There's an advert currently running on TV for EDF Energy with a school choir seeing Kermit the Frog's old standard It's Not easy Being Green. Well trust me on this one, it ain't easy being blue at the moment either.
As a Pompey fan of some 40 years now I've enjoyed some ups and downs and it's only in the last few years we've really had anything to shout about. Much of that success is down to Harry R*****pp . . . I'm sorry I just can't bring myself to write his name.
No, it's not because he went down the road to 'them' less than a week after saying "Of course I wouldn't go down the road."
Nor is it because he went to White Hart Lane a week after saying "I'm here (at Pompey) for life. This is my last job in football."
Those are the sort of things I expect from him because he is so duplicitious. His problem is he loves sounding off so much he forgets what he's actually said, so contradictions are - to use a phrase he would appreciate - par for the course with R*****pp.
Anyway I digress. My dislike for R*****pp the man, his personality and the media's buy-in to everything he feeds them is irrelevant currently.
What pains Pompey followers at the moment is the long, drawn-out process involved in the 'takeover' by Sulaiman Al Fahim (SAF). Ken Bates would have moved clubs twice in the time it has taken for due diligence* to be completed.
This delay is meat and drink to the rabid pessimists among the Pompey faithful, among whom, I have to admit, I count myself. Forty years of promised stadiums which consistently fail to materialise; more false dawns than Tony Orlando; and a remarkable ability to wrench defeat from the jaws of victory . . . these are the things which shape our outlook.
News of SAF's involvement in a potential buy-out was initially met with whoops of delight even by me - though I admit to telling my son "Like the stadium mate, I'll believe it when I see it." Cynicism is a hard habit to break.
Yet a couple of months on from the breaking news, we're still waiting. We've sold Glen Johnson; we appear to be on the verge of selling Peter Crouch and Sylvain Distin; and half the rest of last term's team is out of contract.
News that we have entered the Barclays Premiership Super Sixes won't come as too much of a surprise as we could just about muster a squad for that.
Add to that newspaper reports that Paul Hart is to remain as manager and I struggle to keep my head out of my hands (actually as a former Sunday League goalkeeper I can assure you if I did put my head in my hands I would drop it at somebody's feet).
My optimistic friends - there are some even at Pompey - assure me there's nothing to worry about: Newspaper reports are generally wrong. It's all speculation. Nobody spends £60m on a football club only to strip it of its assets. Six players have already signed pre-contract agreements. Michael Jackson and Elvis are playing a gig at our local pub tonight.
I just hope it sorts itself out soon. As John Cleese said: "It's not the disappointment, it's the hope I can't cope with."
*Is due diligence any relation to comedy songster and Countdown regular Richard Diligence?
No comments:
Post a Comment