photo credit: bhhardinge

The lights aren’t off…yet.

Pompey has been put on administration following their inability to find new ownership and new capital.  It’s a sad day for Portsmouth, but the day is not lost.  However, there are a couple things to consider:

1.  Their administrator Andrew Andronikou is charged with severely cutting costs and attempting to make the club solvent.  This is very good because at least the EPL has a vision for how this should get fixed.  Find a dude who works for a financial firm to fix this!  Most sports teams (including Pompey) aren’t that smart.

2.  Portsmouth is already in 20th and most definitely staring relegation in the face.  They’re 7 points down to their next closest rivals Burnley and Bolton (who also face relegation).  It’s possible that the community and fans might rally around the club for a push to get out of this hole.  OR…the community will rally around them next season in an effort to get back into the EPL.

It may sound stupid, but this might be one of the best things that could happen to them.  You need obsessed fans to keep you going and this might just bring the obsessed fans out of the woodwork.

3.  There is history here.  Fratton Park is an icon.  Portsmouth–as a friend of mine said–is an institution.  The EPL doesn’t want them to go away and the team so closely identifies with its hometown that I don’t see how anything HORRIBLE will happen.

At least preventative measures are being taken.  Yes, losing 9 points sucks, but that’s the price you pay for getting in this situation.  If the club plays it right they can begin a whole new “grass-roots” campaign simply based on belief in the club.

If I were them I’d do a campaign on generational fans and what the history and tradition of Portsmouth football means to the city and the country. 

I expect an e-mail people!  I’m a marketing genius I tell you! 

(Honestly, this can turn out well for them…it really can).

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FA Cup holders Chelsea will play Aston Villa in the semi-finals and Portsmouth will face either Tottenham or Fulham.

Chelsea easily overcame Stoke in their quarter-final tie, while Villa had to come from behind to beat Championship side Reading and reach the last four.

Crisis club Portsmouth will find out their opponents after the replay between Fulham and Spurs on 24 March.

The semi-finals will be played at Wembley on Saturday, 10 April and Sunday, 11 April.

The FA Cup Semi Finals
Saturday 10 April 2010: Aston Villa v Chelsea – Buy Chelsea v Aston Villa FA Cup Tickets

Sunday 11 April 2010: Fulham or Tottenham Hotspur v Portsmouth – Buy Portsmouth v Fulham or Spurs FA Cup Tickets

FA Cup Final
Saturday 15 May -Buy FA Cup Final Tickets

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photo credit: Crystian Cruz

On the field is where it’s at.

John Terry has asked that he be judged by happens on the field of play instead of by what happens in his personal life.  On the one hand I want to say, “Amen, brother!  Tell it all!”, and on the other hand I want to say, “Can you really expect that?”

I think John Terry is right to ask fans to judge him by what he does on the field.  He’s a footballer and that’s that.  I read remarks where he says he has the shirt he was wearing when he missed the penalty shot in the final…hanging on his wall.  He’s a driven competitor who only wants to get better and serve his team, country and fans better.  I think that’s cool.

However, didn’t he realize that people are crazy, and (most people) in the media are content to knock you down and maybe they’ll build you back up later?  This is my dilemma.  I’ll go after people for what they do regarding the game, but get outside that and I kinda just don’t want to know.

This voyeuristic fascination we have with people’s private lives is getting a little weird.  Bill Simmons wrote a great piece for ESPN talking about how Tiger Woods just “followed the crowd” into “sexual transgressions”.  What do you think John Terry (and now Ashley Cole did)?

It would be lunacy to say that these guys are lowlife-scum and everyone else must be of unimpeachable character when we know that that simply is not true.

I live in Atlanta and there are TONS of professional athletes here and I’m sure I could find one who is not “playing the game the right way”, but is it worth for me to jump into someone’s personal life?  No.

I want to see what you do on the field and we can stick to that, but don’t get rich playing a game and expect everyone to think like me.

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photo credit: wonker

Maybe we can get the focus back on the field…

Portsmouth’s financial troubles have continued under-the-radar because other things have been going on in the Premier League, but now the team (apparently) has a couple interested buyers and now they are saying that the price is dropping to basically “nothing”.

Ok, this one I agree with.  You know, a few years ago when the NHL came out of their lockout that cancelled the Stanley Cup and ruined the league they took a TV deal with NBC that NBC didn’t have to pay for.  You know what?  It kind of helped. 

Granted, they then had to go to the “Outdoor Network” to get games on TV, but they still had Barry Melrose and John Buccigross talking up the league on ESPN everyday of the season.  Don’t you think that helped?

Selling the team saves the team millions of points in the PR department.  They can get out from under the stigma of “the crappy team with no money” and get back to business.  Even if they get relegated they’ll STILL be talked about, but at least they’ll be talked about for play…good or bad.

The focus has left the game and that is KILLING them. 

I hope one of their potential buyers comes through because they seem honest.  When I slammed the team for not really trying to get anything done they were holding out and not saying anything concrete.  As far as I’m concerned “nothing” as the asking price for a sports team is concrete.

They are acknowledging that things are ROYALLY effed up and that the only way it’s getting any better is to move the club forward.  That impresses me.  This also means they are admitting how badly they’ve run the team.  That impresses me too.

I hope this works.  As a friend told me “Portsmouth is an institution”, and no one wants to see an institution fail.

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photo credit: wonker

Liverpool fans need to be careful with their expectations…

Rarely do we see a team’s fortunes rise so quickly under the management of an unfit manager and with a superstar who is so disrespectful to his other teammates that he’d suggest the team pick up some of his Spanish countrymen because “he need help”.

I’ve already spoken my peace about this so I won’t go back there, but somehow the Reds have moved to within 10 points of Chelsea who sits in first and 1 point from Tottenham in 4th place.

Somehow, someway the boys from Liverpool decided they wanted to play competitive soccer again after wallowing in their own misery for most of the season.

Crapping out of the Champion’s league and losing match after mach to teams they should have beaten must have taken its toll, but now Liverpool has woken up.

Do I think this trend will continue?  No, because I think Rafa is inept and even if he doesn’t go to Juventus he’ll just mess up Liverpool instead of messing up Juventus.  It’s really that simple.

Can I expect Tottenham to continue to falter and give up 90th minute goals?  Nope.  Tottenham (as a friend, who is a HARDCORE Tottenham fan, said) is FOR REAL every season.  Even if they seem like they are shrinking they really aren’t.

Liverpool can do more than they started the season doing, but they are not this great barrage of talent and skill that’s going to roll up the table towards Arsenal, ManU and Chelsea.

Can they play for 4th?  Sure.  But 1, 2, and 3 are reserved for better teams.

Do I think that Liverpool can turn this around for next season…stop settling for fighting for 4th place?  Yes, they can, but this season is lost and any news to the contrary is hogwash.

Maybe next year for the Reds…

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Liverpool disastrous season reached new lows on Wednesday as they were knocked out the FA Cup Wednesday by Reading.

It is no longer a big surprise when Liverpool loses, considering they have lost 10 of their last 20 games.

But for a side already out of the Champions League and the title race, the FA Cup promised the best chance for silverware this season for Liverpool fans.

To add injury to insult for Rafa Benitez, he saw lost both Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to injuries during the first half.

Liverpool had gone ahead in first-half stoppage time when Gerrard’s shot was deflected home by Ryan Bertrand but Gylfi Sigurdsson equalized for Reading deep into injury time to send the game into extra time.

The goal boosted Reading, who were much the better team in extra time and it was no surprise when Shane Long headed home the winner in the 100th minute was no more than Reading deserved.

It’s been a bad week for Liverpool starting with the email fiasco to getting knocked out the cup. The question that has be asked is can Liverpool afford to fire Rafa who is only a few months into a new five-year contract.

The answer t that is no, especially if Liverpool do not qualify for the Champions League next season and the estimated 40 million pounds that brings.

Pundits have been lamenting that the FA Cup has lost its magic. But consider that for the first time in 50 years that Liverpool and Man Utd will not be playing in the 4^th round of the FA Cup. Is this the year that a team outside the big four lifts the cup at Wembley in May?

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Sir Alex Ferguson suffered his first FA Cup third-round defeat since taking the reins at Manchester United in 1986 as Jermaine Beckford’s first-half winner gave third-tier Leeds United  a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford.

Saturday’s action had failed to produce any upsets but the major surprise came at the most unlikely venue on Sunday as Simon Grayson’s side belied their position to inflict a maiden FA Cup reverse against lower league opposition on the Man Utd. Leeds had displayed no reservations in the early stages of the contest and were rewarded when Johnny Howson’s long pass released Beckford and he steered his shot across Tomasz Kuszczak.

United toiled before the break with Jason Crowe’s goalline clearance from Wayne Rooney the closest the hosts came to levelling. Chances were spurned at both ends after the interval with substitute Michael Owen miskicking when gloriously placed before Beckford fired wide and a Robert Snodgrass free-kick struck the post for the visitors. Goalkeeper Casper Ankergren was called into action twice in added time but Leeds held on for the first success at Old Trafford since 1981 – 17 matches ago.

Elsewhere, Aaron Ramsey and Eduardo struck in the final 15 minutes to help Arsenal come from a goal down to win 2-1 at West Ham, who had led through Alessandro Diamanti’s effort on the stroke of half-time. Daniel Sturridge scored his first two goals for Chelsea as they cruised to a 5-0 success at home to Watford.

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The king of the Coppa Italia, Roberto Mancini took his first step towards success in the English equivalent when his Manchester City side won 1-0 at Middlesbrough in the FA Cup third round.

Mancini won the Italian Cup six times as a player and four as a coach and, having overseen two league victories since replacing Mark Hughes at City, watched his new team advance comfortably with a late first-half goal by striker Benjani Mwaruwari against the second division hosts. The final might seem a long way away but Mancini can take heart from the fact that in the last five years the team who have knocked Middlesbrough out have reached the final – albeit without going on to win it.

In a third-round day short on shocks, last season’s runners-up Everton beat Carlisle 3-1, Spurs thrashed Peterborough 4-0 and Fulham beat Swindon Town 1-0. I

In two all-Premier League ties Aston Villa beat ten-man Blackburn 3-1 and Wigan defeated Hull 4-1.

Liverpool (1-1 away to Reading), Portsmouth (1-1 at home to Coventry City) and Birmingham (0-0 away to Nottingham Forest) all require replays against second-tier sides.

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photo credit: wonker

Roy Keane totally put his old teammate on blast today when he started running his mouth about Mark Hughes being fired from Manchester City.  Like the title says…I just love it when people say how much they hate someone else.  For example…I HATE Shaq…HATE him (and I’m a Lakers fan) but I hate his guts.  I really do.

So, when Roy Keane says of Hughes and City:

“I think when you’re involved with a club like United, as Sparky was over his career, you shouldn’t go to a club like City. I think you should try and get employment somewhere else. I think Sparky is probably better off.”

Did anybody else see that little tidbit?  …a club LIKE City?  When you say something like that you’re usually telling your son not to date “a girl like that” or your daughter to not date a “boy like that” or you tell your kids not to hang out with kids “like that”.  WOW!  Then he goes on to say he would :get employment somewhere else.”  DANG!  So, basically what Roy Keane is saying is “I’d starve before I work for trash like Manchester City.”  I LOVE THIS!

I wish he would have come out and said it full-frontal like “That garbage at Manchester City they call a football club isn’t worth spitting on” or something like that.  (However, he’s more tasteful than I am.)

Personally, I have no dog in the fight.  I’m American (in case you couldn’t tell) and my adopted dog is Chelsea (and I harbor no ill will towards Man U.)  So, what do we make of this?  Well, two things:

1)  There is still some honor in English Soccer.  It’s much like Jackie Robinson saying that he would die before he played for the Giants (Brooklyn’s cross-town rival.)  That’s honor.  He doesn’t want the money…he wants to play for a club with which he shares the same principles and which he bled for.

2)  This era is otherwise dead in sports.  Look at Real Madrid with their roster of all superstars.  Look at the New York Yankees with a $250 million payroll.  Look at the exorbitant transfer fees for every soccer player you can think of.  There is no honor left in sports (even Soccer) except that which is harbored by the previous generation (and by the time guys like Hughes and Keane are old-timers no one will ever dream of “not playing for a team just because of who they are.”  Those days are gone-by…oh well.  C’est la vie!

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I wake up this morning and read the scathing headlines about how some Red players are unhappy with the atmosphere in the locker room in Liverpool and I have to sigh and chuckle at the same time because I JUST wrote about this and here it is again staring us in the face.  There’s two ways to look at this and both are not good for Liverpool.

1)  Liverpool is a freaking disaster.  They have no idea what they’re doing from top to bottom.  Rafa Benitez has no idea how to manage his players, he’s lost this team and he’ll never get it back.  The front office is so inept that they cannot manage the roster correctly nor can they so the proper PR to keep alot of this stuff under wraps.  Moreover, they do not understand that it is ok for a coach to be on the hot seat publicly if he isn’t privately.  Coming out and saying Rafa is safe is like spitting in the fan’s faces when you know they’re already calling for his job.  UGH!!!

2)  You can take Gary Neville’s approach…that they got what they deserved.   Deserve is a hard word for me.  I don’t think anybody deserves anything.  You can earn stuff, but deserving is a whole other lot.  If you work hard and you fail then you failed…you didn’t deserve failure OR success.  If you work hard and succeed then you’re a success but you didn’t deserve it…you earned it.  Gary Neville sounds like a spoiled little brat who plays on a good team and has no idea what it’s like to be in what I called a “downward spiral”.  Perhaps if we put Gary Neville on the Liverpool squad they would win out the rest of the season because he’s so great he “deserves” it?  I think not.

If you put Gary Neville on the Liverpool squad they would still suck because Soccer is a team game and individual greats can only take you so far and when they aren’t scoring they need to be leading and Gary Neville is no leader.  Want to know how I know that?  Because he’s yapping about another team in the most unsportsmanlike way (and I thought Soccer was a Gentlemen’s game.)  If I were an official I’d yellow card Neville at his next match just for being stupid.  But that’s just me.

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