Portsmouth ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Foundation:1898
Address:Fratton Park, Frogmore Rd, Southsea PO4 8RA
Telephone:023.9273.1204
Fax:023.9273.4129
E-Mail:info@pompeyfc.co.uk
Web Site:http://www.pompeyfc.premiumtv.co.uk
Chairman:Alexandre Gaydamak
History
Portsmouth's recent history is closely linked with Harry Redknapp. The former West Ham manager was appointed as Pompey boss by the club's then owner Milan Mandaric in 2002, and steered the South-coast outfit into the Premiership in 2002-03. But the pair fell out in 2004 and Redknapp quit, only to resurface days later as manager of Pompey's arch-rivals Southampton. Meanwhile the inscrutable Velimir Zajec became Pompey manager until quiting in 2005, when Frenchman Alain Perrin was appointed. But Portsmouth were slipping inexorably down the league and relegation beckoned. Exit Perrin and re-enter, sensationally, Redknapp in December 2005. Until early March it looked as if the gamble had failed, despite the recruitment of new players in January. But then results turned and Redknapp steered Pompey to a sensational run of form that saw them avoid what had seemed a near-certain relegation. Alexander Gaydamak took over from Mandaric as owner of the club and Redknapp, with summer additions including Sol Campbell, Kanu, David James and Glen Johnson, put a team together that began the new season as they'd ended the previous one. So the club's immediate future is now looking bright. Back in history, the city of Portsmouth"s leading club, Royal Artillery, were suspended by the FA for breaching amateur regulations. And at a meeting in his offices in Portsmouth High Street in 1898, solicitor Alderman J.E. Pink and five other business and profesional men decided to form a professional club instead. For the sum of £4,950 they purchased some ground near Goldsmith Avenue - the site of a market garden - ideally located close to Fratton railway station in the midst of a residential area. A team of professional players was signed up by manager Frank Brettell and the new club gained entry to the Southern League and got Fratton Park ready in time for the start of the new season in September 1899. Portsmouth Football Club became original members of the Football League, Division Three, in 1920; by 1927 they were in Division One and two years later they contested their first FA Cup Final. Pompey were beaten 2-0 by Bolton at Wembley and were runners-up again in 1934 when Manchester City won the Cup with a 2-1 victory over Pompey in the Final. However, five years later Portsmouth upset the odds by reaching Wembley again and beating a strongly-fancied Wolverhampton Wanderers side 4-1. The Second World War meant Portsmouth can lay claim to the unusual record of having held the FA Cup the longest - seven years. The Football Club looked after the Cup throughout hostilities and gave it regular airings at Fratton Park, putting it on public display in aid of charity. But as the home of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth with its naval dockyards was a prime target for German bombs. Once, the Cup was moved on just before the bank in which it had been held for safe-keeping was bombed and destroyed. Jack Tinn, Pompey"s manager (who attributed the 1939 Cup Final win to his lucky white spats) spent the night of the blitz nursing the Cup beneath the stairs at his home. The resumption of football after the War heralded Pompey"s golden age. In their jubilee year, 1949, they won the League Championship for the first time - and followed that by retaining it the next season (1949-50) on goal average from Wolves. Thereafter Portsmouth entered a long decline. They were relegated from Division One in 1959 and eventualy found themselves in Division Four (1978-80) before slowly rising again. With World Cup winner Alan Ball in charge they finally returned to the old First Division in 1987; but their stay in the top-flight lasted just one season. The club seemed more likely to sink again than rise until wealthy Serbian Milan Mandaric became the owner and appointed Harry Redknapp as manasger in March 2002. In his first full season in charge, helped by his trademark wheeler-dealing in the transfer market, Redknapp won the First Division title to take Pompey into the Promised Land of the Premiership
Team Trophies Football League Division 1: Champions: 1948-49, 1949-50, 2002-03. Division 2: (Runners-Up: 1926-27, 1986-87). Division 3 (South): Champions: 1923-24. Division 3: Champions: 1961-62, 1982-83. FA Cup: Winners: 1939. (Runners-Up: 1929, 1934)