The games in question are Wigan, Burnley, Birmingham, Sunderland, Stoke, Hull, Blackburn and Wolves. Adult tickets have been cut to £20 in the Milton End, and £30 in the wings of the upper North Stand.

It’s just the kind of gesture the fans need to see at the moment, but more importantly it improves the chances of the ground being full for these important games, as people continue to struggle in the recession. To the season ticket holders who are already complaining, I can only say, STOP BEING SO SHORT SIGHTED! The whole club needs to pull together at the moment and this is a positive step towards that happening. Obviously the biggest step will be a great performance and win against Bolton, but back to the ticket prices. You can’t actually buy a season ticket in the Milton End, and the price you paid guarantees your usual seat. But also remember, when you by something, including a season ticket, there is no guarantee that a better deal won’t come along further down the line. Simple as that. The club should not be criticised for this positive move. 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.

We still have weeks of off the pitch events ahead of us, even after the takeover is fully completed, so I thought I’d concentrate on the football side of things. The Premier League is undoubdedly the place to be, but for the also-rans there is little chance of pre season conversation turning to title chances and those of other teams, because outside the top four there are no title chances! Championship or promotion winning seasons have always been precious, but especially so nowadays.

The season started positively on 10th August 2002 with a 2-0 home win against Nottingham Forest. This date was definitely the start of a new era, but doubly so in my case as I met my wife that night in a nightclub in Sydney! I remember hearing of a solid away point at Sheffield United in the next game whilst getting ready in my hotel room to go out, and by the time of the 3-2 win at Crystal Palace I was in Surfer’s Paradise. Great days!

I remember feeling that this could be a great season because of the way the team had come from 2-0 down to win the match, but Harry Redknapp had of course also reconstructed the entire team since he had taken over from Graham Rix at the back end of the previous season. Things hadn’t started too auspiciously, as Redknapp’s first game at Preston North End finished in a 2-0 defeat. I was at the game and we were never really in it. Svetoslav Todorov made his debut and was sent off for an off the ball incident!

The week after the Palace game I was back home to get my first look at the new look Pompey in action at Fratton Park against Watford. My recollection is that it was a non contest. We won 3-0 and it was fluid, fast football that I just wasn’t used to seeing. Paul Merson and Matthew Taylor were magnificent, and that was to continue for the rest of the season.

The day after that, I went away to the Baltic. I was at sea out there, on and off, for the rest of the season, so I missed most of it! In a funny sort of way, though, the memories are just as strong. I recall three main ways that I got the results. At sea, they were either communicated to me on the bridge or I would make sure I was in the communications office at full time to get them on the radio. The other main way, of course, was to follow the football in the bar of one of the many Baltic cities we visited. I remember being amazed when we lost at home to Leicester City, but funnily enough it didn’t spoil my weekend in Helsinki and by this stage I knew we were going to win the following week anyway!

During one of my pit stops home, I took that girl I had met in Sydney (now my wife) to Fratton Park. She had come all the way back from Australia to see me, so I needed to impress her. We lost 2-1 to Sheffield United and it was freezing! She obviously saw past that. I think I remember the match where I became convinced that nothing was going to go wrong, that we were just to strong to blow it. It was one of those where I hung around the communicatons office waiting for the result and then it came through. Pompey 6 Derby County 2. I hadn’t seen any of the game of course but the result said it all.

I was again home on a pit stop, but his time driving from Edinburgh to Somerset, when we played at Leicester. I half expected to lose to our perennial bogey team, and we duly went one down. It was a matter of pride as far as I was concerned, but the 1-1 draw we eventually got also helped cement our position at the top. The equaliser came from Matty Taylor, with one of a number of outside-the-box efforts he produced that season.

There were a number of crushing away wins that season too, not least at Millwall where Pompey fans were banned. I have since seen highlights of the 5-0 Pompey win in deafening silence!

As the season drew to a close, it became increasingly clear that the Championship was a two horse race between the only two teams in serious contention for promotion. Sheffield United’s high point had seemed to be their win at Fratton Park, and they had faded after this. Pompey had always been in pole position but Leicester had hung on doggedly and were stiil within striking distance. Portsmouth had the chance to clinch promotion with a win at home against Sheffield Wednesday, who were bottom of the league. I was in the country but couldn’t make the game. By now I planned to get married (I didn’t hang around!). I was needed elsewhere to help organise it and knew better than to argue! Anyway, Pompey did me a favour and lost the game. We were knocked off top spot by Leicester, but we all knew it was only a matter of time.

Three days later, on a Tuesday night, we reconvened at Fratton Park against Burnley. I wasn’t going to miss it this time and saw Paul Merson’s penalty smack the bar right in front of me early in the game. Still we believed and the magic moment arrived with fifteen minutes to go at the Fratton End. Nigel Quashie squared a ball low across the box (I’m sure he was shooting!) and Todorov diverted it in. I’m not sure how, but I remember seeing the image of  him running into the crowd at the other end of the ground as if it was right in front of me.

Afterwards, I cherished my one and only time so far on the Fratton Park pitch (I have also done Huddersfield, Bradford, and Wigan) and still have my blades of grass. In terms of pure achievement on the pitch in a competitive environment over an extended period, I think I’ll be lucky to see it bettered in my lifetime. It is certainly right up there with the best memories, but the memories that mean the most aren’t necessarily linked to the highest footballing achievements! I think that’s partly what keeps us supporting our team come what may.

To be fair, Al Fahim has never committed himself to anything in terms of player purchases etc. (probably partly because of his experience during the Manchester City takeover), instead limiting himself to statements about building up the club in the right way. But I think we all know that the deal has not gone to plan. Don’t get me wrong, I am still right behind him, but I now feel scepticism about the future rather than the excitement I expected. It is of course still possible that he will succeed in stabilising and developing the club off the pitch whilst gradually improving stature and reputation on it, but the fact that I feel it is such an awfully long way from here to there (before the takeover is even formally completed!) depresses me.

First look at the players we have signed. Sorry, player. Aaron Mokoena. I’m not going to discuss his strengths and weaknesses, but the fact that he couldn’t get into the Blackburn Rovers first team tells you all you need to know. Then just look at the trialists. Eugen Bopp. Released by Crewe Alexandra last season! Also have a look at our targets. James Perch of Nottingham Forest. Look at a player we reportedly missed out on. James McCarthy has just joined Wigan Athletic. Sven Goran Eriksson has just gone to Notts County for God’s sake! Yes, clubs can and do give trials to any player, and the lesser talents are by definition the ones who end up on trial, but Bopp is just one of the many clouds of smoke that point to a great big fire.

Another cloud is the appointment of Hart himself. Again, I am right behind him and he may turn out to be the right appointment (more chance of that if Brian Kidd returns, I feel) but his appointment undeniably shows that the club is desperately short of funds desite new ownership!

So what went wrong? There is a lot of conjecture in the press and on the internet, but from what I can work out, and it pains me to say it, The Sun may well have had an effect. It ought not to have done, as attempting to mount a takeover with mystery backers who wished to remain a mystery would represent foolishness in the extreme, but the one inconsistency in all Al Fahim’s statements was when he changed tack about who was providing the finance for the takeover. If Al Fahim was as rich as we were led to believe, there still should not have been a major issue, but the theory put forward by his ‘best friend’ on the infamous ‘Dr Al Fahim Blogspot’ sounds plausible to me. Perhaps he could not pay as much as originally intended and we now have a compromise deal which allows Sacha Gaydamak to pay off his debts (and sell our best players).

But I have been saying that Al Fahim and Paul Hart still have my support. They do. Hart has stated that he played the football he needed to play to avoid the drop last season. That his true style is much more attacking. It may well be, but it is the players who play the football, not the manager. I’ve already touched on the qualityof the players. Dr Sulaiman may have completed the deal he had to complete at the time, with a view to building the club in the long term. This is his stated objective. The problem is that it would appear he doesn’t have the money to do it.

One thing’s for sure. Pompey fans need a confidence boost. We have waited for this all summer after a turbulent season before, only to be anxious and despondent at the very point of completion. It would actually be the ultimate triumph to eventually realise all of the new Chairman’s stated ambitions starting with a shoestring first season, the cobbled together team guideed to safety by the wily old foxes Hart and Kidd. Indeed, we should all be behind the new regime until we are given reason to be otherwise, but at the moment it’s vastly more in hope than expectation. Very sad.

Paul Hart said after Sunday’s game that the managerial situation should be resolved this week. This may suggest he is confident, or has even already secured the position. If so, I suggest he takes a relaxing holiday prior to pre season training, as if his strange public admission that his CV is lacking any real record of achievement is anything to go by, he has felt the strain of this season as much as the fans. 

Regarding ownership issues, there is already an intriguing titbit in the signing of Aaron Mokoena, Blackburn’s less-than-first-choice central defender. This might purely be the result of Hart’s confirmed appointment leading to the identification of his first free transfer target, as he knows there is no buyer waiting in the wings. On the other hand, Mokoena is the captain of next year’s World Cup hosts, South Africa, and with a prospective buyer from that same country reportedly interested, his signing may be linked to other issues. Either way, his extremely rapid acquisition points to the fact that the club’s situation has been, or is about to be, confirmed.

The truth is that we just don’t know for sure, and despite his continued criticism by some sections of the Pompey faithful, Chief Executive Peter Storrie is in no position to give us a blow by blow account of developments. There was similar uncertainty at the club ten years ago as we entered administration. This can’t be discounted as a possibility now, but surely we are in a better position this time around? Let’s go back those ten years just for a moment…

Pompey had been struggling for much of the previous ten years, the high points being those two fabulous seasons under Jim Smith in the early 90s and a fluke run under Terry Fenwick in 1997 which almost got us to the play offs and saw a decent cup run ended at Fratton Park by Chelsea. 

But here we were in administration, a situation which by today’s rules, would have meant a 10 point deduction and relegation to what is now League 1. We had only stayed up on goal difference, but there was no last day survival drama. Despite the fact that our hero, the late Alan Ball, had returned to rescue us the previous year, 1998-99 was a  rather forgettable season. We only stayed up on goal difference but had lost our last two fixtures, and in fact were nine goals better off than Bury who occupied the last relegation spot. There was only one away win to cheer all season, a 2-0 success at Port Vale in September. The only real highlights that spring to mind are a 5-2 home win over Swindon, and a giantkilling 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup 3rd Round. However, during the close season, there was possibly the most significant event in the club’s modern history when Milan Manadaric bought it for £5m.

We all know the rest, but we also know it was far from plain sailing. The point is that it’s all relative. If Pompey could be turned around then with modest levels of investment, they can be turned around now. All that’s required is that the club doesn’t fall to its knees. As long as they are competing with their peers financially, it’s the management that makes all the difference. We didn’t begin to taste success until Harry Redknapp came along, and then it was instant. You can’t tell me that we can’t compete with Fulham, Hull, Burnley, Blackburn, Bolton, or Wigan. Of course we can.

The problem in all this is that we have so over extended ourselves that the club is not now an attractive proposition, but I think Sacha Gaydamak now realises, if he didn’t before, that he is going to have to take a substantial hit on leaving Portsmouth.  He won’t be the first or last in this recession, and I regret that our football is so uncompetitive that the price for a club like ours winning the FA Cup is so high, but I would like to say thanks for the memories, Mr Gaydamak. Now let’s get back to reality.

I would be especially interested to receive comments and memories regarding those events ten years ago when Milan Mandaric came along to save our club.

In truth, we should have known what was coming. It has been like this for weeks but at least the grind is now over. The job has been done. Portsmouth are set to  kick off their seventh successive season in the Premier League and for that we should be grateful, but we have certainly endured rather than enjoyed the crawl to safety.

Yesterday’ match appeared to just confirm what we have all believed for a while, namely that we were always going to do just enough, and no more. Many of the players had probably long lost belief as a result of Harry Redknapp’s departure and the subsequent turmoil and instability, whilst others probably went as far as to let their minds wander to the subject of their probable summer transfer destinations. It must be said though, that there has been precious little to keep them interested regarding the brand of football they have been required to play. The second half against Sunderland was different, but yesterday the same old negativity returned. A mistake by Sol Campbell midway through the first half gave Wigan their goal and it could have been more. Despite safety being confirmed, the club was weary of this awful season and had no more to give.

Paul Hart will discover his future this week, and the decision will probably depend on the takeover situation or lack of it, but a more positive show yesterday would certainly have helped to alleviate some of the fans’ considerable misgivings. The club’s first reported summer signing, Aaron Mokoena of Blackburn Rovers, would seem to suggest more of the same next season.

The real story, of course, was at Villa Park where Newcastle, despite eventually needing only a draw to survive, were meekly relegated. The standard of the Premier League this season was borne out by the fact that not one of the four teams involved in the relegation issue on the last day could muster even a point. The real crime from Newcastle’s point of view was that they never looked remotely like doing so.

Five years of mismanagement has now come home to roost. Ever since Bobby Robson was sacked shortly into the 2004-05 season, things have been in decline. How Newcastle must long for the top five finishes provided under Sir Bobby’s reign. Even the mid table security of Sam Allardyce’s solid approach would have been preferable to this, and there can’t be many who believe this would have come to pass if Allardyce had remained in charge. His only crime appeared to be not having his team play like Brazil. Perhaps the fans who clamoured for his resignation need to take a share of the blame for that. They got what they wanted, though, as Kevin Keegan made a messianic return, only for Mike Ashley to impose such restraints on him that he found them intolerable. 

Such mistakes have led to this and one of the Premier League’s biggest wage bills will need to be trimmed drastically as well if Newcastle are to avoind the fate of some of their predecessors, most notably Leeds United. They will surely ba back in the future, though and they should take heart from a club like Everton. Traditionally a big club, Everton’s status, like that of many other big cubs recently, has been eroded by the Champions League qualification situation and the creation of the ‘big four’. They are showing, though, that sound sensible management enables a bigger club to produce consistently in the league. The old argument goes that the top players are not attracted to the North East, but Everton have achieved on a limited budget. ‘Achieved’ might be relative in our uncompetitive league, but  it is simply the result of good management. Newcastle will need a lot of that if they are to return any time soon.