How journalists don't have a clue what it is like to be a football supporter
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By Tony Attwood
The Third Round FA Cup match is of course tomorrow, Sunday at 2pm/
Portsmouth is one of number of clubs whose previous owner took them massively into debt and administration and now they have an owner trying to take them back into reality. Debts have now been paid, although it is still reportedly making a loss.
As a result, Portsmouth FC are stuggling in the Championship this season and may face relegation, although seemingly one of the places going down has already been booked by Sheffield Wednesday, who are still on minus points having had a multiplicity of financial issues. They lost points for going into administration and then lost more points for breaching the administration regulations of the league, all of which seems rather careless. Here is the top and bottom of the Championship table…
|Team|P|W|D|L|F|A|GD|Pts|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|1|Coventry City|26|15|7|4|57|29|28|52|
|2|Middlesbrough|26|13|7|6|37|26|11|46|
|||||||||||
|21|Portsmouth|24|6|7|11|21|35|-14|25|
|22|Norwich City|26|6|6|14|28|39|-11|24|
|23|Oxford United|25|5|7|13|25|35|-10|22|
|24|Sheffield Wednesday|25|1|8|16|18|51|-33|-7|
The bottom three are relegated at the end of the season, so as things stand Portsmouth might well just survive, particularly as Sheffield Wed have already effectively gone.
However, after a run of 14 games in which Portsmouth won just two and drew three, they have suddenly picked up quite a lot late as their most frequent results show, with 2-1 victories over Blackburn and Charlton and draws with Derby and QPR. Only the last match (a 5-0 defeat to Bristol City, currently 10th in the league) terminated that run.
Their home form however, is better… and in terms of goal scoring, they are matching Arsenal away, although they have played three more games. But overall their home win percentage is just 38% while Arsenal’s away win percentage is 60%
Their last game, however, a 5-0 away defeat to Bristol City, must have shattered some of the hope about the club climbing up the table, especially as Bristol City are just tenth in the league.
But we can expect Portsmouth to put out their best team and hope for the best, and of course, have a full ground, which has a capacity of 20,867. There are no longer replays in the FA Cup, and so the match will be played out and then finished with penalties if there is a draw.
Both in the 1950s and previously in the early part of this century, Portsmouth have played in the top division of the League, although they are now in the Championship. Arsenal have beaten them 33 times, Portsmouth have won 14 games, and 24 have been draws.
But the problem for Portsmouth FC is akin to that of many Championship clubs – they have an old ground – it was opened in 1899 – and its most recent accounts show a loss of £5.6 million loss for the year ending June 2024, which was their first back in the Championship. Now much of this loss was put down to the fact that the previous season the club was promoted, and so, according to BBC Sport, in the season to June 2024, they had to pay promotion bonuses, increased wages, and some transfer fees.
They do have owners who put in money both for rebuilding parts of the ground and training area but Michael Eisner who owns the Tornante group, has described the financial landscape for much of the Championship and lower leagues as a total disaster area which financially need comoplete reconstruction. And given that he has made Portsmouth debt-free through his own investment, I guess his views really should be listened to, for this is an owner who is putting up the money to clear past debts and keep the club afloat.
The last six games guide operates in the Championship as it does in the Premier League so we can compare the clubs in terms of recent games
Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
15 Portsmouth 6 2 2 2 6 10 -4 8
1 Arsenal 6 5 1 0 12 5 +7 16
As we can see above, Arsenal are actually top of the last six games table in the Premier League, and although Arsenal might well change the team radically, they are surely not going to put out a complete reserve side.
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How journalists don't have a clue what it is like to be a football supporter
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