No owner, -10 points , no players, a restricted manager and most certainly no optimism. Hard to think that was the situation under a week ago. Maybe it’s not all changed significantly but optimism in the majority of those areas is arguably back.
Temporarily we can start on zero points, the only possible owner is the one we want thanks to Balram Chanrai finally taking the hint. Our beloved manager has at last been able to do his job, despite being employed by the club for nearly 10 months! Oh and we also have a squad that on first impressions we can be positive about and look forward to seeing again.
On previous occasions players that have been signed have been “past it” or “primadonnas” and many have just been ironically looking to pick up a healthy pay cheque ( joke’s on them then ) but the squad that Appleton is putting together looks like that with abit more progress being made behind the scenes could go places.
Despite this, the new dawn isn’t the players that fans have been dreaming about but more an owner who could run the club appropriately and not risk the club’s survival. Stand up the PST. The work that the group have put in to making their bid remotely viable is a testament to them and also to the overall culture of Pompey fans here, there and everywhere. Yet it’s not “remotely viable” more like very close to being ready!
Trevor Birch has recently said that "I would hope by the end of next week the Trust will say to me we are ready to go" Birch told BBC Radio Solent last Friday.
The major stumbling blocks left are believed to be player compromises where Chainrai had outlined £8m but with the Trust only allocating £2m, work will need to be done with that and quickly. In addition to this, once again Chanrai seems to be the main protagonist in the story of Portsmouth FC. He who currently holds a charge over Fratton Park has reportedly demanded around £8m for his charge while The Trust have offered £2.75m – with the general consensus being that the latter is a fair figure and likely to be the most Chanrai will receive at best.
If the PST does take over the club though, it will for once be most certainly a new dawn for the club and a chance to learn from forget all of what has occurred in the past. Although the average Pompey fan may have limited control on the outcome of the ownership saga, Pompey fans can do a lot for the club in other ways through pledges, donations and attending games! As Saturday showed, there are still nearly 18,000 fans whose love for Portsmouth FC still runs strong. For all the Pompey fans who have blue blood running through their veins, this new dawn is Pompey and the colour is blue!
The views of Tom Young are his own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial view of pompey-fans.com
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