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Portsmouth Football Club (pronounced /ˈpɔərtsməθ/) is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey,[1] sometimes called 'The Blues', with their fans known as 'The Blue Army'. They play in the Premier League. They have played their home matches at Fratton Park since 1898. The club is majority owned by the Al-Faraj family of Saudi Arabia[2] Portsmouth have won the FA Cup twice, most recently in 2008. Pompey's main rivals are Southampton, though they are now separated by two divisions. Portsmouth F.C have held the FA cup for the longest. They won it in 1939 and with the onset of the Second World War that year, the competition was not resumed until 1945. [edit] HistoryMain article: History of Portsmouth F.C. [edit] Beginnings of Portsmouth FC : 1898 - 1939 The club was founded in the back garden on 5 April 1898 at 12 High Street, Old Portsmouth, with John Brickwood, owner of the local Brickwoods Brewery as chairman, and Frank Brettell as the club's first manager. The club joined the Southern League in 1899 and their first league match was played at Chatham Town on 2 September 1899 (a 1-0 victory)[3], followed three days later by the first match at Fratton Park, a friendly against local rivals Southampton, which was won 2–0, with goals from Dan Cunliffe (formerly with Liverpool) and Harold Clarke (formerly with Everton).[4] That first season was hugely successful, with the club winning 20 out of 28 league matches, earning them the runner-up spot in the league. 1910-11 saw Portsmouth relegated, but with the recruitment of Robert Brown as manager the team were promoted the next season. Football was suspended during World War I, but following the resumption of matches Portsmouth won the Southern League for the second time. Continuing success saw them in the Third Division for the 1920-21 season. They finished 12th that year, but won the division in the 1923-24 season. The club continued to perform well in the Second Division, winning promotion by finishing 2nd in the 1926-27 season, gaining a record 9-1 win over Notts County along the way. Portsmouth's debut season in the First Division was a struggle. The next season they continued to falter, losing 10-0 to Leicester City, still a club record defeat. However, despite their failings in the league, that season also saw Portsmouth reach the FA Cup final for the first time, which they lost to Bolton Wanderers. Portsmouth managed to survive relegation, and their fortunes began to change. The 1933-34 season saw Portsmouth again reach the FA Cup Final, beating Manchester United, Bolton Wanderers, Leicester City and Birmingham City on the way. The club was again defeated in the final, this time to Manchester City. Having established themselves in the top flight, the 1938-39 season saw Portsmouth reach their third FA Cup Final. This time the club managed to defeat the favourites, Wolves, convincingly 4-1. Bert Barlow and Jock Anderson scored whilst Cliff Parker scored twice (3rd and 4th) completed the famous victory. League football was again suspended due to World War II, meaning Pompey hold the unusual distinction of holding the FA Cup for the longest uninterrupted period as the trophy wasn't contested again until the 1945-46 season. [edit] Post War Pompey : 1946 - 1971League football resumed for the 1946-47 campaign. In Pompey's Golden Jubilee season of 1948-49, the club were tipped to be the first team of the 20th century to win the Football League and FA Cup double. However, Pompey crashed out of the FA Cup in the semi-final against Leicester City, but made up for it by claiming the league title in spectacular fashion. That season also saw a record attendance of 51,385, a club record which still stands to this day. In 1956 Portsmouth played the first league game under floodlights against Newcastle United on the 22nd of February. The club retained the title the following year, beating Aston Villa 5-1 on the last day of the season, and are thus one of only five English teams to have won back to back titles since World War II. Although the team finished third in 1954-55, subsequent seasons saw Portsmouth struggle and they were relegated to the Second Division in 1959. Portsmouth went down to the Third Division in 1961 (the first former English League champion team to do so) but were promoted back to the Second Division at the first time of asking under the guidance of George Smith. Despite limited financial means, Smith maintained Portsmouth's Second Division status throughout the sixties until moving upstairs to become General Manager in April 1970. [edit] John Deacon and Pompey: 1972 - 1988A cash injection, that accompanied the arrival of John Deacon as chairman in 1972, failed to improve Portsmouth's league position. With Deacon unable to continue bankrolling the club on the same scale, Portsmouth were relegated to the Third Division in 1976. In November 1976 the club found itself needing to raise £25,000 to pay off debts and so avoid bankruptcy. With players having to be sold to ease the club's financial situation, and no money available for replacements, Portsmouth were forced to rely on an untried manager, Ian St John and inexperienced young players. Consequently, they were relegated to the Fourth Division in 1978. Portsmouth were promoted back to Division Three in 1980, and in the 1982-83 season they won the Third Division championship, gaining promotion back to the Second Division. Under Alan Ball's management, Portsmouth narrowly missed winning promotion to the First Division twice before finally succeeding in 1986-87. Unfortunately, by the middle of the 1987-88 season the club was again in grave financial trouble, and Portsmouth were relegated straight back to the Second Division. The summer of 1988 saw Deacon sell the club to London based businessman and former Queens Park Rangers Chairman, Jim Gregory. [edit] Smith, Venables and Mandarić: 1991 - 2001Jim Smith's arrival as manager at the start of the 1991-92 season, combined with the emergence of some good young players, sparked a revival in the team's fortunes and that year Portsmouth reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, losing on penalties to eventual winners Liverpool after a replay. Portsmouth missed out on promotion to the FA Premier League only by virtue of having scored one less goal than West Ham United. In the summer of 1996 Terry Venables arrived at Portsmouth as a consultant, later taking over as chairman after buying the club for £1. The team enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1996-97, beating FA Premier League side Leeds United en route, but finished just short of the qualifying places for the play-offs for promotion to the Premier League. Portsmouth's centenary season, 1998-99, saw a serious financial crisis hit the club, and in December 1998 Portsmouth went into financial administration. Milan Mandarić saved the club with a takeover deal in May 1999, and the new chairman immediately started investing. However the club only survived on the last day of the 2000-2001 season when they won their final game and Huddersfield Town lost theirs, keeping Portsmouth up at their expense. [edit] Redknapp era: 2002 - 2008Harry Redknapp took over as manager in early 2002, with Jim Smith returning to the club as assistant manager. Redknapp was able to make the most of Mandarić's willingness to invest in players at a time when competitors were struggling after the collapse of ITV Digital's television deal with the Football League. Just over a year later, Portsmouth were celebrating winning the Division One Championship and promotion to the Premier League, winning the title with a game to spare.[5] The club finished 13th, 16th and 17th in its first three Premier League seasons. Redknapp had resigned midway through the club's second Premier League season, after a disagreement with Mandaric, and went on to manage bitter rivals Southampton, only to return just over a year later. This was because the side who had hastily sacked the French manager Alain Perrin were languishing in the relegation places. In January 2006 Portsmouth was bought by businessman Alexandre Gaydamak whose funding allowed for the club to buy practically a whole new squad mid-season. The signings included a quartet from Tottenham Hotspur and the highly rated Argentina international Andres D'Allessandro on loan from VFL Wolfsburg.With large amounts of money available for the manager to make record signings, the club finished the 2006-07 season in the top half of the table for the first time, only one point short of European qualification. The 2007-08 season started with Portsmouth beating Liverpool 4-2 on penalties to win the Barclays Asia Trophy after a goalless draw, with Pompey goalkeeper David James saving penalties from Yossi Benayoun and Fernando Torres. It wasn't to be the club's only success that season as, in 2008, Portsmouth reached the FA Cup Final for the first time since 1939. They had eliminated Manchester United at Old Trafford in the quarter finals with Sulley Muntari scoring the only goal from the spot past Rio Ferdinand after Tomasz Kuszcak was sent off, and the following day became the only Premier League team left in the cup, following Cardiff's surprise win over Middlesbrough. Portsmouth immediately became favourites to win the cup; in a season noted for the scalping of favourites. They beat Championship side West Bromwich Albion 1-0 on 5 April at Wembley Stadium in the semi-finals, the same day that the club celebrated its 110th birthday. Portsmouth went on to win the cup with a 1-0 win against Championship team Cardiff City. The win earned them a place in the 2008-09 UEFA Cup, the club's first time playing European football. Their first UEFA Cup match resulted in a historic 2-0 victory over Vitoria Guimaraes and went on to win the aggregate (4-2). This put Portsmouth in the group stages for the first time in its history. [edit] Adams, Hart and Arabs: 2008 - presentOn 25 October 2008, Redknapp left Portsmouth for a second time, this time to join Tottenham Hotspur as their new manager, replacing Juande Ramos. Following his departure, Redknapp's assistant Tony Adams was promoted to the managerial role. Adams' official tenure began with a 0-1 defeat to Liverpool on 29 October 2008. On 27 November, Portsmouth managed a historic result against Italian giants AC Milan, going 2-0 up during the game and finishing at 2-2. Ronaldinho scored a terrific free kick after a debateable decision from the referee to penalise Papa Bouba Diop for a tackle 25 yards out. However, results and performances of this ilk did not continue, and the FA Cup Holders bowed out of the 2009 competition at the 4th Round stage with a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Championship side Swansea City. Striker Jermain Defoe and midfielder Lassana Diarra departed in the January transfer window making things more difficult for Adams. Rumours of Adams' dismissal began circulating on 8 February 2009[6] and this was confirmed by the club on 9 February 2009 [7] Youth team coach Paul Hart took over as manager until the end of the season, with Brian Kidd assisting him, and oversaw an upturn in form that resulted in Portsmouth being guaranteed Premier League safety on 16 May; the club were not in action themselves that day, but Newcastle's defeat by Fulham made Portsmouth mathematically safe with two games remaining. Portsmouth finished the 2008-09 season in 14th place. On 26 May 2009, Portsmouth accepted a bid from United Arab Emirates businessman Sulaiman Al Fahim to buy the club following negotiations led by Portsmouth executive chairman Peter Storrie on behalf of club owner Alexandre Gaydamak.[8] A statement released by the club read "Portsmouth Football Club can confirm that it has accepted an offer from Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim to buy the club, and has been completed" "Executive chairman Peter Storrie concluded the deal with Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim in Rome on Tuesday night the 26 May". Because of the financial problems suffered by the club, Portsmouth were forced to sell several of their top players and earners including Peter Crouch, Sylvain Distin, Niko Kranjčar and Glen Johnson. On 21 July, Al Fahim was appointed Non executive Chairman of Portsmouth. On Wednesday 19 August the official Portsmouth website announced that a rival consortium headed by current CEO Peter Storrie had also made a bid for the club; unknown at the time, this was backed by Ali al-Faraj. Despite this, Al Fahim completed the takeover on 26 August; Al Faraj moved to review a takeover of West Ham United. As the early stages of the 2009/10 season progressed the finances dried up and the club admitted on 1 October that some of their players and staff had not been paid. On 3 October, media outlets started to report that a deal was nearing completion for Ali al-Faraj to take control of the club. On Monday 5 October, a deal was agreed for al Faraj and his associates via British Virgin Islands registered company Falcondrone to hold a 90% majority holding, with Al-Fahim retaining 10% stake and the title of non-executive Chairman for two years.[9][10][11] Falcondrone also agreed a deal with Gaydamak the right to buy, for £1, Miland Development (2004) Ltd, which owns various strategic pockets of land around the ground, once refinancing is complete.[12] 2 days after the al-Faraj takeover was completed Portsmouth's former Technical Director Avram Grant returned as Director of football.[13] On the pitch, Portsmouth's late transfer of funds called for a flurry of transfers at the end of the window, including on loan the Ivory Coast international Aruna Dindane who would go on to score a hat trick against Wigan Athletic. An opening run of seven defeats saw fears Hart would be sacked. However at the eighth attempt, at Molyneux, Hasan Yebda another loanee, headed the first win. Currently Portsmouth are in the quarter finals of the Carling Cup having beaten off Premiership high-flyers Stoke City. Yet another loanee Frederic Piquionne was on target twice in a 4-0 rout. Paul Hart was sacked by the board on 24th November 2009, based on the poor results that have left Portsmouth at the bottom of the league. Hart was offered the role of technical director responsible for players aged 18-21, but he declined it.[14] Coaches Paul Groves and Ian Woan have taken temporary charge of the team.[15] [edit] Club coloursPortsmouth's first ever kit had a shirt that was salmon pink in colour with white shorts and maroon socks. This kit lasted until 1909 when they changed to white shirts with royal blue shorts and socks. This kit lasted just two years before it was changed for blue shirts, white shorts and black socks. This was Portsmouth's home strip up until 1947 when the socks were changed to red; this coincided with the club's most successful period and has remained the favoured colours for majority of the time since. Yellow and more recently gold have also been used as secondary colours on the club's home shirts.[16] The most frequent away colours used by Portsmouth have been white shirts with royal blue shorts and either royal blue or white socks. The club has had white as either the second or third choice shirt for every season since 1998-99 to date. Other colours that have appeared several times on Portsmouth change kits have been yellow (usually with blue shorts) and red (often combined with black.) Portsmouth have also briefly experimented with salmon pink, orange, navy blue and, perhaps most notably, gold change strips. From the 2006-07 season to the 2008-09 season the club has used black with a gold trim as its third choice colours. In the 2009-10 season the third kit has been black with blue trim and thin blue hoops. The away kit is white with two navy blue vertical lines running the whole way down the side of the shirt, with the badge superimposed on top of them. The home kit has been the classic red white and blue kit, with plain blue shirt, plain white shorts and plain red socks. [edit] Club crestThe official emblem contains a gold star and crescent on a blue shield, Portsmouth's adoption of the star and crescent (usually synonymous with Islam) is said to have come from when King Richard I, granted the city "a crescent of gold on a shade of azure, with a blazing star of eight points" which he had taken from the Byzantine Emperor's standard of Governor Isaac Komnenos, after capturing Cyprus. It is also nicknamed 'the smiley crest' because of its similarity to a smiling face. Throughout its history Portsmouth have tried different variations of the crest before reverting back to the basic gold star and crescent. In the 1950s and 1960s the traditional crest was emblazoned on the shirt in white rather than gold but this was due to white being a cheaper alternative. Between 1980 and 1989 the club scrapped the original crest and replaced it with a new design. This crest showed a football on top of an anchor (representing the navy) and a sword (representing the army). An interchangeable version included a circular version of the star and crescent crest in place of the football. The return of the original crest in 1989 only lasted 4 years when it was replaced by the city's coat of arms in 1993. This design was based around the basic star and crescent but was unpopular with many fans who thought it was over elaborate. After only four seasons the original crest was again reinstated and remains to the present day. In time for the 2007 season "Since 1898" was added to the badge underneath the club's name. On 6 May 2008 Portsmouth FC unveiled a new crest which differs significantly from the old crest. It removes the 'three points' and the 'star and moon' now have a three dimensional look. The 'moon' also has more diameter and looks quite like the city's Coat of Arms. [edit] Stadium Main article: Fratton Park Portsmouth play their home games at Fratton Park, in Portsmouth. The ground has been home to the club throughout its entire history. Plans for relocation were first mooted as long ago as the early 1990s, but due to various objections, the club has continued to play at Fratton Park. As of September 2008, a new stadium is planned for a site offered by the Royal Navy at Horsea Island, between Stamshaw and Port Solent. The new project is also a Herzog & De Meuron design and the plans include an adjacent 10000 capacity indoor arena. Portsmouth are hoping to have the stadium ready in 2011 although a request has not yet been made. The FA have suggested using the proposed stadium as a venue for future World Cup bids, assisting with expanding the capacity beyond 40,000. [edit] Supporters[edit] RivalriesMain article: South Coast derby Prior to the mid/late 1960s, rivalry between Portsmouth and Southampton was largely nonexistent, as a consequence of their disparity in league status. This derby match has hence taken place relatively infrequently as, for much of their history, the two teams have been in different divisions. Since 1977, the teams have only played league games against each other in three seasons (1987-88, 2003-04 and 2004-05). Including Southern League games, there have been 67 games between the clubs, with Portsmouth winning 20 and Southampton 34. Another rivalry over the years was with Plymouth Argyle. This rivalry was known as the Dockyard Derby, Naval Derby or Battle of the Ports.  [edit] The Pompey ChimesThe best known chant sung by Portsmouth supporters is the Pompey Chimes ("Play up Pompey, Pompey play up", sung to the tune of the Westminster Chimes) which is sung around Fratton Park. The origins of the 'Pompey Chimes' lies with the Royal Artillery, Portsmouth's most popular and successful football team for much of the 1890s, who played many of their home games at the United Services ground in Burnaby Road. The nearby Guildhall clock would strike the quarter hours and the referees would use the clock to let them know when the match should finish at 4pm. Just before 4pm the crowd would lilt in unison with the chimes of the hour to encourage the referee to blow the whistle signifying full time. The original words to 'The Chimes', as printed in the 1900-01 Official Handbook of Portsmouth FC, were: Play up Pompey, With the demise of Royal Artillery after their expulsion from the 1898-99 FA Amateur Cup for alleged professionalism, many of Royal Artillery's supporters transferred their allegiance to the newly formed Portsmouth F.C. and brought the Chimes chant with them. Their home ground has been named by some as nicknamed "Fortress Fratton". Atmospheres which are most memorable include Portsmouth's 1-0 win over Stockport County in the 1997/98 season which helped Alan Ball's side to an incredible escape from relegation to division 2. A journalist described it best, saying "each attack from Stockport was seemingly halted by a wall of sound". [edit] Premier League recordPortsmouth have been members of the FA Premier League since winning the then First Division in 2003. Their best finish occurred in the 2007/08 season when they finished 8th.
[edit] Pompey in Europe
[edit] Players
[edit] Current squad
[edit] Out on loan
For recent transfers, see List of English football transfers summer 2009. For information pertaining to Portsmouth FC's reserve and youth sides, see Portsmouth F.C. Reserves and Academy. [edit] Retired numbers
[edit] Portsmouth Player of the Season (since 1968)
[edit] Pompey players at the World Cup[edit] 1950[edit] 1954
[edit] 1958- No Portsmouth player competed at the World Cup between 1958 and 1994 - [edit] 1994[edit] 1998[edit] 2002[edit] 2006[edit] Portsmouth XIAt the close of the 2007-08 Premier League season the readers of The News were able to vote for the all-time best Portsmouth XI.
[edit] Football team officials
[edit] Executive staff
[edit] Managers
[edit] Women's footballThe club's female counterpart is Portsmouth L.F.C., which currently plays in the FA Women's Premier League Southern Division. [edit] Affiliated clubs
[edit] Honours
[edit] Club records
[edit] Record signingOn 11 July 2008, Portsmouth completed the club-record signing - thought to be around £11 million - of England striker Peter Crouch in a four-year deal from Liverpool. This marked the second time Crouch had been Portsmouth's most expensive player as in 2001 his £1.5m fee was a club record. Portsmouth's first million pound signing was Rory Allen in July 1999.[21] [edit] External links
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
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