May 17th 2008, and Sol Campbell is climbing the steps at Wembley on his way to lifting Portsmouth’s first major trophy in 69 years.
Cardiff City have just been beaten 1-0 in the FA Cup final, and as well as Campbell, fellow England internationals David James and Glen Johnson, the £7million Ghanaian Sulley Muntari, ex-Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder Lassana Diarra, and Niko Kranjčar and Milan Baroš, internationals from Croatia and the Czech Republic, are in the team. Jermain Defoe watches on, cup-tied, while Peter Crouch will sign two months later.
February 4th, 2010, and Portsmouth supporters are waking up the morning after a 1-0 defeat at Fulham, leaving them still anchored to the foot of the Premier League.
The line-up at Craven Cottage includes a mixture of loanees and free-transfer signings, journeymen pros and players more suited to the lower leagues. They are willing, they carve out plenty of chances, but they are unable to halt what has become a seemingly unstoppable descent into the Championship. Manager Avram Grant – never one to betray his emotions – looks on downcast, and the Premier League’s oddest club is about to get a lot odder.
Today’s announcement of the takeover of the club by Hong Kong-based businessman Balram Chainrai brings the number of Portsmouth owners this season to four, the same amount of wins they’ve had in the Premier League.
After Sacha Gaydamak, Sulaiman al-Fahim, and Ali al-Faraj comes Chainrai, who loaned the club between £15million and £20million to help pay off their various debts – and pay the players – in October. A clause in that loan agreement allowed Chainrai and his company Portpin to take a controlling interest in the club, of which they now own 90%.
The recent sales of Younes Kaboul to Tottenham and Asmir Begovic to Stoke were conducted against the wishes of Grant, but were seemingly vital to help the club survive. The closure of the transfer window means that the south-coast club can no longer keep selling players to stay afloat, and so while Chainrai’s involvement should be greeted with some cautious optimism by Pompey’s long-suffering supporters, he is merely a life-jacket to protect against increasingly choppy seas.
Behind the scenes, chaos still reigns. A winding up order needs to be faced next week, with the club living hand to mouth as Grant desperately searches for free agents to bolster his squad – the latest being the ex-Spurs defender Ricardo Rocha – while chief executive Peter Storrie finds himself increasingly isolated. Executive director Mark Jacob reportedly wants out, while the increasing influence of ex-convict Daniel Azougy – the Israeli former lawyer who was jailed in 2001 for fraud and deception – puts an even darker spin on proceedings.
After arriving at the club in October, Azougy was the key player in the Kaboul and Begovic deals, and despite repeated requests to Portsmouth from the Premier League of clarification of his role, none have been forthcoming.
Four owners, four wins, and with Chainrai freely admitting that he won’t be around for long – just long enough to “stabilise the club and sell it on to new owners” – the unfortunate question facing Portsmouth fans is which will come next. The fifth owner or the fifth win? It is truly a desperate situation.
With a trip to Manchester United coming up on Saturday, immediate solace on the pitch doesn’t look too likely.
May 17th 2008 has never seemed so long ago.
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