It doesn't rain, it pours (or snows in the case of the MJSL- third time this season we've had a game cancelled because it's snowed Saturday night). It's bad enough that you have a moronic owner but then fortunes on the pitch couldn't be worse. Bad results, bad luck and having to sell your best players for relatively cheap prices.
When once it seemed the only way was up now the only way is down and pretty damned fast, you may even be lucky to still be around come the end of the season. Oh how I feel for Portsmouth. Of course you probably knew I was talking about the 2008 FA Cup winners, I guess I could have been talking about Crystal Palace...
... Apart from the fact I feel sorry for Avram Grant, the same can't be said of Palace's manager.
Neil Warnock is the head of the whinge brigade of football managers. Don't get me wrong every football manager is allowed a whinge now and again but when it happens so often it gets annoying. And I should know the manager of my beloved Manchester United is one of the kings of it. This season Sir Alex's moaning has been unbearable, mainly because it's always about the same thing- the amount of added time in matches. Arsene Wenger is another moaner who frustrates, mainly because every week something other than his teams poor performance is at fault for dropped points or cup losses- Wednesday's comedy of errors against Porto for instance. Rafa Benitez is now hilarious, not because he moans, but because he doesn't, a simple "the ref was excellent" seems to do for the Spaniard.
Now to Warnock, a man who's past as the man who nearly put Bury- a club close to my heart and home- into administration a few years back, is clearly not my favourite manager at the best of time but his moaning pushes me over the edge. The former Sheffield United manager consistently blames officials if anything goes wrong and is so far over the top it's ridiculous, last weeks FA Cup match against Aston Villa was a major case in point. I don't argue that the officials got it wrong, clearly a corner was wrongly given but giving a corner wrongly is hardly the worst decision in any game. Instead of perhaps making a passing comment and accepting a draw with one of the Premier League's top sides as a decent result Warnock instead complained, but it wasn't a normal complaint, no Warnock suggested the official should be suspended- for giving a goal kick as a corner, utter ridiculous!
If this was not bad enough Warnock decided on Thursday, after Mick Mcarthy and Wolves had been wrongly, in my opinion, been charged for changing 10 players for their trip to Old Trafford, that this matter needed his opinion. Warnock is not a manager of a Premier League club, he hasn't been since May 2007. Warnock is not a manager of Wolves, nor has he ever been. The matter had nothing to do with the Palace manager or his current club. Warnock instead decided that this matter reflected 2007 when both Liverpool and Manchester United played weakened sides against Fulham and West Ham and thus Sheffield United were relegated. What he misses out is the fact that the reason Sheffield United went down, contrary to the courts blaming purely Carlos Tevez, was that Sheffield United weren't good enough to stay down. Furthermore he even asked the question "Were Liverpool or United docked points?", well no but neither were Wolves.
Above all the moaning and nearly running Bury into the ground my main problem with the former Oldham manager is his clear selfishness. Everything Warnock says is to do with him. He does not feel for the club, or the fans he only cares what impact it has on him. Sheffield United went down and it meant he was no longer a Premier League manager. Palace drew with Villa and so it meant he was not in the next round of the FA cup- never mind the fact a replay was most important for Palace.
Selfishness is what kills a club. In this team game there is no room for a "me" attitude in any team, never mind one that is in financial danger. And this is where Pompey come back into play.
Portsmouth have been destroyed by several acts of selfishness. From chairman to former players. Perhaps one of the worst cases is Sol Campbell. Sol enjoyed a good period at Portsmouth, moving for free from Arsenal, he was amongst the clubs top earners and lifted the FA cup as captain. Now, back at Arsenal, Sol had decided that this is the time to claim the image rights he is owed. An argument for Sol is that he's just claiming what is rightfully his from the contract he had with the South Coast club. But has he not made enough money in his career that he can't avoid putting yet another nail in the Portsmouth coffin?
Look beyond the moaning, look beyond the character's involved and see just what is left. The sad truth that two football teams, with fans like you and I, are on the verge of extinction and that is truly sad!
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