In light of the speculation surrounding the candidates for the Pompey Hotseat. PFCGino offers his view on who he believes would and should take Pompey forward
Not wanting to detract from Saturday’s fantastic result against Manchester City, there is still one issue regarding Portsmouth FC that needs to be resolved. We are still manager-less, so I decided that I would offer up my own verdict on who I think should get the Pompey hotseat!
PFCGino’s Pick: Slaven Bilic
A name that has not been banded around all too much, and one that I know some of you disagree with. I honestly think that Slaven Bilic is the best man for the job.
Bilic is a fantastic manager, and for evidence of this you only have to look at his record for Croatia.
Croatia, in my opinion are the Aston Villa of the European football world.
A team that, on paper at least, are nowhere near as good as the heavyweights, but are disciplined enough that they have the ability to beat absolutely anybody.
Bilic took over Croatia from Zlatko Kranjcar (yes, Niko’s dad!) in 2006, and immediately went to winning ways, beating Italy 2-0 away from home in a friendly.
Bilic’s footballing credentials extended throughout the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, beating England twice and finishing top of the qualifying group. Croatia also enjoyed a mildly successful Euro 2008, unluckily losing to Turkey in a penalty shoot-out, but having the records for fastest goal (4 minutes), fewest conceded (2) and fewest games lost (0).
Bilic’s character is also a strong one. In his first competitive match for Croatia, a 0-0 draw against Russia, Bilic famously left out three key members of the first team squad, as punishment for skipping training and general galavanting!
I think that someone of his ability and persona is what we need at Fratton Park. He has a strong relationship with all his players, which in turn creates performances on the pitch. We need someone who is going to rattle the cage, and make the players stand up and actually acknowledge the fact that we are possibly going get relegated – someone needs to inject some passion into the squad!
When Croatia beat England 3-2 at Wembley, Bilic famously said that “you did not score two goals because you had two strikers on the pitch – we were the better team! Wake up!”. It is exactly this kind of cocky confidence we need at the club.
I also think that Bilic would have no pressure on him if he came to Portsmouth. We have already been written off by most people in football anyway, so if we go down then nobody will really bat an eyelid. Keep us up however, then he’ll be a miracle worker and revered by all.
Curbishley and Eriksson are, to be blunt, boring. Whilst Curbishley did very well at Charlton, what did they ever really win? We have a squad full of internationals, so therefore we need a manager that has experience of managing world-class players.
Which brings me on to Eriksson – I think he`d be the wrong man for the job, because he’s passionless. He wouldn’t give two hoots about us staying up or winning. The players are ultimately the ones on the pitch, so we need someone to give ALL of them a swift kick up the jacksy, and Sven will not be the one to do this.
I therefore think that Bilic is the best man for the job. He wants to manage in the Premiership and prove himself – so why not Portsmouth?
We are more than capable of staying up, and I think that Bilic is the best man to inject us with enthusiasm again, so that we can get back to being one of the Premiership`s better teams.
What do YOU think ?
Post your comments below
