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Premiership Football News: Up Pompey!

Portsmouth's most recognisable fan John Anthony Portsmouth Football Club Westwood tells Andy Greeves why there's never been a better time to support the Fratton Park club.

With the smallest ground in the Premier League and reported debts of £44m, Portsmouth Football Club have been hampered by some pretty significant handicaps throughout their recent history. Pompey's financial difficulties have forced the sale of many of its biggest stars in the past twelve months including Lassana Diarra, Jermain Defoe, Sully Muntari, Pedro Mendez, Glen Johnson and most recently Peter Crouch. FA Cup winning manager Harry Redknapp also left the club last October, moving to Tottenham Hotspur to pursue his own ambitions and help balance the books at the Hampshire club.

Last season was a struggle on the pitch too, though following Redknapp's departure from Portsmouth, caretaker manager Paul Hart was at least able to keep them in the top flight. Now there's finally some light appearing at the end of a long tunnel off the park too. In July 2009, Abu Dhabi billionaire Sulaiman Al-Fahim passed the Premier League's 'fit and proper test', enabling him to take control at Fratton Park . Al-Fahim has announced plans to invest funds developing a leading youth academy and make a move to a new stadium possible for the club.

Portsmouth's most well known supporter, the blue wig, tattoo clad John Anthony Portsmouth Football Club Westwood to give his full name, is hoping for better times for his beloved club. The supporter, who has missed just a handful of games in the past 30 years, is in fact predicting a bright future under the now permanent management of Paul Hart and the ownership of Sulaiman Al-Fahim.  

"I'm extremely excited about the future of Portsmouth Football Club," beams John. "I've supported the club all my life and I don't think I've not been so optimistic in terms of thinking ahead for us. The new investor (Al-Fahim) has big plans for the club and thank god he bought the club when he did, as there's obviously been big financial problems at Portsmouth of late. I'm so relieved the future of Pompey seems to be in safe hands now."

As Portsmouth wait for new funds to filter into the club's coffers, they must unfortunately continue to finance their debts by selling players, the main reason the club let Peter Crouch leave Fratton Park according to a club statement. "To lose an England forward of Crouch's calibre would hit any club hard but it was a necessity to sell him currently as we wait to finalise the club takeover and repay outstanding debts," concedes Westwood.

The bell-ringing supporter, who owns a bookshop in Hampshire, is already dreaming of the days when Portsmouth become the hunters not the hunted in the transfer market. Though he's not expecting the club to go out and compete with the likes of Real Madrid, Chelsea or Manchester City anytime soon. "It's a different scenario at Pompey compared to those clubs," he says. "I don't think the new owner will go and sign a load of multi-million superstars. We haven't had a proper infrastructure at the club for decades, so this needs to be addressed.

I'm hoping the initial focus of the new owner will be to finance the construction of a new stadium, training facilities etc. We've been crying out for this for years. We're quite unlike any Premier League club in that we're pretty much the only team without a modern stadium and a capacity of 30,000 plus."

With six of the eleven players that started the FA Community Shield for Portsmouth this time last year having left the club, a certain level of investment in players will be expected by Pompey fans. Westwood is in no doubt what areas of the park need improving and what areas are in good shape.

"Having lost (Jermaine) Defoe and (Peter) Crouch, getting hold of a new striker is a priority," he says. "We've obviously lost a lot of quality players over the last twelve months but before the transfer window closes, I'm confident will have brought in quality replacements. We got a number of first-teamers on our books that I'm looking to shine too.

In Younes Kaboul, I think we have got a ready replacement for Glen Johnson. Niko Kranjcar on his day is someone that can really pull the strings in our midfield and I'm hoping he can get more goals and make more assists this season. Keeping hold of Sylvain Distin is massive for us as he really does marshal the defence well and is an excellent footballer. David James still keeps rolling back the years with his performances, so we know we kick-off the season with a top keeper too."

With thumbs up for a number of Portsmouth's players, what does Westwood think of the man that will be managing them permanently next season?

"I like Paul Hart, I think he's brilliant in fact," he replies. "He came in last season at a really tough time when we were fighting to stay in the Premiership. He had the strict brief of keeping us in the top flight and that's what he did. We weren't necessarily playing the most attractive football, but that's completely irrelevant when you're in a relegation battle. He set his team out pretty defensively last term, but I don't think that will be a sign of things to come. From what I hear from Nottingham Forest supporters, he's actually a manager that wants his team to play good football.

Hart and Brian Kidd can start assembling a team of players they want now. Last season they had one or two players certainly that didn't seem very committed to the cause and there was turmoil off the field. Now there's finally some stability and they can start proving the doubters wrong. There's certainly a large section of supporters at Fratton Park that need convincing of Paul Hart's abilities and I can't wait for him to win them over."

Speaking ahead of a pre-season trip to Portugal, John is philosophical about his club's immediate chances of success in 2009/10. "My ambitions for Pompey this season are simple ø stay in the Premiership," he says. "Despite the money that's been invested in the club, I'm under no illusions as to the challenge we will face this campaign. There's a lot of teams on a similar footing in the league, as was showed last season with the small gap between sixth position all the way to the lower part of the division. We've got lots of players coming and going, whereas other clubs perhaps have more settled squads. It will take time for the new-look side to blend, so we'll have to be patient as supporters."

Westwood's pragmatic views on his club's current standing are equalled by his appreciation for everything Portsmouth has achieved in the last decade, despite obvious handicaps. "We're entering our seventh season in the Premiership and that's a massive achievement," he declares. "I've always kept my feet on the ground during this time, knowing that just staying in the top flight with handicaps we have with our stadium is a good achievement. To have won the FA Cup and had top ten finishes in this time is beyond my wildest dreams. It's easy to be pessimistic about the football club you support but I try and keep upbeat. I appreciate everything we've achieved in the last decade and I'm just trying to keep on enjoying that."

If Sulaiman Al-Fahim has just an ounce of John 'PFC' Westwood's enthusiasm for Portsmouth then the club is in very safe hands indeed.

Andy Greeves

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