Whether you blame him or not, whether you hate him or not, it’s pointless. He has gone & the real damage is yet to set in.
I am gutted Harry has gone because he brought us unimaginable success & world-class players. Like so many others that have watched Pompey for at least the last 30 years & have experienced all 4 divisions, we have had to put up with many a dark decade. I really believe it may not ever be this good again.
I don’t subscribe to the poison that is being thrown at him. We don’t know the real story as to what is going on behind the scenes & what made him jump. My memories that will stay with me forever are those fantastic years from the promotion & championship team of 2002-03. To our first full season in the Prem and when we stayed up at Wigan. Being in the top ten & beating the Man Utd’s, Liverpool’s and nearly everybody at some stage. The life dream of being at Wembley & winning the FA Cup. The experiences of being Europe & seeing Pompey play. These are all down to the teams built by Harry. Only he could attract these players. Yes we had to pay the wages and Milan & Sasha must take credit for this. These players arguably could have gone anywhere but they came to Pompey. Why? Harry Redknapp. They could have gone to Everton, Villa, Newcastle. Big clubs with big traditions but they came to little Portsmouth. From Merson to Stone, Sheringham to Berger. They helped establish the club & help us grow.
We will all be grateful to players like Gary O’Neil. Matt Taylor, Linvoy, Benjani & De Zeeuw for their massive contributions too. But it’s the star players of now that take my breath away. Harry attracted Sol Campbell who was the catalyst for us to go to the next stage, then David James, Distin, Niko & Johnson. Then the coups of getting Defoe & Diarra last January & in the summer Crouch. Now Harry has gone, why should they stay? Even if they don’t follow him to Spurs, others will be in.
4 England players & the jewel that is Diarra, where will be without them if they leave? I would be very surprised if at the start of next season that many will be here. And no matter who takes charge, we won’t be in a position to attract similar quality. The stars came for Harry & not Portsmouth. We bathed in the glory of it all & we will all drown in the disappointment in our own way. Pompey may have been good for Harry, but Harry was very good for Pompey. I really believe we needed him much more than he needed us. We will never be the same without him. Unless of course we have billions to spend, get the new ground & training facility but if we don’t…
Written by storagematt.
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