Article on BBC web-site. What do you think? As Portsmouth powered their way to a 4-1 Premier League victory over Southampton in April, 2005, south coast football observers could feel the pendulum in this great rivalry swing decisively to the blue half of Hampshire. Seven years on, those who see football through red-tinted spectacles will feel that the natural order has been restored with Southampton in the top flight and Portsmouth somewhere below them in the pyramid. Yet just three years ago the roles were reversed. Southampton were in administration, relegated to League One and facing a fight for survival. Portsmouth were a Premier League club. Now look where we are today. A look into the past throws up similarities between two clubs 17 miles apart. Although to many they now seem worlds apart in their hopes and dreams. âUltimately, both these South Coast clubs have enjoyed similar highs at different times in their recent history. The difference, perhaps, is that when they were rocked to their foundations, Southampton's building blocks proved sturdier â Saints wooed the top flight with one of the top English managers of his day, Lawrie McMenemy, in the 1980s. Peter Shilton, Kevin Keegan, Mick Channon and Alan Ball, to name but a few, entertained the crowds at The Dell. In the Premier League they used their quaint and crowded surroundings to beat the odds consistently and stay up, thanks, to a large extent, to the magic of Matthew Le Tissier. For Southampton in the 1980s and 1990s, read Portsmouth under Harry Redknapp in the 2000s. Fratton Park was the Dell of it's era, Redknapp was the McMenemy-type figure. For Shilton and Keegan, Portsmouth had David James, Jermain Defoe and Sol Campbell, plus a host of world-class foreign players like Lassana Diarra. Southampton, like Portsmouth, longed for a new stadium during their glory years and although much maligned by some fans, former Saints chairman Rupert Lowe left one huge legacy - St Mary's. The splendid stadium gave a traditionally well-run club a 21st-century vision. While Portsmouth spent millions, entertained the crowds and notably won their first major silverware since the 1950s, Southampton were on their knees. Relegation from the top flight had left them in a financial mess, but they had a base from which to start. This clearly impressed the late Marcus Liebherr enough to invest millions into turning them back into the Premier League club they are today. Portsmouth's well-documented decline sees them facing an uncertain future. The fan-base will keep the Pompey Chimes alive, one way or another. Ultimately, both these south coast clubs have enjoyed similar highs at different times in their recent history. The difference, perhaps, is that when they were rocked to their foundations, Southampton's building blocks proved sturdier. The pendulum has certainly swung again, but for how long?
Poorly written article, in my opinion. He seeks to compare relative fortunes of the clubs by trying to throw light on the fact that when one club is high, the other is low. Then he fails to actually do it. Ending the article with the last line is meant to balance it up, when we all know the pendulum has swung so far over to the red side that it may never come back to the blue.
In recent times the swing to the blue side was only brief. We were a PL club for 27 years, for heaven's sake. We were always regarded as a well run club and were financially unsound for a relatively short time and that was caused partly by spending on SMS which was a factor in our favour when we needed an investor. If we were asked to design an owner and chairman we could scarcely have done better than Markus and Nicola. I'm sure we will do well in the PL and, if we don't, we will still remain financially sound. That's the difference between being run by a financial advisor and being run by wide boys who seek instant gratification. Pompey fans didn't ask for their run of dubious owners but it will be a long time before they get out from under.
I agree, a lazy piece of journalism. The article talks of a pendulum, but the fact is that the ups and downs of the two teams are entirely unrelated. Both Saints and Pompey could have gone down together or up together, that was not a factor on what caused the financial meltdown. The infrastructure debt did for Saints, but it made the club an attractive investment. I don't see any reason to suggest that the pendulum will swing back, poetic as that might be for those not astute enough to look for reasons why things happen.
