Pompey extended their run of home games without conceding a goal but on this occasion they could not nick one at the other end. It was a game in which Pompey blew hot and cold and to be honest it was mostly cold and they did look a bit jaded too, which is all down to the size of the squad and the recent busy schedule. Hermann hit the bar and Kitson had a fierce shot cleared off the line but particularly in the second half could produce very little. Even the introduction of a now fit but rusty Liam Lawrence and King Kanu failed to improve things.
Boro were no better and showed their intentions throughout of taking a point on their long trip home. The petulant Leroy Lita offered nothing up front and they totally wasted a fair number of threatening dead ball positions with poor delivery. They will probably survive but look the shadow of the side that were pre-season favourites for promotion.
Strange day in the Championship for home sides with only three out of nine managing to find the net.
I will however offer no comment on the performance of referee Crossley
So after five home games in three weeks we now have no Fratton date until Preston on 9th April – crazy this fixture list!!
#150#
Welcome to Toast edition number 150. After nearly three and a half years I am still going and no doubt this time next year number 200 will appear.
Thanks to you for reading and your comments and to the large number of you who read and don’t register. I even had an old school friend come up to me recently and asked ‘are you eastneydave?` When I replied that I was he told me he reads the column every week.
I read all your comments and am so glad most of you enjoy the column. If you didn`t then I would stop. Thanks also to Rug for giving me the chance to write it and the support he gives me and to Chix for his ideas and prompts over the years. Good to see him popping onto the site occasionally too.
Remember this is your column and if you have a story let me have it or of course a subject for the weekly history lesson.
Fan’s day
Last week’s Supporter’s Conference has decided that a Fans Day will be held in the car park behind the Fratton End, and inside Fratton Park, on Saturday 30th April for the last home game with Norwich City
The idea is to create a carnival atmosphere and celebrate PFC surviving the season. I have précised the notes of the meeting so you can read in full the views and of members. Colin Farmery has spoken to Sacha Gaydamak who has no objection to the car park being used provided Health & Safety and Police approve. He agreed to ask Sacha what space could used possibly the less used north side of car park with access to Anson Road.
Julie Swan suggested using Milton Park, although this was felt to be a good idea for the future, meeting felt that there was not enough time to organise for this season.
Tom Dearie suggested holding up cards as the team run out, in the same way as the St George’s Cross is made at England games, perhaps paid for by a sponsor. Johnny Moore to speak to Derek Stone regarding the use of ticker tape in some parts of the ground and allowing flags in. The News flag can also be circulated. Ashley Brown was to speak to Lucius Peart re the cards on seats idea.
It was agreed to ask Claire Martin from the Community Department to the next meeting to get them and perhaps the Fratton Arts Project involved.
It is possibly the same day as the Tom Prince Blue Day – Portsmouth Independent Supporters Association agreed to speak to Tom Prince Trust and involve them.
If this is to take off then volunteers will be needed to place cards on seats and clear up any mess after the game. So let’s have your ideas and I will set up a thread in the forum for you to do just this.
History Lesson – help yourself
This week`s history lesson is aimed at showing you how to enjoy the past of this great club we all support. Many books have been written about the club and I own a fair number of them. The first simply titled ‘Pompey’ was written by Mike Neasom, Doug Robinson and Mick Cooper and was published back in 1984 at a cost of £9.95 and sadly is now long out of print. It took a great deal of research by the three to put together as no-one had undertaken such a task before and the list of acknowledgements shows just how many took part in the project.
The book is a must for any fan that wants to know the story of the early years and has details of virtually every Pompey player from 1898 to 1983. It does contain a number of errors which have come to light since publication but that is not meant as any criticism.
To add to that book I would recommend ‘Portsmouth: the Modern Era – a Complete Record’ by Coin Farmery which charts Pompey`s history from 1970 to 2004 and includes a couple of lines on every game in the stats section which I find extremely useful. The book is in fact an updated version of ‘From Tindall to Ball’ which was published in 1999 and is the version I own. The Modern Era is still available at £20. Another good read with loads of stats and Colin also selects a ‘game of the season’ some of which are a surprise.
If you want to look at what is available on the market to read there is a Pompey Book Store online here. You can always plough your way through the second hand bookshops to see what you can find or of course trawl the Internet looking for bargains. They are out there only recently Chix told me he was after a particular book and one day I just stumbled across it. ebay is of course a valuable source and Amazon has links to a number of second-hand dealers both here and in the US of A. There are some used copies of ‘Pompey` on the Amazon US site!
So that exhausts books what about the web. Use of search engines such as Google will help you find information about a particular topics and fairly often I am sure you find your way back to Vital Pompey as we have carried a large number of historical stories over the years written by various members.
Pompeyrama our sister site has all the details of every Pompey game stretching right back to 1938 and I know Phil who runs the site in Perth, Western Australia in keen to enhance the service this summer. Register for that site and you can log all the games you have attended, this will then give you the stats Pompey those games with number of home and away, players who have appeared in most games and teams you have seen the most, fascinating stuff.
Rama tell me for instance that yesterday was my 807th competitive home game at Fratton Park and 963rd Pompey game in total. (I guess you could add about 100 more for frendlies etc.) It was the twenty first time I have seen Middlesbrough play at Fratton and that is the third goalless draw – the first being the day back in December 1972 when Pompey had their lowest ever league gate of just 4,688! The stats also tell me that I have only seen Blackburn visit more often. There are only three league teams I have not seen Pompey beat, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tranmere Rovers!! It really is a site worth supporting and spending some time loading your games on.
Elsewhere on the web you will find all manner of Pompey sites and information. Worth a look are Pompey songs where Brian and William Fellows have put together all the lyrics from songs sung on the Fratton terraces over the years and they even have a recording of the pre match warm up for the Southampton FA Cup tie in 1984. Well worth a listen as I am certain I can pick out my voice!!
If you want action rather than ‘music’ then youtube obviously has plenty of that but do not forget that DailyMotion.com also has some Pompey material from back in the past. If you click here you can see Pompey promoted to Division Two back in 1983 and an interview with Alan Biley. Quality is not good but what the heck it is memories.
For other memories some of the Supporters Clubs sites around the world are worth a look too for the various pieces they have put together.
So the Toast message to you all is learn your history there is so much of it and it will not bore you one little bit. You could learn all about Jack Tinn’s spats, Fred Worrall’s horseshoe, the player sold to pay for a stand, the FA Cup hidden at the Bird In Hand in Lovedean, back to back league titles – the first club to do so after the war, Olympic football at Fratton Park – Netherland v. Republic of Ireland July 1948, the first ever floodlit league game, SOS Pompey, Alan Ball’s cap, Administration, 4-1 (twice), Administration again, Five cup finals, SOS Pompey again and lots, lots more.
There is no doubt in my mind that most Pompey fans love the history of the club and one of my earliest articles of floodlight football at Fratton Park was the most read, at the last count there were fifty seven comments posted on that back in September 2007.
Poser
Of the Pompey players that started yesterday’s game what was different about Dave Kitson and Ricardo Rocca compared to the other outfield men?
OK now to start edition #151 and we will look at the myth that is Fortress Fratton!
PUP
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