Less than four years ago AC Milan were trailing by two goals to nil at Fratton Park with the match heading into injury time. Younes Kaboul had nodded in Glen Johnson’s magnificent cross to put Pompey ahead and Kanu later doubled the lead from close range.
After Ronaldinho and Filippo Inzaghi rescued a share of the spoils for Milan – to secure Uefa Cup group stage progression – Pompey left the pitch disappointed at just a draw with one of Europe’s most successful clubs.
It was a season during which the Blues were hopeful of reaching new dizzy heights: they were FA Cup holders and were looking to be the first team to finally break into that ‘big 4’ of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, since Everton secured 4th spot in 2005.
But now; 3 years, 8 months and 29 days on – their venture in the third tier of English football has begun. It started with a defeat to Plymouth in the League Cup, a club all too familiar with Pompey’s demise having experienced the same heartache and despair only recently. During the match Portsmouth’s entire outfield team were aged 18 or under.
The causes of this financial turmoil that has seen Pompey become world news and plummet into insecurity, are only now beginning to become clear. It has been a tragic period which has seen the club enter administration twice – and suffer the points deductions with it – relegating them from the top flight of English football down to League One.
The second of these administrations began in October 2010 when Balram Chainrai became a “self-confessed reluctant owner” – he had loaned the club over £17m and taken Fratton Park, the club’s stadium, as a ‘deposit’. Protecting that investment was his priority, but when questioned about his motives he replied; “Me, the right owner? No. But I know the right owner is out there and we’re going to find him.”
Eventually new owners were found – Convers Sports Initiatives – who bought the club this time last year. CSI owned numerous sports franchises, but Pompey was their first venture into football ownership. Their main financial backer was Vladimir Antonov, who emerged successful from the Football League’s ‘fit and proper persons test’. But Antonov’s career had before been subject to scrutiny by the Financial Services Authority, and he had also been accused of money laundering.
Then, CSI was placed into administration. Fincances were rapidly deteriorating, wages were going unpaid, and Portsmouth found themselves in crisis so soon after their 2009 administration. Even the Prime Minister found it necessary to comment. “Knowing one or two Pompey fans I can certainly understand the idea that they could go and support Southampton is completely incredible and we must do everything we can to keep this friendly rivalry going,” he said during PMQs.
The Pompey Supporters Trust spokesman Scott Mclachlan outlined the importance of a football club within any community: “When you mention Portsmouth to people around the country they immediately associate it with the football club and the navy. Take one of these away and it has a huge impact on the city’s identity. It would be an utter disaster for the city if the club folded.”
The story of administration is all too familiar among southern clubs as both Southampton and Plymouth have, of late, experienced anger, upset and agony in recent years. Of course more recently the nightmare of Rangers has seen these feelings rejuvenated: the most successful Scottish club are well and truly underway in their new venture in Division Three, after having their bid to replace the old Ibrox club in the Scottish Premier League rejected.
Those days of international superstars playing at Fratton Park, stadium sellouts (although over 15 thousand spectators turned out to witness the recent clash with Bournemouth), and mouthwatering fixtures have not been forgotten, and of course will continue to be missed. Yet it is the unity of the fans, the sympathy (and in both Rangers’ and Plymouth’s case; the empathy) of other clubs, and the community spirit that continues to drive the players, the staff and most of all the supporters – who have bravely found light in the darkest of sporting stories.