club here
because the game is getting out of control. This can’t happen again.’ I doubt
however that anything will change in terms of finance. I’m just thankful that
my club is in safe hands at last.
Harry Redknapp recently brought out
his autobiography. Do you feel that he took the club for granted during his two
tenures on the south coast with your club?
I would read
Harry’s book purely from a journalistic point of view and there’s no doubt that
Redknapp is interesting to get an opinion from. He is a media favourite. At the
end of the day, he was ambitious and he wanted to manage a bigger club in
Tottenham. He gave us fantastic success for which I’ll always be grateful.
However, he crossed the line for many when he joined Southampton in December
2004, less than two weeks after resigning as our manager. I’m not sure if he
took us for granted but he certainly could have handled things differently.
Guy Whittingham is the man in charge
at the moment. Are you happy with him being the current manager?
Guy
Whittingham is a legend at Fratton Park for his exploits at the club as a
player. He’s doing a good job in my opinion. Ok, we’re not near the top of
League Two but he had to deal with so much last year and he has to be given
time. We need stability now and he brings that.
Before this weekend’s games,
Portsmouth were four points off the play-offs in League Two. What is the
realistic aim for the season?
For me after
all that has happened, I would love a boring season stuck in mid-table. I think
the realistic aim has to be similar to that. We can’t expect too much too soon.
It could take five years to get out of League Two. If it does, so be it.
Do you believe that the spirit is
strong in the Fratton Park dressing room?
Without being
a fly in on the wall, I would say yes. We’ve had a couple of dodgy results
recently but on the whole, I think the squad is unified.
If there is one player you could bring
into the club, who would that be and why?
I’ll say
Matthew Taylor, who is currently at West Ham United. He was a terrific player at
Pompey and played a crucial role in our promotion to the Premier League and
then our survival in 2006. Maybe in a few years, he could come back and finish
his career with us.
Last question, describe why Portsmouth
is ‘Your Club’ in no more than 5/10 words?
It’s in the
blood.
To find out
more about Portsmouth, visit their club
website.
If you would
like to read my previous interviews, click on Kevin
Ashburn (Sunderland), Robert
Jones (Chelsea) and Laura
Jones (Sheffield Wednesday). If you would like to be interviewed for ‘My
Club’ next month, then get in touch through my e-mail address on the Contact
Details page, or through my Twitter account @Siwri88.
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