Reuters Soccer Blog

Portsmouth have a chance to come back fighting fit

Every football fan should be delighted that Portsmouth Football Club are all set to go into administration on Friday — for all the right reasons.

Anything that will save Portsmouth from a High Court appearance when they face being wound-up by the British taxman, should be welcomed by fans not only of Portsmouth, but of every other club.

Of course, going into administration is not exactly the most desirable thing for any business, football club or otherwise, to have to endure.

But if it means Portsmouth survive, then it is by far the lesser of two evils and must be relatively speaking, welcomed.

It has been well documented how Portsmouth’s various owners have contributed to the club’s downfall. Yes, they “lived the dream” and paid unrealistic wages based on their income streams. Yes, they were unlucky in being hit by the global financial crisis.

But … we all know that while professional football clubs are in fact businesses, they are not businesses like a supermarket or a factory that makes cuddly toys.

Portsmouth’s woes unlikely to slow Premier League’s journey to oblivion

There is something of the boy who cried wolf about Portsmouth’s appearance in the High Court this week as fans were warned that the 112-year old club was within hours of going out of business.

In the last 20 years or so literally dozens of English league clubs have gone into administration, some more than once, but how many have actually folded?

A few points docked here, a new holding company set up there and within no time the same “club” with the same players are still doing their thing in the same stadium.

And even those that have disappeard since the Second World War – Accrington Stanley, Aldershot and Maidstone – resurrected themselves down the line and after moving through the minor leagues, are now back plying their trade in the professional league or high in the pyramid.

Portsmouth will be back in court next month when they will have to prove that they can come up with some quick money to satisfy Revenue and Customs officials who say the club owes around 12 million pounds in various unpaid taxes.

Many leading names in and around the game have expressed shock that a Premier League club, FA Cup winners less than two years ago and on the receiving end of countless millions of pounds of TV money, could get into such a mess.

West Ham shock as Englishmen buy Premier League club!

Londoners David Sullivan and David Gold have bucked a growing trend in England’s Premier League by taking control of 50 percent of West Ham United.

It returned a club steeped in the tradition of the English game to home ownership after an ill-fated three years of foreign control that has left the club deep in debt.

While West Ham are still half-owned by Icelandic bank Straumur, Sullivan and Gold are confident they can attract local investors to help the club back on its feet and in the words of Sullivan “return it to the fans”.

It will be music to the ears of detractors, who have watched half of the Premier League’s clubs sold to overseas owners — a state of affairs that has been criticised by UEFA President Michel Platini.

One only has to look at the mess at Portsmouth and the debts carried by American-owned Manchester United and Liverpool to see that Platini has a point.

Sullivan and Gold, who ran a reasonably tight ship at Birmingham City for 16 years, re-building the club before selling to Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung last year, face a huge challenge at West Ham.

But far from promising instant miracles and fancy signings, they are determined to stabilise the club on and off the field and then eventually move to London’s 2012 Olympic Stadium which they believe would allow them to offer tickets that local fans can actually afford.

UPDATE: Derby fever hits the predictions league

Monday update: You would think 14 games into the season we would have learnt who was likely to beat who in the Premier League. Sadly not. I did OK for a change but only Martyn Herman really covered himself in glory with two five pointers for Villa 1-1 Spurs and Manchester City collecting yet another draw against Hull City.

But I wouldn’t celebrate like Jimmy Bullard just yet, Martyn, you’re still third bottom.

So how did you do? Let us know in the comments. If you predicted at least one Drogba goal you can have a bonus point but I doubt anybody thought Rooney would get a hat-trick. As for Liverpool actually winning, well they had to get a flukey deflection sometime…

Updated Reuters Soccer Blog panel scores: Patrick Johnston 134, Mitch Phillips 118, Paul Radford 113, Mike Collett 105, Mark Meadows 99, Simon Evans 95, Kevin Fylan 91, Miles Evans 89, Neil Maidment 88, Asia Sports Desk 75, Julien Pretot 74, Martyn Herman 61, Justin Palmer 41, Sonia Oxley 31 (bonus point for getting predictions in early)

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Friday post: Some bumper Premier League matches this weekend but will that mean we’ll be seeing bumper points totals in our predictions competition?

Midweek Premier League special. Can you beat the panel?

Never let it be said that we at Reuters Soccer Blog shirk a challenge. Our attempts at score prediction on the opening weekend produced results that were modest at best but never fear, we’re straight back in for another shot (that’ll doubtless be blasted over the bar).

Once again, please send in your own predictions … they can scarcely be any worse than ours, and if you do especially well, we’ll gladly let you lord it over us here on the blog.

The six matches this week are as follows:

Sunderland v Chelsea: After Chelsea’s scare in the opening game of the season, and Sunderland’s positive start, the predictions for this are a little more circumspect. Mitch Phillips: 1-1; Owen Wyatt: 0-2; Patrick Johnston: 1-1; Mike Collett: 0-2; Paul Radford: 0-2; Kevin Fylan: 1-0. Late entries: Miles Evans: 0-2; Martyn Herman: 0-2.

Wigan Athletic v Wolverhampton Wanderers: What a result from Wigan on Saturday, eh? Hardly anyone expected them to beat Aston Villa, but I suppose when you consider how badly Villa finished last season it wasn’t such a shocking result. Wigan to make it maximum points from two? Mitch Phillips: 2-0; Owen Wyatt: 4-4; Patrick Johnston: 3-0; Mike Collett: 1-1; Paul Radford: 1-0; Kevin Fylan: 1-0. Late entries: Miles Evans: 0-1; Martyn Herman: 2-1.

Wednesday:

Birmingham City v Portsmouth: Birmingham came close to getting something from Old Trafford on Sunday so that should have done something for their self-belief. Maybe. Another bad day for Portsmouth? Mitch Phillips: 1-0; Owen Wyatt: 2-0; Patrick Johnston: 2-1; Mike Collett: 2-1; Paul Radford: 0-0; Kevin Fylan: 0-0. Late entries: Miles Evans: 2-2; Martyn Herman: 4-1.

Bolton leave Portsmouth red faced and empty handed

Much like a homeowner who decided to hold out for a higher offer and now finds himself stuck in a credit crunch, negative equity nightmare, Premier League side Portsmouth have made a highly regrettable financial faux pas.

Amidst the crazy antics of the January transfer window, Portsmouth decided to reject a 3.5 million pounds bid for midfielder Sean Davis from rivals Bolton Wanderers. On Wednesday he joined Gary Megson’s side for free.

Liverpool losing Steve McManaman to Real Madrid for free in 1999 when he would have certainly commanded a big-money transfer in the two years leading up to his exit, springs to mind as another high profile example.

Let us know if you can think of any others.

Are clubs to blame for naming Adams and Ince in the first place?

For the second time in less than two months a young Englishman who had a great playing career has been sacked as the manager of a struggling Premier League club.

Tony Adams was dismissed from Portsmouth on Monday after being in charge at Fratton Park for just 16 league matches, one league match less than his old England team mate Paul Ince lasted at Blackburn Rovers.

Ince, the self-styled “Guv’nor” of his playing days became the ex-guv’nor of Blackburn Rovers in December.

The two played almost 120 matches for England between them and more than 1,200 club games during their respective playing careers at Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, West Ham United and Inter Milan among others — yet together lasted just 33 games as Premier League bosses.

In a statement, the Portsmouth board said they had taken a “difficult decision”, adding “the priority for the club is to remain in the top flight and we feel the appointment of a new manager will give us the best opportunity to enable us to do this”.

But surely they must have felt the same way when they appointed Adams, otherwise they would not have given him the job. Blackburn too, were impressed enough by Ince last summer, after he did well coaching in the lower leagues, to put their faith in him.

Kissing the badge, and other inadvisable ideas

Score goals, kiss badge, declare love for fans, sign long-term contract, collect wages, change your mind and decide you want out a few months later; it’s becoming all too familiar.

Two glaring examples of this have hit the headlines in England recently with the opening of the January transfer window, starting with Jermain Defoe’s decision to follow Harry Redknapp back to Tottenham from Portsmouth.

Back in November, Defoe said the following:

“I’m a Portsmouth player and I’ll continue working hard for the club. I’m enjoying my time here. I’m scoring goals and I’m part of a good team. We’re pushing up the table so why would I think about leaving and anyway, Tony Adams is trying to build something here.

He’s a good manager and training has been fantastic all week. I am playing with good players and for me that is the most important thing.”

Less than two months later Defoe is back in a Spurs shirt.

Less then a year ago, England winger Stewart Downing was “delighted” to have signed a new five-year contract with his hometown club Middlesbrough:

Vlog on the pitch – Champions League final predictions

Vlog on the pitch duo Jon Bramley and Darcy Lambton think Manchester United will beat Chelsea on Wednesday but host Owen Wyatt is not so sure. (Although judging by the haircut he has already lost a bet this week.)

Who is your money on for the big clash in Moscow? Will Didier Drogba ignore the mind games and win the game just like the semi-final against Liverpool?

The boys touch on various other topics in a bumper issue this week. They review the FA Cup final before discussing Real Zaragoza’s relegation and the English playoffs.

Let us know your thoughts. Leave comments below or make your own video, load it up to youtube or wherever tagged “vlog on the pitch” and if we like it, we’ll put it up here.

It’s not all fast cars and parties

Footballers. If we aren’t reading about their exploits on the pitch, more often than not we can read about their exploits off it. Much is speculation and the rest can’t be mentioned before the watershed, but as I recently read, it’s not always bad.

West Ham United striker Craig Bellamy is more used to finding himself in hot water rather than hot weather, but following a recent trip to Sierra Leone, the Wales international has formed the Craig Bellamy Foundation there.

Bellamy’s 600,000 pound football academy is set to include 14 new leagues, 68 new boys’ teams and employ 141 managers and coaches.

So it’s not all fast cars, big houses and sordid parties after all then? In fact, if the media turned their focus away from the usual suspects, they would see a whole host of top players participating in worthwhile causes.

Portsmouth’s Nwankwo Kanu formed the Kanu Heart Foundation after having surgery on a hole in his heart during his early playing days. His charity arranged treatment for 250 African children with heart problems in 2007 and hopes to help 1,000 more this year.

Reading’s Bobby Convey regularly visits the Royal Berkshire Hospital’s Lion Ward to spend time with sick children. He is not contracted or sponsored to do this and did the same thing earlier in his career while playing in the U.S. 

England international Frank Lampard is involved in a range of cancer charities, and has become an enthusiastic backer of Chelsea’s latest initiative with CLIC Sargent, Kick for Children with Cancer.