Play up Pompey, Just one more goal! Make tracks! What ho! Hallo! Hallo!!

[brettney1980]

Portsmouth F.C

Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The club is playing in Football League One in the 2012–13 season after being relegated from the Football League Championship in 2011–12.

Portsmouth have been a successful club in recent years, especially during the 2007-08 Premier League season, when they won the FA Cup, beating Cardiff City 1–0 in the final. They subsequently qualified for the UEFA Cup (now Europa League). During this period, Portsmouth were recognised to have a large number of international footballers, including England players Glen Johnson and Jermain Defoe, as well as Peter Crouch, David James and Sol Campbell.

Portsmouth have been champions of England twice, in 1949 and 1950. As well as the 2008 FA Cup win, Portsmouth also won in 1939, when they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in the final at Wembley Stadium.

On 23 November 2011, a Europe-wide arrest warrant was issued for owner of Portsmouth, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Antonov, by Lithuanian prosecutors as part of an investigation into alleged asset stripping at Lithuanian bank Bankas Snoras, which is 68% owned by Antonov and went into temporary administration the previous week. Operations in another of Antonov's banks, Latvijas Krajbanka were suspended by Latvian authorities on 22 November 2011 for similar reasons. Antonov was subsequently arrested at his offices in London on 24 November and was bailed.

Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI) released a statement which said "In the light of the recent events at Snoras Bank, Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI) would like to reassure its companies, staff, and the fans of its teams and events, that it remains very much business as usual." The statement added that "CSI has been solely financed through the private wealth of its owners. Snoras Bank has never provided funding for the purchase of a CSI organisation, nor has it lent any money to these businesses after they have been acquired." However, Lithuanian prosecutors added that they would be taking "all the necessary steps" to freeze assets belonging to Mr Antonov and his business partner. On 29 November 2011, Antonov resigned as chairman of Portsmouth after parent company Convers Sports Initiatives entered administration. On 24 January 2012, Portsmouth were issued with a winding up petition by HMRC for over £1.6 million in unpaid taxes, which was heard on 20 February.

On 17 February, Portsmouth went into administration for the second time in two years, bringing them an automatic 10-point deduction. Administrator Trevor Birch admitted that the financial situation was "worse than we first feared" and that Portsmouth were "struggling to make the end of the season". On 11 April 2012, reports from administrators PKF revealed that Portsmouth owed £58 million debt with £38 million is owed to UHY Hacker Young, £10.5 million investment made by Vladimir Antonov's Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI) remains outstanding, Players are due £3.5 million in wages and bonuses for the last two seasons, while £2.3 million is owed to Revenue and Customs and additionally, £3.7 million is owed for general trade. On 21 April Portsmouth were relegated from the Championship after a 2–1 loss to Derby County, condemning Portsmouth to League One with no money in the bank – the first time in 30 years that the club has played at that level.

[brettney1980]

*Records/Info. Post*

[brettney1980]

Fratton Park.

Capacity: 21,178

Fratton Park is a football stadium in the English city-port of Portsmouth. It has been the home of professional club Portsmouth F.C. since its construction in 1898.

The stadium currently has four stands, all seated. The pitch runs from east to west. The largest and most modern stand, at the ground's western end, is the Fratton End (commercially known by its sponsor name as JobSite UK stand). Along either side of the pitch are the North and South stands, both of which are two-tiered. At the eastern end is the Milton End (sponsored as Apollo stand), by far the smallest stand. Formerly the only roofless stand in the Premier League, a roof was added before the 2007/08 season. This stand is shared between home and away supporters. The original entrance to the Fratton End is notable for its mock Tudor façade. Following the arrival of former owner Alexandre Gaydamak several renovations were made to Fratton Park, including improved dressing rooms, the above-mentioned roof over the Milton end and a big-screen above the police box between the North Stand and Milton End. The North Stand was refreshed for the 2010/2011 season with renewed sponsorship by Mercedes-Benz (Ridgeway Group) which replaced the "Fratton Park Portsmouth" and the club crest.

The stadium is served by Fratton railway station (about 10 minutes' walk away), which is located on the Portsmouth Direct Line.

Ridgeway Group North Stand

Milton End

South Stand

The Jobsite Fratton End Stand

The Pompey Fans

The 12th man is the Pompey Faithful sticking with the team through thick and thin (although it's mostly been thin these past few years).

Following Pompey's relegation, the entire professional playing squad left the club, with the final player leaving on 10 July 2012. Michael Appleton left the club on the very next day leaving Portsmouth without a First Team squad or Manager and the 2012/13 League One Campaign set to begin in one months time.

Guy Whittingham and Ashley Westwood were left in charge of 'desperately' trying to bring players in for the rapidly approaching new season until a new Manager could be appointed ...

These are the players they brought in (including academy players), This is the report of the team that the New Manager recieved on his desk at 9:00am, July 17th .. His first day in charge.

I am that man, and this is my story.

[brettney1980]

July 17th 2012.

Dear Diary why did i take this job!?

The first day on the job i met the staff a decent bunch who will all keep their jobs, mostly because we don't have the money to pay off anyone or sign anyone else. Guy Whittingham is the best of the bunch i see him moving up to be my Ass Man if/when Ashley Westwood leaves. But for now Westwood keeps that role and i leave him in charge of the Friendly matches we have planned while i get to the task of hunting for Loanees and possible freebies ...

Wage Budget: 30.66k

Transfer Budget: 0

Board Expectations: Stay Clear of Relegation.

While awaiting a new Chariman a Transfer Embargo was put in place (not that we had any money anyway).

With the 17 players we have in the first team squad 3 have contracts until September, 10 in October and another in November .. Yes this will be a tough first few months... Oh and we are also almost 5k over budget ...

I decided the best way to bring in players would be to contact all the Premiership clubs and beg them to lend us their Players ... Then i'll move to the Championship Etc. Etc. I know, i know we can only have 5 Loanees in the squad for League One but we need numbers desperately and i'm not sure how long it will take for the board to sort things out.

I managed to annoy a player within the first month (i'm a fast worker) i brought in 2 GK's on Loan and told Simon Eastwood he would be backup ... He offered to leave and i let him.

The friendlies went quite well (nice work Ashley Westwood). First round draw for the Capital One Cup: Away vs Torquay. We have a chance here, could do with win to boost Morale before the nitty gritty starts.

14/8/12, Away vs Torquay

Went with a 4-4-2 Diamond formation narrow a DMC (Def) and AM (Att).

Lubomir Michalik getting an 8.3 and Brian Howard getting an 8.4 (PotM) helped us to a 2-2 draw in normal time with Loanee Frederic Piquionne (thanks Big Sam) and Lee Williamson grabbing the goals. We struggled to get anything in extra time and the match went to Peanlties. I felt quietly confident and sent out Brian Howard, Michael Johnson, Akos Buzsaky, Patrick Bamford and Frederic Piquionne to take the penalties. Bamford and Piquionne missed and we went to sudden death, they scored their 6th and up stepped Eric Lihaj ... And missed, out we go to a team one league below us and we can't even say we played a weakened side.

1,293 people saw us lose my first match in charge .. Damn!

[davey247]

Nothing like a challenge!! Good luck

[brettney1980]

Nothing like a challenge!! Good luck

Thankyou, i'll need a whole bunch of that.

[brettney1980]

15/8/12 - Local Businessman David Sheepshanks fails in his takeover bid ... We are now allowed to sign players again.

18/8/12 - With 7 loaness already in i was looking forward to our first League One game Away to Bury.

We were holding Bury 1-1 with just minutes left on the clock but in the 89th minute Mustapha Dumbuya dives in for a tackle and the referee blows his whistle ... Shows Dumbuya the Red Card for what he calls a dangerous tackle. 2 minutes later and theres the winner ... 2-1 Bury!

Pompey Scorer: Izale McLeod.

Booked: Luke Rodgers, Frederic Piquionne.

Red Card: Mustapha Dumbuya.

Pompey PotM: Gabor Gyepes.

No more signings before our second game but i had been in touch with Free Agent and former Portsmouth player Herman Hreidarsson (Clubs Favoured Personnel).

21/8/12 - First Home game vs Preston, i decided to switch to a 4-5-1/4-3-3 with Howard playing Advanced Playmaker just behind McLoad. The experiment didn't work at all and we were hammered 0-3.

Pompey PotM: Adam Webster.

25/8/12 - Hreidarsson came in (on £850 great stuff). No other signings before game 3 Away vs Leyton Orient.

A much better game even though our defence played shocking for some reason, we beat them 3-2 with McLoad scoring an Hattrick.

Pompey Scorer: Izale McLeod (x3).

Pompey PotM: Izale McLoad.

1/9/12 - Deadline day game Home vs Yeovil, we drew 1-1 and 3 players went off with knocks (Johnson, Sidibe and McLoad).

Pompey Scorer: Michael Johnson.

Booked: Hermann Hreidersson, Darel Russell and Mamady Sidibe.

Pompey PotM: Hermann Hreidersson.

Four games, four points if it wasn't for being knocked out of the Capital One cup i'd say that was an okay start. I tried to offer most the players who were leaving new contracts, a few took them most wanted too much money though including Jon Harley who looks set to leave on the 16th September.

*Coming Next: A roundup of the Special 10 + Septembers matches.

[brettney1980]

Summer Transfer Window closed, in comes these 10;

Aziz Deen-Conteh 3 month Loan from Chelsea.

Eric Lihaj Season long Loan from Aston Villa.

Benjamin Siegrist Season long Loan from Aston Villa.

Patrick Bamford Season long Loan from Chelsea.

Frederic Piquionne Season Long Loan from West Ham.

Michael Johnson Season Long Loan from Man City.

Gunnar Nielsen Season Loan Loan from Man City.

Hermann Hreidarsson Free Signing.

Mamady Sidibe Season Long Loan from Stoke.

Ricardo Gardner Free Signing.

15/9/12 - We got a bit of a break thanks to the International Window, but during the break we lost a player Jon Harley left after his contract was up (and he wouldn't take a paycut) he made 2 appearances whilst at the club, not a massive loss.

Away vs Oldham

With all players rested we went into the game with our strongest lineup and this was easily our best game since i took over we dominated and won the game 2-0. Hreidersson was Injured in the game (hopefully he wont miss too many matches he's been an important signing).

Pompey Scorers: Brian Howard and Frederic Piquionne.

Booked: Eric Lihaj.

Pompey PotM: Ferderic Piquionne.

18/9/12 - Away vs Tranmere

The media think we can beat them, i feel confident but ... Nothing clicks on the night and they 'steal' a 0-1 victory over us.

Booked: Ferderic Piquionne.

Pompey PotM: Eric Lihaj.

22/9/12 - Home vs Hartlepool

Another very dissapointing game, we really should be beating these teams but to be honest we never looked like scoring. Ever since McLoad got the hattrick he has been very poor for us (i'm putting it down to the pressure of the media keep banging on about him 1 goal off his 100). 0-1.

28/9/12 - Home vs Bournemouth

0-0

Slightly better if only for the fact we kept our first clean sheet of the league, we are really missing Hreidersson and without McLoad scoring i just don't know where the goals will come from.

Booked: Aziz Deen-Conteh and Gabor Gyepes.

Pompey PotM: Benjamin Siegrist.

So 4 points in 4 again but we drop into the bottom 4 (we have a couple of games in hand though). We need to start picking up points and i need to find someone who can score us a goal and is not named McLoad, especiall since he is set to leave in October and isn't looking like he will sign a contract extension.

League One Table.

[brettney1980]

October 2012

2/10/12 - Away vs Colchester.

A great game, not only did we keep our second clean sheet in a row but the team performed great most of our players picked up high ratings in a 1-0 victory.

Pompey Scorer: Gabor Gyepes

Booked: Mustapha Dumbuya

Pompey PotM: Lubomir Michalik

6/10/12 - Home vs MK Dons

I'd say another great game .. But i'd be lying. Piquionne opened the scoring in the 14th minute, 2 mins later they equalised. They had a player sent off in the 22nd minute and Piquionne completed an hattrick much later after a boring 40 odd minutes. Lihaj was sent off for a second bookable in the 87th minute and they made it three in the 90th. Well at least we are 4 points clear of the relegation zone now ... 3-1.

Pompey Scorers: Brian Howard and Frederic Piquionne.

Booked: Eric Lihaj, Lubomir Michalik.

Sent Off: Eric Lihaj.

Pompey PotM: Frederick Piquionne

With a week to go before the contracts of Brian Howard, Mustapha Dumbuya, Izale McLoad, Luke Rodgers, Jack Compton and Liam Walkers contracts are up i wanted to try one more time to offer all (except Compton) new deals, especially since we are currently 1.66k under the Wage Budget. But Howard and McLoad refuse to even enter nogotiations putting a downer on things the others have offers with Minimum fee releases on the table ...

9/10/12 - Home vs Northampton (Johnstones Paint Trophy)

A completely crazy game, very good for the neutral but not for my nerves .. We had 21 shots, we hit the bar and the post, Piquionne was closing down on goal when 3/4 yards out he was stopped by a last ditch tackle. McLoad had an hatful of chances including one cleared off the line before he finally scored. The game finished 1-1 in normal time and add in that Northampton had a goal disallowed late on. On to Penalties and when it went 2-2 i thought we had it .. Up steps McLoad who missed and they went on and scored their 5th. Thompson must score .. He does. They miss and Ertl stepes up and scores the 6th and we scrape a win (with a weakened side i did start with 3 U18's players).

Pompey Scorers: Izale McLoad

Booked: Michael Johnson and Aziz Deen-Conteh.

Pompey PotM: George Colson

10/10/12 - Mamady Sidibe who has struggled with Injury and fitness since joining us on Loan today broke down in training and will miss 5-6 months of action. Annoying but it seems i can't terminate his loan ...

16/10/12 - Luke Rodgers 3(3), Brian Howard 8(3)1, Izale McLoad 10(2)5 and Jack Compton 1(1) have all decided to leave Portsmouth!

17/10/12 - Hermann Hreidersson is named has the new Portsmouth Club Captain!

21/10/12 - Away vs Brentford

Back to the league, back to Lihaj tackling like a muppet, 2 bookables and he's off in the 85' minute .. Luckily we were already 2-1 up and cruizing, we just did enough to hang on in there. Final score 2-1.

Pompey Scorers: Frederic Piquionne and Hermann Hreidarsson (Record Oldest Score at 38 and 101 days)

Booked: Eric Lihaj.

Sent Off: Eric Lihaj.

Pompey PotM: Hermann Hreidarsson

Now into the top half of the table.

23/10/12 - Home vs Doncaster

After a couple of good performances we completely fell apart here against a team who had only won once before coming to Fratten Park, yes i rested a couple of players but i didn't expect this. 0-1 loss.

Booked: George Colson.

Pompey PotM: Aziz Deen-Conteh

28/10/12 - Aziz Deen-Conteh finishes his loan spell and returns to Chelsea, he made 6 appearances for Portsmouth.

29/10/12 - Away vs Scunthorpe

An excellent second half performance sees us come back from 1-3 down to snatch a point with a 3-3 draw. Not exactly the result i expected before the game as they are a few places below us but they looked good in the first half and i'll taker the away point.

Pompey Scorers: Ashley Harris, Patrick Bamford and Frederic Piquionne.

Booked: Lee Williamson

Pompey PotM: Patrick Bamford

League Table

[JackJCFC]

Good work so far

[brettney1980]

Good work so far

Thanks, i'm not able to get in as much FM time as i usually do but i'm trying to get a month in here and there and been wanting to try my luck with poor Portsmouth.

[brettney1980]

November 2012

1/11/12 - On Loan GK Gunnar Nielsen twisted his ankle during a training session and will miss 4-5 weeks of action

... With very poor backups i think i'll look to bring in a GK as an emergency (we are 11k above the wage budget

after the latest players that left).

3/11/12 - Home vs Doncaster FA Cup, round 1.

We went 2-1 up with 25 minutes to go and i thought we had enough to hang on and get our revenge but alas it wasn't to be and they equalized in the 89th minute to force a replay .. Like we need more games. 2-2.

Pompey Scorers: Lubomir Michalik (first goal for the club) and Lee Williamson.

Booked: Ashley Harris and Akos Buzsaky.

Pompey PotM: Akos Buzsaky.

4/11/12 - Signed a third Hungarian in GK Peter Gulacsi, the former Liverpool Keeper left the club in the summer and made 15 apps for Hull on loan last season in the Championship so he should have enough experience for us to step into the number one spot.

5/11/12 - In comes a loanee Striker Adam Birchall.

FA Cup draw, if we beat Doncaster we will play Bromley of the BSS Away!

8/11/12 - Away vs Shrewsbury

We took Shrewsbury apart mostly with Piquionne's clinical finishing the boy was on fire ... 3-0 .. Oh he also overshadowed Gulacsi's debut clean sheet nice work Peter!

Pompey Scorers: Frederic Piquionne (3) Hattrick!

Booked: Darel Russell and Eric Lihaj.

Off Injured: Michael Johnson and Akos Buzsaky.

Pompey PotM: Frederic Piquionne

10/11/12 - Home vs Crewe

Against a side i expect us to beat i chucked new loanee Adam Birchall (from Gillingham) right into the action, Jed Wallace also came in from the U18'2 to make his 2nd start. We won the game 2-0 and it could of easily been more, more like a training game.

Pompey Scorers: Akos Buzsaky and Adam Birchall.

Booked: Eric Lichaj (i swear he doesn't know how to tackle) and Darel Russell.

Pompey PotM: Akos Buzsaky

Up to 12th with 4 games in hand over the 2 above teams, we could make it into the playoffs with 2 wins and a draw from the games in hand ...

First he makes two awesome appearances for us keeping clean sheets in the both of them and then he gets his very first Hungary Cap a great couple of weeks for Peter Gulacsi!

17/11/12 - Home vs Swindon

Im clearly jinxed this with my hitting the playoffs comment ... Lost 0-1 and Hreidarsson went off Injured and will miss up to 2 months of action.

Off Injured: Hermann Hreidarsson.

Pompey PotM: Lubomir Michalik

Out of the top half of the table ...

22/11/12 - Away vs Doncaster (FA Cup 1st rd Replay).

A very even shot but we got our revenge at last and i am very happy with a 1-0 victory, 11 shots each, 4 on target them vs 3 us. 50% Possession each and even 1 Yellow card each. Close game.

Pompey Scorer: Akos Buzsaky.

Booked: Darel Russell.

Pompey PotM: Patrick Bamford.

So that booking means a 1 game ban for Darel Russell.

24/11/12 - Away vs Coventry

The fans may not of been happy with the outcome and yes we was outclasses but we was playing the team second in the league with an handful of players unfit. Callum Bell was a real star for them scoring 4 goals damn!

Pompey Scorer: Frederic Piquionne.

Booked: Frederic Piquionne.

Pompey PotM: Frederic Piquionne.

I've decided to bring in another striker on the Loan Deadline day and in comes Simeon Jackson from Norwich.

28/11/12 - Home vs Crawley

One of our many games in hand and a win would see us 14th ... But we are stunned by Crawley after we took the lead in the 23' minute they came back and took us apart.

Pompey Scorer: O.G

Booked: Darel Russell.

Pompey PotM: Akos Buzsaky.

7 games in November 3 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses so a pretty Average one.

Team Report!

Squad Stats.

League One Table.

[brettney1980]

December 2012;

1/12/12 - Away vs Bromley FA Cup 2nd rd.

Full credit to Bromley for almost pulling off a bit of a giant killing it took an 86' minute corner headed in by Patrick Bamford for us to force a replay after they took the lead late in the first half. 1-1. I did pick the 18 players with the highest Condition to play (which included 6 U18's in the starting 11) but no exceses we shopuld of beaten them without the need for a replay.

Pompey Scorer: Patrick Bamford.

Booked: Dan Butler and Dan Thompson.

Pompey PotM: Patrick Bamford.

2/12/12 - FA Cup 3rd round draw. We get Torquay or Oxford if we can beat Bromley. Hopefully it is Torquay, we need some revenge after they put us out of the Capital One cup after Penalties.

4/12/12 - Away vs Leyton Orient Johnstones Paint Trophy, Q-Final.

We did enough, played a weakened side, got the goal went 5 at the back and held on without making things too tiring, oh and very happy that Jackson got hs first goal, very pleased with things. 1-0.

Pompey Scorer: Simeone Jackson

Pompey PotM: Simeone Jackson.

7/12/12 - Johnstones Paint Trophy Southern Semi Final Draw: Plymouth, currently sitting bottom of League 2 so i'm happy with the draw.

8/12/12 - Home vs Bury.

Played very well 19 shots and 8 on target, should of and could of gotten more than the 2 goals maybe the 2-1 victory didn't look as easy as it was.

Pompey Score: Lee Williamson and Simeone Jackson

Booked: Gabor Gyepes

Pompey PotM: Michael Johnson

11/12/12 - Home vs Portsmouth FA Cup 2nd round replay.

Played a weaker team again, possibly even weaker than the original tie in some respects but the result was mush different and even though we struggled in the first half we made things count come the second, Birchall scored from the penalty spot on 57' minute and Jackson finished things off in the 79' minute, happy with the result although they did pose abit of a threat again. 2-0 win. Harry Medway becomes youngest ever Portsmouth player (beating Gary O'Neil's record from 13 years ago.

Pompey Scorers: Adam Birchall and Simeone Jackson.

Booked: Harry Medway.

Pompey PotM: Adam Webster.

15/12/12 - Away vs Preston

Who were the better side? Preston. Who won? Portsmouth 2-1 very pleased you need a little luck sometimes in football and we really rode ours here. But a win is a win and we'll take our 40& possession and the 3 points thanks.

Pompey Scorers: Akos Buzsaky and Simeone Jackson.

Pompey PotM: Akos Buzsaky.

From the 21st of November right through to the 13th of February we are playing 2 games every week (as planned so far) i'm surprised our small squad is surviving as well as it is, hopefully we can get through Christmas and the New Year without too many injuries and push on then beyond mid table.

19/12/12 - Home vs Carlisle

Very upsetting end to the game. The first half was pretty even and no surprise we went in 0-0 although we did have a goal disallowed for offside when Simeone Jackson put the ball in the net, into the second half and i got the lads to attack from the whistle and we got the early goal i was hoping for in the 47' minute but 80' and 86' minutes they pulled goals back and won the game 2-1 whilst i was telling the lads to hold the lead ... Damn that didn't work!

Pompey Scorer: Simeone Jackson

Pompey PotM: Darel Russell.

20/12/12 We get the news that Mustapha Dumbuya has been named in the Preliminary Squad for Sierra Leones African Cup of Nations Squad! - Not good news for us.

22/12/12 - The midfield looked pretty weak with me not wanting to play anyone with a condition less than 90% but we scraped through with much less possession again, 2-0 this time, thanks to Thompson and Thompson!!

Pompey Scores: Dan Thompson and Josh Thompson.

Booked: Dan Thompson and Mustapha Dumbuya

Pompey PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

Lubomir Michalik has it in his contract that after 1 more game he gets a huge pay increase ... I asked him to help the club and ignore this but he refused believing he has earned it. Now dilemma do i play him!? Answers on a postcard!

Christmas Eve: Have a very Merry Pompay Christmas to all the Portsmouth fans.

Still we await new owners, we are 9k under our wage budget but with the financial problems i wouldn't really want to go any higher. Lee Williamson is our highest paid player on £3,500 a week, next is Lubomir Michalik on £2,300 (although rises to £3,200 after 1 more League game) third is Gabor Gyepes £1,500. 17 players (not including those on Youth contracts). Only 6 player contracts go beyond this season. Plus we have 9 players in on Loan!

How about some more interesting facts (while i'm in a fact sharing mood);

Tallest Player: Josh Thompson, CB 6'5

Shortest Player: Andrew Higgins, LM 5'5 (Youth Player)

Shortest First Teamer is Adam Birchall (On Loan) CF, 5'6

Heaviest Player: Dan Thompson, CF 196lbs

Lightest: Jed Wallace, 138lbs @ 5'11

Oldest: Hermann Hreidarsson, 38

Internationals: 13.

1 French (Piquionne 1 Cap), 3 Hungarian (Gyepes 26 Caps, Buzsaky 23 Caps and Gulacsi 1 Cap). Sierra Leone (Dumbuya 5 Caps), 1 Austrian (Ertl 7 Caps), 1 Slovakian (Michalik 7 Caps), 1 American (Lichaj 8 Caps), 1 Faroes Islands (Nielsen 12 Caps), 1 Malian (Sidibe 14 Caps), 1 Canadian (Jackson 32 Caps) 1 Iceland (Hreidarsson 87 Caps) and finally 1 Jamaican still picking up Caps (Gardner 115 Caps).

26/12/12 - Away vs Yeovil

We fully deserved the win here and went out and snatched it, the Yeovil players must of eaten too much turkey because they didn't move as much as i'd of expected and i'm real happy with the 2-0 victory.

Pompey Scores: Lee Williamson and Ashley Harris

Booked: Lee Williamson and Mustapha Dumbuya

Pompey PotM: Lee Williamson.

29/12/12 - Away vs Crawley

Just like at the end of November Crawley beat us 2-1, they opened the scoring early (6' minute) we grabbed an equalizer in the 32' bu 7 minutes from time with us trying to hold it they stole one and we lost a point we'd fought hard for.

Pompey Scores: Simeone Jackson

Booked: Jed Wallace

Pompey PotM: Simeone Jackson

31/12/12 An early New Years present for me and the club (and Michalik indirectly has i wouldn't of played him again, i'd of sent him on loan or something ...) Lubomir Michalik has signed a new contract, taking the wage rise out and dropping his basic wage £500 for an extra years extension - A good deal for us all, thanks Michalik.

League Table!

Squad Stats.

New this month i thought i'd select a Player of the Month: Simeone Jackson. For scoring 6 goals in the month, great start to his Portsmouth career .. Shame he's only here for 3 months.

[tyepye]

Good luck with Pompey, I failed in my short lived career with them. I'll go back in a future save though.

Think it's one of the tougher teams to manage.

[MeesterCat]

Good luck mate with this one.

As you know from the Pompey thread in GP&TG I cheated with my save by using a Tycoon save. I'll be watching this with interest to see how you get on with a 'proper', honest Pompey save.

It's a shame about Sidibe - he has been an absolute star for me as a DLF(s). I'm glad you seem to have survived the mid October contract Armageddon relatively intact!

[brettney1980]

Good luck with Pompey, I failed in my short lived career with them. I'll go back in a future save though.

Think it's one of the tougher teams to manage.

Thanks, yeah i love the idea of trying to 'save' this once great club and keep the wages low using youth and Lonees etc. good fun.

Good luck mate with this one.

As you know from the Pompey thread in GP&TG I cheated with my save by using a Tycoon save. I'll be watching this with interest to see how you get on with a 'proper', honest Pompey save.

It's a shame about Sidibe - he has been an absolute star for me as a DLF(s). I'm glad you seem to have survived the mid October contract Armageddon relatively intact!

I'd of been gutted if i had gotten a tycoon takeover to be honest, i got one on another save and it killed my enjoyment .. Dunno why, guess i'm a little strange like that. I'm hoping Sidibe can do something once Jackson and Birchall are gone. Piquionne has been good though. I only lost Howard and McLoed who i would of liked to of kept, don't thionk i'm missing McLoed too much though and Buzsaky has done well in Howards AM role.

[MeesterCat]

I'd of been gutted if i had gotten a tycoon takeover to be honest, i got one on another save and it killed my enjoyment .. Dunno why, guess i'm a little strange like that.

Normally I'd agree - my preferred saves are to take underperforming teams or fallen giants with poor finances back to the top. However I thought a Tycoon owned Pompey might provide an interesting game to literally rebuild the club from the ground up. Plus having a family has limited my game time somewhat - a tycoon allows me to accelerate things.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that you get a Fans Trust takeover.

[brettney1980]

Normally I'd agree - my preferred saves are to take underperforming teams or fallen giants with poor finances back to the top. However I thought a Tycoon owned Pompey might provide an interesting game to literally rebuild the club from the ground up. Plus having a family has limited my game time somewhat - a tycoon allows me to accelerate things.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that you get a Fans Trust takeover.

I've had my take over now (will be in next update) and the genius takes over the club needing to take out another Loan to help with excisting depts ... Yeah genius work boss just what we needed another Loan (we already pay out £180k a month in loan repayments)!

[brettney1980]

January 2013;

1/1/13 Mustapha Dumbuya earned a spot in the Sierra Leone African Nations Cup Squad, congrats Mustapha. We'll miss him though.

Home vs Walsall

We hit the woodwork 3 times and these are the sort of games we really should be winning and so i am very dissapointed that we lost this 0-1, poor result.

Booked: Dan Butler, Lee Williamson and Michael Johnson.

Pompey PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

5/1/13 - New Chairman Simon Blitz steps in (Cool name boss), he says no money will be made available and he has had to take out a Loan of £1.54M to help with the existing depts. Great so not only are we paying Loan depts of £180k per month until 1/7/16 now add a further £5.25 per month until 30/12/37 to that.

5/1/13 - Away vs Oxford FA Cup 3rd round.

We couldn't even get a single shot on target, it really was one of those games for us really struggled. Okay we did play a weaker side, but we have to every now and then we just don't have a very big squad. Somehow though in the 10' minute young Grant headed the ball and their keeper pushed it into his own net giving us the lead, we couldn't hold it though and they equalized in the 69' minute. 1-1. We'll need a replay at ours ...

Portsmouth Scorer: O.G

Booked: Alex Grant.

Pompey PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

6/1/13 FA Cup 4th round draw: We get Norwich or Liverpool (at Home) if we can get past Oxford.

8/1/13 - Home vs Plymouth Johnstones Paint Trophy South Semi Final.

We dominated the match pretty much 23 shots and 13 on target to their 6 and 2. We probably should of scored more but i'll take the win. Jackson came close to getting an hattrick a real shame he didn't he's in awesome form since arriving at the club, he really hasn't had a bad game. 4-2 victory.

Portsmouth Scorers: Simeone Jackson (2), Ricardo Gardner and Michael Johnson.

Booked: Lubomir Michalik

Pompey PotM: Simeone Jackson

Who should we get in the Johnstones Paint Trophy South Final!? Oxford, should be interesting as it's a 2 legged affair which will bring our games vs the League 2 club to 4 (after our FA Cup games against them).

12/1/13 - Away vs Hartlepool

Other than our defense we didn't look very good out there .. We probably deserved a draw out of the game but alas it wasn't to be. 0-1 loss.

Pompey PotM: Eric Lichaj.

16/1/13 - Home vs Oxford FA Cup 3rd round Replay.

For the first 20 minutes we dominated the game, theythen scored on a break and the rest is history we were pretty poor from then on in add in 2 players going on injured and things were just never looking like going our way on this day. Capaldi tore us apard getting an hattrick. 0-3 Oxford.

Off Injured: Ferderic Piquionne and Akos Buzsaky.

Pompey PotM: Ricardo Gardner.

Frederic Piquionne has now gone 8 games without scoring and things went from bad to worse for him against Oxford when he landed heavily on his arm breaking it and he had only been on the pitch for 19 minutes.

19/1/13 - Away vs Bournemouth

Very very lucky, we played very poor all game and then somehow snatched an equalizer 4 minutes from time. Basicly we stole a point! 1-1

Portsmouth Scorer: Simeone Jackson.

Booked: Eric Lichaj and Lee Williamson.

Pompey PotM: Gabor Gyepes.

21/1/13 Kemy Agustien joins on Loan till the end of the Season, thought we could do with another CM we end up short at times with the amount of games we are playing.

23/1/13 - Away vs Walsall

After 2 losses and a draw we needed something good here, we have performed poorly those games also. The second minute and Buzsaky kicks things off, Walsall had more possession and more shots but we had Simeone Jackson and 2 goals from him added to Buzsaky's and we snatch a 3-1 victory.

Portsmouth Scorers: Buzsaky and Simeone Jackson (2)

Pompey PotM: Simeone Jackson.

Tried to bring in another former Portsmouth star in Papa Bouba Diop but he wanted too much, got him down to £1,600 probably should of just took him on that but i tried to get him a little lower and he had enough, oh well money saved is money earned and all that.

30/1/13 - Home vs Sheffield Utd

A game which we actually had the better of the chances but alas we just couldn't score, no matter how many times Jackson got through on goal one of their defenders got in on him, Well played Blades. 0-1!

Pompey PotM: Eric Lichaj.

League One Table.

Squad Stats;

So those screenshots are a little further than the end of Jan, i went too far and forgot, sorry.

Player of the Month goes to Lubomir Michalik some great defensive performances he's really showing me why it was such a great idea to sign him up for another season, and make me glad i talked him out of that bonus he had.

[brettney1980]

February 2013;

2/2/13 - Home vs Colchester

We didn't get enough shots on target and we are really tiring in the final third of the games lately, our fitness is dropping but we don't really have a big enough squad to make big changes. Gulacsi and Michalik really kept us in for the point the last 10 minutes clearing off the line and 2 great saves 0-0.

Off Injured: Hermann Hreidarsson.

Pompey PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

We are only 6 points clear of the relegation zone now ... But we do have 4 games in hand, we need to string together some results and with Birchall and Jackson's loans coming to an hand we need a CF to step up.

4/2/13 Adam Birchalls Loan comes to an end he played 8 times (2 from the bench) scoring 2 goals.

9/2/13 - Away vs Sheffield Utd

I like to make a big thing of getting revenge on teams and wsince we only played them 2 weeks ago at our ground and they beat us 1-0 i really wanted this one ... And we snatched it a very attacking game even though i told the lads to defend more .. O..kay. 1-0. We needed the 3 points though great result.

Portsmouth Scorer: Simeone Jackson.

Pompey PotM: Simeone Jackson

13/2/13 - Home vs Oxford Johnstones Paint Trophy South Final 1st leg,

We have struggled against Oxford their fast paced couter attcking really hurt us last time out when they hammered us 0-3, this time out we scraped a 2-1 victory but we didn't perform well i really hope we can shut up shot at their place and scrape through into the overall final, would be nice to have a Trophy.

Portsmouth Scorer: Dan Thompson and Liam Walker.

Booked: Adam Webster and Dan Butler.

Pompey PotM: Liam Walker.

16/2/13 - Home vs Tranmere

Finally he does it .. Patrick Bamford has ended his goal drought and just in time , we lose Jacosk in a few days. Great victory against a team in the playoffs 3-0.

Portsmouth Scorer: Patrick Bamford (2) and Akos Buzsaky.

Booked: Lubomir Michalik, Kemy Agustien and Hermann Hreidarsson.

Pompey PotM: Patrick Bamford.

That result puts us up to 11th and we still have 2/3 games in hand over teams shows just how close this league is (6 points off the playoffs, can i dream!?)

Johnstones Paint Trophy Final (North): Coventry beat Rotherham 3-2 on agg, interesting factoid: Coventry signed Papa Bouba Diop after we failed).

20/2/13 - Away vs Oxford Johnstones Paint Trophy South Final;

We again struggled versus Oxford i swear i'm begining to hate playing these guys, did play alot of youth players though 1-2 and Penalties it is!

They missed their first 2 pens and Walker and Hreidarsson gave us a 2-0 lead, up stepped their 3rd and he scored, we made it 3-1 with Wallace and their 4th penalty taker then stepped up and blasted it over the bar and we are into the Overall Johnstones Paint Trophy Final!

Portsmouth Scorer: Ricardo Gardner.

Pompey PotM: Ricardo Gardner

21/2/13 Simeone Jackson leaves us and heads back to Norwich, damn we are going to miss him... 20 apps, 12 goals, 3 assists, 4 PotM awards and a 7.28 Average rating.

23/2/13 - Home vs Stevenage

Damn, damn, damn sending off, Williamson booked in the 39th then the 63rd and he's off! We were 2-0 at that point and then i tried to get us to hang on but they grabbed 2 and we'll have to settle for a draw, 2-2.

Portsmouth Scorer: Patrick Bamford and Ashley Harris.

Booked: Lee Williamson.

Sent Off: Lee Williamson.

Pompey PotM: Akos Buzsaky.

26/2/13 - Home vs MK Dons

We had to play a weaker side with alot of tired legs and we were just not strong enough losing 0-2. It was also our first League loss in 5 games and we drop into the bottom half of the table.

Booked: Mustapha Dumbuya.

Pompey PotM: Lubomir Michalik

League Two Table.

Squad Stats.

Player of the Month: Ricardo Gardner, i almost gave it to Michalik again but Gardner had somne important games and a very important goal for us.

[brettney1980]

March 2013;

2/3/13 - Away vs Doncaster

Sending off of Darel Russell just before half time killed the game for us, a game we should of and could of won leaving me very dissapointed! 2-5. Only good news coming out of the game is Piquionne is back and he scored off the bench.

Portsmouth Scorers: Hermann Hraidarsson (Pen) and Frederic Piquionne.

Booked: Lee Williamson.

Sent Off: Darel Russell.

Portsmouth PotM: Frederic Piquionne.

4/3/13 - Youth Prospect Nick Awford has gone out on Loan to BSS side Salisbury, Awford has made 6 apps for the first team this season (5 cup games).

I'm going to have to wrap Sidibe in bubblewrap he is back in training and second training session back he bruises his shin Out 7-10 days. Will he ever play for us again!? Answers on a postcard ...

6/3/13 - Home vs Oldham

Now this is how i have been wanting to get us playing, nice free flowing football in the center of the park, keeping possession and strong at the back .. Helped hugely by Bamford being an assassin in front of goal .. Wish every game was this fun to watch 4-1!

Portsmouth Scorers: Adam Webster and Patrick Bamford (3)

Booked: Hermann Hriedarsson and Patrick Bamford.

Portsmouth PotM: Patrick Bamford.

Almost caught all our games in hand up now just one more against Notts County (who are running away at the top of the League) we currently sit 13th.

9/3/13 - Home vs Brentford

Defensively we were brilliant, they had 15 shots managed 5 on target and we dealt with them supurbly and with less possession we snuck a victory 2-0.

Portsmouth Scorers: Dan Thompson and Lee Williamson.

Booked: Lee Williamson

Portsmouth PotM: Lee Williamson.

12/3/13 - Home vs Scunthorpe

Another great performance, very happy with the squad right now no matter who comes in they are playing very well 25 shots with 10 on target is awesome. 4-2.

Portsmouth Scorers: Adam Webster, Frederic Piquionne (2) and Kemy Agustein.

Booked: Adam Webster.

Off Injured: Lee Williamson.

Portsmouth PotM: Frederic Piquionne.

16/3/13 - Home vs Shrewsbury

It must be helping that we are playing so many Home games in a row but again we were in outstanding form hitting 10 shots on target again and even taking the mojority of the possession which is unusual, plus a clean sheet, bonus 2-0.

Portsmouth Scorers: Ricardo Gardner and Akos Buzsaky.

Booked: Frederic Piquionne.

Portsmouth PotM: Akos Buzsaky.

We now sit in 7th spot just outside the Playoffs with Notts County coming up next (our game in hand) if we win or draw we go into the playoffs ...

17/3/13 - So okay they have now again postponed the County game due to Internationals, it will now be 17th of April, once our form is down again probably .. It seems the League is against us.

26/3/13 - Lee Williamson earns his first Jamaican Cap after his hard work lately he really deserves this, congrats man!

30/3/13 - Away vs Crewe

Crewe are already relegated and so i foolishly expected an easy game .. But as we were going in 0-2 down at half time i'd certainly had my mind well and truly changed. We went out and i told the lads to go and and attack more, take some risks .. and within 7 minutes everything had changed 2-2, then 6 minutes later and we are 3-2 up and everything is right with the world. I told them to take their feet off the peddle, slow things down keep possession but .. It didn't work (i swear i'll give up trying to play defensive and hold onto leads one of these days) they grabbed an equalizer with 10 minutes to go, game finished 3-3!

Portsmouth Scorers: Patrick Bamford, Frederic Piquionne and Akos Buzsaky.

Booked: Adam Webster.

Portsmouth PotM: Frederic Piquionne.

League One Table.

Squad Stats.

Youth Candidates - Not a great batch but with games hopefully a couple of them will be good enough to save us having to sign anyone.

Player of the Month: Joint this month as i want to give it too Patrick Bamford for his lethal finishing and Frederic Piquionne for returning from injury and ending his goal draught.

[tyepye]

So close to that playoff place. If you ever needed a consistent run of games now is the time to produce it! Good luck.

[brettney1980]

So close to that playoff place. If you ever needed a consistent run of games now is the time to produce it! Good luck.

Thanks, i'd love to make the playoffs even though i'd need mass improvements if we somehow gained promotion. I really want that Notts County game before they pick up form, they have lost 2 of their last 3 (hence such annoyance that the game was called off again last month).

[brettney1980]

April 2013;

1/4/13 - I have decided to release the entire first team squad to helpthe U18'2 to get some first team action an.... April Fool! So i'v been in talks with all the first teamers who's contracts are up in 3 months most agreed to their new deals (a couple i gave slight pay raises but most took cuts/same deals) a couple of youth players also got handed new deals.

2/4/13 - Away vs Stevenage

Portsmouth move into Promotion contention the headline reads and that we do, a 2-1 win and great performance puts us up into 5th and a first goal for the injury prone Sidibe in his first start.

Portsmouth Scorers: Lee Williamson and Mamady Sidibe.

Portsmouth PotM: Frederic Piquionne.

We have a new CF coming in on a Bosman free at the end of the Season This Guy Kane Hemmings from Rangers.

7/4/13 - Wembley vs Coventry Johnstones Paint Trophy Final

Pre-Match notes good news for us Papa Bouba Diop is out injured and their main Forward threat Stephen Elliot hasn't scored in 503 minutes. They are sat in 2nd place in League 1 though so they are a very good side. John Neal, sportinglife.com predicts us to scrape it 1-0 i hope i can please him.

The Lineup;

Gulacsi,

Hraidarsson, Webster, Michalik, Dumbuya,

Johnson, Agustien, Williamson,

Buzsaky,

Bamford, Piquionne,

So Coventry opened the scoring in the 12' minute and from there we were always chasing the game, wwe equalized through Piquionne in the 58' and i got the lads to go in search of the winner taking risks but even with the end to end football it went into extra time. They grabbed a goal in the 96' minute and no matter how many men we threw forward we couldn't grab an equalizer and we lose 1-2!

Portsmouth Scorers: Frederic Piquionne.

Booked: Lee Williamson, Mustapha Dumbuya, Michael Johnson, Frederic Piquionne and Kemy Agustien.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

10/4/13 - Home vs Notts Co.

The dreaded Notts Co game is here and now they have sorted their form out it was the difficult game i knew it was, didn't help that the lads pretty much surrendered as soon as they scored the Williamson decided to tell the press just how angry i was after the game - 0-2. Good news if you are a County fan though as this means they are promoted.

Portsmouth PotM: Eric Lichaj.

13/4/13 - Away vs Portsmouth

The Johnstones Paint Trophy hangover starts here ... Okay so Piquionne did grab a goal in the 14th minute to keep things good, but we just couldn't hold on and get the revenge we needed from their 1-0 beating of us earlier in the season and we draw 1-1.

Portsmouth Scorers: Frederic Piquionne.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik

So we still sit 1 point off a playoff spot with our second game against Notts Co coming up .. Lets at least try to beat them this time hey lads!?

17/4/13 - Away vs Notts Co.

Not the greatest of performances but 6'5 CB Josh Thompson headed the ball in from a corner in the 35' minute and from there on we had enough about us to hold on, they kept on coming at us and we rode our luck a little at times but a great save from Gulacsi and some brilliant defending saw us pull off a remarkable 1-0 victory that sees us up into 5th spot.

Portsmouth Scorers: Josh Thompson.

Booked: Lee Williamson.

Off Injured: Lee Williamson.

Portsmouth PotM: Josh Thompson.

20/4/13 - Home vs Coventry

We had already lost 4-1 and 2-1 in the Johnstones Paint final to Coventry so i really wanted revenge, but i decided i would play things a little safe since they are battling for the Championship and maybe i went a little too safe as it turned into a very, very boring 0-0 draw, infact i really was nearly dozing off at times. Two each for shots on target!!

Booked: Eric Lichaj.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

So we could relegate Carlisle in our final game of the season if we win, which we really could do with doing.

5th  Portsmouth  +10  69
6th  Tranmere    +9   68
-----------------------------
7th  Brentford   +9   68
8th  Swindon     +9   67
9th  Oldham      +3   67

We are Away vs Carlisle, Tranmere are Away vs already relegated Yeovil (so i'm thinking they have it in the bag for one Playoff spot), Brentford are Away vs Promoted Coventry (who cannot win the Championship now), Swindon are at Home vs Doncaster (who are 16th and now safe) and finally Oldham are Away vs Crawley who need a win to be safe.

I'm not worried about Oldham and i really think we need a win here, but we'll see i'll be watching those scores coming in all game and i'll leave one of my coaches with a calculater handy to see where we are at in the League, but the truth of the matter is it is in our hands if we win we are in the playoffs anything else and we are relying on others.

27/4/13 - Away vs Carlisle

We absolutely dominated the game, the ball spent most of the game in the final third with us bombarding their goal .. So i should be extatic right!? Wrong, they beat us 0-1. We pulled off over 30 great chances and couldn't get the ball in the net it was cleared off the line twice and we hit the bar twice and the post once but nope we couldn't score ...

Booked: Mustapha Dumbuya.

Portsmouth PotM: Hermann Hraidarsson.

We have been very lucky. Oldham lost 2-1. Swindon drew 0-0, Brentford drew 0-0 and Tranmere drew 2-2 so by a miracle we finish 6th and in the last playoff spot.

We get Bournemouth in the Playoffs Semi Final (we drew both games against them this season, 0-0 and 1-1).

League One Table!

Squad Stats.

Player of the Month: Josh Thompson - He's been outstanding at the back in keeping Gyepes out and he has also nodded in a couple of goals great work from the big man.

... And good news for me ... I get a New Contract (and a huge pay rise).

[tyepye]

Mental final day.

Good luck in the playoffs, looks like it will be a close game between you and Bournemouth so probably means someone will get thrashed in one of the fixtures!

[brettney1980]

5/5/13 - Home vs Bournemouth, Playoffs Semi Final Leg 1

I'm a little afraid to say it but .. Thats one step close to the Championship, we wasn't quite as good as last game but we did enough to win and they didn't really look a threat so i never even bothered all-out-defending trying to hang on .. Maybe thats a sign. Josh Thompson was awesome again and Hraidarsson continues to roll back the years and play like someone half his age i'm glad he and Gardner are here and they will also be back next season after they both reached their clause of playing 20 games get a year contract extension. 2-0.

Portsmouth Scorers: Josh Thompson and Ashley Harris.

Portsmouth PotM: Josh Thompson.

10/5/13 - Away Bournemouth, Playoffs Semi Final Leg 2

Poor, poor, poor. We gave away a 2 goal first leg lead and just surrendered the match, Bamford couldn't hit a barn door at the moment and Piquionne was barely even playing. We managed to hit the woodwork 3 times but to be honest we didn't deserve to win with this performance. I gave the players the hairdryer treatment after the match and everyone took it well except Piquionne. So angry right now but i guess just to reach the Playoffs was a great acchievement really, 0-3.

Portsmouth PotM: Eric Lichaj.

The players can now go on holiday until 25th June and really think about that final match.

We had 3 players in the League One Team of the Year: Lubomir Michalik, Akos Buzsaky and Frederic Piquionne. Great for them but a little sad for the bean counters at the club because thats £20.5k in bonus' now to pay them.

[brettney1980]

The projected Wage Budget for next season is just over £10k less than this season, good job i'v been running about that below the budget anyway as i suspected as much.

No surprise as Lubomir Michalik gets the Player of the Season award from the fans.

6 players get bonus' for us surviving relegation and we have to pay out ... £53.73k ouch!

12/13 Seasons Best 11

Final Table.

Players and Staff leaving, Youth Players leaving.

Board Meeting;

Competitions|Summary|Other

Season Expectations: The board wants promotion as minimum expectations this year, damn i maybe shouldn't of been so succesful last season...

Team Report!

GK;

Siegrist and Nielsen are Loans and will return to their parent clubs, i have no interest in signing either of them. Gulacsi has been great since his signing and he will continue to be number one next season, i may look to bring in another loanee for backup while new signing Stuart Collyer who is only 16 years old has great potential. O'Hara and Moore do not look like they will do more than play in the U18's

RB;

Lichaj is on loan and while i would love to keep him i doubt it's an option. Dumbuya is good enough for the first team but i would like another RB because of the number of games we play, Webster and Ertl are fine for backups but are better at CB and CM respectively. None of the youngsters show any real potential, Wheeler may get a couple of games again though.

CB;

We are strong at CB, Gyepes is leaving on a free but Thompson, Webster and Ertl can fight for the second spot with Michalik being nailed on for first choice. Alex Grant loots like he could be a first teamer in a few years and i will try to give him games again this year to see how he developes. Whatmough came through the Youth Academy a coupld of months ago and already go an Appearance, could grab a couple more next season.

LB;

Again we lose Lichaj soon, i think we need a loanee for the first team, Hraidarsson will be more of a backup this season he does turn 39 next month. Dan Butler is a great talent and i will continue to get him games.

DMC;

I like to use a DM in some games and Darel Russell is nailed in for the role, i may look to bring in another on loan although 18 year old new signing Ainsworth looks like he can get a few games there.

CM;

Liam Walker will leave on a free, Agustien and Johnson are in on loan and will also leave shortly, would love to bring in Johnson again though. Williamson may need a partner bringing in on loan, we have plenty of backup though Wallace has been good, Ertl can slot in, Ainsworth and Mainwaring have potential.

RW;

It's rear but last year i used an IF/RW often Piquionne or Bamford who both go back to their parent clubs soon, Harris can do a job and has good potential as does Allen who is the third of the 3 Welsh youngsters i have brought in. Hughes who has come in through the academy this year also looks like i should hand him a few games and Tarbuck may also get a few, may bring in a RW on loan.

LW;

Buzsaky can do a job here when not playing AM, Gardner will also get a few games here mostly he will be backup though Allen and Hughes again will get chances and again like RW i may look to bring someone in on loan, could bring in a couple who can play both wings.

AMC;

Buzsaky is first choice here, Mainwaring and Harris may get their fare share of games, but i think a loanee is a must here.

CF;

We have relied compltely on loans for CF since McLoad and Rodgers left. Thompson, Harris and Allen should all only get a few games in cups and when forced to play them at CF, we need to bring in 2/3 players here, a permanent if we can afford it otherwise all loanees.

[brettney1980]

In other News ...

Premier League;

This season saw Man Utd regain the Title with help from RVP who was joint top scorer along with Oliver Giroud and Peter Crouch. Harard, Rooney and Van Persie topped the highest Average ratings table with Elliott Bennett of Norwich chipping in with 12 assists. Man Utd David De Gea got the most clean sheets (13) followed closely by Liverpools Pepe Reina and Tottenhams Hugo Lloris both with 12.

Top 5 Premier League Transfers were ...

Leighton Baines from Everton to Man Utd for a Fee of £21.5M. Also joining Utd fro Cruzeiro was Walter Montillo for a Fee of £20.5M. Kaka came to the Premiership from Real Madrid joining Man City for a Fee of £18m. Two more £18m Fee's were seen this year in David Alaba coming from Bayern Munich to Man Utd and Stevan Jovetic from Fiorentina to Chelsea.

Championship;

Andrew Keogh of Millwall banged in 30 League Goals to help them avoid relegation, while at the top of the table it was Kevin Doyle's 29 goals for Wolves that helped them top the table.

League Two Table;

Blue Square Premier Table;

Blue Square North and South Tables.

FA Cup;

Man Utd beat Chelsea 1-0 after extra time in the final after Ramirez was sent off, Kagawa scored the Utd goal.

Capital One Cup;

The Capital One Cup saw Newcastle surprise Arsenal with a 1-0 victory thanks to a goal from Papiss Cisse, Rosicky was sent off for Arsenal in the dieing minutes for a second bookable offense.

Community Shield;

Chelsea had kicked off the Season well with a victory over Man City in the Season opening Community Shield, with a 1-0 victory a rare goal for Fernando Torres was the difference.

FA Trophy;

Stockport beat Mansfield 3-1 in the Non-League's biggest Cup.

Champions League;

Man Utd won the big one again defeating Bayern Munich 5-1 in the final with goals from RVP (2), Kagawa, Hernandez and Baines.

Europa League;

Spurs beat Zenit in the final 3-0 thanks to goals from Parker, Lennon and Sosa.

Club World Championship;

Chelsea were crowned Club World Champions after beating Corinthians 5-0 with goals from Mata (2), Romeu, Terry and finally Torres.

African Nations Cup;

Ivory Coast finally did it, winning the trophy for the second time in their history.

Central America Nations Cup;

Honduras retained the Title after beating Belize 4-0 in the final.

Caribbean Championship;

Trinidad and Tobago beat Jamaica in the final by one goal to nil.

[brettney1980]

Magnificent Eight;

The 8 loanees we are allowed for the Season are ...

Ravel Morrison AMC/LW/RW (From West Ham)

Jack Grimmer RB/CM (Fulham)

Jamal Blackman GK (Chelsea)

Patrick Bamford CF/RW (Chelsea)

Keith Tracey LW (Burnley)

Andy Johnson CF (QPR)

DJ Campbell CF/RW/LW (QPR)

Jay Tabb DM/CM (Reading)

It was a tough call on the 5th August as i had to choose 3 players from Andy Johnson, DJ Campbell, Jay Tabb, Jamie O'Hara and George McCartney. I nearly chose McCartney but went with two forwards from the same club as i thought they would prove to have some good chemistry for us up front.

10/8/13 - Away vs Bradford

Michalik contines where he left off last season, Russell was awesome but a couple of bad tackles saw him booked and the QPR Reserves strikforce pays off! 2-0 to us.

Portsmouth Scorers: Andy Johnson and DJ Campbell.

Booked: Darel Russell.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik

14/8/13 - Home vs Torquay, Capital One Cup 1st rd.

A repeat of last seasons first round although this time at our ground and again we struggle at times shots were pretty even but they had 59% possession... Keith Tracey scored in stoppage time to save us from the possibility of going out on penalties again. 3-2.

Portsmouth Scorers: Kane Hemmings, Patrick Bamford and Keith Tracey.

Booked: Russell Doherty

Portsmouth PotM: Kane Hemmings

17/8/13 - Home vs Rotherham

To be fair we have started against two teams just promoted from League 2 but we performed well again and never really looked like losing, DJ Campbell scored the goals and Forrester was amazing in his debut for us. 2-1.

Portsmouth Scorers: DJ Campbell (x2).

Booked: Darel Russell.

Portsmouth PotM: DJ Campbell.

20/8/13 - Away vs Scunthorpe

Although they bombarded our goal with shots only 4 managed to be on target, a tough game that we came through with a 1-1 draw.

Portsmouth Scorers: DJ Campbell.

Off Injured: Lee Williamson.

Portsmouth PotM: Jed Wallace.

24/8/13 - Home vs Doncaster

An awesome performance, 11 shots on target 22 overall, ok so only 48% possession but thats pretty good for us to be honest .. We were three nil up after 28 minutes and baring a great couple of minutes at the end of the first half (where they scored both their goals) we dominated in a great 3-2 victory that could easily of been an higher victory.

Portsmouth Scorers: Andy Johnson, DJ Campbell and Lubomir Michalik.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

28/8/13 - Home vs Hull Capital One Cup, 2nd rd.

We played well, there was times when i thought we could actually get through .. But alas we lost 0-1 in Extra Time just as i got us attacking more .. But end of the day it was a Premiership side we lost to.

Main Card

Booked: Darel Russell and Jed Wallace.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

31/8/13 - Home vs Colchester

With players a little tired after the midweek cup game i rested alot of them and we came unstuck, a shame because we had been on a good run but we suffered a 0-2 loss.

Booked: Lee Williamson and Jay Tabb.

Portsmouth PotM: Jay Tabb.

League One Table.

Player of August: DJ Campbell, great start to his Pompey Loan Spell 5 goals in 5.

[brettney1980]

September 2013;

3/9/13 - Away vs Northampton Johnstones Paint Trophy South, 1st rd.

A very close game, we just about managed to scrape through to the next round even with Ravel Morrison conspiring against me scoring an own goal. 3-2 victory thanks to him then making it up to us and banging in the winner.

Portsmouth Scorers: DJ Campbell, Lubomir Michalik and Ravel Morrison.

Booked: Dan Butler.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

7/9/13 - Away vs Brentford

So last season i kept on complaining that our game with Notts Co got called off when i didn't want it too ... Now i really want to moan that this one didn't, with internationals and the U18's game a day or two earlier we only had 22 players to choose from and so ended up fielding a pretty weakened side .. Oh and 6 of those players were on loan and so we could only play 5 of them .. Unsurprisingly we lost, 1-3.

Portsmouth Scorers: Andy Johnson.

Booked: James Hurst.

Portsmouth PotM: Andy Johnson.

14/9/13 - Away vs Barnsley

Damn, we just never really got going another 1-3 loss damn!

Portsmouth Scorers: Carl Ainsworth.

Portsmouth PotM: Akos Buzsaky.

After the recent poor form i called a managers meeting and told the guys we could turn this around and they all took it well, not a single moaner amoung them great stuff!

17/9/13 - Home vs Carlisle

Very annoying, we out possess them in the first half and play better but still go in a goal down. Into the second and we push on attacking more and .. They hit us on the counter and we're now two down. Pushing on and going all out with 10 minutes to go and .... Yes we are now 3 down and thats the loss 0-3 very annoying game.

Booked: Jack Grimmer.

Portsmouth PotM: Carl Ainsworth.

21/9/13 - Away vs Walsall

Damn it, over 3 minutes into stoppage time at the end of the game they steal an equalizer .. 1-1, ok so we only had that one shot on target but we still deserved 3 points.

Portsmouth Scorers: Andy Johnson

Booked: Jay Tabb, Lee Williamson, Ravel Morrison, Darel Russell and Jed Wallace.

Off Injured: Ravel Morrison.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

24/9/13 - Home vs Bury

A pretty poor and dull game, i'll take the point but we should of and needed to win. 1-1 the board are getting a little impatient former Portsmouth player (and current Kilmarnock player) David James is warning them to stick with me.

Portsmouth Scorers: Kane Hemmings.

Off Injured: Kane Hemmings.

Portsmouth PotM: Josh Thompson.

Josh Thompson and Lee Williamson come to see me in my office both wanting reasurances that our form will improve ... Play better then you morons.

Apparently the Sack is looming over me and a loss against Rochdale in our next match could seal my fate ... Damn!

Even Hermann Hraidarsson is at it now, he wants to know if i think we can turn this around ...

28/9/13 - Away vs Rochdale

Okay so it was against a pretty poor team but we just scraped through and saved my job .. For now, not really good enough performance against a side we should be beating easily 3-2.

Portsmouth Scorers: Jed Wallace, Josh Thompson and Dave Allen.

Booked: Josh Thompson, Jed Wallace and Carl Ainsworth.

Portsmouth PotM: Jed Wallace.

29/9/13 - Johannes Ertl leaves Portsmouth due to contract expiry, i just don't think he is worth £1k a week.

League One Table.

Player of the Month: Jed Wallace, he's really been performing well lately and has improved massively since getting into the first team.

[JackJCFC]

Solid mid table so far. Jed Wallace could do well at this level if he has the same sort of potential as the last FM. Good luck getting to the playoffs though!

[brettney1980]

Solid mid table so far. Jed Wallace could do well at this level if he has the same sort of potential as the last FM. Good luck getting to the playoffs though!

I was hoping we could make automatic promotion as i just don't trust our consistency enough for the Playoffs, doesn't look likely now though ...

[brettney1980]

October 2013;

5/10/13 - Home vs Leyton Orient

We had way more shots than Orient and even though they beat us in the possession department i think we deserved the victory, 2-1 thanks massively to their Kevin Lisbie scoring an own goal, cheers dude.

Portsmouth Scorers: Andy Johnson (Pen)

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

8/10/13 - Home vs Swindon Johnstones Paint Trophy South 2nd rd

Played a few U18's wans't too bothered while my job is still a little at risk and the board don't care how we do in the Johnstones Paint trophy anyways .. 1-2 as long as we bounce back and grab another win in the league i'm not worried at all about this result.

Portsmouth Scorers: Ravel Morrison.

Off Injured: Adam Webster.

Portsmouth PotM: Darel Russell.

12/10/13 - Away vs Gillingham

We struggled to get any sort of possession here and were pretty lucky to draw truth be told, 1-1. The match did however improve our unbeaten run now to 5 games in the league 2 wins and 3 draws not really that great for a team expected to gain promotion, Russell's booking means he will now be suspended for a game.

Portsmouth Scorers: Andy Johnson.

Booked: Lee Williamson and Darel Russell.

Portsmouth PotM: James Hurst.

15/10/13 - Home vs Swindon

With injuries, a suspension and international call ups we have a very depleted squad which includes no GK's Hermann Hreidarsson takes the plunge and steps between the sticks. Maybe i should think about putting Hreidarsson in goal more often as he managed to keep a clean sheet, ok so they only had two shots on target but he took those saves well and we sneak a 1-0 victory in a game not for the neutral.

Portsmouth Scorers: Josh Thompson.

Booked: Alex Grant, Andy Johnson and Carl Ainsworth.

Portsmouth PotM: Josh Thompson.

19/10/13 - Away vs Bournemouth

Revenge is served, after they dumped us out of the playoffs last season and never made it up themselves i have been looking forward to this match and we did not dissapoint .. Unless you count the 43% possession, but i don't and we beat them 2-0 and welcomed a proper GK back between the sticks and he saved all 10 of their shots on target!!!

Portsmouth Scorers: Andy Johnson and Dave Allen.

Booked: Lee Williamson

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

22/10/13 - Away vs Stevenage

Our first loss in 7 suffered here and i'm hoping it was just a slight hiccup and we really have turned things around. With onoly 37% possession we never really looked like we deserved anything from the game but i'm sure we can be forgiven for dreaming when Buzsaky pulled one back in the 55' minute .. But alas the game stayed 1-2 and we now sit 6th in the league.

Portsmouth Scorers: Akos Buzsaky.

Booked: Kane Hemmings, Jay Tabb and Dave Allen.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

26/10/13 - Home vs Shrewsbury

Oh no not again .. We lose again to a team we should beat easily we dominated at times, had more shots including more on target but they still beat us i get so frustrated at the lads when this happens and the annoying thing is it seems to happen once or twice a month, we are consistantly inconsistant at times ... So 1-2.

Portsmouth Scorers: Dave Allen.

Off Injured: Andy Johnson.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

29/10/13 - Youth player Justin Mainwaring has returned to the club after his loan spell at Dover, where he made 3 substitute appearances, scored 1 goal with an average rating of 7.00, helping Dover to 5th in the Blue Square Premier.

[DodgeeD]

Unlucky in the play-offs last seaosn. Hope you can go one better this time round

[brettney1980]

November 2013;

2/11/13 - Jason Pearce at Leeds is currently valued at £2.3m, he was sold to Leeds from Portsmouth before i arrived for a fee of £500k with a clause thats in place that we recieve 20% of any transfer fee Leeds have offered us £214k to buy out that clause ... I'd like to take the gamble and hope he went for more than £2.1m (which the offer pretty much equates to) but we need the cash so i'll take it and boost our Wage Budget, hopefully i can find a player or two worth signing in January with this cash.

Dan Thompson returns to the club after his loan spell at Northampton in League 2, we made 6 appearances with an average rating of 6.62 and scored 1 goal.

3/11/13 - FA Cup First Round draw, we get Yeovil Town (league 2) we beat them 2-0 Away and drew 1-1 at Home last season as they were relegated from League 1.

5/11/13 - Home vs Sheffield Utd.

One of our best performances of the season, Hreidarsson continues to roll back the years he was a beast in this game he went through 4 Utd players before crossing a low ball into the box and i'm glad Bamford is fit again because he was the bravest man on the pitch diving in low and heading the ball in amoungst all those Utd boots and it sails into the corner of the net, great goal, awesome work from Hreidarsson and i tell you what i'm tempted to offer hiom a years extension soon and he turns 40 at the end of this season ... 1-0!

Portsmouth Scorers: Patrick Bamford.

Off Injured: Lee Williamson and Ravel Morrison.

Portsmouth PotM: Hermann Hreidarsson.

9/11/13 - Away vs Yeovil FA Cup first rd.

A game we should of won easily ... But i don't really care, i basicly took the 18 fittest players (including U18's), i just think with the league being so important this year i'm not fussed about the cups, we lost 1-3 and our finishing was especially poor.

Portsmouth Scorers: DJ Campbell.

Booked: Dan Thompson.

Portsmouth PotM: Lee Williamson.

I decided to offer former player Pompey Benjani a contract since he has been without a job since SuperSport Utd in the South African Premier released him in the summer ... He decided to turn the contract down after thinking it over .. Oh well, i'm sure i'll find someone better to help push us on into those Automatic promotion spots i have my eyes on.

After scouting the Free Signings list i decided to offer Andy Dawson (LB, former Hull City player who made 40 apps last season in the Championship) And Somen Tchoyi (AMC, former WBA Player made 18 apps in the premier league 2 years ago).

Tchoyi failed to get a work permit but Dawson signed on £750k a week for the rest of the season.

23/11/13 - Home vs Bolton

A tough game against a really strong side, lets not forget it wasn't that long ago when Bolton were a Premier League side, they beat us 0-1.

Booked: Ashley Harris

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

26/11/13 - Away vs Oldham

Jed Wallace who has come on leaps and bounds in the time i have been here is one of my first names on the team sheet now when everyone is fit and he bossed the midfield today banging in a goal also 1-0 victory.

Portsmouth Scorers: Jed Wallace.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik

30/11/13 - Away vs Crystal Palace

If we had of played for 90 hours instead of 90 minutes we'd of still not scored. DJ Campbell hit the inside of the post and the ball bounced along the line and out, Andy Johnson was through ongoal not once but twice and both times shot wide, Jed Wallace found himself one on one with their keeper and he that ball he shot with is probably still in orbit Lee Williamson had a cracking shot that was just tipped wide so many shots .. Never looked like scoring, 0-2 to them 1 in injury time in the first half and one in the first minute after the break.

Booked: James Hurst, Lee Williamson and Jed Wallace.

Portsmouth PotM: Josh Thompson.

Apparently my job is on the line again and if we don't beat Hartlepool in the next game i could well be sacked ... No pressure then!

League One Table.

Player of the Month: Lubomir Michalik; He was an amazing presence at the back yet again, he really could win this thing every month but i like to give the other lads a chance every now and again ...

[dafuge]

Great to see someone managing my local club

Just a couple of notes though. The badge you are using is a bit dated, it was replaced in 2008 with this one. Also that picture of Fratton Park is actually of the ficticious stadium that was never built, sadly Fratton Park looks a bit more like this

[JackJCFC]

Going well so far in the league, a chance of making th playoff's providing you dont hit a massive slump.

[brettney1980]

Great to see someone managing my local club

Just a couple of notes though. The badge you are using is a bit dated, it was replaced in 2008 with this one. Also that picture of Fratton Park is actually of the ficticious stadium that was never built, sadly Fratton Park looks a bit more like this

Thanks alot, thats what i get for just googling for an image. I had actually read about the ground plans (that never happened) i just didn'#t realise i'd used a picture of that ... I apologize to all the Pompey fans that are reading.

[brettney1980]

Going well so far in the league, a chance of making th playoff's providing you dont hit a massive slump.

Thanks i think we have a huge chance we have some easier (so called easier) games coming up into January and i'm hoping to pick up some poijnts then and i'm still hoping for some luck and getting an automatic place ...... I know, i know a huge dream.

[dafuge]

Thanks alot, thats what i get for just googling for an image. I had actually read about the ground plans (that never happened) i just didn'#t realise i'd used a picture of that ... I apologize to all the Pompey fans that are reading.

I just wish I could say that the picture of the fan(s) is not correct either

[brettney1980]

I just wish I could say that the picture of the fan(s) is not correct either

What!? Not Mr. John Anthony Portsmouth Football Club Westwood he's brilliant!!

[brettney1980]

December 2013;

4/12/13 - Home vs Hartlepool

Well it's a good job my must win game was against one of the weaker teams in the division, who could only manage one shot on target so that was lucky .. Or we were that good. 2-0 to us.

Portsmouth Scorers: DJ Campbell and Andy Johnson.

Booked: Lubomir Michalik and Adam Webster.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

14/12/13 - Home vs Preston

Soo many shots, soo many misses. 0-1 loss in a game we really should of won we had another one of those games where every shot mossed the target.

Booked: Dan Butler.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

17/12/13 - Home vs Bradford

I know you are not supposed to be happy at others misfortune .. But, when Grella got sent off in the 30' minute i must admit i let out a huge sigh of relief and joy. 3-0 to us!

Portsmouth Scorers: Jed Wallace, Josh Thompson and O.G.

Booked: Josh Thompson

Portsmouth PotM: Josh Thompson.

So a couple of weeks ago my job is on the line .. This week i'm being linked with the Nottm Forest job. Forest currently sit 1 point above the relegation zone in the Championship.

21/12/13 - Away vs Rotherham

Another great piece of luck .. We go one nil up a cracking headed goal from a corner for Josh Thompson (for the second game in a row) they then get a player sent off in the 69' minute and we just dominate from there and snatch a second in the 84' minute, 2-0.

Portsmouth Scorers: Josh Thompson and Akos Buzsaky.

Portsmouth PotM: Darel Russell.

22/12/13 - How bizarre, first i'm losing my job if we lose another game, then i'm linked with the Forest job (which i deny any interest) then i'm offered the Birmingham job ... I ofcourse turn the job down, if this was a career game i would of been tempted.

26/12/13 - Home vs Scunthorpe

We don't do too great at Christmas time do we!? A boring goalless draw on Boxing Day, 0-0.

Off Injured: Carl Ainsworth.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

28/12/13 - Away vs Doncaster

A tough game really and the draw was a very fair result, especially if you ignore the fact we only got 39% possession, 2-2.

Portsmouth Scorers: Patrick Bamford (x2).

Booked: Lee Williamson.

Portsmouth PotM: Patrick Bamford.

30/12/13 - So after being linked with them a little while ago in they come with an offer, my Home town club Nottm Forest have offered me a contract seeing me as the guy to keep them in the Championship ... Sorry guys but i'll join you in the Championship next season .... Still at Portsmouth!

League One Table.

Player of the Month: Lubomir Michalik gets it again, he has to he has been a beats for us again this month, he dominates in the air and causes opposing defenders all sorts of trouble for corners.

[brettney1980]

January 2014;

1/1/14 - Home vs Brentford

A great performance from us even though we only managed the 1-0 win. We should of gotten a second but DJ missed a Pen, we restricted them to only 1 shot on target harrying their forwards all game great work from all 4 defenders and 16 y/o Justin Mainwaring played and was excellent, i see big things for this kid.

Portsmouth Scorers: DJ Campbell.

Booked: Jay Tabb.

Portsmouth PotM: Josh Thompson.

2/1/14 - Keith Tracey has come to me requesting that i terminate his Loan contract, he as only made 2 starts (6 apps overall) and scored the 1 goal i just haven't used wingers as much as i thought i would prefering a 4 man narrow diamond in midfield instead, so i let him return to Burnley.

11/1/14 - Away vs Barnsley

Now this is what they call a domination, we had 54% possession 17 shots with 7 of them on target compared to their 3 shots and just the 1 on target (which you'll notice they scored ... Good job they didn't have 3 on target). We won 3-1 with 2 late goals.

Portsmouth Scorers: Josj Thompson, Lubomir Michalik and Patrick Bamford.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubimor Michalik.

18/1/13 - Away vs Carlisle

I must of fired the players up with all this talk of bringing players in in January because this is now 3 wins in a row and we pick up a second 3-1 victory 10 shots on target!!!

Portsmouth Scorers: Lubomir Michalik, Jay Tabb and DJ Campbell.

Portsmouth PotM: Lee Williamson.

22/1/13 - Away vs Colchester

We were bound to come crashing down sooner or later, it's just a shame it was to a team that has already beaten us once this season, 2-4 loss and we had much more shots with more on target also .. A real dissapointing match this one.

Portsmouth Scorers: DJ Campbell (x2).

Booked: Andy Johnson.

Portsmouth PotM: Darel Russell.

25/1/14 - Home vs Walsall

A very close game in which we were very, very lucky to pick up a 1-0 victory.

Portsmouth Scorers: Adam Webster.

Portsmouth PotM: Adam Webster.

League One Table.

Player of the Month: Lee Williamson, had a good solid month (and i can't just hand this to Michalik every month).

[brettney1980]

February 2014;

1/2/14 - Away vs Bury

One of the easier games in the league on paper and we had way more shots than them which is always going to give you a good chance at victory, we won 2-1 thanks hugely to an own goal that got us started in the 19' minute after they equalized it took a DJ Campbell 89' goal to save us the 3 points.

Portsmouth Scorers: DJ Campbell.

Booked: Patrick Bamford, Darel Russell, Lee Williamson, Carl Ainsworth and Jay Tabb.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

That latest victory sees us now up to third, things are going very well at the moment ...

8/2/14 - Home vs Rochdale

Two big news items of the day overshadowed the game itself, my 100th game in management (and in charge of Portsmouth of course) and the 3 points putting us into an automatic promotion spot, we won the game 1-0 in what was a pretty boring game truth be told an headed goal from a corner did the job.

Portsmouth Scorers: Carl Ainsworth.

Booked: Carl Ainsworth and Jay Tabb.

Off Injured: Lee Williamson.

Portsmouth PotM: Darel Russell.

25/2/14 - Away vs Leyton Orient

Never a truer game of two halfs could you get .. We dominated the first half and was the only side ever looking likely to win with 16 year old Justin Mainwaring looking very good and getting on the score sheet, with Buzsakys contract up at the end of the season i see this kid has his replacement DJ Campbell scored our second and we were cruising ... Second half we have Grant off the pitch after a slight knock and they steal a goal when Tabb goes down as well and they don't stop play, they snatch a second 10 minutes later and things are looking bad they look like the only team likely to win but we hang on and a draw will have to do 2-2.

Portsmouth Scorers: Justin Mainwaring and DJ Campbell.

Booked: Darel Russell.

Off Injured: Jay Tabb.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

28/2/14 - Harry Medway a young 17 year old LB who has made 1 app for the club (a Johnstones Paint match last season) has been sold to Shamrock Rovers for £200k, a great offer and there was no way we could afford to turn that down i would of probably accepted half that to be honest.

League One Table.

Player of the Month: Carl Ainsworth scored a goal and had a great couple of games.

Hot Prospect Alert: Justin Mainwaring

[brettney1980]

March 2014;

1/3/14 - Home vs Gillingham

We were on the backfoot the entire game and never really looked like getting the win and we lose 1-2 (our goal came 1 minute into injury time at the end of the game).

Portsmouth Scorers: James Hurst.

Booked: Lubomir Michalik, Darel Russell and Hermann Hreidarsson.

Portsmouth PotM: James Hurst.

Teams around us also lose and we are still only 1 point below 2nd placed Rotherham (and 3rd placed Stevenage and 4th placed Colchester all on 62 while we are on 61).

5/3/14 - Damn, Jack Grimmer our on Loan RB (from Fulham) who has made 27 apps so far for us this season has gone and broke his wrist in training and will miss around 2 months of training ... So we will be lucky to see him again this season ... Damn!

8/3/14 - Home vs Bournemouth

We were pretty comfortable and in control of the match but took our time getting the all important goal, Campbell latched onto a throughball from young Mainwaring and poked one past their keeper to give us the lead. 3 minutes later Adam Webster tried to give me a few grey hairs by getting himself a second yellow for unsportsmanlike conduct and we are down to 10 men, we struggle on an d just do enough to scrape through 1-0.

Portsmouth Scorers: DJ Campbell.

Booked: Adam Webster and Justin Mainwaring.

Sent Off: Adam Webster.

Portsmouth PotM: Carl Ainsworth.

11/3/14 - Away vs Swindon

A pretty poor and boring game against manager-less Swindon, other than a space of 4 minutes in the first half (when both goals were scored) it was an uneventful match 1-1. A bit worrying is that without Campbell getting a goal we are not looking like scoring, most of our CF's are suffering a right goal draught we need someone who can score ... Might just try more and more of the youth players.

Portsmouth Scorers: Josh Thompson.

Portsmouth PotM: Josh Thompson.

15/3/14 - Away vs Shrewsbury

A good 2-1 victory, so okay it helped that they had a player sent off 35 minutes in, and that also makes the scoreline look a little un-great but other than a few iffy spells (and a couple of injuries) we controlled the game.

Portsmouth Scorers: Patrick Bamford (x2).

Off Injured: Patrick Bamford and Lee Williamson.

Portsmouth PotM: Lubomir Michalik.

The new Youth Candidates arrive at the club and this lad stands out as the best of the bunch: Patrick Sweeney and his Coach Report!

23/3/14 - Away vs Sheffield Utd.

A poor performance and the last few games we have been getting worse and worse to be honest it seems like the pressure has gotten to us since we got up near the top of the table and we lose 0-1 here.

Portsmouth PotM: Josh Thompson.

29/3/14 - Home vs Stevenage

A chance to jump above 2nd placed Stevenage and we fail miserably, losing 1-3 getting dominated and i guess we can officially call this a drubbing, some would also say that our chance at Automatic promotion ended with this result, now i really have to get the lads back to their January/February form ...

Portsmouth Scorers: Patrick Bamford.

Booked: Jay Tabb.

Portsmouth PotM: Patrick Bamford.

League One Table.

Player of the Month: Josh Thompson, scored a goal as well as putting in some top notch performances.

[brettney1980]

April 2014;

5/4/14 - Away vs Hartlepool

Actually a fairly close game but we managed to get an whole bunch of luck and we stole a 2-0 victory here, they missed a penalty to make things level just into the second half which helped us massively. I really hope this boosts our confidence a little and we can string a coupld of wins together again.

Portsmouth Scorers: DJ Campbell and Jed Wallace.

Portsmouth PotM: Josh Thompson.

12/4/14 - Home vs Crystal Palace

With Palace already promoted it was probably no huge shock that they weren't exactly at their dominating best and we managed more shots than them as well as getting pretty close to their possession % one goal settled things and it was Darel Russel and we win 1-0.

Portsmouth Scorers: Darel Russell.

Portsmouth PotM: James Hurst.

19/4/14 - Away vs Bolton

Andy Johnson has now gone over 700 minutes without scoring and showed just how low his confidence is by missing a sitter, heading well wide from 7 yards out with loads of space .. DJ Campbell had a poor game and like i'v said before when Campbell plays poor we can not score, he himself missed a sitter 6 yards out he shoots wide and to make an hattrick of misses Adam Webster gets the ball to his feet just wide of the post with 3 of our players in the box and in space ... He blasts wide somehow when it was easier to just poke one in stupid lad. We lost 0-2.

Portsmouth PotM: Akos Buzsaky.

2/4/14 - Away vs Preston

What can i say about a game in which we lost 2-7, a game which we were down 4 goals by half time a game in which the opposing teams striker grabbed 4 goals ... I'll just say we were hammered, yes i could of shut up shot once 4 down but i refused and chased the game sending everyone forward .. We couldn't turn things around though and we now have no chance of automatic promotion ... Good news though we are gaurenteed a playoff spot whooo!

Portsmouth Scorers: Lewis Horsburgh and Lubomir Michalik.

Off Injured: Russell Doherty and Bradley Tarbuck.

Portsmouth PotM: Lewis Horsburgh.

26/4/14 - Home vs Oldham

I decided to drop every single player who played in the side that were hammered by Preston bar young prospect Horsburgh who showed some fight. In the biggst improvement you would ever like to see we managed to defeat Oldham 3-1 okay so Oldham were already relegated but still we played well and Jack Barmby scored a corker in his best performance in a Pompey shirt, and in other news Jack Grimmer who i thought would probably never play for us again made his big return from injury off the subs bench with a few minutes to go, he isn't quite at full fitness but could play a part in the playoffs.

Portsmouth Scorers: Hermann Hreidarsson (Pen), Jack Barmby and Lee Williamson.

Booked: Andy Dawson.

Portsmouth PotM: Jack Barmby.

28/4/14 - The Board provide a cash injection to pay off some of the clubs debts ...

Into the Playoffs we go and we get Colchester.

With the extra money pumped into the club i decided to ask the board if we could boost the Junior Coaching Budget ... They agreed.

[brettney1980]

May 2014;

2/5/14 - Courtney Meppen-Walters has completed his loan spell at Luton in the Blue Square Premier after making 10 apps, scoring 1 goal and making 2 assists.

3/5/14 - Home vs Colchester League One Playoffs semi final, 1st leg.

A pretty even match with me being confident that we could get the victory we need at our ground .. That was until Lee Williamson got himself sent off for a second bookable offense a ridiculous one at that, oh and what timing i was just waiting for him to come off for Jack Barmby .. Damn! Well the game stayed at 1-1 with us holding on and even getting the odd chance, we'll now have to go get something at their ground.

Portsmouth Scorers: James Hurst.

Booked: Lee Williamson.

Sent Off: Lee Williamson.

Portsmouth PotM: James Hurst.

8/5/14 - Away vs Colchester

At times we were doing really well just to hold on to a draw and as we approached 90 minutes i started throwing more and more caution to the wind really trying to get the victory bu it wasn't to be and 0-0 at 90 minutes means we go into Extra Time, they scored from a counter attack 3 minutes into extra time but then we got a break when they had a player sent off in the 98' minute and we started to get a few chances .. But not enough it seemed, i threw Michalik up top and got the lads to hoof the ball up to him and it paid off, we got an equalizer in the 2nd half of extra time from youngster Horsburgh but that was all we could get as they managed to still get more chances than us with just 10 men. Penalties it is, DJ Campbell scores our first, they score. Bamford scores our 2nd, they score. Horsburgh misses .. They score damn. Ainsorth misses .. They score and we crash out!

Portsmouth Scorers: Lewis Horsburgh.

Booked: Dan Butler, James Hurst, Carl Ainsworth and Lewis Horsburgh.

Portsmouth PotM: Josh Thompson.

Final Table.

Squad Stats.

Seasons Best 11

Player of the Year: Lubomir Michalik.

The Seasons Transfers.

Board Meeting;

Summary|Competition|Players|Other

So i'm a very lucky cat and it seems as though i am going to keep my job for at least another season. But i guess this next season it will be surely essential that i get us promoted. Interestingly the Wage Budget is going to go down another £1k but i'll be handed a £1.84m (of the amount the chairmen pumped in recently to save the club) transfer kitty. I'll have to pump some of that into wages but it looks as though i will have a fair bit of cash to spend, think i should probably go steady with it though just incase ...

Lubomir Michalik recieves a bonus of £10k for being named in the League One team of the Year!

Relegation Bonus activated for Akos Buzsaky, Josh Thompson and Ricardo Gardner who get a total of £13.22k.

I have decided we will enter a team into the reserves league next season as we have now got plenty of youngsters who could do with those extra matches to keep their fitness up.

[brettney1980]

Team Report;

GK

Peter Gulacsi is easily number 1 glad that he has decided to stay, Stuart Collyer and Gareth Swattridge should get a few games to help their progress.

RB;

James Hurst and Marnick Vermijl will be the main choices, Eggert Jonsson can fill in and we have a few youngsters that have potential there.

CB;

Lubomir Michalik should be the first name on the team sheet again but we also have Josh Thompson, Adam Webster and Alex Grant who are all very good CB's this is probably our strongest position.

LB;

New signing Chris Hussey will be first choice with an handful of backups, Hreidarsson, Webster, Vermijl, Hurst and great youngsters with potential Ibou Touray, Dan Butler, Charni Ekangamene and Courtney Meppen-Walters.

DM;

Eggert Jonssons best position and he will be backed up by Darel Russell and Carl Ainsworth.

CM;

Lee Williamson, David Davis and Kyle Hutton will fight it out for the 2 CM roles with Wallace being the main backup. We also have a few youngsters who will get a few games like Louis Hutton, Justin Mainwaring, Nick Awford, Max Bogard and Kim who has grown alot in the last year.

AM;

I may switch to playing with wide players this season so may not use an AM as much but we have Asley Harris, Harry Forrester and Darel Russel who can play here.

RW;

Ashley Harris, Harry Forrester and Jack Barmby are the most likely to get games here, Dave Allen is the best wide player but being short on CF's may mean he'll play there more.

LW;

The RW's can all also perform here and we also have a few youngsters coming through who want a shot at LW, Darin Hughes, Jack Maloney, Jack Moore and Hogan Stephens.

CF;

We'll probably be playing with just the one up front with us being a little short of talent here Dave Allen is the main man with most of the wingers being able to fill in and Kane Hemmings, Dan Thompson and Lewis Horsburgh being capable backups.

In Other News ...

Premier League;

Chelsea managed to improve on last seasons third place finish and with Manuel Pelligrini in charge they win the premier league title. Man City, Arsenal and Man Utd (4th somehow ...) round out the top 4, with Hull, Wigan and Sunderland going down.

Top 5 Premier League Transfers were ...

Holger Badstuber from Bayern Munich to Man City for £29.5m was the biggest signing of the season. Sandrop from Spurs to Man City for £29m was 2nd followed by Andriy Yarmolenko from Dinamo Kiev to Man Utd for £25.5m was next. Another player moving to Manchester (City's third in the top 5) James Ridriguez from Porto for £25m and also moving to Manchester (the red side though) was Christian Eriksson from Ajax for £23m. Almost every big signing (top 9 in all) was to Man Utd or Man City except the 8th which was Fellaine to Arsenal for £21m.

Championship;

Everton and Aston Villa go straight back up, but they had to play second fiddle to the reemergence of Blackburn who under Kenny Jackett won the Championship by 6 clear poinjts.

League Two Table;

Blue Square Premier Table;

Blue Square North and South Tables.

FA Cup;

Big surprise in the FA Cup final with Norwich versus Stoke being the match and it was Stoke who take the title beating Norwich 3-0, goals from Crouch, Elyounoussi and Kenwyne Jones.

Capital One Cup;

Stoke did a cup double beating Man Utd in this final on Penalties after a 1-1 draw, goals came from Peter Crouch and Wayne Rooney.

Community Shield;

The traditional season opener saw Man Utd beat rivals City on penalties after a 3-3 draw.

FA Trophy;

Penalties again after a 0-0 draw this time between Alfreton and Luton, it was Alfreton who took the trophy.

Champions League;

Atletico Madrid beat Chelsea 4-1 in the final, Falcao, Landon Donavon (x2) and Isaac Cuenca scored for Madrid while Hatem Ben Arfa scored Chelseas concilation.

Europa League;

PSG Beat Arsenal 2-0 in the final, Marco Verratti scored both goals.

Club World Championship;

Fluminense beat Man Utd 1-0 in the final.

World Cup;

Brazil become World Champion after beating surprise package Cameroon 2-0 in the final, Portugal beat Peru 1-0 in the 3rd place playoff. In the semis it was Brazil who defeated Peru 2-1 while Cameroon beat Portugal 1-0. Losing Q-Finalists were Italy, Argentina, Ivory Coast and Belgium.

England were knocked out inj the group stages after a win, a draw and a loss scoring 2 goals and letting in 3. After the tournament Brendan Rodgers was announced as the new man to lead England.

[brettney1980]

August 2014;

The magnificent 8!

This seasons 8 loanees are ...

Eggert Jonsson (Utility Man) from Wolves.

David Davis (CM) from Wolves.

Dwight Twindalli (RB/LB) from Everton.

Brett Holman (RW/LW/AM) from Aston Villa.

Rob Elliot (GK) from Newcastle.

Edinho Junior (CF) from Blackburn.

Fabio Nunes (LW) from Blackburn.

Matt Doherty (RB) from Wolves.

Fancy a bet on us!?

9/8/14 - Away vs Cheltenham

Such a disappointing game, we had enough chances to get something but almost everytime they got a chance they put it away whereas we tapped the ball at the keeper' or booted it a mile over or just left it as happened twice when Dave Allen was put through ... Our forwards are just completely bonkers it seems (10 games now without scoring for Allen and Hemmings - i think i need to bring in a couple of loans again and drop those two in the reserves for a few games), 0-3.

Booked: Lee Williamson, David Davis, Ashley Harris and James Hurst.

Portsmouth PotM: David Davis.

12/8/14 - Away vs Wycombe Capital One Cup 1st rd.

A completely bizarre game. It wouldn't of been too unfair on Wycombe if we had gone in 4 goals up, we were that dominating in the first half, they came out for the second pumped up and grabbed 2 goals to even things up (we had Coleby off the pitch getting treatment for their second a goalmouth scramble). We had more chances as well and Dave Allen (whp finally scored grabbing 2) could of easily had 4/5 goals tonight. Into extra time we go a player down as Jonathan Coleby couldn't continue ... We score 2 minutes in (Allens 2nd). we then go all out defensive and snatch a 4th youngster Chibuike tapping one in after Forrester had a corker saved, we aren't 2 goals up for long though as they pull 1 back just 2 minutes later. We then lose another player and go down to 9 men as Carl Ainsworth as to go off injured (by this point we are also very lucky to have 9 on the pitch as Wallave has hacked down to of their player 1 just outside the box and one inside that somehow wasn't gven). We are riding our luck now and no surprises that they equalize just into the 2nd half of extra time. We are trying to hang on to the draw now as players are getting tired but a minute into injury time they snatch one and we lose 4-5!

Portsmouth Scorers: Carl Ainsworth, Dave Allen (x2) and Christian Chibuike.

Booked: Jed Wallace and Dan Butler.

Off Injured: Jonathan Coleby and Carl Ainsworth.

Portsmouth PotM: Carl Ainsworth.

16/8/14 - Home vs Brentford

Another 'not too great' performance, but i have altered our tactics slightly as i feel we have not been closing their players down enough and pressing them so lets see hos this goes. We have a debut goalscorer though our Loanee CF Edinho Junior so thats another good point. 1-1 draw.

Portsmouth Scorers: Edinho Junior.

Portsmouth PotM: James Hurst.

19/8/14 - Away vs Fleetword

A much better game, we showed a difference in class and even managed to equal their possession (very rare for us). 2-0 win.

Portsmouth Scorers: Brett Holman and Ashley Harris.

Booked: Eggart Jonsson.

Portsmouth PotM: Ashley Harris.

23/8/14 - Away vs Swindon

A tough game and i wouldn't be too disappointed losing away to one of the better teams in the division if it wasn't for already slipping up against a couple of the weakest ... We lose 0-1 and only manage one shot on target .. Poor!

Booked: Darel Russell and Dwight Twindalli.

Portsmouth PotM: Adam Webster.

25/8/14 - Dwight Twindalli comes to me complaining already that he hasn't played enought games ... So i send him back to Everton i am not in the mood to deal with mardy players, he made 1 appearence for us.

30/8/14 - Home vs Rochdale

Wow, now thats what i'm talking about. We dominate Rochdale getting absolutely massive 59% possession!!! 5-1 victory in the bag and hopefully our charge up the league begins ...

Portsmouth Scorers: Edinho Junior, Ashley Harris, Adam Webster (x2) Harry Forrester.

Portsmouth PotM: Adam Webster.

31/8/14 - Damn these moaning Loanees Matt Doherty has now had his loan terminated after coming to me complaing that he had yet to make an appearence for us.

League One Table.

Player of the Month: Adam Webster, has been solid at the back looks like he's stepping up his battle for a starting spot.

Hot Prospect Alert: Jonathan Coleby.

[williamshankley]

Good read so far, you will have to improve this season though. I'm sure the pressure isn't far away. Simon Blitz used to be part of Oldham Athletic. I love this feature on FM of real life football men taking over other clubs, gives things an interesting twist