Sunday 22nd March 2009

I read recently that the credit crunch has meant Portsmouth FC have had to shelve their plans for a brand new 36,000 stadium. Putting aside the Portsmouth/ Southampton rivalry, surely the credit crunch has helped Pompey; building a new stadium would put even more financial strain on owner Alexandre Gaydamak and the club is clearly in decline (unless they can get investment and fast) so is there any point having a brand new stadium when they won't be filling it playing in The Championship? Look what happened here in Southampton, when the club moved from The Dell to St Marys, then found themselves relegated a couple of seasons later and as a result there are 15,000 empty seats week in week out. If Pompey get the investment they need, then fair enough, the "bike-shed" has to be replaced, but its no good counting your chickens before they hatch, as, like most clubs at the moment, the future looks uncertain. And why the club and fans feel the need to move to a bigger ground when Fratton Park doesn't even sell out (unless the big four/ AC Milan play there) is beyond me!

Sure, attendance is decreasing almost by the week at St Marys, but Portsmouth fans can't turn around and mock this. Ten years ago this month, when Portsmouth were in the second tier of English football, 13,337 turned up to watch them lose at home to Barnsley. In comparison, Saints 0-0 draw at home to QPR last week was watched by 18,691, 5,000 more than our friends up the road when they were going through similar difficult times. I would also like to point out that when Pompey played Blackburn in a League Cup game in 2000 less then 3,000 fans turned up to Fratton Park. I just wonder how many of these plastic fans who jumped on the bandwagon when Pompey got promoted in 2003 will still watch their beloved team if they 're playing Championship football next year.

I think the chant "Where were you when you were s**t?" is aptly applied to Portsmouth FC.
I would love to write more, but have to get ready to go out, getting back on the Karaoke tonight, will update again soon.