Now that Saints are officially promoted along with Brighton and them with a new stadium, do you feel the skates have been forced down the south coast pecking order because of the size of there support and the limitations of playing at fratton park? Also if Bournemouth were to win promotion in the play offs they would surely attracting bigger crowds would the skates be seen as the third or forth biggest club on the south coast?
If Bournemouth got promoted, there would have to be some massive and quick investment in DC to make it acceptable for the Championship.
Portsmouth will be where it has in the main it has been for the last 50 years or so. At best 2nd.......at worst 3rd or 4th depending on who you support..........
Prediction alert: Championship rankings: Saints 7/8th, Brighton 12th, Pompey 20th. Bournemouth sadly lost to Huddersfield in play-offs.
Fran I think Saints will get into the play-offs. The club is on the up and the momentum keeps building. With regard to the other South Coast clubs, I can't see Bournemouth beating Huddersfield and feel that they may experience a degree of the "Swindon effect" next season. They have done brilliantly well this season but there isn't the depth of squad or resources available for a repeat performance in my opinion. Brighton will struggle next year and I would be curious to see if Poyet isn't pinched by a Premiership club or largish Championship team taking a gamble. It wouldn't surprise me, for example, if Poyet ended up at somewhere like West Ham by the end of the summer. Even if he stays, I think Brighton will be bottom half of the table and i think may actually end up getting relegated. The issue of playing in a new and unfamiliar stadium is also another factor they will have to contend with. As for Portsmouth, it could go two ways. If things remain as they are with Chanrai in charge, I really fear for them .It will be a repeat of the scenario we experienced with Rupert Lowe. Cotterill will have his begging bowl out and will attempt to assemble a squad by the close of the window in September. Come May 2012, you could quite easily see them holding up the bottom of the Championship with Cotterill having jumped ship mid-season to join another club where the financial situation means that they have a fighting chance. However, if the Russian take-over happens as is looking increasingly likely after the news in today's papers, I think Cotterill is a good enough coach to make them very serious contenders for promotion. With the right additions to their depleted squad, I think Portsmouth have the potential to be a force in the Championship. Currently, they are comparible to Saints just before Portliveet took charge insofar they are a team on the uppers owned by someone who doesn;t really want to be there. At the moment you would have to be foolish to suggest that their current squad is anywhere as near as good as the team Adkins has assembled. By and large, we have spent the last two seasons playing in a league , as unpredictable as it is, that we should have dominated. I've been surprised at some of the quality of the football played in this league and it is not a division I would under-estimate. That said, no other team has really matched us for footballing ability. Technically, players like Fonte, Scheniederlin, AOC, Lallana and Hammond are well in excess of most other players in League One and I think , man for man, there aren't many Pompey players you would exchange for the current Saints set up. We may currently be quite cocky about being the best footballing side on the South Coast but I think a revitalised Portsmouth with a degree of financial clout behind them would present a challenge to us - although not necessarily one we won't rise to. Personally, I would prefer Portsmouth to suffer for atleast another season on the skids. My concern would be if the right investor stepped in to the breach Portsmouth could be galvanised in the way that they were when Malandric recruited Redknapp, Merson and Prosineckski several years back. It could easily go either way with Pompey. As their fans say, it is always a roller-coaster ride with Pompey.
I feel we are getting in front of ourselves. We have just finished in second place and will, as Nigel has said, need a few players to improve the squad. How many can come from the youngsters is debatable but I do see Gobern as having a chance to shine and he will hopefully be up to the job. Nigel won't destroy the squad we have, but will be looking for a few players to make us stronger I am sure.
well put ian thumwood. i was going to answer that i saw pompey just below crawley town in the south pecking order but you have summed it up better than me and credit to pompey for finishing where they did this season with their depleted squad.
