Tal Ben Haim was the pick of the bunch for me, and represents a good replacement for Sylvain Distin. I must admit to not knowing a lot about Kevin Prince Boateng, but I’ve always liked O’Hara, and (I say this through gritted teeth) Michael Brown made a good debut aginst Man City at the weekend. In terms of outgoings, I honestly can’t argue with any of them. If players do not want to be at the club, there is no point in keeping them. The way Kranjcar has played recently, he won’t be missed anyway. I also happen to think he is over-rated in any case. Distin has no international career to pursue, but I suppose at his age, you have to take any attractive opportunitie that come your way. The bottom line is, with what has been happening at the club recently, no player could be blamed for wanting to pursue a career elsewhere.

The exception to all this, of course, is David James. No doubt he would also have gone if a bid had come in, but he is the one player who could probably recover form that. He is also the one we most needed to stay. His presence will be essential if we are to be competitive from now on. He will need to get his head back together, but he will have no choice. His World Cup place depends on it, but a goalkeeper can maintain his form in a struggling side in a way an outfield player can’t.

It’s up front where I am most worried. I feel rather than spending £2m on a Championship central defender, Paul Hart should have been busting a gut to acquire another striker instead. We have Hreidarsson and Wilson who can play at the back as well as Kaboul and Ban Haim. Up front we have Piquionne, Smith, and Dindane. I’m not convinced by Smith but am much happier to have him than the incompetent Nugent, who signed off with another howler aginst City. We have obviously not seen Dindane yet, but I just have a horrible feeling he is going to be injury prone. This is not based on fact of any sort, and I hope I am wrong. Just a hunch. We also have the indefatigable Kanu, who has just signed a new one year deal. We may just be needing him more than last season, although he looked good against City. But he must be in his forties now! I just have this nagging feeling that it is scoring goals which is going to be our achilles heel, even after the transfer window. Didn’t we try and get Benjani?

Anyway, at least the Pompey faithful are now hopeful that we can now get our season off the ground against Bolton in ten days’ time. That’s more than we could imagine a week ago, but it’s still going to be an uphill battle. If we can make a decent fist of it, though, it should be a more emjoyable season than the last one!

Now personally, I thought Paul Hart should have reverted back to the tactic that worked so well against Sunderland at the back end of last season. Namely, play 4-4-2 and give Utaka one last chance to save his Pompey career up front where he looked like a class act (and interested!) in that Sunderland match. But I wasn’t surpised he opted for 4-5-1, with Utaka in his usual ineffectual wide right role. Again there was no place for Basinas despite the fact we desperately needed someone who could pass the ball in the middle. Mullins played well but does not possess the killer ball (or any forward pass).

Enough about tactics. What was clear from Saturday was that they are irrelevant until we buy some more players, better players. OK we had the farce of Vanden Borre and the Italian Football Association, and Finnan is injured but those two aren’t going to save us. We need a quality striker (or two), and someone who can pass the ball in the middle of midfield. It doesn’t appear that Basinas will ever get the chance to do that. And after that we probably need another three or four players capable of pushng for first team places. This team just isn’t good enough. Although David Nugent hasn’t had the chance to prove himself that Utaka has, the evidence is clear. He isn’t good enough, even for a struggling Premiership side. Also, I hate to say it because I admire the way he has stepped in to the breach, but I am not convinced about Paul Hart’s managerial ability either. Last season was one thing, but to my mind, you try to beat Fulham at home in the first game of the season with what you’ve got. He didn’t do that.

All in all, things are much bleaker now than they were before the game, especially as we are now into Groundhog Day number 827. I can’t bring myself to say any more. It’s been a HELL of a summer…

Fulham obviously had a good season last time out and will probably set up much the same way this term. They have one of the better keepers in Mark Schwarzer, Hangeland is in particular demand at the moment, and Danny Murphy will undoubtedly be pulling the strings again in central midfield. But Fulham are strongest up front, and have real pace with Kamara, Zamora, and Johnson up front. The strength of the rest of the team is debatable, but Roy Hodgson has them very well drilled. All in all, just about a tougher than average test for the opening test of the campaign.

But how will Pompey play? I think this will be dictated by our strength up front. At the moment, Piquionne is the only game in town, and that based on one performance in a friendly. Kanu has just signed a ONE MONTH contract, suggesting that the club hope other players will come in soon, and I believe David Nugent has been earmarked for sale.

David James looks likely to be fit, and the back four could be Hreidarsson, Distin, Kaboul, and Wilson, or possibly new signing Vanden Borre. I hope to see central midfield made up of fit-again Papa Bouba Diop and Angelos Basinas, together with Paul Hart’s man Aaron Mokoena. Basinas can pass a ball and allow us to also have Kranjcar wide on the left. Utaka remains the only viable option on the right, but unfortunately he seems destined never to perform there. You could always try him up front, Paul? I don’t believe he will.

So, I think we still have a team that can compete with Fulham at Fratton Park today. Perhaps the summer goings on and current frustration will work in our favour today and make for an intimidating atmosphere, despite the fact that many fans are still being affected by the recession and Fratton Park is unlikely to be full.

Peter Storrie’s enthusiasm to distance himself from Sulaiman Al Fahim’s proposed takeover at the Radio Solent forum on Thursday night, and his hint that a rival takeover bid may be imminent  has added further spice to the occasion, with many fans now doubtful that Sulaiman Al Fahim will attend as he had promised. You can listen to the forum here, but the main focus now should be on getting three points today against Fulham. Play up Pompey!

Without going over old ground, the squad we boasted a year to two years ago wasn’t sustainable, as we now know. But, providing we get through these tough times in anything like reasonable shape, let’s be grateful for the players that were here, even if their legacy was near financial meltdown. I say that because thier ultimate legacy was a major trophy, the FA Cup. It will be that indelibly marked in the record books in years to come, not the problems we are facing now.

I’m not saying we’re going to come out of this situation scott free. The takeover is yet to be completed after all (just to remind those who didn’t know!). But, despite the tiresome, never ending nature of it, I genuinely believe the signs are looking more positive in the last few days. SURELY, Al Fahim would not leave it until after the season had begun to pull out?! I believe if he were going to do that, it would have happened by now. At risk of starting a riot amongst Pompey fans, he gave a very positive interview on ArabianBusiness.com this week. You can read it here. I know, more words and still no action, but you must admit he does give a good interview, and the timing of it so close to the opening of the new season suggests the moment for the collapse of the deal has passed.

Paul Hart has also explicitly stated today that any further player sales will be his choice. A very bold assertion, and one that he would not make in public like that unless he was very confident. This brings me on to the state of the squad, very pertinent now we are staring the new season on the face.

The win against Rangers has given me real optimism that our squad is not as poor as the ‘pundits’ would have us believe. I know it was only a pre season friendly, but Rangers did beat Manchester City a few days earlier. I think the most important thing about that game was the confidence boost it should have given the players, given how well they gelled as a team.  I would still like another striker (perhaps not Mark Viduka), but Frederic Piquionne at least showed that he is has pace, presence and can finish. He just has to produce that now over a season!

Same with Paul Hart, really. I didn’t enjoy the end of last season! I hope he’s got some more attacking football up his sleeve. The Rangers game would suggest so, but he has a lot to prove. It may be easier in a way without the shock of last season’s unfolding events weighing him down. But has he got the players to do it?

Let’s assume we only add to the squad from now on. We still have an England goalkeeper. Fulham, who finished seventh last season, have a good one too in Mark Schwarzer. We still have Distin and also Kaboul and Finnan for example. Fulham have Hangeland but not much else to impress at the back. Our midfield almost looks better than theirs! We still have Kranjcar and now Diop is returning to fitness. Basinas can pass a ball if he can ever secure a starting place. Fulham have Danny Murphy and Dickson Etuhu. Up fron Fulham do look stronger with Kamara (!), Johnson, and Zamora (?). Kanu will be a bit part player at best, and Nugent isn’t good enough. John Utaka has a real opportunity this season to fulfil the potential I believe he has. Anyway, Fulham finished seventh last season. My point is, our squad must compare favourably with the Burnleys and Hulls of this world. Granted, new signings such as Vanden Borre have to be at least a relative success, but with good management and team spirit can inspire a modest set of players to great heights as Roy Hodgson and Fulham showed last season. Paul Hart and the players (and one or two new ones) need to step up to the mark.

Johnson played well enough last season but has really kicked on this term, becoming an England regular and indisputably the club’s best performer. Tellingly, he has continued his early season form through the departure of Harry Redknapp (that cracker against Hull comes to mind), suggesting that it is regular first team action rather than the identity of the manager that has been the primary motivating factor. He recently gave an interview to PFC TV in which he seemed genuinely touched and pointed out how much he has enjoyed his time at Fratton Park. Worryingly, this type of interview appears to be spreading.

The caveat regarding the identity of the manager is unfortunately Tony Adams’ tenure, when the players didn’t appear to know what they were supposed to be doing. I was willing Tony to succeed and Pompey undoubtedly produced some fantastic football under his regime, none more so than the stuff they produced to play AC Milan off the Fratton Park pitch. It wasn’t the football that was the problem though, it was the continuous late goal theme that brought confidence to breaking point. I genuinely wish Tony Adams future success at the highest level. His record so far suggests it will be difficult.

Peter Crouch has been another stalwart, especially during the Defoe-less second half of the season, and it is to his credit that he is still in the top five or six league scorers. But again, his exit for Linvoy Primus on Monday was, perhaps significantly, a bit more drawn out that it should have been.

Other players also deserve a mention. Hermann Hreidarsson has taken advantage of Nadir Belhadj’s apparent inability to defend, and become an imposing presence in the first team once again, fighting for the cause from the front. David Nugent has worked hard out of position on the right, although his chance of a long term Pompey career may recently have finally passed him by. Even the twin targets of some vilification, Hayden Mullins and Richard Hughes, deserve credit for getting on with the job and doing their best. It was the manager who picked them. 

What I’m getting at here is that the players can be victims too. Late night club incidents and driving offences acknowledged, we can’t tar everyone with the same brush. With Pompey reportedly under pressure from their South African bank, and in more trouble than we thought, Crouch may be forced to once again re-start his career elsewhere. Johnson will probably have to do the same thing. They won’t lose sleep over leaving Pompey for Liverpool, Everton, or whoever it may be. But, had things off the pitch been even reasonable, I believe they would have been happy to stay. I hope things can be stabilised enough to allow that to happen, but I fear that these valuable commodities will have to be sold.

Everyone knows the real problem in all this is the way the Premier League is financed by TV companies. This is what has caused there to be such an obscene amount of money in the game, to the extent that the amount of money required for Portsmouth to win the FA Cup combined with the effects of the recession, have left the club in its current predicament. The recession has prodded away at a few clubs in the Premier League bubble, but subscription football into your living room is the real evil, creating that bubble in the first place.

We are all aware of the clubs currently in trouble, but Stockport County are perhaps the most low profile. Their administrators recently had to make their entire coaching staff redundant, and the club is in real danger. Yet we have heard nothing about it. Instead we have been subjected to endless analysis of Darren Fletcher’s bid to make the Champions League final. I’m sorry for the guy, it wasn’t a foul. But I’m more sorry for the Stockport fans who may soon not have a club. Something is very wrong with our game.