Four Four Two - UK (2020-11)

UPFROnT

TAKING THE PISS Coleraine’s Eoin Bradley was

bannedforsixmatchesafterurinatingonthe

pitchbeforeextratimeinanIrishCupsemi-final

XI
BEST:AlanKnight,MattClarke,Noel
Blake,MickTait,AlanRogers,Robert
Prosinecki,MattTaylor,PaulMerson,
AlanBiley,GuyWhittingham,Mark
Hateley.
WORST:YoshikatsuKawaguchi,Yassin
Moutaouakil,BenChorley,CarlTiler,
DjimiTraore,JohnUtaka,JohnLathan,
GeorgeLawrence,PaulGilchrist,Lee
Mills,ScottMcGarvey.

PLAYER
B:Prosinecki– wewereinthesecond
divisionwhenhesigned[in2001],and
hewasjustonanotherlevel.I’llnever
forgethimdoinga full-backinside-out
once,overandoveragain– intheend,
hegotdizzyandfellover.TheFratton
Endwasswayingwithhim.
W:McGarveysignedfromManchester
Unitedin1984,butwasmoreworried
abouthispermthanscoringgoals.

MOMEnT
B:It hastobewinningthe 2008 FACup
Final.Thegamewasn’ta classic,butit
wasa majorhonourforPompey.
W:Anymatchthatwe’velosttothat
lot[Southampton],really.Welost4-
athomelastyearintheLeagueCup,
butstilloutsangthem.

GAME
B:BeatingSaints4-1in 2005 – it was
thatscorelineafter 27 minutes,which
gaveus 63 moretotakethemickey.
W:WeplayedSheffieldWednesdayat
homein 1983 andactuallywon1-0,
butit pisseddownallgameandwe
gotbloodysoakedontheterrace.I’ve
neverbeensowetinmylife– you
couldn’twaitforthegametofinish.

SEASOn

B:2002-03,winningtheFirstDivision

underHarryRedknapp.Mersoncame

in,thefootballwasincredibleandwe

werejustgoingtoplaceshavingfun.

SvetoslavTodorovwasscoringloads,

Yakubuarrived...it hadeverything.

W:Thefirsttimewe

administration[Febru

2010]andtheimplic

ofwhatit meant.It w

thatwecamebottom

PremierLeague],bec

off-fieldproblemsru

Wewereinveryserio

SIGnInG

B:Merson[right]was

reasonforourbests

Hewas 34 and

I thoughthe’dcomefor

a payday,buthegalvanisedtheteam.

W:Kawaguchi,theJapanesekeeper.

Hewastooshorttoplayingoal,and

theonlyreasonMilanMandaricsigned

himwasforcommercialpurposes.

d NorrisatStMary’s,

2012.Wewere2-

wnheadingintothe

t minuteandit was

odyfantastic– an

ngvolley.

wenttoOxfordin

nderJimSmith,and

5 afterbeing5-3up

e minutetogo.The

ualiserkilledus– we

missed out on going up automatically

that season on goal difference alone.

CULT HERO

B: Alan Knight [below] featured in 801

matches over four decades and is the

ultimate Portsmouth player. He could

drink for England – I’m sure when he

gave up, half the breweries went bust.

W: Redknapp was my hero – but then

he went down the road, having insisted

he wouldn’t, out of spite. I wanted to

kill him. He had the balls to come back

but left us for Tottenham, after telling

me in Nigeria that summer

he’d only leave us again

for the England job.

MAnAGER

B: Alan Ball is the only

former Saint that Pompey

fans have liked. His boozy,

rough side epitomised the

country. I loved him.

W: Terry Fenwick frequently

wound me up – he’d stand

there worrying about whether his tie

was in place, and was out of his depth.

AWAY TRIP

B: I’d always imagined Pompey fans

in a big square abroad, so Guimaraes

in 2008 was brilliant – there was no

trouble, just a great party atmosphere.

One of my mates, ‘Seagull Sam’, kept

popping up on different balconies and

banging a beer barrel with a spoon.

W: Millwall in the ’80s. We hadn’t been

allowed in the old Den, but I got in and

knew a couple of their lads. Suddenly,

this bloke launched himself at me, so

we started scrapping. The next thing

I knew, all of these neanderthals were

looking at me, so I had to leg it.

BEST&WORST

The legendary John ‘Portsmouth Football Club’ Westwood remembers Merse, Millwall and turncoat ’Arry

PORTSMOUTH

16 November 2020 FourFourTwo

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GOAL

B:David

April

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W:Wew

1992 un

drew5-

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