Now, I’m an optimist by nature but I’m sure those who have read this blog over the past few days had noticed that like most other Pompey fans, I had become demoralised. Even with the Al Fahim takeover still clearly not complete and its potency unknown, things now look brighter. I couldn’t bring myself to mention Dindane yesterday, fearing that despite ‘the photo’, the deal had fallen through due to the failure of Peter Storrie’s takeover bid. In fact, it looks like the sale of Sylvain Distin has allowed it to finally happen. If that is the case, the right decision has been made, especially when you consider the player wasn’t happy. Somehow I think the success of Storrie’s consortium would have seen him stay.

There are still issues to contend with, not least the Distin-shaped hole in the middle of defence. The jury also remains out on Hart in my opinion, but with a couple more signings, this doubt must now soon be resolved. He should soon have enough at his disposal to play the way he wants. Not enough to stay clear of the relegation battle, but enough to show his true colours, if he hasn’t already. I truly hope he hasn’t already. If not, he must have an extremely low opinion  his current attacking options.

So, all this optimism is likely to disappear on Sunday when we play Manchester City! But I say that tongue in cheek, because in reality it won’t. Even a heavy defeat will probably be the result of  a few new signings failing to gel, or simply a huge gulf in class. I believe we may see a spirited performance. My only footballing worry is that Paul Hart will be shown to lack the motivational and tactical skills needed for Premier League management, but yesterday I would have been delighted had that been my major concern. The Al Fahim issue clearly isn’t over yet, but today no Portsmouth fan has the energy to care about that. We should congratulate Peter Storrie for his hard work and commitment in the face of adversity recently, and then ask him to consider lowering the prices in order to try and create the atmosphere we will need at Fratton Park this season. A Chief Exec’s work is never done, Peter! But he has managed to convince us that we have a fighting chance today, and that is all we ask at the moment! Play Up Pompey!

There is nothing else we can do, I’m afraid. Typically, we still don’t know what the future is supposed to hold and the completion of the takeover just leaves more questions and a sense of frustration instead of the relief we have all longed for. I am just confused, frustrated and, most depressingly of all, sceptical about the deal and the future. The drawn out summer, and the nature of the eventual deal have given us Pompey fans no reason to be anything else. I think we have all just had enough and, sadly, Al Fahim starts his reign with an uphill battle on his his hands to even convince the fans of his best intentions. Money aside, we can’t even rely on continuity in the boardroom to see us through this difficult time. I would love to believe that all concerned can now pull together for the good of Portsmouth Football Club, but I just don’t think life works that way!

Al Fahim now has just days to make an impact, or the morale-sapping effect of further inactivity will mean the January transfer window may be useless to us. The positive and immediate impact required seems improbable for a man who appears to have been forced into a deal, any deal, to save face. I hope I am wrong, but I am so very tired of it all.

That brings me on to the issue of player transfers. There is a picture circulating on the internet tonight showing Aruna Dindane signing his Portsmouth contract. Now unless it’s an elaborate hoax (there are Portsmouth club badges displayed on the wall behind him and the man next to him is definitely the club secretary, Paul Weld!), that should also mean that at least some kind of takeover is due to be announced imminently (you can make your own mind up about the picture here!). The guy is rumoured to be costing around £4m. If that is true, there is no other explanation for Pompey’s ability to sign him up. The question is, what kind of takeover is this going to be?

There must surely now be an announcement tomorrow regarding this, and I think everybody will now be amazed if it is Al Fahim that turns up in front of the cameras rather than Peter Storrie. But the danger is that it will be too little too late and there is at least one player at the club who obviously believes this. Sylvain Distin is not in the squad tonight and it appears that he now wants out of Portsmouth. To be honest, I really can’t blame him after the summer the club has had, but at the same time it seems slightly odd with Pompey apparently finally on the brink of a way forward.

Perhaps he knows nothing about it? Perhaps the picture is a hoax? Perhaps it has all been a dream. Nothing would surprise me with Portsmouth at the moment. Watch this space……if you can take any more…….

Since I last wrote, there have been two more matches, both of which confirmed our worst suspicions. Namely that this team is going down. It still has a few good players, but not enough. Piquionne looks decent, but is being asked to make everything happen up front on his own, with no help from midfield. Our central midfield is just not good enough. Our most creative player looks like he would rather be somewhere else and is only effective in a good team. But most of all, the morale of the whole club is at rock bottom as a result of Sulaiman Al Fahim’s botched takeover.

We looked reasonably solid at the back against Birmingham, but of course the inevitable happened at the death, as it always does when your team carries no real goal threat. Against Arsenal, the team put out was bizarrely the most attacking we have seen all season and looked as much. But at the back we were woeful at times, notwithstanding the primary problem of the non-existent closing down in midfield. If the rescue plan doesn’t roll into action very, very soon, this can only end one way. We wait…

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!

This week it really is apt because we haven’t got a clue what is going to happen between now and then! The takeover may have completed, it may have fallen through (remember, I reckon on or the other is going to happen this week!), or it may have completed accompanied by a sense of depression that Al Fahim blatantly doesn’t have any money! In any case, we need to expect the worst. The events of the last two months, if not the last fifty years (largely) have taught us that.

The thing is, despite the fact that Paul Hart’s managerial mettle has yet to be proven, he is the only one we can believe in at the club at the moment, if only on the level that he is doing his best under difficult circumstances. But more importantly, whether Paul Hart says it or not, it is blatantly obvious that that is what we need to do on Saturday. Get behind the team with the kind of backs to the wall mentality that hasn’t been needed since the great escape.

And be honest, that’s when Pompey matches are at their best isn’t it? Huddersfield and Bradford away, going to Middlesbrough on a freezing midweek night in ‘92 and winning 4-2, Manchester City and Wigan a couple of years back? They were some of the best games, with the best atmospheres, I’ve ever been to, INCLUDING winning the FA Cup at Wembley.

So, with everyone fed up to the back teeth of talking about this takeover, today’s message is simple. Get defiantly behind the lads on Saturday and sweep them to a victory which could be precious come the end of the season. As for the takeover, I think Peter Storrie has the right idea. Wait and see, just wait and see.

First, the timescale. Of course, most people believe Sacha Gaydamak has now set a deadline for Sulaiman Al Fahim to complete the deal, which will expire some time at the weekend. If true, we will obviously have a resolution one way or the other before then, but typically nothing is clear with the Al Fahim camp denying the existence of this time limit. The reason I believe that something must happen this week is because of the twin pressures of Gaydamak’s debt to Standard Bank and the ever tightening transfer window. 

Even if no such deadline has been formally set by Gaydamak, in essence it exists. Despite an encouraging win over Glasgow Rangers at the weekend, the squad is at tipping point, both in terms of quality and depth. If he cannot be sure of completion, Gaydamak will have to begin selling more players next week in order to keep the club out of administration. This would be the worst case scenario for him as it would see him losing even more than most people believe he already stands to lose from the deal, quite apart from the fact that he would have no choice but to act to avoid a ten point deduction. Equally, Al Fahim cannot possibly want this to happen as the squad would then be so damaged as to be unable to compete, even over half a season. Al Fahim is believed to be planning to attend the match against Fulham at Fratton Park on Saturday. Should be very interesting!

I referred to the team itself earlier. That win against Rangers has given us all hope, especially as our star close- season signing, Frederic Piquionne, showed that he can score goals (good goals too). More than that, the whole team played well with Kranjcar putting in an impressive shift and Marc Wilson looking good. I just hope we don’t get too carried away. It did show that we have a team that can still compete, but it was still just a pre season friendly, and the squsd needs more depth for the long season ahead. This needs addressing NOW and I hope Al Fahim realises this.

Titbits? Well, the latest seems to have come from Peter Storrie, who seems cast in an ever more heroic light at the moment, given the circumstances. In an aricle in The News today, he said, ‘just wait and see’, twice! I would find that a strange comment for someone who just a couple of days ago emailed a fan to say that he knew nothing about the progress of the takeover or how long it would take, and was at pains to point out that it was between the two protagonists. In the same interview he attacked the national press for printing rubbish. Very bold for someone who had seemed so downcast a couple of days ago. Come on Peter, spill the beans!

Even if Storrie does know that the takeover will go through, the question still remains as to what kind of takeover it will be. We are not so sure now of a bright new future with riches to spend on a new stadium, training ground, and players. But surely a prospective new owner would not go through all this trouble, only to struggle to even add to an already depleted squad? If the takeover happened tomorrow and we were only able to buy a couple more modest players before the end of the month, I would expect this squad to get through to January competitively while more permananet foundations for the club were laid. This has to be his intention, doesn’t it? Something approaching his original vision for the future? Only time will tell. This Week.

At the moment, the club is the laughing stock of not just the Premier League, but the whole of English football. At least Accrington Stanley (if it’s good enough for a milk advert, it’s good enough for me) know what their plans are for this season and what it is likely that they can achieve. Portsmouth have no such plans. We just have complete and utter chaos. The ONE positive thing about the current situation is that the only alternative would appear to be administration.

Now, I’m not blaming Paul Hart here or even Peter Storrie. The blame quite clearly lies either with the current or prospective owner. What I don’t understand is how, over two months since the takeover was announced, the club is NOT EVEN in a financial position to seal the signing of Nikola Kalinic. Don’t get me wrong, he is a player with potential. But he is a prospect, nothing more, and has just signed for Blackburn Rovers. They are taking a risk. We couldn’t even get to that point.

This blog today was never meant to analyse the reasons, but I simply can’t fathom how Dr Al Fahim could not be ready to buy players, at least on some semblance of a competitive level, at the crucial time. There may still be a month until the transfer window closes, but no-one could argue that Portsmouth are not in complete disarray. The pre season results confirm that, and so do the transfer dealings(!) thus far. Surely if the takeover cannot yet complete, there is some way that Al Fahim could at least fund player purchases? Have we found the only Arab investor in the world with no money?!

Of course it is still possible that the takeover will eventually be a success and that we will survive this season before thriving. We would obviously take that here and now. But even if that were the case, I would still like to know what went on here. Because there is no doubt that even at this early stage, even if it goes on to be a success, the Al Fahim era has got off to a VERY bad start. Trust has almost gone before he has even taken over, IF he takes over.

Someone owes the fans an explanation. But more than that, someone needs to take decisive action NOW, before it is too late.

Unbelievably, some fans on the internet forums are still calling into question Al Fahim’s ability to see this through! I think we have to give him the benefit of the doubt. So far, he has done everything he said he would, right up to the point now where it looks as if we are moving from the due diligence phase to the Premier League approval phase. The one issue I have seen ambiguity on is whether he is the sole purchaser, or has major investment partners. Well, with it being reported that he has now submitted his ‘fit and proper persons’ paperwork to the Premier League, he must be happy either that the structure of the takeover is settled, or that he is able to finalise it in time to satisfy the Premier League. Even if he has been playing brinkmanship with the financing of the purchase, I am sure he is able to handle it. Business deals are often done on the edge and finalised at the last minute. This is their very nature and it would certainly be no indication of ‘dodgy dealing’ if Al Fahim had in fact faced uncertainty along the way.

So, the focus will hopefully now shift towards proving to The Sun that Al Fahim and any partners in investment are indeed ‘fit and proper’, so that thier official approval can be obtained. Hang on a minute….sorry…..oh yes that’s right. It’s the Premier League that needs to approve this takeover, not The Sun newspaper. Not sure where I got that idea from!

The Premier League will undoubtedly take their time and seek to satisfy themselves on every point before they issue their consent. This will be frustrating, but you can understand their need to be sure after the Shinawatra episode. We should WELCOME the fact that the test will be a new, improved, more stringent hurdle. It will mean that everyone will know that this purchase is squeaky clean. I can’t for a moment believe that someone of the calibre of Al Fahim would embark on this hoping to pull the wool over the eyes of the Premier League. He will be confident that there should be nothing to stand in the way, so I don’t see this being an issue apart from the timescale.

If there is going to be a sticking point on the deal at this stage it will almost certainly be price. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. But again, I can’t see it breaking the deal. Sacha Gaydamak needs to sell and everyone knows it, not least Al Fahim who is in quite a strong position to negotiate it downwards. It occurred to me that the discussions with the prospective new manager (which have undoubtedly taken place by now), may have swung towards a certain Peter Crouch. If that new manager then indicated that he could maybe ‘take him or leave him’, an opportunity would open up to release another £10m-plus in transfer funds for players who would fit into that new manager’s plans. Of course we don’t know for sure. I would prefer to keep Crouch, but would certainly sacrifice him for the completion of a takeover which would release substantial new funds for players and a long term strategy on and off the pitch.

That is what is at stake here. The long term strategy that in my twenty five years of support, Portsmouth Football Club has never had. Yes, the Gaydamak era (more like ’spell’ really) saw us win the FA Cup, but the economic crisis put paid to any long term plans that may have existed. This takeover seems to be a credible long term investment. We can’t, of course, guarantee that, but the future appears a damn site brighter than it did six months ago, and I believe we will see the deal rubber stamped within the next two weeks. If it is, we should all offer to buy Peter Storrie a drink.

More concrete information is now coming to light regarding the futures of some of the Pompey players. Sean Davis looks almost certain to sign for Bolton Wanderers on July 1st, and Peter Storrie has said that Sol Campbell is likely to be offered a pay-as-you-play deal for next season. I would like to shy away from the tiresome speculation and comment on these two players.

Sean Davis looks like he’s off to Bolton, despite being the only out-of-contract Pompey player to have been offered a new deal. In truth, it has been on the cards for months. Whether this is a loss or progress obviously depends entirely on the buyout and the club’s ambition for next season. Assuming all is to turn out as promised, he will not be a long term loss. That is not to say I don’t rate him as a player. He is tenacious and can pass, but there is something missing at the very top level. Yes, he is a cut above Hughes and Mullins, but this is not a particularly flattering comparison for him.

We must also not forget the important role he played in saving the club from relegation in his first season (along with his ex-Tottenham compatriots, Pedro Mendes and Noe Pamarot) when he was eventually head and shoulders above anything else we had in midfield at the time. To be honest, this was probably the case even when he first arrived, massively unfit (remember Jhon Viafara, anyone?).

Between then and now have been some committed and classy performances, but not quite enough consistency at the very top level for me. The offer of a new deal was the right decision, but I’m not sure he ever quite got over his lack of first team opportunities in the second half of the FA Cup winning season (after playing really well in the opening months), or indeed his omission from the Cup Final squad itself. Thank you Sean, we wish you well.

Sol Campbell is reportedly to be offered a pay-as-you-play deal for the coming season. I’m not sure he will go for it, but it sounds about right to me. He was a coup when he joined the club three years ago, and he has been a solid servant. Whilst he can still produce the inspired performances within the grasp of players of his class, we have all noticed his gradual decline and struggle with pace. His performances don’t now warrant the huge wages it took to entice him here. He may have success with a club like Basle in Switzerland as a bigger fish in a smaller pond. However, the opportunity is there for him, if he can accept his reduced standing (age catches up with us all, Sol),  to stay in familiar surroundings and play a part in a bright new future.