Source: Telegraph
Portsmouth's plight adds fuel to fire for FA Cup clash with Southampton
A draw on Saturday at St Mary's in only the 25th post-war south coast derby would set up an FA Cup replay at Fratton Park, which would almost certainly take place in the week of their High Court winding-up hearing, provisionally set for March 1. [LNB]It is the doomsday scenario in Portsmouth but, if there was any expectation of much sympathy from fellow football fans just 18 miles up the M27, they would be sadly mistaken. [LNB] Related ArticlesSouthampton v Portsmouth: match previewRedknapp offers Portsmouth full supportTax experts go over Pompey filesFA charge Grant after referee rowPompey's fall a dreadful day for Premier LeagueSport on televisionMessage boards can be an unreliable guide of fan opinion but, of almost 200 comments about Portsmouth's plight on the website of the local Southampton newspaper, the mood was summed up by a user going by the name 'Le Tissier's Nose'. "I'm tingling with excitement at the thought of them disappearing," he said. [LNB]The depth of such mutual antipathy, which dates back to a disputed dock strike before the First World War, never fails to shock newcomers to the area. [LNB]"Since I've moved here I've realised just how much the fans really do hate each other," said Rickie Lambert, the Southampton striker. "I'm from Liverpool but there is a lot more hatred between the fans here."[LNB]Asked if the Southampton fans would be revelling in Portsmouth's plight, he added: "I think they will be and I think it would be the same if it was the other way around."[LNB]The great irony, of course, is that it was the other way around as recently as last summer, when Southampton were in administration and facing life in League One on minus 10 points. It was their lowest league position since 1922 yet, in the space of just six months, the tide along the south coast has turned. [LNB]While Portsmouth were defending themselves in the High Court earlier this week, Southampton were clinching a trip to Wembley in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in front of 30,000 delirious home fans. [LNB]"It was as good a night as I've ever had as a football manager in terms of the atmosphere," said Southampton's Alan Pardew. [LNB]"This is a massive club a Premier League club that fell on hard times. We are perhaps a warning to Portsmouth because you can find yourself in League One before you know it. [LNB]"There's no smugness on our part I feel sympathy for Portsmouth. In football there is usually always a silver lining. But, in this climate, is there? Is this finally the time when one or two clubs will go to the wall? I think that is a real worry. [LNB]"I can only hope Portsmouth have the same scenario that we have had without going into administration and that is positive owners trying to take the club forward."[LNB]The positive ownership has come in the form of Markus Liebherr, a Swiss billionaire who is among the richest investors in British football. Significant funding has been steadily forthcoming. [LNB]Lambert was a £1 million signing last summer, while the £2 million that was spent during January was more than the majority of Premier League clubs. [LNB]With big spending comes high expectation and, despite Southampton's performances in the cup competitions and a position in the middle of League One following the 10-point deduction, there has been a murmur of discontent from above. [LNB]Pardew's team have lost just three times in 27 matches but a run of one win, one defeat and three draws in five league games was enough for chairman Nicola Cortese to issue a statement saying that those results had "not been satisfactory". [LNB]As ever, the Premier League is the promised land, although Pardew stresses that it was the ambition of Liebherr and Cortese that first sold him on Southampton. [LNB]"My board want to do things very quickly," he said. "The pressure I am under is not getting the ultimate success because I think that will come here but time. [LNB]"This particular board is very aggressive. They are pushing me as hard as any board I have ever had. You only grow us a club by progressing in the league. [LNB]"How long does it take? What would be your opinion, what would be my opinion, what would be my board's opinion? I'm sure it will all be different."[LNB]Even so, this derby will perhaps mean most to the Southampton fans, partly because they were battered 4-1 in the last fixture between the clubs but also because survival, not just in the Premier League, is the overriding concern for Portsmouth. [LNB]Marc Wilson, the Portsmouth centre-back, was among the fans at Fratton Park for that 4-1 win in 2005. "It was the loudest I have ever heard Fratton Park it's probably the biggest derby in English football," he said. [LNB]Both Pardew and Avram Grant have never had so many supporters reminding them about the importance of a game. [LNB]Grant, who has travelled the world watching football, said that the atmosphere in Hampshire this week was beyond even what he had experienced in Buenos Aires, Milan or Istanbul for local derbies. [LNB]On Thursday, Pardew took a call from Lawrie McMenemy, Southampton's most successful manager and an FA Cup winner in 1976. [LNB]"He told me he won all of his derbies and that I better buck up because he won't be happy if we lose," he said. "I've made it clear to my players they need to put in an honourable performance."[LNB]The performance of the supporters will also be under the microscope, with all pubs in the area remaining closed for two hours after the final whistle. [LNB]Indeed, at a time when there is so much more at stake for Portsmouth than local bragging rights, both sets of fans would do well to remember the words of the late Alan Ball, a former manager of both clubs. "Our game should be enhanced by loyalties, not tarnished by it," he said. [LNB]
