Pompey News

After a dismal start to the season picking up only two points from their first eight matches, tonight Spurs have done what fans have been wanting and sacked coach Jaunde Ramos also shown the door is sporting director Damien Comolli who fans have blamed for the poor transfer dealings at the club for several years.

Also as part of the clear out Spurs have also parted company with first team coaches Gus Poyet and Marcos Alvarez.

The club confirmed the clear-out in a statement on their website.

Backroom staff-members Clive Allen and Alex Inglethorpe will step in to take charge of Sunday's Premier League match against Bolton.

However with all these things they had someone already lined up, someone the Spurs fans have wanted for years and this morning announced that Portsmouth Manager Harry Redknapp.

Spurs entered into talks with Portsmouth earlier in the week, with the clubs talking on Friday morning after both sides disastrous UFEA Cup defeats when it was decided that Harry could talk to the north London club.

"I've had a great time at Portsmouth and we've had an unbelievable, successful time over the six years I've been here," Redknapp told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"But Tottenham made a fantastic offer to Portsmouth and it was difficult.

"It was a lot of money - I think £5m, crazy money really. Pompey couldn't sell a player in the [transfer] window so we sell the manager."

Its expected that an official announcement will be made by Spurs later this morning, and Harry plans to talk to his new squad before their crunch Bolton match.

"I am a big follower of the history of the game and Tottenham have been a great club over the years," Redknapp added on 5 Live.

"I followed Tottenham, I trained there as an 11-year-old, 12-year-old so I know the history of the club. It is a big, big, club.

"It is a club that has massively underachieved this year - to be sitting there with two points and, let's be honest, in a real desperate situation, a relegation battle.

"There's a lot of quality players there that obviously haven't done as well as they should have done. You don't end up with two points from eight games if you're doing what you should be doing.

"So they need to start performing as I know they can. Whether it's confidence or whatever, it's up to me to go in and try to get the best out of them players."

Joe Jordan and Tony Adams will take charge for Sunday's game against Fulham at Fratton Park, as Portsmouth start their search for a new manager, Pompey fans I've spoke to this morning are hoping for a big appointment, although they were also worried that players that had come to Pompey because of Harry may now decide to either follow him to Spurs or leave for other clubs.

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After missing the last few England squads Pompey striker Peter Crouch's performances recently have earned him a recall to the England squad for the Kazakhstan and Belarus.

One face that continues to miss out is Newcastle striker Michael Owen, who is still over looked by Capello.

"Is he in good form now?" said Capello. "He's scoring but it's not enough to score goals.

"Sometimes I see games where a player has not played for 89 minutes and then scores a goal. It's not enough.

"Goals are very important but not only goals."

Only Chelsea has as many players called up to this England squad as Portsmouth does, certainly a change from a few years ago when Pompey players never got called up.

Since joining Pompey Crouch has proved his worth and has created a great partnership with fellow England striker Jermain Defoe, could Capello actually use the strike pairing that has done so well?

England squad: James (Portsmouth), Green (West Ham), Carson (West Brom); Brown (Manchester United), Johnson (Portsmouth), Terry (Chelsea), Ferdinand (Manchester United), Lescott (Everton), Upson (West Ham), A Cole (Chelsea), Bridge (Chelsea); Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Walcott (Arsenal), Barry (Aston Villa), Jenas (Tottenham), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Downing (Middlesbrough), Wright-Phillips (Manchester City); Heskey (Wigan), Crouch (Portsmouth), Rooney (Manchester United), Defoe (Portsmouth).

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Ok Pompey were dire last night in the first half but I wonder how many people went to bed at half time?

Of course most of us would stayed watching until the bitter (or as it actually turned out rather sweet) end, however just after the second Crouch goal went in my house mate decided to call her dad.   A few grunts later it emerged that he thought Pompey were done for so decided to go to bed, although he is an OAP and needs his sleep.   Although the Five coverage was showing a Pompey fan seemingly asleep at half time in the stadium,  although he was later show to be wide awake.

Congrats to Pompey, and if you did go to bed early next time dont give up so early......

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Harry Redknapp has to take responsibility for this first half score line. What a ridiculous team selection. He has decided to play Campbell, Distin and Kaboul with no right-sided midfielder. It's no surprise we find ourselves two nil down if he doesn't change it quick this will end up four nil City. With so many defenders on the pitch the defending has been very poor!

Pompey Team:

James

Kaboul

Campbell

Distin

Johnson

A.Traore

Davis

Diarra

Belhadj

Crouch

Defoe

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Can Pompey compete with Manchester City? Financially no we can't! Their owner is fifty times richer than Chelsea's owner. Granted it's going to take them a long time to build a team that will compete for a title but with that spending power may only be a year before they join the top four.

Newcastle are up for sale, what's the chances of the trend continuing with a foreign billionaire taking them over. My only concern is Portsmouth are left behind and all this hard work is un-done by quick fix takeovers.

Portsmouth are a well run club, I don't think we're in danger of being relegated in the near future but I do think we are in danger of standing still. Firstly I think it's unfair and I'd like to see a cap on the amount that can be invested. There is no rule preventing this though so if you can't compete with them why not join them?

Many fans would say that they wouldn't want to see a billionaire at our club. How many of those would say that if some of the world's greatest players were playing at Fratton Park? That would be interesting to see.

This article is by no means criticism to Sacha who has done wonders for this football club since he took over from Milan. Having said that why Man City went out and spent forty million on two players, Portsmouth had to balance their books with the sale of two top midfield players.

Would an investment from abroad be such a bad thing?

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Representatives of Appiah claim the players future will be settled after the international break. Portsmouth are one of the favourites to sign the midfielder after a break down in negotiations with Juventus.

He has recently been linked with Arsenal and West Ham, with two more clubs emerging today in Bayern Munich and Schalke.

The Ghana captain had a horrid season last year. Injury forced him to miss the majority of it. Having said that if he keeps himself fit and Portsmouth can get him signed, he could possible be one of Harry's best free transfer signings of all time.

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Although not the one we expected. Tonight England under 21 defender has joined Charlton on a season's loan.

Craine currently preparing for the Euro qualifier against Poland at Wembley on Friday night and then he will join up with his new club.

Comments from Charlton earlier today say that Linvoy Primus will also join Charlton on loan but this deal will be done next week when the loan window opens.

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Fulham have terminated the contract of former Pompey midfielder Alexei Smertin by mutual consent. Rumours have several Championship clubs are interested in signing the Russian.

At one time he was a player we would love to have seen back at Fratton Park, but I think at 33 a bit past it even for a squad player.

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According to Sky Sports news there was a club who finished in the top 10 of the Premier League last season interested in Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton, however they are report that this club who preferred to be unnamed has withdrawn their interested.

Originally the club proposed a straight player swap, however it seems Newcastle wasn't interested in this and was instead asking for around £4 million. Sky Sports are implying that the interested club doesn't have much money it so could have been Portsmouth.

With time running out its looking like this deal is a non-starter as the player is still at Newcastle as any deal would have to be done before midnight.

A quote from Joey Barton read out on Sky Sports News said "I didnt want to comment on speculation but I didnt want to leave Newcastle because I owe the club and the fans so much because of everythnig I have put them through." 

It was unlikely to be Manchester City on the other hand, they seem to be trying to splash the newly found cash on Berbatov and Robinho and seemingly every other player wanted by the football elite clubs.

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Aston Villa and Everton are emerging as the favourites to be the mystery club in for Joey Barton. Sources within Portsmouth Football club have distanced themselves from reports it's them.

Stories started after Sky Sports news claimed Newcastle were in negotiations with a top ten club over the sale of the midfielder. I for one don't want Joey Barton at my football club, even though I'd agree he is a talented footballer.

Kevin Kegan is thought to want to keep the player at the club so there is no saying whether this deal will go through. He was spotted by Sky Sports News going for talks with Newcastle hierachy just recently.

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Where is Joey Barton going? A premiership club is in negotiations about taking Joey from Newcastle United. It is a club in the top ten of the Premier League according to Sky Sports News.

A source close to the player had claimed that Portsmouth would sign him if Newcastle didn't want him. I personally hope that Portsmouth aren't the club in talks with the player but i do hope we sign a central midfielder!

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With Pompey trying to offload several fringe players to lower the wage bill, striker David Nugent seems to be an ideal choice to let leave Fratton Park, however would selling him on the cheap really be in our best interests?

Several clubs have been sniffing around Nugent for a while, a loan to Ipswich was agreed and fell through earlier in the year, today I've seen rumours that West Brom and Wigan are interested in the England striker.

Its fairly clear that Nugent wont play much this season at Pompey if he stays, Crouch and Defoe will be our strike team with Kanu as backup, we've brought in Chelsea striker Ben Sahar on loan for the season and I would imagine Nugent would be behind him in the pecking order.

He would normally get a few run outs in the early cup rounds, but since our first Carling Cup game is against Chelsea I can't see us using him then, I certainly cant see us using him in the UFEA Cup, he may get into the squad if we are playing one of the teams in and around the drop zone to

I still believe that Nugent can become a Premier League striker so isn't he better he stays with us? Perhaps to replace Kanu as chief bench warmer next season? I say loan him out to a Premier League side let us see what he is really made of if he is as big a flop where ever he goes we can let him go on the cheap next year, if he's a success we get a Premier League ready striker for next season.

So should we loan him out or just sell him and make as much money as we can back?

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As widely rumoured this morning Pompey target Nadir Belhadj has joined on loan from French side Lens with an option to buy at the end of the loan.  Belhadj re-joined Lens from French side Lyon in January for 3.6 million euro and signed a three and a half year deal.

Talking to the Official Pompey Website Belhadj said: "I'm delighted to be at Pompey because it's a very good club with great players.

"I like the English people and I like English football, so this is an excellent opportunity for me.

"The club have chased me for a while now and when I heard that they wanted me, there was only one place I wanted to come. I wanted to come to Portsmouth.

"Harry Redknapp is a great manager and with the players we have at the club, I think we can do really well this season.

"I will do my very best to help us succeed."

"I like the system that the side played against Everton at the weekend. It suits me because I have a lot of pace and I like to run a lot."

Belhadj plays in a very similar position to recient signing Armand Traore in a left back or left wing back role. 

Due to the international break we wont see him in action in a Pompey shirt for a couple of weeks as he's off on international duty with Algeria and will face new team mate Papa Bouba Diop in a World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on Friday.

It is expected that there will be more transfer action at Fratton Park today, although its expected to be players leaving rather than joining.

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Reports in France and Spain are claiming that Thiago Motta has decided to turn down a contract at Portsmouth. The contract offer was based on the number of appearances the former Barcelona star made at the club. This was after the Portsmouth medical team had concerns over the player’s knee problems.

As for another injury prone midfield target Steven Appiah is well sort after. The highly rated international is expecting to sign for Juventus at some point next week but talks have proved difficult.

“We would like things to be sorted out as quickly as possible and a contract could be signed before next week,” said the Ghanaian’s agent Frank Trimboli.

“While I am saying that we are in no hurry, it is up to the club to make things happen.

“I have received a concrete offer from Racing Santander and Portsmouth are calling us practically every day. West Ham, Celtic and Everton have also expressed an interest.

“However, Juve are working on a solution and we will keep waiting because the lad hasn't hidden his desire to play for the Old Lady.”

I wouldn’t expect either of these two to sign but I do expect to see a central midfielder arrive today. With David Nugent finally leaving the club, things should become clearer as the day progresses.

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Portsmouth have had three of their four England stars called up for the forthcoming England international matches. Both of which are world cup qualifiers against Andorra and Croatia (both matches away).

David James should retain his number one jersey with the other two less likely to start. Having said that Defoe impressed in his last international appearance and Harry has pushed Glen Johnson's claims.

Peter Crouch gives England something different and many journalists in the press have pushed his claim for the team. However for the second squad in a row Capello has decided against the 6ft 7 Pompey hit man.

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