I initially started this post with a subject of: Gaydamak, Storrie where are you? As I wanted to suggest that our problems need to be addressed by the management at Fratton Park.
By that I mean the executive management not the coaching staff.
To ensure that I spelled Gaydamak’s name correctly I searched the web and the first hit on Google was this story: Alexander Gaydamak buys control of Global Brands – click to view.
Pretty ironic that Mr G is busy elsewhere considering I was proposing that Pompey’s current lack of direction needs urgent executive attention before we suffer another poor end to the season.
As discussed elsewhere on this forum yesterday, our last 18 games of 06/07 yielded just over a point a game – seeing us go from 5th to just above mid table, surrounded by some pretty mediocre teams. We all sniggered in the past at Charlton and Curbishley’s inability to go the whole season without suffering an annual decline. My questions is, are we suffering the same fate? It happened last year and unless something drastic happens we’ll see it again this year.
I don’t think it takes huge intellect to see that the dawn raids coupled to some pretty insensitive remarks from the FA about no English managers ticking all the boxes, have taken their toll on Harry. He looks awful. Jamie R, was quoted as saying his Dad has been ill over Christmas and consequently a bit under the weather. You are not known for understatement Jamie, but this was a great first attempt. Your Dad looks knackered. He looks deflated. He looks de-motivated.
And please don’t jump to conclusions. I am not advocating Harry’s removal, I am suggesting he needs the support of those around him. His boss, the owner, the players, US.
What form that support takes is another matter. My worry is that if we see a massive decline in form again this year, Harry won’t be around for 08/09. My reasoning follows:
We have seen that Gaydamak is a businessman first and foremost and clearly Pompey is part of his portfolio. The press claims he bought in at around £35m and my guess would be if Pompey finish in the top 6 or 7 the value of the club will have at least doubled, possibly rising to not far short of £100m. Now that’s a hell of a profit for an investment of £35m, most of which I believe was geared in that same fashion as what happened at Man U and Liverpool.
This increased value we are now witnessing allows Gaydamak to renegotiate his debts and also use the ‘equity’ to fund other transactions. The problem is that any decline in the fortunes of Pompey won’t just be reflected in Harry’s player budget it will also manifestly affect the business well being of Gaydamak considering Pompey is probably his biggest asset.
So guys, we need to be worried about Pompey’s current plight. It goes deeper than 1 point in 12, it includes being ill equipped to deal with ANC and also your manager making it known he wants to be elsewhere, even if that is managing our national team, of which incidentally three quarters of our players couldn’t give a sh*t about. Ending up with near public humiliation at the hands of the rozzers and FA coupled to a poor run of form, which is clearly related more to state of mind that ability on the pitch.
I believe Harry needs urgent help and I suspect and hope that Gaydamak will bring in someone to replace Grant. We need someone else to tell the world how great Redknapp is, someone else to tell the world we haven’t been able to train because of lack of facilities, someone else to tell the world that Harry and PFC were not involved in petty back handers… someone else to talk to the press ten times a day and someone else to manage the public face of our transfer activity – and let Harry do what he does best – manufacture a top 6 team from a top 12 budget.
If he doesn’t do this then I honestly believe Harry will ‘retire’ in the summer giving us all a free ticket in the new manager lottery. The alternative is to spend yet more cash on players now, which although needed is not the root cause of our problems and ironically will heap more pressure on Harry should they not deliver…
So Mr Gaydamak, you have one of the best managers in the league and my advice for what it’s worth is for you to look after him now before the interests of your businesses rise above your interest in Pompey.
Written by ChrisW.
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