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Sunday Chimes #126 – Eisner promises continuity

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No match report today as Pompey play this afternoon at Gillingham.

Eisner speaks out for continuity

Many of the national press and other sites have covered Michael Eisner, speaking at Wednesday`s Leaders Sport Business Summit and I have picked the Sorts Business Daily article to focus on. You can read the full story here.

Former Disney CEO and current League One side Portsmouth Owner Michael Eisner dubbed the hire and fire mentality of managers by English football clubs as ‘insane.’

He said, “If you look at the great sports teams around the world, you try and find a great manager. You stick with him through thick and thin. To have a manager that is on life support from the day he arrived, what kind of confidence can he have in leading a team?”

Eisner`s comments follow Premier League club Crystal Palace sacking Manager Frank De Boer after just five games and 77 days in charge. A recent study found that the average lifespan of a Premier League manager is just 91 games. Eisner said that he hopes that Portsmouth`s current manager, Kenny Jackett, will be managing the club for a decade. “I just think continuity, teamwork, has to exist off the pitch as well as on the pitch,” he said. That is good news for Kenny but bad news for ‘sack ’em` brigade who live in the North Lower.

Asked about his reasons for buying Portsmouth and whether he was worried that bringing his own background in entertainment to help bolster the club`s profile would not sit well with the fans, Eisner said he was unconcerned. “I would say the fans are so similar to the Disney fans,’ he said. ‘When I went to Disney, it was about to be broken up and liquidated. The fans were so happy that somebody cared.’

He added, “We were aware of that, that our relationship with the Disney fans became very real and very quick. And it was very helpful in rejuvenating the company. The fans at Portsmouth are amazingly nice, they care about the team. They know the players. They are a group of people who I really understand.”

Eisner bought Pompey in August for £5.67M, saying he was persuaded by the history of the club and the passion of the fans. Members of the Pompey Supporters` Trust, which held a 48.5% stake in the club, voted overwhelmingly in favour of selling their shares to Eisner. Eisner and his three sons, Breck, Eric and Anders, sit on the board at the club. He said, “We decided that soccer was something we wanted to be involved in.”

Eisner said to prime himself for his move into English football he watched MLS games in Utah, followed by other games in the U.S. Watching these games, he said, football felt alien to him, but he said that NBC coverage of the Premier League is making football less alien to Americans. ‘Investing in U.S. sports is very expensive,’ he said. ‘American Football has physical problems that scare me. It [investing in Portsmouth] just seemed like a great thing to do for my family.’

Next week

Starts today with the televised visit to Priestfield Stadium, Gillingham. The two clubs have met thirty times in all competitions with Pompey having a 60% win percentage.

The first meeting was right back in 1920 in Division Three South and ended in a 1-1 draw. Pompey have lost only six of those meeting and they all came away from home. Their last win in Kent was in September 2002 when Paul Merson, Mark Burchill and Gary O`Neil scored in a 3-1 victory.

On Saturday the MK Dons come to Fratton Park. This will only be their second visit the first being back in 2012/13. Both games ended in draws with David Connolly netting in the home 1-1 draw.

A trialist

As suggested in last week`s Chimes Pompey are taking a look at an experienced centre back available as they are currently out of contract.

The player is Thomas Juel-Nielsen who is Danish and after many season playing in his own country signed for Israeli side Maccabi Netanya in the summer. He was released after just one month and has been a free agent since 31 August.

Thomas in 27 years old and 6 ft 2 in tall. He was awarded U17 honours in the past. Kenny intends to give him a chance in the Premier League cup game with Everton on Monday night at West Leigh Park.

There are a few videos on youtube for those of you keen enough to take a look at and they show that Thomas has an eye for a goal at set pieces.



And finally?

The Chilean Primera Division provides us with one of the worst goalkeeping clangers in recent memory for this week’s And finally… as Everton De Vina keeper Eduardo Lobos makes a total hash this simple backpass. His disastrous error helped usher his team towards a 3-0 defeat at Audax Italiano. Two things come to mind with this FSF located clip – one is I think the celebrations are a bit over the top and secondly that the name Everton is not really associated with much luck of late.



PUP

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2017-18 Prediction League – October
Gillingham (a) – Saturday 7th October 2017 – click here.
MK Dons (h) – Saturday 14th October 2017 – click here.
Doncaster (a) – Tuesday 17th October 2017 – click here.
Blackburn (a) – Saturday 21st October 2017 – click here.
Bradford (h) – Saturday 28th October 2017 – click here.

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'Sunday Chimes Editor'