Portsmouth Football Club
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club which is based in the city of Portsmouth. The club’s nickname is Pompey, but sometimes it is called 'The Blues'.
The club is owned by the rich Al-Faraj family of Saudi-Arabia.
History
The club was founded on 5 April 1898 in Old Portsmouth by John Brickwood, who was the owner of the local Brewery. He was the chairman. The club joined the Southern League in 1899 and their first league match was on 2 September 1899. That first season was very successful as the club won 20 matches out of 28.
Football was suspended during the World War I, but when the football matches were renewed, Portsmouth won the Southern League for the second time. The club continued to perform well in the Second Division, winning in 1926-27. Portsmouth's debut season in the First Division was a real challenge. The next season they continued to struggle. Nevertheless Portsmouth reached the FA Cup final for the first time. Portsmouth managed to survive, and their fortunes began to increase. In 1933-34 Portsmouth participated again in the FA Cup Final, beating Manchester United, Bolton Wanderers, Leicester City and Birmingham City. The club was defeated in the final by Manchester City. Now the team was at the top fight, and in the season 1938-1939 the club reached their third FA Cup Final. This time the club managed to defeat the Wolves – their main competitors. But football was again suspended due to the World War II.
In 1948-1949 the club was considered to be the first team of the 20th century to win the Football League and FA Cup double. That season also saw the record attendance of 51,385, the record which still stands to present time.
Portsmouth went to the Third Division in 1961 but they were promoted back to the Second Division at the first time. In spite of the limited financial means, Smith kept Portsmouth's Second Division status during the sixties until he was promoted.
At the beginning of the 70s the cash injections failed to improve the club’s position in the League. And the club went to the Third Division.
In the middle of the decade the team had some debts and they had to raise some money immediately to pay off the debts to avoid bankruptcy. The club had to sell the players and to hire the inexperienced manager and young players. So the club got to the Fourth Division in 1978.
Portsmouth was promoted back to Division Three in 1980, and in 1982-1983 s they won the Third Division championship, gaining promotion to the Second Division. But very soon the team again had some financial problems and they were to stay in the Second Division. In 1988 the club was sold to the businessman Jim Gregory.
Jim Smith became the manager at the start of the 1991-1992. His arrival was combined with the appearing of some good young players and that year Portsmouth reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
In the summer of 1996 Terry Venables arrived at Portsmouth as a consultant. Later he was appointed a chairman when he bought the club for £1. The team enjoyed the run to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1996-97, but they finished with the play-off matches to the Premier League.
In 1998-99 the club had a serious financial crisis. Milan Mandarić saved the club with a takeover deal in May 1999, and the new chairman immediately started investment. However the club only survived in 2000-2001.
Harry Redknapp became a manager in the early 2002. Just a year later, Portsmouth was celebrating winning the Division One Championship and promotion to the Premier League.
The club had the 13th, 16th and 17th place in its first three Premier League seasons. Redknapp left during the club's second Premier League season, because of the disagreement with Mandaric, but a year leater he returned back. In January 2006 Portsmouth was bought by businessman Alexandre Gaydamak and, with large amounts of money, the club finished the 2006-07 season in the top half of the table for the first time
In 2007 -2008 the club started the season beating Liverpool. It wasn’t the club's only success that season as the same year Portsmouth reached the FA Cup Final for the first time since 1939. They beat West Bromwich Albion on 5 April at Wembley Stadium in the semi-finals, the same day that the club celebrated its 110th birthday. Portsmouth also won the matches against the team Cardiff City. They earned a place in the UEFA Cup in 2008 - 2009, the club's first time playing European football. The first European match ended with the victory for the team.
In 2008, Redknapp left Portsmouth for the second time. Redknapp's assistant Tony Adams was promoted to be manager.
Adams' career began with the defeat to Liverpool. Because of some unsuccessful results the manager was dismissed, and the youth team coach Paul Hart was appointed to be a coach. That guaranteed that the team was left in the Premier League. The club finished the season in the 14th place.
In 2009 the club was bought by the Arab Emirates businessman. Because of the financial problems the club was forced to sell some top players – such as Peter Crouch, Sylvain Distin, Niko Kranjčar and Glen Johnson.
In autumn of 2009 the club continued its financial problems and the club authorities declared that some players hadn’t been paid yet.
Club uniform
The most frequent colours used by the team have been white shirts with blue shorts and either blue or white socks. Sometimes the club has experimented with pink, orange, navy blue and gold change strips. In 2009-10 the third kit is black with blue trim and thin blue hoops. The away kit is white with two navy blue vertical lines running down the side of the shirt, with the badge imposed on top of them. The home kit is the red white and blue kit, with blue shirt, white shorts and red socks.
Club crest
The official emblem contains a gold star and crescent on a blue shield.
During its history, Portsmouth has tried different variants of the crest, before adopting the basic gold star and crescent.
Stadium
Portsmouth played their home games at Fratton Park in Portsmouth. The stadium has been their home during its entire history. A new stadium is being built for the team at Horsea Island between Stamshaw and Port Solent. The club hopes to host the stadium in 2011.
Current squad:
1. David James (goal-keeper)
2. Linvoy Primus (defender)
3. Younes Kaboul (defender)
4. Aaron Mokoena (captain) (midfielder)
5. Jamie O'Hara (midfielder)
6. Hayden Mullins (midfielder)
7. Hermann Hreiðarsson (defender)
8. Papa Bouba Diop (midfielder)
9. Frédéric Piquionne (forward)
10. Michael Brown (midfielder)
11. Mike Williamson (defender)
12. Antti Niemi (goal-keeper)
13. Steve Finnan (defender)
14. John Utaka (forward)
15. Anthony Vanden Borre (defender)
16. Danny Webber (forward)
17. Tommy Smith (forward)
18. Jamie Ashdown (goal-keeper)
19. Richard Hughes (midfielder)
20. Kevin-Prince Boateng
21. Aruna Dindane (forward)
22. Tal Ben Haim (defender)
23. Nwankwo Kanu (forward)
24. Hassan Yebda (midfielder)
25. Angelos Basinas (midfielder)
26. Marc Wilson (defender)
27. Gaël N'lundulu (forward)
28. Nadir Belhadj (defender)
29. Joel Ward (defender)
30. Gauthier Mahoto (midfielder)
31. James Hurst (defender)
32. Luke Wilkinson (defender)
33. Lennard Sowah (defender)
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