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Portsmouth F.C.

Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the south coast city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey [1] (also the nickname for the city) and play in the Premier League. The club is currently owned by the Franco-Russian-Israeli Alexandre Gaydamak. They are the current holders of the FA Cup.

History

Beginnings of Portsmouth FC : 1898 - 1939

The club was founded on 6th April 1898 with John Brickwood, owner of the local brewery, as chairman, and Frank Brettell as the club's first manager. The club joined the Southern League in 1899 and their first league match was played at Chatham Town on 2 September 1899 (a 1-0 victory), followed three days later by the first match at Fratton Park against local rivals Southampton. That first season was hugely successful, with the club winning 20 out of 28 league matches, earning them the runner-up spot in the league. 1910-11 saw Portsmouth relegated, but with the recruitment of Bob Brown as manager the team were promoted the next season.

Football was suspended during World War I, but following the resumption of matches Portsmouth won the Southern League for the second time. Continuing success saw them in the Third Division for the 1920-21 season. They finished 12th that year, but won the league in the 1923-24 season. The club continued to perform well in the Second Division, winning promotion by finishing 2nd in the 1926-27 season, gaining a record 9-1 win over Notts County along the way.

Portsmouth's debut season in the First Division was a struggle. The next season they continued to falter, losing 10-0 to Leicester City, still a club record defeat. However, despite their failings in the league, that season also saw Portsmouth reach the FA Cup final for the first time, which they lost to Bolton Wanderers.

Portsmouth managed to survive relegation, and their fortunes began to change. The 1933-34 season saw Portsmouth again reach the FA Cup Final, beating Manchester United, Bolton Wanderers, Leicester City and Birmingham City on the way. Unfortunately the club was again defeated in the final, this time to Manchester City.

Having established themselves in the top flight, the 1938-39 season saw Portsmouth reach their third FA Cup Final. This time the club managed to defeat the favourites, Wolves, convincingly 4-1. Bert Barlow and Jock Anderson scored whilst Cliff Parker scored twice (3rd and 4th) completed the famous victory.

League football was again suspended due to World War II, meaning Pompey hold the unusual distinction of holding the FA Cup for the longest uninterrupted period as the trophy wasn't contested again until the 1945-46 season.

Post War Pompey : 1946 - 1971

League football resumed for the 1946-47 campaign. In Pompey's Golden Jubilee season of 1948-49, the club were tipped to be the first team of the 20th century to win the Football League and FA Cup double. However, Pompey crashed out of the FA Cup in the semi-final against Leicester City, but made up for it by claiming the league title in spectacular fashion. That season also saw a record attendance of 51,385, a record which still stands to this day.

The club retained the title the following year, beating Aston Villa 5-1 on the last day of the season, and are thus one of only five English teams to have won back to back titles since World War II. Although the team finished third in 1954-55, subsequent seasons saw Portsmouth struggle and they were relegated to the Second Division in 1959.

Portsmouth went down to the Third Division in 1961 but were promoted back to the Second Division at the first time of asking under the guidance of George Smith. Despite limited financial means, Smith maintained Portsmouth's Second Division status throughout the sixties until moving upstairs to become General Manager in April 1970.

John Deacon and Pompey : 1972 - 1988

A cash injection, that accompanied the arrival of John Deacon as chairman in 1972, failed to improve Portsmouth's league position. With Deacon unable to continue bankrolling the club on the same scale, Portsmouth were relegated to the Third Division in 1976.

In November 1976 the club found itself needing to raise £25,000 to pay off debts and so avoid bankruptcy. With players having to be sold to ease the club's financial situation, and no money available for replacements, Portsmouth were forced to rely on an untried manager, Ian St John and inexperienced young players. Consequently, they were relegated to the Fourth Division in 1978.

Portsmouth were promoted back to Division Three in 1980, and in the 1982-83 season they won the Third Division championship, gaining promotion back to the Second Division. Under Alan Ball's management, Portsmouth narrowly missed winning promotion to the First Division twice before finally succeeding in 1986-87. Unfortunately, by the middle of the 1987-88 season the club was again in grave financial trouble, and Portsmouth were relegated straight back to the Second Division. The summer of 1988 saw Deacon sell the club to London based businessman and former QPR Chairman, Jim Gregory.

Jim Smith, Venables and Mandarić : 1991 - 2001

Jim Smith's arrival as manager at the start of the 1991-92 season, combined with the emergence of some good young players, sparked a revival in the team's fortunes and that year Portsmouth reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, losing on penalties to eventual winners Liverpool after a replay. The following season, Portsmouth missed out on promotion to the FA Premier League only by virtue of having scored one less goal than West Ham United.

In the summer of 1996 Terry Venables arrived at Portsmouth as a consultant, later taking over as chairman after buying the club for £1. The team enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1996-97, beating FA Premier League side Leeds United en route, but finished just short of the qualifying places for the play-offs for promotion to the Premier League.

Portsmouth's centenary season, 1998-99, saw a serious financial crisis hit the club, and in December 1998 Portsmouth went into financial administration. Milan Mandarić saved the club with a takeover deal in May 1999, and the new chairman immediately started investing. However the club only survived on the last day of the 2000-2001 season when they won their final game and Huddersfield Town lost theirs, keeping Portsmouth up at their expense.

The Harry Redknapp Era : 2002 - present

Harry Redknapp took over as manager in early 2002, with Jim Smith as assistant. Just over a year later, Portsmouth were celebrating winning the Division One Championship and promotion to the Premier League, winning the title with a game to spare.[2]

Since arriving in the Premier League, the club finished 13th, 16th, 17th and 9th in its first four seasons before being bought by businessman Alexandre Gaydamak in January 2006. With large amounts of money available for the manager to make record signings, the club finished their 2006-2007 season in the Premier League in the top half of the table for the first time, only one point short of European qualification.

In 2008, Portsmouth reached the FA Cup final for the first time since 1939 after beating Championship side West Bromwich Albion 1-0 on 5th April at Wembley Stadium in the semi-finals, the same day that the club celebrated its 110th birthday. Portsmouth went on to win cup with a 0-1 win against Championship team Cardiff City. The win earned them a place in the 2008-09 UEFA Cup, the club's first time playing European football.

Stadium

Portsmouth play their home games at Fratton Park, in Portsmouth. It is the only football stadium in the English professional leagues to be located off the British mainland.

* Capacity - 20,600 (all seated)
* Opened - 1898
* Pitch size - 115 x 73 yards

The ground has been home to the club throughout its entire history but, despite improvements, is showing signs of age. Therefore at the end of the 2003/04 season, having consolidated their Premier League status, plans to develop a new stadium on the adjacent disused rail-freight depot site were drawn up and approved.

These plans were superseded by a new plan to redevelop, more or less on the existing site, but realigning the pitch 90 degrees to accommodate a larger capacity, ultimately 35,000, funded in part by a "Pompey Village" luxury residential project on the adjacent site. Work on the stadium was planned to start in the summer of 2006 but did not happen. By October 2006 several alternative sites for the new stadium were also being considered including the King George V playing fields site in Cosham in the north of the city.

These plans were dropped however, when the Portsmouth Dockland Stadium project was announced on April 25, 2007. This was a proposal to build a new, and truly unique 36,000 capacity stadium on reclaimed land in the city's docklands area [4] .

In October 2007 the ambitious Dockyard project also had to be dropped as it was announced the dockyard would be host to 2 new large aircraft carriers and several Type 45 destroyers. As a result, the stadium plans have been relocated to Horsea Island near Port Solent. Portsmouth aim to be playing at their new ground from the 2011-12 season.

Current squad

GK    David James
DF    Linvoy Primus
DF    Lucien Aubey (on loan from RC Lens)
DF    Lauren
DF    Glen Johnson
MF    Lassana Diarra
DF    Hermann Hreiðarsson
MF    Papa Bouba Diop
FW    Milan Baroš (on loan from Olympique Lyonnais)
FW    David Nugent
MF    Sulley Muntari
FW    Jermain Defoe
DF    Sylvain Distin (vice-captain)
DF    Noé Pamarot
FW    John Utaka
MF    Arnold Mvuemba
MF    Niko Kranjčar
DF    Martin Cranie
GK    Jamie Ashdown
MF    Richard Hughes
DF    Sol Campbell (captain)
FW    Nwankwo Kanu
MF    Sean Davis
MF    Pedro Mendes
GK    Asmir Begovic
MF    Marc Wilson