This article is about my personal view on the ridiculous rule that in theory will see Pompey lose nine points this week. Survival or not I and many thousands of others will keep following this fantastic club. But this ruling, that’s designed to punish clubs for entering administration, is surely floored and worth questioning?
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A Football Club is made up of four main areas: the fans, the staff, the community, and the people running the football club, which includes the owners. But why should the fans be punished with a nine point deduction? All they’ve done is passionately followed their club. It’s not their fault that those running the club got it so horribly wrong. Surely a change in the rules is needed and Pompey is the perfect example of why.
Apart from the fans, why should the staff be punished? One third of the off-field staff are likely to lose their jobs over the coming weeks. A nine point deduction gives the club no chance of survival. Relegation brings revenue loss and that would likely bring further cut backs. The management and the on-field playing staff have earned those nine points despite all being up for sale and rarely being paid on time.
And Administration will hit the community hard; not just the supporters amongst them but the local businesses who are unlikely to receive the money that the club owes them. A nine point deduction and relegation would mean further reductions in money spent in the community and on specific community projects.
Previous owners, who are clearly to blame for the club entering administration, are simply not affected by the club losing nine points. So what do the FA achieve from the nine point deduction?
The fans, the community, the staff, none of whom chose the previous owners, are left to deal with administration. Yet the footballing bodies see fit to punish the victims of this ordeal further by condemning the club to relegation with a nine point deduction.
Promotion and relegation is part of football and part of supporting our club, but to be forced into relegation by a ruling that’s completely flawed and which doesn’t take account of the unique circumstances of Portsmouth Football Club, is something I find hard to accept.
Instead of adding to the spiral of decline by punishing those who have already suffered enough, the authorities should be investigating how those responsible created this mess and should be punishing them instead!
Matt Partridge
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