There is an ancient Chinese curse, ‘May you live in interesting times’. It would seem that Pompey has been well cursed by the Chinese these last three seasons. Now, with relegation finally inescapable, we enter the most ‘interesting’ time of all. We have a matter of weeks before we find out if the club actually has any future of any kind.

Interesting times are inevitably those in which chaos prevails, where the situation changes from hour to hour, and so it seems at Pompey. Only a fool would commit to any statement about the future of the club at the moment, with Trevor Birch’s constant refrain in the media being that the club runs out of cash at the end of May. The only thing we can be sure of is we need a new owner before that happens, otherwise Birch will be left with only one option, liquidation of the club.

Time for a dose of reality; what we actually know is very little but what we do know tells us that denying the reality of our situation will do nothing but send the club into oblivion.

Debate among fans is hot, understandable when the club which means so much to them is foundering. While many seem prepared for action there are still those who do not fully believe the threat of liquidation is real, despite the words of our straight-talking administrator.

As I see it there are three broad options that fans seem to think the club has.

The first is the ‘White Knight’ option. Here hope is at its strongest, with fans favouring this idea happy to leave the survival of the club open to fate; someone, somewhere will soon see what we see in Pompey – a valuable asset ripe for development. This person will step up to the challenge and take the club forward in a proper manner. This hope is kept alive by Birch’s reference to two groups who are showing ‘interest’ in the club. That is all we know. Everything else is speculation, including the idea that Chainrai could be this ‘White Knight.’

However, interest does not equal a bid. The danger of taking this option is that either a) no owner will materialise or b) we will end up yet again in the cycle of financial boom and bust that the football authorities seem to think is a suitable way to run the game. Bear in mind the only declared interests we have had in these’ interesting times’ have all proved unsatisfactory in one way or another. The White Knight option leaves an awful lot to chance. We can hope a good ‘un will materialise – but that’s all it is at this stage, hope.

Second, and a favourite of mine, is the Plan B option. Here are encapsulated the dreams of those of us who want football to return to what it once was – the people’s game, where the fan experience reigns supreme in the club’s philosophy. Anyone who has had the FC United experience or went to the Peterborough game or has followed the adventures of Chester and AFC Wimbledon knows exactly what this entails. We cite the German 50 +1 model, the St Pauli ideal and dream of a club run on similar lines.

Many who want this option see it as a clean start, a way of breaking with the bad history of the past. Liquidation is favoured in this case. People are understandably reluctant to part with any more money if it is destined to sustain the Chinese curse.

Practicalities get in the way of these dreams. Ownership of Fratton Park is seen as essential for a phoenix team. Doing this will mean that fans’ investment will go to Chainrai just as much as it will if fans buy the club as a going concern. It loses the benefit of the parachute payments and will most likely mean no professional football in the City of Portsmouth next season as the deadline for registering a ‘continuation club’ passes on 1 May. None of this is insurmountable – but it requires dedicated work from a team of fans in order to make it happen. Is the commitment in numbers there for this? No one knows.

Finally there is the option of taking action to gain control of the club as it is now. The one body that has done this is the Pompey Supporters’ Trust. There is a pre-share offer here and information on the affordability of shares here. The ideas behind this scheme have been well debated and criticised. Many opinions have been expressed about how the Trust should have proceeded. Some are valid, some ill-informed and some lack faith in fellow fans. Perhaps there is much that could have been done better if the Trust had had the luxury of time and unbounded resources at their disposal. But they didn’t have that, so took the action best suited to the information and time available to them. Currently they are undertaking due diligence. They are formulating a bid to get control of the club.

The nature of that bid will depend on the amount of commitment fans are actively willing to show through the pre-share scheme. At this stage that is all they can say. Debates about the nature of the ownership structure and the kind of club PFC can become are for another day. Hopes and dreams still play a part in the Trust’s attempt, but at least they are accompanied by visible action.

The message is clear. The only people that we know for sure are prepared to do something to keep football alive in the City currently are the Supporters Trust. There is no evidence of action on behalf of any alternative plan.

Being human, fan opinions are bound to vary, but the real world encroaches and we have to assess the dangers of being beguiled by hopes and dreams and look at what is really there in front of us. Hopes and dreams alone will not save the club and debating how it is best to proceed is not helpful in the here and now - only actions have any value.

So the question to fans is – what are you prepared to DO to help build a better Pompey?

The views of SJ Maskell are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the editorial view of pompey-fans.com.

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