Portsmouth reminds me of Newcastle

I wasn’t one of those who supported the fact that Paul Hart being sacked and I made it known then and said I didn’t think the appointment of Avram Grant was going to save them from the dwelling at the bottom of the league till the end of the season.

I likened it to Newcastle last season and how rash and hasty decisions in the managerial position by Mike Ashley ultimately led to their demise. I believe all Mike Ashley did in his quest to finding the right man to ‘save’ the club was foster more instability in the club (like there wasn’t already enough). It turned out to be a diversionary tactic rather than a genius move.

The return of Alan Shearer to help Newcastle avoid relegation in the last 8 games of the season was just the icing on the very rotten cake below. Ultimately, regardless of how much external dressing you put on a rotten cake, it is still a rotten cake that will emanate a rotten cake and will eventually reveal the mold underneath.

The same thing I believe has happened to Portsmouth. The rotten cake below is beginning to show it’s mold – from not paying players their wages on time to the transfer embargo placed on them by the Premier League to outstanding transfer fees owed to other clubs. From change ownership from one seemingly no-money Sheikh to a slightly better one, the off the pitch instability of this club should have been the paramount concern of the ‘owners’ and not the on-field impressive momentum-filled performances by the players and the coaching staff on the field of play.

Psychologically, the instability begins to affect the players on and off the field. The uncertainty of the future of their employers can only spell nothing but worry and fear which will ultimately transcend the entire fabric of the club including the field of play.

Leaves little to the imagination what might happen to Pompey as a club if the Newcastle model is to be followed. The question now becomes how quickly can they sort the quagmire off the pitch out so they can start their climb back up just as Newcastle is right now?