Friday 30 November 2007

Peter Crouch on Prosinecki

The following piece from the Independent was part of the preview of the England - Croatia game - I've posted this part of the article here because the rest of the piece was a bit depressing and because links to the Independent always open really slowly.

Croatia's 40-a-day man helped set England striker on fire

Peter Crouch will lead England's attack tomorrow and in the Croatia dugout will be a former European Cup-winner who knows the Liverpool striker well. Now Slaven Bilic's assistant, Robert Prosinecki once played for Real Madrid and Barcelona but, at the end of his career, a spell with Portsmouth, then owned by his friend Milan Mandaric, coincided with the rise of the young Crouch – just 20 years old at the time.

For the brief time that Crouch and Prosinecki were at Pompey they were one of the deadliest – and most unusual – partnerships the Championship had seen. Despite a love of cigarettes and questionable fitness, Prosinecki – the only man to score for two separate teams at two World Cup finals (Yugoslavia and Croatia) – had an unerring habit of picking out Crouch with crosses.

Crouch scored 19 goals in eight months at Fratton Park, most of them from the crosses of Prosinecki.

Yesterday Crouch described Prosinecki as "like David Beckham with the quality of his delivery".

Crouch, who left Portsmouth in a £5m move to Aston Villa in February 2002, recalled in his autobiography Walking Tall that Prosinecki was an "amazing player" especially for someone who "smoked about 40 cigarettes a day. He caned them," Crouch wrote. "They were Marlboro Reds, too, not for the faint-hearted. He was a top, top player but very different from what we were used to. We were English lads playing for Portsmouth and suddenly we had this massively famous player among us. He didn't do much running – he couldn't run really – but he was a fantastic player."

Sam Wallace. Independent.

Matty Taylor is thinking about his future...

I've been a bit lacksidasical with my blogging this week so I'll post a bunch of stuff that I've missed this week - but if I've time I'll do another post with tomorrow's match previews.

Here is Matt T's blog and he hints that he wants to leave - also what he says about Harry puts both of them in a good light in my view.

This article is probably very very libellous but sort of worth reading - it's about how everyone in the whole world is corrupt.

This is David James' Blog from the Observer - the story has been repeated everywhere over the week

Handy Pompey blog this with some really nice photos

An oldish story about Benjy rejecting Juve - I've only posted it because of the headline (Premierships Top Scorer Rejects Juventus). Glad he's staying and guess what - he's only gone and got himself a new contract on the back of the story. Who'dathunkit.

Here's an opinion piece from Scottish Fitba (which was written before the arrest)

Article about Songo'o 's loan at Palace not working out. (Also mentions Shaun Derry - I thought he was older than 29- don't know why)

This blog has the story that Harry is interested in Crouch - which is hardly a new story but I liked the fact that this blogger also had a blog dedicated to the Miss Universe competition.

A blog- very nicely illustrated - by an ex-pat who is very excited about coming back to Pompey where he will be going to see the Everton game. (...great timing because it is set up to be one hell of a match - yeah I know - it'll be 0-0). I've included it in my postings
- a) because I liked the blog and
-b) it had a picture of the Tricorn.

I'm not sure what this is for- but I quite liked it - it's a match report from a Pompey Newcastle match in 1952 - but I think it was written last week. Most odd . (Eurosport somtimes shows old matches with a modern commentary tagged on - which was weird- hearing the commentator and pundit discussing whether Cruyff or Beckenbauer would come out on top in the 74 World Cup Final - when you know that they already know the answer.)

This is the vaguest of vague rumours about a Ghanaian player.

And this is connecting us to Leroy Lita

Here's some sort of marketing thing that Pompey are launching. (I don't know - sometimes I find myself thinking that they are only really interested in the fan's money).

This blogger who has nothing to do with Portsmouth says exactly what I think about the arrest.

Up Pompey did not win the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. It was won by Duncan Hamilton's "Provided You Don't Kiss Me" which is about Brian Clough and which I'm reading at the moment and just in case anyone reading this cares what I think about stuff I'll review it on my Mild and Bitter Blog when I've finished it. From what I've read so far it's really excellent.

This a games blog responding to the notion that computer games are the cause of the decline of English football. It's a nice piece and takes Harry's comments on the subject seriously.

This is Cacapa - the Newcastle defender who had a nightmare against Pompey a couple of weeks ago. He says it was not his fault- it's just that his legs were not working properly (hamstring problem)

This blog, from a student in Myanmar, has come up with a list of recommendations to other clubs and managers made by Sir Alex Ferguson and how they have panned out - (the Pompey connection comes in the recommendation of Yakubu to Harry by Sir Alex). Despite the occasional odd turn of phrase (though of course his English is way better than my Burmese) I thought this piece was worth reading.








Thursday 29 November 2007

Harry's Press Conference

..he's right - even if he was guilty he's hardly Tony Soprano so the dawn raids were totally unnecessary.

Wednesday 28 November 2007

Has Harry Redknapp Been Arrested

This is being reported on a site called This is London- which I think is owned by the Standard.

Innocent until proven guilty I say...



Premier League manager Harry Redknapp arrested in football bungs probe

28.11.07

Police investigating corruption in football today arrested Harry Redknapp, Milan Mandaric and three other men in their biggest operation so far.

The Portsmouth manager and Leicester chairman were held in pre-dawn raids this morning which involved more than 60 officers from the City of London Police.

Scroll down for more

Tottenham's Pascal Chimbonda has already been arrested

Rangers midfielder Amdy Faye, agent Willie McKay and Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie were also held as officers searched eight addresses across the UK.

The move is believed to be a significant development in the inquiry wgich will now focus on the transfer of Faye from Auxerre to Portsmouth for £1.5million in 2005 and his subsequent move to Newcastle for £2m the following year.

When Faye made the switch to Portsmouth, Mandaric was still the chairman at Fratton Park and Redknapp was again the club's manager when the midfielder went to St James' Park.

The arrests come after the arrest in September of Tottenham defender Pascal Chimbonda. The 28-year-old French international moved to Spurs in a £4.5m transfer from Wigan in August of last year and was the first player to be held in the City of London police inquiry.

Today police refused to give details of the identity of those held, beyond giving their ages as 69, 60, 55, 48 and 30.

A police spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that they have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting.

"The arrests are part of the City of London police's investigation into football corruption." The City police's economic crime department launched the investigation, code-named Operation Apprentice, into alleged corruption in the sport more than a year ago.

Two people have been held so far. As well as Chimbonda, who was arrested on suspicion of fraud, a 61-year old man has been held on suspicion of money laundering.

Both men are on police bail pending further inquiries. The investigation centres on alleged tax fraud and money laundering — which is believed to include claims of individuals taking back-handers in relation to transfers. Since the inquiry was launched, detectives have raided Newcastle, Portsmouth and Glasgow Rangers.

Chimbonda's transfer was negotiated by McKay, who represents a number of top foreign players.

A former bookie, McKay, has denied that he is being investigated by police and has said: "I think you will probably find when it all comes out, it will be nothing."




Went To Ipswich Last Night


and the opposition's support was pretty poor I thought.

When Pompey were last there -that section was pretty full even though it was an early round of the FA Cup, people were a little unsure about HR's return and there were no trains running from London to Ipswich.

Tuesday 27 November 2007

Harry podcast Interview From Times

Click on the photo to hear the Times Podcast - the Harry interview is about 15 minutes in.
(If the link does not work then you can find the interview on this page).

Monday 26 November 2007

Harry and England

.. been a lot of stuff on the subject of England and Harry since last Wednesday. Unfortunately I lost my Internet connection (thanks to B bloody T) for a couple a days so I have not really posted anything about the subject.

Anyway these people are all making a case for Harry (some are a few days old.)

The Sun ,(or at least their Chief Sports Writer), is in Harry's corner.
As is Sol C., again in the Sun.
And so does Joe Lovejoy in the Times.
In fact they argue Harry's case twice. This one from the Sunday Times.
And Paul Jewell also argues Harry's case.
And so does Avram Grant.
And so does Harry.
And so does Krancjar.
And there are websites like this one (which argues that he would be a good choice but then calls him twitching lazy eyed Harry - which I thought was quite rude).

But Tony A. does not, out of respect for Pompey. Football's a funny thing - I used to think Adams was a chump - but now I think he is a staunch, 4-square footballing colossus. And a gent to boot.

If anyone has been on Mars here are some links from last week which sort of trace how Harry started to be taken seriously as a contender.

This is from Vitalfootball and it's from last week - before England lost to Croatia - and I'm just posting it because Harry proved to be right about Carson being in goal. (unfortunately)
Then after the defeat this story appears everywhere with Harry not ruling himself out of the frame.
But then Peter Storrie said Pompey would reject any approach anyway.
And Harry himself raises the point that sometimes things off the pitch undermine the decent work done by previous England Managers. I guess he's worried about aspects of his reputation but in my opinion if the reason why the FA don't choose him is because of a perceived dodgy reputation then they should all be thrashed in the market square for being spineless no-marks.

I think Harry really wants it and I get the impression that he is campaigning for it, asking players and managers and journos who think he's the right man to make sure they argue his case. In my view he's the best man for the job - and with him as manager I might start to give a toss about England again. But I really really really don't want him to leave Pompey - he's irreplaceable and I cannot see how anyone can think otherwise.

B'Ham Match



and here are Harry's comments on SSN

Birmingham Pompey Match Reports (Monday's Papers)

None of these are really match reports - they are mostly talking about Harry and The England job:

The Times. (As much an article about Harry for England than a match report, oh and it opens with a naff 'arrys a cockney gag)
The Guardian. (Also an article about Harry's take on England and not really much of a match report)
The Telegraph. (Again not really a match report- just speculation)
The Independent. (This is mainly speculation about Birmingham)
The Sun. (Harry and England again - also it says that Nico has a shot like a scud missile and I thought scud missiles -a generic term - were notoriously not accurate)
The Mirror. (says little about the match but does call Harry an East End geezer)
The Mail. (Same as the rest really)

Sunday 25 November 2007

Birmingham Pompey Match Reports

The Times.
Observer.
The Telegraph.
The Independent.
The Sun.
The Mail.

Some of these match reports are ok - but some of them are brief descriptions of what happened tagged on to opinion pieces about the futures of Eric Black, Birmingham, Harry Redknapp and England. Don't mind gossip and rumour, but that stuff is really aimed at footy fans. (But then again if I was a proper fan I would have been at the match and would not have to rely on someone else's description of the game).

Tuesday 20 November 2007

The Mirror Run Another Story About Harry, (and David Gold's very immodest website)

which has appeared nowhere else and which appears to be totally daft. Harry and Newcastle I can just about understand - but Birmingham?

clipped from www.mirror.co.uk

Redknapp snubs City

Harry Redknapp Harry Redknapp


Birmingham have failed in bids to bring in Harry Redknapp and Paul Jewell as their new boss - as they scramble around for Steve Bruce's successor.

The battered Blues short-listed Portsmouth chief Redknapp and out-of-work but in-demand Jewell as replacements for Wigan-bound Bruce.

However, Redknapp is content with the fabulous rebuilding job he is doing at Pompey, while Jewell is waiting for the right offer to return to management.

Now Birmingham, who are using agents to make discreet approaches, aim to bring in someone fast - with Eric Black in temporary charge but also heading for Wigan shortly.

Black, in charge for Saturday's home clash with Portsmouth, could have stayed at St Andrews but has opted to join Bruce's JJB Stadium coaching team.

Bruce will be unveiled tomorrow after quitting Birmingham yesterday, with coach Keith Bertschin joining him and Black not too far behind.


David Gold, Birmingham's co-chairman has his own website and I'm still not sure that if it's a wind-up or not. He comes across like some character out of an Eighties soap opera.

Sunday 18 November 2007

Matt Taylor's Sentata Blog

I've seen a couple of internet articles saying that Taylor's comments in his blog show that he is happy at Pompey - I hope he is -but I'm not sure that there is anything in this article that proves or disproves anything. Anyway I like player's blogs so I'll post his.

clipped from sports.setanta.com

Why Luton case will help football

Matt Taylor

Written by Matthew Taylor

on Sunday, 18 November 2007

It hurts me to say it due to my feelings for the club but I have to think the charges brought against Luton on Thursday will actually have a positive effect on football.

Obviously it is negative for the club who will now be thrusted into the limelight, but hopefully it will help to rip the ugly side of the game out of football.

Mike Newell bravely brought the issue into the public eye and lost his job because of it, but irregular payments need to be exposed and now it appears it has come to a head – albeit in unfortunate circumstances for Luton.

The club will always be close to my heart, I always look out for their scores – after all, they helped me get as far as I have in the game today.

One of my closest friends, Matthew Spring, is still there and we actually met up with the kids on Tuesday so I still have great ties to the club.

I was never aware of any wrongdoings whilst I was at Kenilworth Road, but now The FA have it in their hands and I guess they will make an example of this case to warn others off making the same mistakes.

MIND GAMES

Readers of my last blog entry will have noticed my extreme confidence that we would only play one up front against Manchester City. I would like to say I was entering into the Sir Alex Ferguson school of mind games but unfortunately I was just wrong!

Harry decided he would play two up – he discussed it with the coaches and then on Friday morning we were told of the change of tactic. It's nothing new to us, Kanu and Benji played together last season, and I thought we played well against City.

Other than Vassel's chance they had little else, and when I picked up the morning papers their keeper was man of the match so that tells its own story.

I can assure Pompey fans that both Kanu and John Utaka should be fine for the next game. I'm not sure exactly what injuries they picked up because they've been in intense rehab since, but I read somewhere that they would be fit so I'm pretty sure that will be the case.

BACK IN THE FOLD

It was nice to get some game time against City, and I thought I did ok. The only disappointment I had was that I didn't score but, bar one occasion when I sent the ball into the stands, I thought I got in a couple of decent efforts.

The header was probably closest, but that's what my game's all about, getting into positions to threaten the opposition and as I say I was disappointed not to score.

Fitness wise I felt good, it was good to play 45 minutes and it just builds the hunger for more action.

There were probably a few raised eyebrows when I played on the right, but I'm happy playing there – it's not strange to me and I'm happy playing either side.

I feel I'm more than capable of holding my own against any Premier League side on the right and when I looked in the mirror that night I was satisfied with what I had done.

That's all I can do, train well, play well and then see who Harry selects.


Cannot See Why Harry Would Want To Go To Newcastle

Taken From Today's Mirror...


HARRY'S TALK OF TOON

NEWCASTLE TARGET POMPEY BOSS Ashley eyes Redknapp

Harry Redknapp has emerged as the number one target to replace Newcastle's under-fire manager Sam Allardyce.

The Magpies' multimillionaire owner, Mike Ashley, has made no secret of his admiration for Portsmouth boss Redknapp and the impressive job he's done at Fratton Park.

Ashley's uneasy relationship with Allardyce is bordering on disintegration and although Redknapp has recently signed a new contract at Pompey, that won't deter Ashley from making a formal approach to the high-flying south-coast club.

The alternative for Newcastle will be a move to persuade former superstar Alan Shearer to accept the challenge of becoming their next manager.


Click here to find out more! Sources close to the Toon talisman suggest that, having decided to take a two-season sabbatical away from football, Shearer now has fresh enthusiasm to get back into the game when his media contract with the BBC expires next summer.

The Sunday Mirror exclusively revealed in July that the former Magpies and England skipper had held talks with chairman Chris Mort about a return to St James' Park in an undefined role.

Ashley and Mort are keen to re-establish a Geordie connection at the club, but when sounded out Shearer, 37, made it plain that he wasn't interested in an ambassadorial role.

It seems certain Shearer, who has worked tirelessly to get the required coaching qualifications since his retirement season of 2005/06, will one day return to Newcastle as manager.

Allardyce's popularity on Tyneside continues to diminish with supporters largely unimpressed with him.

His appointment to the post was made by former chairman Freddy Shepherd prior to the buy-out by Ashley. And rumours have been rife all season that it's only a matter of time before Ashley boots him out of the club.

While the club have publicly dismissed speculation about continuing rumours about Allardyce's future, privately it is well known the two do not see eye-to-eye.

Ashley's admiration for Redknapp shows no sign of subsiding though, and he has made it abundantly clear he will move heaven and earth to land his man.

During two spells at Pompey Redknapp has transformed the club into a major force in top-flight football.

He is well known for his attacking style of football, which Ashley believes will captivate the Toon Army and steer the club to long overdue success.



Wednesday 14 November 2007

Round up of the last couple of days.

I have not posted anything for a couple of days apart from the match reports so I thought I'd round up some stories from the last couple of days - sorry if you've seen them before.

Harry thinks Glen Johnson should be in The England Squad. (Times)
Nugent is Homesick (The Mail)
This is Harry talking about the Africans in his squad - I'm not sure if this a reworking of comment's Harry made a couple of weeks ago- but I don't think it is.
Warnock was not happy with Songo'o (Mail) and he may be coming back to Pompey.
Kanu and Utaka are not playing for Nigeria friendly match. (Sky)
An article about the England Croatia match from the Times which mentions the Pompey players that could be involved and in which Harry makes a little joke.
This is from last week- it's Jamie Redknapp in the Mail on his father.
This is a Times blog - by a Man City fan- following Sunday's game and which mentions Harry and trots out almost every cliche there is about the man.
This is the e-mail interview thing in the Independent with Linvoy. (If that had been a tabloid then the headline would be "I'd Invite Hitler to Dinner)
I enjoyed reading this - I love it when fans turn on their own club. (or this club at least)

This is the website for the Australian Supporters Club.
This is the website for the Portsmouth FC USA Supporters Club.

Monday 12 November 2007

Half Man Half Biscuit and Garth Crook's Team Of The Week


...I was not at the game yesterday - but I listened to it on the radio and I've read the match reports and it sounded to me like that the two Man City centre backs had a fantastic game- so perhaps one of them should have been in Crook's selection.
However football is full of differences in opinion and I'm happy to listen to other people's views - even Garth Crook's
...but a fact is a fact and because Distin plays for Pompey - not Man City as is shown here and because Crooks has got it wrong in public I am going to take this opportunity to quote my favourite song lyrics ever.

"There is surely nothing worse than washing sieves
There is surely nothing worse than washing sieves
With the possible exception
of Being Garth Crooks
There is surely nothing worse than washing sieves."

(Half Man Half Biscuit- Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes)





Because this is my blog and I can do what I like I am now going to post a Half Man Half Biscuit video even though it does not have anything to do with Pompey.
(Unfortunately there is not a huge amount of decent HMHB stuff on youtube- and this video is just some bloke's take on one of their songs and has nothing to do with the band.
But it's a good song and unlike most of the other HMHB stuff on youtube it was not filmed on a camera phone)


Portsmouth Man City Reports

The Times.
The Telegraph.
The Guardian.
Also from the Guardian here's the charismatic David Pleat. (The reader's comments are pretty funny)
The Independent.
The Sun
The Mail. (with a fantastic photo of their goalkeeper making a save)
Mirror

Friday 9 November 2007

Harry Redknapp has a go at the Champions League

...from the sun

clipped from www.thesun.co.uk

Euro Cup? More like the Carling


HARRY REDKNAPP - Columnist

Email the author

Published: 08 Nov 2007

THIS may sound odd but isn't the Champions League getting a bit boring?

Liverpool's record 8-0 win against Besiktas had the whole Continent chattering but on reflection, it is not really a good advert for Europe's leading club competition.

Just a few weeks ago Arsenal ran out 7-0 winners against Slavia Prague.

The Champions League seems to be suffering from a condition similar to Climate Change: unusual events are becoming commonplace.

It is because of the huge disparity between the teams and, moreover, what I regard as the monotonous, plodding group stage.

There has been a huge expansion of the competition, providing the big clubs with a buffer in the first phase to ensure they go through to the second round, when it at last gets interesting after nearly six months of matches.

It is not that teams like Slavia Prague and Besiktas do not deserve their chance, even though they only finished second in their leagues last season. England has four teams entering every year.

The difference is any one of them are capable of winning the damn thing.

Take Arsenal. Arsene Wenger let star names Cesc Fabregas, Tomas Rosicky, Kolo Toure and Aleksandr Hleb stay at home and watch last night's game on TV because the club is so comfortable in Group H they can afford to take it easy.

Great viewing for the public, then. The Champions League is fast replacing the Carling Cup as a stage for the reserves to enjoy a few days in a pretty, foreign town and a run out.

Ironically, Chelsea pulled in just 24,000 for their Group B game against Rosenborg in September, while the Carling Cup match with Leicester on Halloween was a near full house — no coincidence in my mind that it's because the result had to be decided on the night.

Liverpool's situation was unique on Tuesday. Having lost 2-1 in Istanbul to Besiktas two weeks ago, the five-times European champions were fighting for survival at Anfield.

It meant the return game suddenly took on the feel of the traditional, old knockout match — and that's why people were interested.

Imagine if Chelsea, who were embarrassed by a 1-1 draw with Rosenborg, had been forced to travel to Norway a fortnight later fighting for their European lives in the frozen north, desperately needing to win and win well to overcome the away-goals rule.

What looms is a few weeks of meaningless practice games, where the fans will pay top prices to watch teams already through to the second round — or already doomed.

It is a laboured argument but one that is gathering momentum. I am speaking not as a manager and member of the football fraternity, but as a punter who likes to watch exciting games on TV, simple as that.

Chelsea had an off night in Germany against Schalke, getting a 0-0 draw after being battered. But what is the lasting effect?

Boss Avram Grant summed it up: "We are still top of the group." How exciting. Can't wait to watch them shuffle across the finish line in December and join, funnily enough, all the other big teams in the last 16.

The UEFA Cup is suffering the same syndrome and my Portsmouth could well be in it next season.

I am old-fashioned, after all I am in my 60s, and I know the super clubs' chief execs would be dead set against reverting to the old format.


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Thursday 8 November 2007

Jimmy Dickinson, Man City and Pink Floyd.

Didn't know this but today is the 25th anniversary of the death of Jimmy Dickinson- and this site quite rightly pays tribute.

The first match previews always come from bookies- and they can be worth reading- so this one - for Sunday's game points out that Man City don't win away at teams in the top half the table- but we tend to do badly after we win away.- (So that'll be a draw then.)
I think this preview is a bookie's site as well- and the bulk of the article is probably taken from somewhere else.
This is a preview from the Times- but still seems to be written by a bookie.

..and this is a sort of preview from Setanta. (Setanta has it's origins in the Irish Pubs of North London- the very pubs that I will be mostly drinking in this coming Saturday- I am probably the only man on earth that gets excited about a trip to the Holloway Road)

This is another interesting piece by the Scottish Fitba bloke. This is praising Distin.

This story was everywhere yesterday- about Traore not paying his council tax. I posted this version just because it was in the Mail-and I thought that with the ingredients - "Daily Mail", "Tax" and "Foreigners" I would be able to come up with a killer joke- but I can't.
So you'll just have to make up your own.

...and anyway this is the funniest thing I've ever seen that mentions the council tax.




Don't know if counts as a rumour- but Harry likes a young Palace player.

Here is another post match assessment of last week's game by NUFC fans and again they are full of praise for Pompey. I've said it before but since I've started this blog I've been really impressed with how Liverpool, Man Utd and now NUFC fans are prepared to acknowledge good football when they see it.

This has very little to do with Pompey but today on Rivals there was a spontaneous Pink Floyd fest. (I love it when things like that happen). I like early Floyd with Syd Barrett more than the post Syd Stuff (...and you may be interested to know that he shopped in my local Sainsburys - but then again you might not.). This is about my favourite song of their's and I recently found out that they played it on Top of the Pops the night before I was born and then they travelled down to play in Portsmouth the day I was born.


Benjani-rumour

I clipped this article from here



clipped from www.newzimbabwe.com

Juventus set for £7 million Benjani raid

LAST LAUGH: Mwaruwari
LAST LAUGH: Mwaruwari








Mwaruwari named skipper, scores for Pompey

By Sports Reporter
Last updated: 11/07/2007 11:39:48
PORTSMOUTH striker Benjani Mwaruwari has been linked with a shock £7 million move to Juventus.

Benjani has been in sensational form for Portsmouth this season and has already scored eight league goals after a disappointing season last year.

Mwaruwari, also the skipper for the Zimbabwe national soccer team, joined Portsmouth from French club Auxerre in a then club record fee of £4,1 million in 2005.

Reports in Italy suggest Juve will move for their man in the January transfer window, although Pompey boss Harry Redknapp is unlikely to let him leave Fratton Park.

"He makes goals, his work-rate is incredible and he's just a terrific professional," Rednkapp told Sky Sports. "The fans have loved him from day one because he gives everything.

"Defenders never get a minute's rest because he's strong and aggressive, and has good skill. And now he's weighing in with goals as well it's brilliant. He deserves it."

On Wednesday, Mwaruwari was cool on the transfer speculation.

He told New Zimbabwe.com: "I have great respect for the Juventus coach Didier Deschamps. He wanted me to join Monaco when I was still at Auxerre.

"I have not heard anything official, so I can only continue to work hard for Portsmouth. I am still contracted to this club and I want to do my best for them."

Portsmouth will be without their African players in January due to the Africa Cup of Nations, making it highly unlikely Redknapp will agree to sell his free-scoring striker. Benjani is not travelling to the Nations Cup because Zimbabwe failed to qualify.

Redknapp will have to make do without Nwanko Kanu, Sulley Muntari, Papa Bouba Diop and John Utaka.
JOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMS

ozzie@newzimbabwe.com

Since I started this blog I sometimes see sites that run stories that don't seem to have any real basis -so a couple of days ago I saw this Benjani/Juventus rumour at this site and thought it twaddle- and since then I've seen the same rumour repeated elsewhere- and just thought that it was other sites just repeating the initial website's unsubstantiated story.

But in this version the authors quote Benjy- so maybe there is something in it- though it all still seems to be unsubstantiated. I'd like to know where it started.

Wednesday 7 November 2007

James on Insurance. The ANC and not much else.

Here is David James' Observer blog- (it's about personal insurance- wooo.)
This story has been everywhere- but just in case anyone missed it here are Harry's concerns about the ANC. (..and as it's about the ANC- I've linked to an African site)
..and here is Vitalfootball's take on the story. It makes pretty interesting reading- the author thinks the problem is not as bad as it first appears but I don't agree with him- the ANC could really screw up our season- the loss of one key player has a major effect when you are so close to the top of the Premiership - but 4 or 5 ?- It will be will be one of Harry's great managerial achievements if we are anywhere near top the 6 at the end of the ANC . Forsure.

Here's a transfer rumour:

"Moreover Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp is keeping tabs on Younes Kaboul’s situation at Tottenham. The People says Kaboul’s Spurs future is in doubt with new manager Ramos planning a New Year clear-out. The French centre back, 21, was hauled off at half-time during Ramos’s first match in charge. Redknapp tried to sign Kaboul from Auxerre in the summer but could not afford the £7m fee paid by Spurs."

It was originally from the People- and it seems to me that they often run rumours that no one else anywhere mentions.

For the Story about Cranie wanting to stay at Pompey and for the sad news about him breaking his leg look for the Portsmouth News stories in the right hand column.

I know there is a link for my other blog in the right hand column- but I've posted quite a bit of general football stuff there in the last couple of days- so here is another link

Tuesday 6 November 2007

Pompey Midtable in Attendance Average as a Capacity %

I like the blog that this table came from because he somtimes comes up with stats like this- don't know if he did it himself or if it's from somewhere else- but either way it's a bit disappointing that Pompey are so low. Though I cannot talk because I only go once a year around xmas time. (Spuds this year I hope)


Yesterday EPL Talk looked at the highest average attendances in the Premier League so far this 2007-2007 season. Today, we take a closer look at the 20 clubs to see which grounds have the highest average attendances based on the capacity of their ground.

For example, Arsenal's home matches in the league this season have resulted in an average attendance that's 99.32% of their capacity. All matches are sold out but a large factor for the Gunners and the other clubs below is how many seats the away fans fill -- which could help or hurt a club's attendance depending who it is.

1. Arsenal, Emirates Stadium, 60432 capacity, 99.32% average attendance as % of capacity
2. Manchester United, Old Trafford, 76212, 99.21%
3. Tottenham Hotspur, White Hart Lane, 36247, 99.07%
4. West Ham United, Boleyn Ground, 35089, 98.23%
5. Chelsea, Stamford Bridge, 42449, 97.92%
6. Liverpool, Anfield, 45362, 97.14%
7. Newcastle United, St. James' Park, 52387, 96.93%
8. Derby County, Pride Park, 33597, 95.76%
9. Reading, Madejski Stadium, 24200, 95.71%
10. Portsmouth, Fratton Park, 20888, 95.35%
11. Aston Villa, Villa Park, 42719, 93.52%
12. Everton, Goodison Park, 40170, 91.08%
13. Fulham, Craven Cottage, 24700, 90.32%
14. Manchester City, City of Manchester Stadium, 47300, 89.38%
15. Birmingham City, St Andrews, 30009, 88.09%
16. Sunderland, Stadium of Light, 49000, 85.52%
17. Middlesbrough, Riverside Stadium, 35049, 76.49%
18. Bolton Wanderers, Reebok Stadium, 27879, 75.49%
19. Blackburn Rovers, Ewood Park, 31367, 74.43%
20. Wigan Athletic, JJB Stadium, 25023, 73.69%

Impressively, the top 13 clubs all have average attendances that are 90% or higher of the capacity of their grounds. Wigan, again, ends up bottom of the list with only 73.69% of their seats being filled on average.

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Monday 5 November 2007

A Newcastle Blogger's view of Saturday's game

There was no hiding place for Newcastle United after their 4-1 defeat against Portsmouth and Sam Allardyce has now got six days to sort things out for the biggest game of the season at the Stadium of Light.

Big Sam's tactical input since he took over had meant United were unbeaten at St James's Park this season before yesterday's farce unfolded.

And although Toon fans aren't yet convinced about the style of play Newcastle are playing in this new era, winning football matches keeps managers in jobs and smiles on the faces of supporters.

How you win sometimes doesn't matter but how you lose, like Newcastle did against Pompey, matters dearly to the folk of Tyneside.

Defeat when a team is exhausted on the full time whistle, when they are soaked in sweat, blood and snot and have attempted to block every tackle, keep every ball in touch and challenged for every single header still won't make you flavour of the month.

But it will at least show your watching public you care and make them a little bit more forgiving.

Yet against Pompey it was the visitors who gave Newcastle a lesson on how to play and how to perform away from home.

Harry Redknapp knew that, despite United's modern approach to the game and tactics of creating chances in the box by the amount of direct balls played into the penalty area, going for the throats of United from the word go and giving it a real go, and I mean a real go from the first whistle - he'd have the best chance of winning the contest.

And he was right.

For a minute he forgot about the modern game, ProZone and stats and figures and simply got his team fired up to win the battle - the old fashioned way.

Old fashioned as in when you throw teapots around dressing rooms and reward your players with cans of lager and fish and chips on the journey back.

And boy, how Newcastle could have done with that at Derby, Reading or Manchester City.

Redknapp used the traditional method of getting his side fired up and probably told his team they had nothing to lose considering they hadn't won since 1949 at Gallowgate.

They responded by chalking up a 3-0 lead with 11 minutes on the clock and that was game over there and then.

Some fans walked out long before the final whistle.

The boos around St James's at 3-0 were loud and clear, it was the same at half-time and the same by the end.

Shellshocked United had no chance of getting back into the game.

They appeared to lack a leader or an inspirational figure even though Steven Taylor did his best.

Yet even that looked to me like his team-mates weren't taking any notice of him.

So is this a blessing in disguise?

Have Pompey taught us a lesson in how to approach games away from home?

Yes they have, but how many Newcastle players paid attention in class?

Newcastle clearly have enough overseas stars who are talented enough to earn thousands of pounds a week.

But the nitty gritty of pulling on the black and white shirt is winning your home games and being up for the fight AND of course beating Sunderland is one of the reasons players like Steven Taylor wanted to become a professional footballer in the first place.

Toon stars like Abdoulaye Faye, Jose Enrique, Charles N'Zogbia, Cacapa (whose alarming dip in form was highlighted as part of the humiliation v Pompey), Geremi and Emre all have to be on top of their game at Sunderland.

Maybe forget ProZone for a week.

And perhaps don't bother showing them a video of where they went wrong against Pompey, that should now be obvious.

Pull down the big screen and show them the 2-0 play-off defeat against Sunderland in 1990 and how losing to that lot destroyed a lot of people's summers!

Show them Liam O'Brien's wonder goals and the scenes that followed, show the last ever win at Roker Park and pause the video from the last time when Michael Chopra scored.

He may be in red and white now, but that day required Geordie battlers and he delivered remember his face when he scored?

We've bounced back before from things like this 6-2 against Man U, 4-1 against Fulham and 5-1 against Birmingham but United could not be going into the derby in worse shape.

Can they hit back quickly?


(Least we aren't feeling as bad as 12 months ago!)

www.blogonthetyne.co.uk/2006/11/sicker_than_parrots.html

You can read the original article here
I think the writer works for a local Geordie newspaper. Good piece of work I thought.

Newcastle 1 Pompey 4 Match Reports and a pretty lady in a bikini.

Monday's Match Reports

The Times
The Guardian (as much an essay about Allardyce's future as a match report)
The Telegraph.
...and this, also from the Telegraph is Harry defending Allardyce.
The Independent.
The Mail
The Sun. (I think that this is a different report from yesterday.)
The Mirror really do say that Newcastle were crap.

On the whole- with the exception of the Observer/Guardian yesterday- the emphasis in most of the match reports was on how bad Newcastle were which I think really is only half the story.

This is a report from Setanta- it has quite good match stats. I like the fact that Setanta began in the back of an Irish Pub in London.

And this review is from a rather good Newcastle Blog. I've been running my blog for a couple of months now and regularly look at other football blogs and so far it seems to me that Fulham, Liverpool and Arsenal fans blog the most- but this is a highly subjective assessment.

This blog has the blogger's take on Harry R. as well as two other Premiership managers. For some inexplicable reason he heads his piece with a picture of a pretty lady in a bikini. Barmy- but distracting.
The People has a rumour about us and Nelson Cuevas. (I bet the people that run The People regret the name of their paper when it comes to search engines)
This story about the ANC appeared everywhere yesterday-but I'll post this version because it's on a site called Soccer Fairy.
This story about Matty has been around for a couple of days. I really don't want him to leave - but it's starting to look inevitable.

Scroll down for yesterday's reports, The Goals and Harry's post match interviews.

Sunday 4 November 2007

Newcastle Portsmouth Match Reports

This is the best match report about Pompey I think I've ever read (and I'm surprised because it's from the usually indifferent Observer/Guardian.) The man has got it right- POMPEY thrashed Newcastle at their place-the whole of the Pompey Team were MotM and the story today is all about us and how good we were. For sure defensive errors played their part- but not as much as the power and pace and precision of our attack. Benjy's goal was fantastic- he muscled their player off the ball, kept his balance and then curled it past their goalkeeper with his left foot. If that had been Henry a couple of years ago all the pundits would have been a-cooing and and-aaahhing. So hats of to the Guardian/Observer for getting it right.

..and a hearty boo to the Times because their review is all about Newcastle and their weaknesses and the work Allardyce has to do. I've read it twice and I'm pretty sure it does not even mention Harry Redknapp.

..and hey guess what- the Telegraph pretty much does the same.

... and the Independent somehow manage to mention Arsenal, Sunderland, Man Utd, Roy Keane as well as Newcastle and Allardyce before they mention Pompey (..who, by the way, were the team that won the match and moved to 4th in the Premiership)

The Mail are slightly more balanced.
..and so are the Sun- and they have a great slide-show

There was only one winner yesterday...



..and that's today's story.

(If you missed it you can scroll down to see the goals and Harry's post match interview on Sky)

Saturday 3 November 2007

Harry after Newcastle 1 Pompey 4

Thursday 1 November 2007

Newcastle Previews and 2018 World Cup

Feeling a bit low today- and I'm never sure whether to post match reports when we've been rubbish:
So moving on

Here's a preview of the Newcastle game- from their point of view- it's slightly out of date as it was written before yesterdays disaster.
Here's another one from a Sunderland newspaper- has a bit to say about Benj (who I reckon will start on the bench)
And this one is from NUFC's official website.
And this one is from a fan's site and it shows the match reports from the last four times we went there- it makes better reading if you are a Geordie

Here is a piece from the Times about England's bid for the World Cup which mentions the possibility of Pompey's involvement.

I mentioned this yesterday- but we have been accused of tapping up a player- from the Sun.

Here's another review of the Up Pompey Book- from the Telegraph. The reviewer quite likes it.



...and I'll post one match report from last night-so that hopefully I can read it in a few months time and recognise it as the low spot that it will hopefully end up being.