I love Portsmouth. I simply adore the place, writes David Agnew.
I spent five fantastic years there at University. I met many people, with who I am still firm friends with today. I even met my new wife there. I spent many an hour playing football on Southsea Common and I simply adore the place. It has some of the finest pubs and curry houses in existence and it also has the Gosport Ferry. I believe they are still talking about building a monorail between Gosport and Portsmouth. That discussion had been going on longer than having a full ring road around the City of Lincoln.
There is one thing, though, about Portsmouth that I have never, ever done. I have never worn their football colours. I have, of course, worn – with absolute pride, their academic colours and would slip into Portsmouth Purple anytime you merely mentioned the colour.
You see, for many I was an oddity. My fellow students wore all sorts of major football tops and there was little old me. Always with my Lincoln City circa 1993/4 scarf, adorned round my neck during the autumn to spring months. Portsmouth, contrary to many opinions could be brutal, meteorologically speaking. So, that scary went with me all over Portsea Island.
My red and white colours of the replica shirt, sadly attracted too many violent protests. You see, people confused it with me being a Scummer (the loving name of Southampton fans) and wearing red and white in Pompey would be akin to setting fire to HMS Victory. Incredibly unpopular
So, I often adorned the away strip. It made sense as I was away from home. My favourite being the 96/97 blue and yellow Sports Echo version. That had a similar colour to Pompey’s home kit, so I kind of went under the radar.
As my years at my alma mater drifted by, like a lost piece of wood on a slight sea, the dream cup fixture of seeing an Imps team at Fratton Park, also passed peacefully by. For they were in Nationwide Division One and we were currently enjoying the free flowing John Beck style. The closest we came, geographically speaking, was the famous run in the 996/7 Coca Cola Cup. After menacingly dispatching Manchester City 5-1 on aggregate, we went to The Dell.
If the world had piles, that’s where the would have been. Word has it that the reason that the Scummers have struggled since, is that there new ground was built by contractors, largely based in Pompey. So, they put the voodoo on them.
It is about as believable as Steve Evans not knowing anything about brown coloured envelopes. Yet, it makes me giggle, nonetheless.
In recent times, we have found the fixture of City vs Pompey more regular. The honours have most definitely been with them. Indeed, we have only beaten the lm once and drawn two. The rest of the fixtures have involved us losing and losing quite convincingly. So, sadly the stats aren’t on our side.
Pompey will be wanting to end the season with all three points. We need to make sure that we take those three points. It reminds me of that final day of the season in 1997/98. Owing to exams, I couldn’t make it to that final game. So, for what seemed like a lifetime of 100 mins, I sat , gently rocking and glued to Ceefax updates. I also had a copy of the league table, as it stood before kick off, so I could work out what was going on.
I know the same amount of palpable tension will be beset Sincil Bank, come 1230 on Saturday. I’ve felt that tension before, watching many an England cricket match. I am in no doubt that there will be players on the pitch feeling that tension too. Yet, I have every confidence that because of what Michael Skubala and his coaching team do, they will be itching to get out there and try their best at performing at their zenith.
For this has been an incredible climb, beyond my expectations. We may yet fail in our attempt to reach the summit, but if we defy all odds and succeed, then I truly believe that it would have been one of the greatest sporting achievements, that I have ever had the fortune to witness. That I includes the 81 runs I saw Jimmy Anderson score against India. A truly impossible and unbelievable innings.
So, can we beat Pompey, those infamous Pompey chimes, and somehow make it to Wembley and win? Well, to quote my favourite Beach Boys song, wouldn’t it be nice?
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