Well it has been a strange week for all Pompey fans around the world it started well for a small group of us in deepest Eastney but ends with an air of total uncertainty. Still let’s get down to business with all the regular stuff and a few unusual items.
AD’a in trouble
Toast got wind that former Pompey hero and Argentine midfielder Andres D’Alessandro has got himself into a spot of trouble recently. Andres is now plying his trade in Brazil with Internacional and back on July 1 got himself sent off in the second leg of the Copa Brasil final against Corinthians.
The problem was after his dismissal when television showed him punching the air and calling defender and Corinthians captain William to fight with him. ‘I don’t know what’s going on in my head right now … It’s not a good moment to talk. I don’t want to speak so I don’t say anything stupid,’ D’Alessandro was quoted as saying by Globo Sport as he left the tribunal.
He was suspended for 60 days by a Brazilian sports tribunal which is the minimum punishment for ‘attempted aggression’
Fit and Proper person test
The Toast team wanted to know a bit more about the Fit and proper person test so we went to the Premier League and discovered that the overhauled test is to be applied to all directors or those with a stake of more than 30%. It has been widened to ban any prospective owner who has been convicted of any crime with a sentence of more than one year, as well as the list of so-called ‘honesty’ and ‘football’ offences that automatically attract a ban.
he Premier League has examined overseas sporting bodies and the regulation of banking, defence and media in drawing up the new rules. The robustness of the test has risen up the agenda in recent years as overseas owners have multiplied. The debate coalesced around the former Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra.
ESPN announce schedule
New kid on the Premier League television gantry ESPN announced their schedule this week and surprise, surprise they are going to show only the top sides.
heir first ten games are all Saturday 5.30 kick off and include more Manchester United games than you can shake a stick at. Wolves (at home to Arsenal) are the only side you would call a lesser light included. Just like the now defunct Setanta, they have picked no Pompey games in their first tranche.
It does mean, in my opinion very surprisingly, that the Pompey home game with Spurs on 17th October has not been selected by either channel. That will be a special day for me at it will fifty years to the day that I watched my first game at Fratton Park.
Birthdays
Remember the link to Pompeyrama stats – just click on the player`s name.
12th July – Joe Laidlaw was 59
13th July – Ray Crawford 73. Ray is a real football legend. Pompey born, when at Ipswich was the League`s top scorer and won the Championship and played twice for England. Forever loved in Colchester for the goals that beat the mighty Leeds in 1971 and even had time to return to Pompey as youth coach in the late seventies.
Jim Cairney 78 – who, all Pompey will ask. Well Jim played just once in a Southern Floodlight League Cup tie at home to Brentford in 1955.
14th July – Andy Awford 37
15th July – John Robertson 81
16th July – Carl Griffiths 38
17th July – Keith Blackburn 69 Keith Blackburn – recalls his Pompey past on the official site – interesting on how he got the call and the trips down from Lancashire with the sandwiches ‘me mom` made.
18th July – Sasa Ilic 37
19th July – Gregory Vignal 28 – Perrin signing who is currently looking for a club.
Zvonimir Vukic 30 – a player I thought had great potential even though he was another Perrin signing. Had good quick feet but lacked the application to make it in England. Currently playing for FC Moscow.
Harry Penk 75 – made his debut in the replay of the Southern Floodlight League Cup tie with Brentford in 1955. Played another nine league games before leaving for Plymouth.
20th July – Nigel Quashie 31
Quashie the shooting star will never be forgotten particularly by those in the crowd he hit!! Still on the books of West Ham at present and forever immortalised by the Fratton Park crowd with cries of Quashie Quashie! Every time a shot floats wildly wide of the target.
Tommy Christensen 48
21st July – Anthony Pulis 25
22nd July – Ray Hiron 66 – Gosport born beanpole striker who famously travelled to Fratton Park on the back of a motorbike to sign for Pompey. Scored 110 goals for the club and Pompeyrama tells me that I saw 85 of them. It really is a great source of information.
Bert Barlow was born in 1916. will always be remembered for scoring the first goal in the 1939 Cup Final and probably for the seven weeks wages he was fined for damaging the cup in 1941. He did of course join Pompey from Wolves just two months before the final. Bert passed away aged 87 on 19th March 2004.
Meet the Toast team
Well some members did last Saturday when they attended the Hermann Hreidarsson birthday party. Editor Rug and one or two others got a chance to quiz the locals about games going back to the forties and players too.
Pompeygray arrived as promised from Sydney and he came armed with all manner of Pompey souvenirs. This included the programme from the home game with Huddersfield in 1949 when Pompey were presented with the League Championship trophy for the first time. It was in excellent condition – the programme that is – and was an attraction for all who were there.
It was a good evening enjoyed by all, good food, good beer and plenty of Pompey chat. We must do it again.
New fans
Well Cockneys, they say, are born within the sound of Bow Bells and Pompey fans are supposedly born within the sound of the Fratton chimes. Of course that meant St Mary`s Hospital where both of my children and my three grandchildren were born.
Well sadly the Maternity Unit has now been moved to the ‘super’ hospital at Queen Alexandra and that is where the babies will be born in the future. Another tradition ended or can the crowd make enough noise to be heard on Portsdown Hill?
Cornypomp’s art gallery
Cornypomp has been working hard on his boat down there in Falmouth and has produced some classic stuff to cheer you all up have a look here. It is all about trying to make us laugh and is well worth a look.
Just click here to enter the albums and see Corny`s work. While you are there are why not have a look at the snaps taken at Hermann’s do.
South Stand problems
We are hearing reports that the emergency exit for the South Stand A Section has been condemned and must be replaced. Despite being given a safety certificate by Portsmouth Council it has been found to be highly dangerous and is being removed.
The problem is until it is replaced A section cannot be used so it needs to be done urgently or the club will have a to relocate fans elsewhere in the ground.
Rangers tickets
Tickets for the friendly with Rangers on 8th August are going very slowly at Fratton Park but north of the border demand is massive. It is believed the Milton End is sold out and Pompey are considering allowing Rangers to have a section of the lower north and use the blanket over seats for segregation.
and finally..
We are led to believe that the sale of Peter Crouch is an insurance deal. The transfer income would clear the debts of the existing regime and allow the club to function IF the proposed buyout by Dr SAF fails to materialise.
It is just such a shame that a player of Peter’s ability and love for the club has to be sacrificed
PUP
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