I can understand that completely. The same could said of the vast majority of fans at this end of the M27.
All the Pompey fans in my family must hide their shirts then being from the 'Southampton' catchment areas (Winchester/Andover/Dorset!!!). Must also hide their bank statements too and take their drawings/salaries out in used fivers to pay for their season tickets!!!
Majr But pompeys citizens hatred remains the same , that my point , they bring their hatred of a city and glue it to their football club .
We are talking about a City that refused a railway station because Southampton would of been in the name , this was in 1840 , 55 odd years later came the club , their chip on shoulder attitude is apparent but taken for "working class" mentality by apologists for the 657 and their Island Ze Germans are coming thought process . Southampton has always looked out for trade , Portsmouth has always been rebuking invasion , obvious it would rub off on it's citizens , do not mistake this for civic pride or a fondness for their football club , they would go otherwise .
Again a generalizing statement. You know everybody in Portsmouth personally do you? You've canvassed public opinion on the high street? Been to schools, shops, business and surveyed the matter? As I said, diversity is found in all walks of life. So try to avoid generalizing statements in the future. Southampton has always been a commerical port, Portsmouth has always been a military port. Citing Southampton's greater commcercial/trade reliance ingores this historical fact. Portsmouth has historically relied on the Royal Navy and the business built around it, supporting it to increase is economy while Southampton has relied on shipping good to foreign lands or being a passenger port. Modern Portsmouth has become a passenger port as well as a Navy port and also handles some trade but still no where near the extent that Southampton does. The idea that the City discourages trade and seeks isolation is ridiculous.
The mindset is one of ourselves alone , many people in Portsmouth enjoy this . As for generalising you know all the people who go into fratton park are working class ? I state again let's see how loyal and enthusiastic they are if they are relegated ? May I presume that they will get less than we did , hardly more passionate , or is passion shown by shouting scummet a hundred times over at a TV ?
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/pompey-past/pompey-face-5-000-after-derby-heroics-1-3715819 Nothing like kicking someone when they are already down! Some of the comments on there have to be seen to be believed too.
Makes us on this forum look well behaved! Beddy and Channon would have their hands full modding that lot!
Are you perhaps under the mistaken idea that I am trying to portray Portsmouth fans as more passionate or loyal than Southampton ones? Because if you are then your wrong. I have never claimed that. I opposed you bringing up the idea that Pompey fans were a) indifferent to their own club, b) hate Southampton indiscriminately and c) are defined predominately by their hatred of Southampton. You generalized all Pompey fans into the bracket that you hate, not even attempting to recognize the many differnet type of fans that exist for Pompey and every other club. And if you look back at my posts in this thread I said historically Southampton's fanbase came from a high social class than Pompey but no survey into the matter would find this to be true today. It was a Southampton fan who claimed Portsmouth's fanbase was working class, not me.
Yes, and I took issue with that Southampton fan over precisely that issue, I think he has no evidence to support that. Mind you, he was absolutely certain that Saints and Pompey would be fighting it out in the Championship again next season 3 days ago, so that's another opinion which I do not share!
I never thought I'd say this, but Pompey fans are better than ours. You may say they only get 15,000 but they're more passionate and more realistic than our 25,000. Our fans are probably the biggest moaners I've ever come across at football and it's quite embarrassing, especially as we're having our best season in years.
Our fans are a little special. It's maybe the 'backs against the wall' situation we've found ourselves in lately that's brought this to the fore but numbers wise we're struggling these days. It was'nt always like that and there's a dozen good reasons why this is now the case but as far as real support is concerned I really believe we can be very proud of how we support our players. OK, there's always one or two nutters but very rarely will you hear the crowd turn against the players if things are not going our way. Most Portsea island fans would agree to having a real pride in club and city. Ian had something there, although he was almost a lilittle condiscending at times.History is important to us-it's all around us and we're very proud of our clubs acheivements since 1896- no one can ever take that away. Don't forget, to the last generation- Pompey were top division from 1927 to 1959, over thirty years when Southampton were marginally better than Bournemouth and many Saints fans used to travel to FP to watch a top flight game. I realise you've made your own history since then but these things run deep. We may not have the numbers of those days but if you listened to Merson or Thompson last Saturday lunchtime on Sky Soccer Saturday, they explained it pretty well. Even Phil Thompson had to admit, he thought the Pompey fans were then the best in the Premier League.
But now they think Stoke are the best thing since sliced bread , or is it Swansea ? Judge a teams fans when they are in dire straits not when they are doing well , look at Stokes and Swanseas from previous eras and you will see they are not all that good .
Thompson is wrong then , why did Pompey fail sell out their home fixture with Saints ? Lazy journalism and not true at all .
Bit if a generalisation though? Are you basing that on you're experience of going to Fratton Park to compare their fans at home or just with your experience of the away fans at the Derby? Or is this your experience of knowing a certain statistically significant number of Pompey fans personally? It's easy to make generalisations, although I wouldn't personally criticise my fellow Saints fans en-masse without some sort of evidence.
We'll see how great Pompey fans are, IF they get relegated to Div 3... my guess is that Fratton will be half full with about 10,000 gates. Saints fans can be proud of the fact that we are one of the very few clubs to average over 20,000 in the third tier, in the modern era.
If they start winning, the fans will return. We all enjoyed League 1, but, sadly for Pompey, they don't have our resources.
Why do resources play a part ? Regardless of money surely loyal fans solely care about their team , my guess is about 9,000 low and 15,000 high , woeful for the most loyal , passionate , all singing and dancing fans around .
Oh enough with that bloody myth. We don't claim it, just because you say we do does not mean we do!!!! Resources play a part because if we have no money, we can't put out a good team and lose most weeks, so people will be disinclined to go. If you have lots of money (i.e. Saints when you were in League 1) then you can build a great time and win most weeks so people will be more inclined to attend. Resources aren't just money as well but other assets. So yes, resources do matter.
