Pump, pump, pump Pompey it up

Right, so I figured it was about time I'd try the new career section on the site. Been playing with Atalanta in Serie A for the moment, but after finishing 4th in the first season in charge already I wanted a new, tougher challenge. Then Portsmouth came to my mind. I guess you're all familiar with the, to put it frankly, fucked up situation and state that club find themselves in.

So there I was then, under my French pseudonym - the 32-year-old Hervé Francis. With no money to spend, a squad of players with contracts running out in just a couple of months time and of really bad quality. At least I have John Anthony Portsmouth Football Club Westwood to rely on. And good 'ol Fratton Park.


Realised I had gone with the wrong type of career format, so decided to start a new one with the right one. So just ignore the old thread then.

It's not very often I actually agree with the minimum expectations set by the board, as I usually tend to aim higher, but this time around I was left with no choice really. So the goal for this season had to be to avoid relegation.

What met me the first day at the new job was a club under administration, no transfer budget and the 'welcoming' news of the club already being £ 5,33 K (per week) over the wage budget with players such as Lee Williamson and Brian Howard being two of the league's best paid players. And as if that wasn't bad enough, 14 out of the total 17 (thin squad!) players had contracts which were due to run out in less than four months time. Sooo... eventual contract renewals had to wait for now.


What I did do however was exploit the loan transfer market. Well, at least that's what I intended to do. Unfortunately the club was under administration long enough for me to miss out on the best loan targets available.


Could only loan in players from the Premier League seeing as I couldn't afford to pay the wages and monthly fee's Championship sides demanded. Looking in to the free agent market was out of the question anyway because of the financial situation.

Slightly strengthened we took on the friendly games. My assistant more precisely. Sat from a spectators point of view I saw him obtain four pretty much expected results. A win, a draw and two losses against bigger sides.

With the pre season and transfer window underway it was time to kick off the new season with a Carling Cup tie, which saw us draw Plymouth away.

A tricky tie for this uninspired, mediocre side of mine. We completely dominated the game but failed to get a goal in. Even after extra time both teams were yet to score, so it all had to be decided on penalties. On the score 10-9, young striker Ashley Harris stepped up but failed to put the ball behind Plymouth's Jake Cole. We had lost. A loss is never easy to take, but personally I could care less as it would allow us to concentrate on the much more important battle for relegation instead.

The league opener turned out to be a rather disappointing affair. A bore nil-all draw to Coventry was followed up by two identical results in two away games against Walsall and Yeovil Town respectively. Rather worryingly we had now failed to score in five games in a row, the friendly vs. Wolves included; a negative trend we had to turn around immediately. On the other hand we looked good in defence much thanks to the best player of the period, Hungarian international centre bck Gábor Gyepes.



Forgot to take a screenshot of the league table the first couple of months, as I didn't plan to write a career on the save, but it's coming.

Having gone goalless through the whole month of August, it was a rather nervous Pompey side who walked on to the pitch for the first game in September against south coast rivals of Bournemouth. A perfect arena for us to up the ante. And the players duly delivered. Inspired by an instrumental performance from striker Brian Howard we were up 2-0 to half time. Both goals signed by Howard of course. Bournemouth managed to pull one back through former Southampton man Lee Barnard right after the break, but never threatened the lead and the game ended with us pulling of a secure 2-1 win. First one of the season!

Inspired by the great win we were headed for Lancashire fourteen days later to take on Preston at Deepdale. Unluckily on-loan goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen disrupted the hopes of three new points when he managed to put the ball behind his own goal early in the game. As Frédéric Piquionne doubled the lead five minutes before half time, Lubor Michalik's goal proved to be nothing else than a consolation.


Jon Harley decided to leave us the day after the loss, but than didn't bother me too much as he was on a contract which didn't reflect his squad status not his abilities as a footballer. And it didn't seem to bother us too much in the following game as we hosted Scunthorpe. In front of a 13,493 crowd we dominated the Scunny side and managed to win with same numbers as in the win vs. Bournemouth. Lee Williamson and an own goal from Sam Slocombe the goalscorers.

But then it was back to 'basics' again as we ended the month by losing to both Bury and Stevenage, home and away respectively. Yet another two games without us scoring.

Seem to be struggling mate, sure something will click soon!

New month - fresh start. Or so it seemed. I knew we were up for a tough one as we had lost both of our two last games, and the team morale was far from good when we walked on the pitch to face Crawley at small Broadfield Stadium - a must win, Crawley sitting just over us in the bottom of the league table.

We dominated the game but unfortunately striker Brian Howard had a bad day at the office and missed four really big chances. Then at the other end our defence didn't pay enough attention to Nicky Ajose at one moment, who beat the offside trap, and put the ball behind Andersen to make it 1-0 for the home side. A scoreline that stood at full time.

And to make matters worse things didn't go as planned at home to Notts Co either, as we only added another loss to our poor form. Four straight losses now and 22nd place.

The following game saw us get a break from the league, as we were up against Aldershot in the 2nd round of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. It turned out to be a positive experience as youngsters Harris and Johnson secured a 2-0 win with to fine goals.


Between the Aldershot game and the next one away to Crewe, a total of seven players decided to leave the club on a free as we failed to reach agreement to extend the respective contracts.


Thankfully we'd managed to sign experienced right back Pascal Chimbonda on free the day before the Crewe game so at least we managed to put together a side of 11 men. And the Aldershot win had obviously done some good on the squad, as they proved me wrong when I anticipated a massacre to top side Crewe. Yet again young Ashley Harris added his name to the score sheet as the game ended 1-1.


The departure of the seven had released some funds for me to use, and having already signed Chimbonda on free Guinean winger Fodé Mansare was the next to arrive on free transfer through the gates of Fratton Park.

The former Toulouse man proved to be an instant impact as he scored both goals in the magnificent 2-0 win against Colchester and my word did it feel it good. More than a month since the last one! And we actually managed to stay unbeaten for the rest of the month as we drew to Swindon and pulled off another win, this time vs. Brentford. And we had now climbed to 17th place in the league. Well above both relegation and expectations. At least for now.

It felt good going into the new month, knowing we had won our last game and were clear of relegation. Another hectic month that would see us play another seven games in just 25 days time. And it would start of with an away trip to Exeter in the FA Cup 1st round. Ashley Harris had a fine game and scored two for us, but we were sloppy at the back so the game ended 2-2 and we got what we were out to avoid: a 1st round replay.

Despite the fact that we hadn't lost a game in a month and obtained a record of 3 wins and 3 draws, I figured it was time for me to change the tactics as I felt the 4-3-3 tactic didn't work good enough for us. So for the next game against Shrewsbury I decided to line up a simple and effective 4-4-2 formation. The Shrews didn't stand a chance as we cruised into a comfortable 2-0 win. The following game away to Doncaster turned out to be a tight one, unfortunately good 'ol Luis Boa Morte equalised our 1-0 lead and secured a point for the home side.


Following the departure of seven players in October, our squad was still on the thin side so we snapped up former Bolton winger Mustapha Riga on free transfer and got Mamady Sidibé on loan from Stoke. Both players went straight into the starting line-up against Hartlepool in a match that ended in big disappointment. Still settling into the new tactic we had some problems at the back, and Pools got the win through a 63rd minute winner from James Poole.

The FA Cup 1st round replay turned out to be a walk in the park, as we beat Exeter easily at home by two goals. Young and local full back Elliot Wheeler with one of the goals.

For the following game against MK Dons another new face made way into to the starting line-up. Set piece specialist Joe McKee signed from Bolton on a three month loan. And it didn't take long for the young midfielder to introduce himself infront of a 14,465 crowd at Fratton Park. 28 minutes into the game he opened the scoring as he put the ball past Charlie Burns on a penalty. Sidibé followed up with two goals after the break as it ended in a 3-0 win.

The last game of the month saw us travel to Sheffield to face struggling Sheffield United. After just 37 minutes of play we'd gone up to 3-0, but we made it unnecessarily exciting for ourselves as they pulled two goals back after the break. However, they were never near a third goal and we'd picked up another win!

Looks like a save gap with games in hand. Any take-over talks yet?

Starting to piece things together! keep it going mate!

As if the seven games we played in November weren't tiring enough, we were due to play a total of nine games in the month of December - which would really see us explore the depth of our squad. And I had already added a new name to it, as young Irish midfielder Christopher Forrester arrived on a free from St. Pat's Athletic 1st December. One thing I've forgot to mention is that a takeover of the club was completed and the new chairman's Adam Pearson, part of a consortium.

So with that underway we kicked off the month with the FA Cup 2nd round display away to Scunthorpe. In an evenly matched contest we managed to draw the longest straw as Jack Compton became the big hero with his match winning goal four minutes into injury time. In the following game in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy qtr final it was our time to lose late as we lost the penalty shootout away to Brentford. Actually we missed all of our four penalties. Luckily the guys bounced right back with a win against Walsall. We dominated them completely and one goal proved to be enough to beat The Saddlers.

We then traveled to Oldham followed by another away trip to Coventry. At Boundary Park we escaped with a draw as Ashley Harris stroke late, which saw the game end 2-2. In the following game we weren't quite as lucky however. Harris opened the scoring and put us in the lead, but that didn't last for long as Coventry scored three goals before the break and sailed on a comfortable 3-1 lead. Harris managed to pull one back but it proved to be nothing more than a consolidation. Maybe the loss was a sign of that the best was yet to come? Because the three lost points didn't seem to bother the guys in the next game against league leaders Tranmere.

To my big shock we were by far the better side and also dead effective, which left us with a well deserved 3-1 win. And the margin could have been even bigger, had Joe McKee not missed his penalty in the 94th minute. Incredible stuff! And the good stuff would only continue as we picked up three straight wins at the end of the month: 3-1 home to Yeovil, 2-1 away to Bournemouth on Boxing Day and 2-0 away to Brentford to finish it all off. What a month!

Amezing run taking you from strugglers to contenders. Keep it up!

So with half the season underway it was time to kick off the other half as we entered the new year. And on the first day of the January transfer window we had two new signings joining: Torstein Andersen Aase and Jlloyd Samuel from Stabæk of Norway and Esteghlal of Iran respectively. Both signed on pre contracts in December. Oh, and on-loan midfielder Joe McKee was rewarded with the young player of the month award for December. Well deserved.


The first game of the year saw us play Leytion Orient with both new signings in the starting line-up. However it was young Ashley Harris who got the attention yet again, as he scored the match winning goal in the second half.

In the following game we were up against Cardiff in the FA Cup 3rd round. A tough display on paper. In theory - not. We actually outplayed the Welsh side and infact they didn't even produce a single shot on target. 3-0 the final score, a stroll. After a bore nil-all draw against Carlisle, new signing Andersen Aase presented himself to the Pompey fans with a goal in the 3-1 away win vs Scunthorpe and we were back on the winning track. Or so I thought.

In the second game against Leyton in January we lost for the first time in nearly a month. In a game we dominated, strikers Sidibé and Harris just couldn't get the ball past their goalkeeper and a an early goal from David Mooney made sure all three points stayed in London. Gladly we bounced right back with a win against Stevenage before League One colleagues Brentford waited in the FA Cup 4th round tie.

Facing relegation strugglers Brentford I felt fairly confident of a win, but a cup game will always be a cup game. And I thought we were on for a win when red hot Harris completed his hat-trick in the 53rd minute but the 3-2 lead only lasted for 10 minutes as Scott Barron equalised for the home side and made it 3-3.

It didn't seem to have too big of an impact on the players as Crawley were crushed in the game after. Andersen Aase showing good form scoring two goals. The day after we completed the January transfer window with the loan signings of Chris Wood from West Brom and Jay Tabb from Reading. Ready for the promotion race.