Kingsland Red

This , and why NC must be very confident in MP. - To have sacked our rebound gurentee before we were mid table, four promotions in five seasons. Top man.

Ooops - Norway 0-1 Albania, did Forren play ?

Interesting articles recently from the last few Pompey cash flow disasters. Try this one that I found in Kenneth Wolstenholme's Book of World Soccer 1968 when their manager considered them "a small town club" !!! George Smith, the ex-Sergeant-Major in the Royal Artillery, is regarded in football as a strict disciplinarian; still a bit of the old soldier. But he is also a 100 per cent humourist. I asked him during a television interview why he did not run a youth team at Portsmouth and his quick answer, without so much as a hint of a smile, was, "Why should I ? There's only fish in the sea around Portsmouth." Maybe you find that hard to swallow. Maybe you think back to those great Portsmouth stalwarts like Jimmy Dickinson, Harris, Froggatt and the rest. But George Smith, now the highly successful manager of Portsmouth, will wave you aside with a "It's no good kidding yourself that you are Manchester United when you are a struggling small town team with money a rare commodity." George Smith took over Portsmouth in 1961. He had been a player with Charlton Athletic, Brentford and Queen's Park Rangers and in the sixteen years of his career had never known a pay packet to exceed £12. His playing career over, he turned to coaching and managing. He lasted six months as the coach at Ipswich Town. Then he moved to the Football Association. From Lancaster Gate he made the short journey to Crystal Palace and tried his hand as the manager. He was there for a year and a half. During spells out of footballing work, he earned a living outside the game. Then came the Portsmouth offer. He went to Fratton Park and found only gloom and despondency Great and glorious had been the times at Portsmouth. In 1948-9 they had won the Championship of the First Division-by five points from Manchester United and Derby County. The following season they won the title again, this time on goal average from Sunderland. Then followed a gradual decline, until in May, 1959 they found themselves with only twenty-one points, nine fewer than Aston Villa. Both clubs were relegated. Aston Villa got back to the First Division at the first attempt. For Portsmouth there was no such happy ending to the story: they just missed relegation to the Third Division. But it was a fate delayed by only one season. In May 1961, they went down. They spent just one year in the ThirdDivision before rebounding back into the Second, but by this time the club was struggling financially. George Smith took stock. He was given a five years' contract after telling the Directors that he wanted to run things his way. He saw nothing but bleakness. Money was short, and more and more was being lost each week. The team was a bad one and there was little or nothing coming up from the reserves. For a short time, George Smith soldiered on. Then he announced his decision to the Board of Directors. The team was bad and there was little hope of a quick improvement. The debts totalled no less than £70,000. There was a reserve team, two other teams and a youth scheme, which alone was running away with £10,000 each year. It wasn't paying for itself. Neither were the reserve teams. So George Smith suggested that the whole lot be scrapped and that Portsmouth get by with a squad of 16 or r7 players. It was a suggestion received in astonished silence. To everyone it seemed like sheer madness. The Directors fell over themselves to put the arguments against the scheme. With reserve teams there would be no match practice for the players not in the first team. There would be no chance of giving up-and-coming youngsters some match play. And without junior teams and coaching schemes for the youth, there was no chance of finding any local footballing stars. It was then that George Smith probably coined his immortal phrase, "There's only fish in the sea around Portsmouth." He pointed out that the clubs just didn't have the money to afford the luxury of reserve teams and coaching schemes. Under his system the overheads would be cut tremendously, and there would be money around to pay fair wages and to buy ready-made players as and when they were needed. It all sounded madness, but the Directors agreed. How happy they must feel now that they did. For George Smith had thought out the perfect system for the small town team. Far too many clubs had tried to keep up with the Manchester United Joneses. They had found themselves trying to cope with the high wages paid bi the big teams and had consequently pushed themselves further and further into debt. Mistakenly they had blamed the removal of the maximum wage for their troubles, when in truth the trouble was caused by their own reckless over-spending. At Portsmouth it was different. The club only had what it couid afford. No money was wasted- and £10,000 on a coaching scheme which was not producing the goods was a waste of money. Two things were necessary-success on the field and liaison with the supporters off the field. In charge of the liaison was placed Jimmy Dickinson, one of the most popular players ever to wear the blue shirt of Portsmouth. He ran the highly successful pools scheme. He introduced a system whereby youngsters could visit Fratton Park, see behind the scenes and meet the players. It was all designed to increase the enthusiasm of the youngsters for their town team. Jrmmv Dickinson also realized that some families would go and see the team play but were prevented from doing so by the fact that they had no one to look after their childeren, So he devised a kiddies' room at Fratton Park where parents could leave their youngsters in the capable hands of trained people, go and watch the game and pick up the family afterwards. Meanwhile on the field George Smith fashioned the sort of team he wanted. From the squad of 16 or t7 he would choose eleven plus a substitute and the others would either be taken along to watch the game or sent on scouting missions-looking at forthcoming opposition. Everyone was trained to be versatile so that he could cover more than one role, and every player was fired with the "I love Portsmouth" feeling. George Smith is a strict disciplinarian of the old school.He cannot stand the modern trend towards long hair. Wiith a flashback to his old army days he would order any offender to get his locks cut - yes, even George Best.He doesn't like way out clothes any more than he likes gambling. He insists when his team go away they all wear the club uniform of blazer and slacks. He demands - and gets - devotion to the club and the team.If a player falls short on the test of character then he will be transferred and George Smith will use the money to buy a replacement. He will not, under any circumstances, tolerate slackers. He tells them that they are letting themselves down and also letting down the club, the Directors, their team-mates and the spectators- and they pay the money. His greatest hate is the player who moans about the run of the ball. You never hear that excuse at Portsmouth for there is the great story of George Smith hearing this from his players as an excuse for a defeat, took them all out onto the practice pitch, placed a ball on the ground and roared, "What run of the ball ? There's a ball and its stationary. It won't run for anyone until somebody kicks it. It can't run on its own, so if it runs against you in a match it's because the other side is making it do so.Your job is to make it run for YOU, not stand there hoping it will." He has the same sort of passionate views about rough and dirty play. He likes his men to go for the ball hard and with determination, but he will not stand any dirt. "The dirty player," he says, "lets everyone down, and with our small squad we can't afford to be let down." The odds are that more and more clubs are going to follow the Porstmouth lead of cutting their coat according to their cloth. The big clubs of football have moneystacks of it. But the vast majority of clubs are losing money every week and making up a bit of their loss with the help of their Supporters' Club pool. But Portsmouth have proved that it is silly to make money on the pools just to waste it, and a small club with a professional staff of 25-30 and an expensive youth coaching scheme hanging round its neck is wasting money hand over fist. Portsmouth have proved that it is possible to work the 16-man system and make money. Today their record speaks for itself, and they can look their bank manager straight in the eye-thanks to George Smith realizing that there are only fish in the sea around Portsmouth.

Actually Peter Symonds College , Winchester ,with the Falkland Islands Government building Falklands Lodge, the accommodation for them.

For the avoidance of doubt - Compton. Often seeing him on a walk.

So, how about Harris buying Fatpipes for £6.3m and renting it back to the PST. Everyones a winner on Portsea Island, the council dont have to waste tax payers moneys and this thread goes on indefinitely, following the increases in rent until BC gets his money back !

Went about 5 years ago, it was very expensive for everything, a can of beer £8, meals c£30 per head and no better in the supermarkets. It may be cheaper now due to the global financial problems. I'd fly to Reykjavik rather than get the stomach churning ferry from the north of Scotland via the Faroes. If you travel up and down the west of the country, you should see plenty of waterfalls, glaciers and geysers and the landscape is rugged. Dont worry too much about the lack of information in finding hotels etc as you will find it is the only building for miles around. The road around the coast is tarmaced, but the inland roads are gravel but still perfectly adequate. In fact more fun, we took the back tracks to the Blue Lagoon and it was an adventure. You will often not see anyone else for a while and the roads once outside Reykjavik are sparsely trafficked. Drive into 'downtown' Reykjavik and park up outside the stores, it's like a bigger Stockbridge rather than a small London. After about a week we felt we'd done Iceland!

It will be interesting to see how long Schneiderlin and Cork stay under the lazy journalists radar, as compared to Gerrard they ooze class, energy and enthusiasm. Gerard needs a workhorse around him but will probably play in a half paced England side in the week.

Good to see that Liverpool's support satisfied the stewards with the fire safety of their banners, thunder flashes and flares. No fire hazard there then.

Totally dominant . These better teams certainly suit our game rather than those parking the bus like QPR. Great day !

Saw Woy dropped off by his Mum (?) in front of the Ted Bates statue before the game. No idea who he came to watch as we are Southampton and therefore he would not want any of our players ,and he has probably seen Gerrard play before.

Cortese would not view a move to a relegation rival favourably and NA is on gardening leave anyway and probably not available. I would expect he would also lose any form of pay out were he was able to get another position this season.

This unusually detailed Snooze article seems to qualify any previous ambiguities: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/opinion/the-eight-men-with-pompey-s-future-in-their-hands-1-4881462 I reckon it will all hinge on the ability of BC to appeal the court's decision.

MP's 3 points against Man City would have been cancelled out by NA getting a point at Newcastle, and 2 extra at Wigan. Hope this helps.

My American friend loved Bath and the Cotswolds - Bourton on the Water, Winchester and generally older towns

A nice fruity wine from Tuscany - a Chianti or Montepulciano, or a delightful Spanish Rioja should see you good. On the dessert wine theme countries like Hungary seem to have some nice 'sugary' reds. Had a fantastic Uruguayan red dessert wine in Winchester recently.

I think Lallana is more incisive than any of your 'midfield' ,SG.

St Marys must be one of the few places outside North Korea where the client isn't always in the right and looked after by the stewards rather than shafted by them. It's so dull dull dull. It's only a fire hazard if someone sets it alike, like, erm, setting you or me alight. Good effort though Saint Samuel ,and much appreciated in our area of the Kingsland.

Caught a glimpse of the "If Carlsberg did Crooks" banner unveiled in the Northam today before our PC stewards rounded on the culprits. After the recent debacle at St Marys regarding the 'NA sacking' banners, one wonders where has the fun gone? Even his Rupertship tolerated "Duck off" etc.

Didn't think we had that extra 10% to move the ball around quickly, never played the ball to feet around Samba and no variation. Dare I say this all adds up to naive management. Although we would have lost to Man City by showing them too much respect I think NA would have got something out of newcstle and today. The honeymoon's over Mauricio.

Fox needs to learn that defenders get the ball away from the goal, only strikers need to move the football towards the goal. Then the winner at the Eithad and 4th in Geordieland could have been avoided.

Nick, you could probably do one yourself following these guidelines: http://www.communities.gov.uk/fire/firesafety/firesafetylaw/aboutguides/ Here is a standard pro forma: http://www.safelincs.co.uk/files/safelincs-fire-risk-assessment.pdf

Excellent news, consistently our best player over the last few years, despite Old Nick's previous ramblings !

Thoroughly enjoyed the blogs. Here's to the next few years / blogs. Cheers !

One of the major elements of our nation's statute law is the right to appeal any judicial decision. I do not believe this can be denied by any judge in isolation, without overturning a previous precedent, which would therefore be challenged....