Heaven's light issue 7 by Official Pompey

THE OFFICIAL DIGITAL MAGAZINE OF PORTSMOUTH FOOTBALL CLUB

HEAVEN’SLIGHT EDSPACE / WHAT POMPEY MEANS TO ME / OUT OF THE SHADOWS STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEW / JOHNNY MOORE / TOM WHITE / TICKET NEWS

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CONTENTS 05 Edspace 07 What Pompey Means To Me 09 Out Of The Shadows

11 Stakeholder Interview 14 Johnny Moore 18

Tom White

25 Ticket News DESIGN The Graphic Design House, www.tgdh.co.uk Designers Chris Dale, chris@tgdh.co.uk Andrew Sanders, andy@tgdh.co.uk PHOTOGRAPHY Colin Farmery, Matthew Sankey, Simon Hill, Pompey Press, The News

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THE POMPEY SQUAD WILL SOON START THEIR PREPARATIONS FOR THE NEW CAMPAIGN WHEN THEY REPORT BACK FOR PRE-SEASON TRAINING

} Welcome to the summer edition of Heaven’s Light. The countdown to the 2014-15 season has already begun, and the fixtures for the new season have now been announced. The Pompey squad will soon start their preparations for the new campaign when they report back for pre-season training, and they will play a number of pre-season friendlies to make sure they are ready for the League 2 campaign that lies ahead. As usual this issue of Heaven’s Light is packed full of news about life off the pitch at Pompey. With anticipation for the new season building, my column looks at the recently announced fixture list and how it is all put together. There is also an out of the shadows feature with Pompey Lottery co-ordinator Bridget Barnes, a stakeholder interview with The News’ editor Mark Waldron, another one of Johnny Moore’s favourite years and the latest season ticket news. We will also be speaking to another fan to find out what Pompey means to them. There are Pompey fans all over the world, and our fan this month comes from Auckland, New Zealand. If you want to be in a future edition of Heaven’s Light saying what Pompey means to you, then please do get in touch. You can email me on tomwhite@pompeyfc.co.uk and you can also send any comments, ideas or suggestions for our publication to that email address. Yours in Pompey, Tom White Heaven’s Light Editor Guy

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W H AT D O E S

POMPEY MEAN TO ME?

ANDY HUNT, 38, FROM AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND, TELLS

TOM WHITE WHAT POMPEY MEANS TO HIM

} Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m 38, married, and have three children. I spent 16-and-a-half years in the Royal Navy and then moved to Auckland, New Zealand, in June 2013. } What does Pompey mean to you?

Pompey means so much to me. In fact it’s ridiculous when I think of the amount of time, effort and money I’ve spent supporting them. It is the biggest thing I miss since moving, and I loved being able to experience supporting them at games with my Don who is 11. } Can you remember when you started supporting Pompey?

I started supporting them in 1990 straight after the Italia World Cup. I caught the football bug and went to my first game at Fratton Park. It was against Port Vale and we lost 4-2. Martin Kuhl missed a penalty. I remember it as clear now as though it was yesterday. I was hooked straight away. } Do you have a highlight from your time supporting the club?

There are so many highlights. In terms of the team the one that springs to mind is the away game against Manchester United in 2008 where we won 1-0 against all odds. I went with my brother and

fully expected a pasting. Then there was Spurs in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley in 2010 when Harry Redknapp and the rest were sent back with their tails between their legs. Another was Middlesbrough away in a 1992 FA Cup replay. It was another game where we were expected to lose and only a handful of us made the journey. We won 4-2 and Darren Anderton scored direct from a corner. } Do you have any favourite players?

My favourite players are Paul Walsh, Paul Merson, Robert Prosinecki and weirdly Scott Hiley. } Do you have any favourite goals?

The best goal is Svetoslav Todorov’s against Burnley in 2003. The goal that got us promotion to the Premier League and mayhem ensued. } How did you feel when the Trust bought the club?

I loved the Trust getting the club. It has been unwell for years and the fans will provide its remedy. } What are your hopes for the future for Pompey?

I hope we continue to grow both on and off the pitch. There are real reasons for hope now. The feel-good factor is back.

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OUT OF TH E

SHADOWS POMPEY LOTTERY CO-ORDINATOR

BRIDGET BARNES

TA L K S TO T O M W H I T E } Bridget came to work at Pompey at the end of April, when the Pompey Lottery was launched. She was thrown straight in at the deep end, with the launch night for the lottery taking place on her first day.

A draw will take place every Friday, and there are both cash prizes and experiences to be won. The experiences on offer include the boardroom experience, the training ground experience and the media experience.

“It was a baptism of fire,” said Bridget. “The launch night was really good and I was put at ease very quickly. The feedback we got from it was good and a lot of people signed up on the back of it.”

“The prizes are amazing for £2 a week and we need the community to back this to keep it going,” said Bridget. “It’s a good cause and it’s completely safe and secure. People can sign up in many ways and they can pay by cash, cheque, standing order, credit card or debit card.”

Bridget has been blown away by the positive response from the fans to the lottery, and has barely had time to catch her breath since she started working at the club.

Although she is relatively new at the club, Bridget appears to have already been bitten by the Pompey bug.

She said: “We’re heading towards having 1,000 people signed up, which is absolutely amazing. It’s a constant peak at the moment, and we’re getting about 20 online memberships a day.”

“The support we’ve got from the community is outstanding and everybody is so lovely,” she said. “The vibe in the club is really good and I cannot believe how strong the community is. It’s got a really lovely feel to it.”

The first draw for the lottery, which is raising funds for the club’s Academy, takes place on Friday, July 4.

Bridget is also full of praise for the fans and the way they continue to back the club. “I think the fans are amazing and it’s the fans that keep the club going,” she said. “Without the fans there is nothing. The support they have given is superb and they’re all so lovely. I haven’t had a negative vibe from anybody.”

THE SUPPORT WE’VE GOT FROM THE COMMUNITY IS OUTSTANDING AND EVERYBODY IS SO LOVELY

Going forward Bridget will continue promoting the lottery, and she hopes that more people will sign up for it. She said: “We’re looking forward to other events that we’re going to do. We’re going to go out with the mascots and go into town centres and try and get involved in fetes and fairs.” Anyone who has any questions about the lottery can contact Bridget by emailing lottery@pompeyfc.co.uk or calling 023 9277 8532.

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STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEW

MARK WALDRON TO M W H ITE I NTE R V I E W S TH E N E W S’ E D ITO R M A R K WA LD R O N

} What was the main reason for bringing the Sports Mail back last season? It was the right thing to do. Unfortunately the finances meant we couldn’t sustain something that wasn’t making money, so we closed it down with a heavy heart. It obviously got a big outpouring of emotions from fans, but unfortunately we had no place to move. But it was the game against Sheffield United which planted the seed in my mind. There was a bumper crowd, the sun was shining, the Brazilian girls were dancing and Pompey were winning. The club had been reborn and I thought the Sports Mail should be reborn. So we worked hard over the summer and looked at the numbers for how many we needed to sell. Ten pence of every copy went

to the football club as we wanted the fans who bought it to feel that they were putting something back into the club, and we raised almost £13,000 over the season for the club. } Are you happy with the response it got from fans? Yes. There was a big surge around the start of the season because it was back, so people bought it in greater numbers. The Sports Mail is a results-driven business, and if Pompey win the fans want to read about it. We have our core fans but the extra sales are driven by a result on the pitch. Under Andy Awford the season picked up and we had some great sales at the end of the season.

} The News has had a long association with the club for many years, so what do you think it is that makes it so special? We live in a very close community here. People are very proud of where they come from and they’re proud of the city, and part of that is having their local football club and being proud of the football club. So as a local newspaper we hope people see that our coverage of the football club is part of that as well, and hopefully people will still turn to us and hear what we have to say about their football club.

} Have you noticed any changes since the fans bought the club? Now more than ever our relationship with the club is good. There should be a level of trust on both sides and there’s got to be an acceptance that we are a critical friend, and I think the people running the club at the moment accept that. We will do what we can to back the football club, but we’re also the voice of the fans. We’re in a good place at

the moment and I hope we can continue with a healthy relationship. } Have you found any particular benefits from being associated with Pompey? We know there are a lot of readers out there who will turn to the back pages of the paper before they turn to the front pages. We also know there are a lot of people who will come to our website because of the Pompey coverage. So that is a big benefit for us because we know that drives readers and audience, but people wouldn’t come to us unless we were doing a good job.

} How are things going at The News? They’re going well. I tell people that it’s a very exciting time for journalism. There’s been a lot of doom and gloom around the industry and the future of newspapers in a digital world, but the newspaper is doing well compared to many of its peers around the country and our audience on the website is growing healthily.

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} Blue Day is a big campaign by The News which ties in with the club, so what would you say about how that has grown over the years? Pompey had got to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final, it was a massive occasion for the city and we were trying to work out how we could celebrate that. And so we came up with this mad idea of turning the city blue for the day. We knew about the Tom Prince Cancer Trust and the tragic death of Tom, so we thought it would be good to raise money for that very worthy cause. We did the first one for the semi-final, and we did it again for the final. Having done that and established it we wanted to make it an annual event. It has now become part of the calendar and some of the companies and individuals come back year after year and make it part of their fundraising.

THE CLUB HAD BEEN REBORN AND I THOUGHT THE SPORTS MAIL SHOULD BE REBORN

} Do you have a highlight and a lowlight from The News covering the club? There are two big highlights. Obviously everything surrounding the FA Cup win was massive; the lead up to it, the day itself, and the magic day that was the homecoming parade on the Sunday and the coverage which reflected that on the Monday. Probably even more crucial to the club was our coverage of the high court case back in April last year. We ran a live blog on our website and we had tens of thousands of people from around the world following us. When the decision was made it was revealed by a tweet from Neil Allen, and the coverage the next day summing up the whole day of events was huge. As for a lowlight, it was covering all the failed ownerships. Once youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gone through that a few times it becomes slightly grinding, and I think people were rather fearful of the future of the club.

} Do you think the community club model could be the way forward? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an excellent model and anything that gives fans a sense of ownership and a sense of power in helping to shape the future of their football club has to be good. It is certainly something that other clubs in similar situations should come to Pompey and look at.

} What would you say about the fans? Pompey have always had fans that back the club, and you can see the way that they turn up through thick, thin and even thinner. The fans have always been here and that gives the club great hope for the future.

THE FANS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HERE AND THAT GIVES THE CLUB GREAT HOPE FOR THE FUTURE 13

1987-88 S

} To celebrate my first ever season of watching Pompey in top flight football I brought a pair of white brogues with snazzy tassels attached to the front of each one.

Or saving that the paper train, also known as Milk Express, though I never saw any crates of white stuff on there, which departed at some unearthly hour between 3am and 4am.

The idea of wearing white shoes quite appealed as a ‘stand out’ statement without my really considering the practicalities.

Anyone that fell asleep on the journey home would get their shoe laces tied up and receive a bang on the window just as the train was departing Havant station.

Four games into a season that had so far seen two defeats and a draw Pompey made the glamorous trip to London to face Arsenal which I felt was the perfect stage to unveil said shoes. To digress, London away trips very much followed a pattern in these days. All meet at Havant station for the 8am train, drink in the buffet car up to Waterloo and then head on the tube to the rough vicinity of where we were playing. On this particular occasion I believe we disembarked at Islington. When I say buffet cars I mean a full purpose built carriage incorporating bar and tables with stewards in red waistcoats serving a number of different beers and spirits as well as a full English if you fancied. Considering the unimaginative trolleys of bland mass prepacked products they push through crowded train aisles these days imbibing on the railways has hardly taken a leap forward for mankind.

Result being that they would groggily awake from their deep slumber, get to their feet half asleep and find themselves rooted to the spot with the dawning realisation of their predicament. Plenty of victims were caught during a season that saw Pompey visit Chelsea, Arsenal, Charlton, Watford, Luton (twice), Wimbledon, Tottenham, West Ham and QPR. I’m proud to say that I was never one of the victims due to the fact I always avoided wearing shoes with laces and consciously endeavoured to stay awake, normally with the aid of a can in each hand. If you were an unlucky victim you would find yourself going all the way to Fratton having to return home by taxi providing you still had the fare following an expensive day in the capital. If not you either waited till the first train back out around 6.30am or went on Shank’s Pony for the ten-mile journey.

Likewise in the age of still rigid licensing laws you always found pubs open at 10am where into today’s relaxed drinking environment most minus Wetherspoons seem shut till midday.

Should you be a lucky victim the train would stop at Bedhampton and you would get away with it with minor inconvenience or none at all.

This I might add extended into the evening hours in London and even Waterloo station itself appeared to have far more flexibility than in these current supposed enlightened licensing times.

On the field the highlights were playing at illustrious places such as Liverpool, Everton, Manchester United, Tottenham, Arsenal, Newcastle and even Coventry given you only usually saw them play other teams on the telly and could only previously visualise what it was like to see your own team play in such stadiums.

Similarly still in the age of a nationalised rail system trains seemed to have the freedom to run far later than is now the case under the free diverse enterprise that is privatisation. Thus on the return trip we would again hit some designated place ending at Waterloo catching the last Portsmouth train out of London - which was always north of midnight.

Even at these you had to enjoy the day as a whole because these visits combined gained a paltry total of four points in a season not exactly full of positive memories on the field. Undoubtedly the shining highlight in a season where Pompey achieved only seven wins came on January 3 on the never

to be forgotten day where Barry Horne and Terry Connor grabbed the goals which earned a 2-0 win at the Dell against Southampton. Very much a smash and grab affair as I remember, but that doesn’t alter history. Even by this stage it was evident that my first season of watching Pompey in the top flight was destined to be the last for the foreseeable future. Only to be rubber stamped days after the historic win with the sale of influential captain Mick Kennedy to Bradford City. To emphasise the point Pompey would win only two more games from the remaining 16 as they plummeted headlong towards relegation. Much of that down to the sale of Kennedy. Indeed many would have taken the 2-0 victory at Southampton over survival given that chairman John Deacon had by this stage made no pretence of his destruction of a dream he had nurtured since taking over the club 14 years previously. Having now lived that all too brief dream of a club in the top flight he had seen fit to sell one of the most influential players and seemed more engrossed with the basketball side in the city that he also financed. There was an extended FA Cup run where Pompey reached the quarter-finals beating Blackburn, Sheffield United and Mick Kennedy’s Bradford City on the way only to come short on Luton’s plastic pitch. Kevin Dillon’s audacious volleyed goal from the halfway line in the third round match at Blackburn would have surely been goal of the competition itself, if not the year, had cameras caught it. Unfortunately in these days only the 10,352 at the match were privy to a sensational strike which the midfielder later attributed to visualising the ball as the head of manger Alan Ball with whom he had a tempestuous relationship. The reality of life was that Pompey having reached a pinnacle after climbing from the summit only seven years previously found that life at the top of the tree was not all it was cracked up to be. So when it came for the last rites to be read at the final home match against a Newcastle side including a young prodigy named Paul Gascoigne only 12,468 turned up, and most of those seemingly intent on calling for John Deacon’s head.

KEVIN DILLON’S AUDACIOUS VOLLEYED GOAL FROM THE HALFWAY LINE IN THE THIRD ROUND MATCH AT BLACKBURN WOULD SURELY HAVE BEEN GOAL OF THE COMPETITION ITSELF, IF NOT THE YEAR, HAD CAMERAS CAUGHT IT As for the revolutionary white shoes, somewhere in Islington High Street I trod in a filthy puddle of water leaving them caked in splatters of mud for which the specialist polish I had been given only succeeded in extending rather than lessening the offending marks. The appearance of them became further besmirched a few days later when the tassels parted company from the right shoe, leaving me no alternative but to physically remove the others from the left. But to prove that all bad things eventually come to an end John Deacon sold the club during the summer and I was offered a weekly Sports Mail column culminating in another of those periods of exciting transition in my Pompey supporting lifetime even if it were back in the lower leagues. Subsequently the days of late trains, high jinks and practical jokes were left behind as were one pair of seldom worn grubby white shoes minus tassels and a tube of barely opened polish.

This proving the inspiration for me to suggest an article to the editor of the Football Mail, its title back then, about penning a jury type for or against piece regarding John Deacon. With my foot already in the door of the Havant News office as a community correspondent, then news reporter, this was my first branching out into sport after the Mail printed the said article in the optimum prime position smack bang on the front page directly below the downward thumbed sailor as Pompey ended the campaign with a 4-1 drubbing at Manchester United. And so to return from my lengthy digression back to that early autumnal day at Arsenal where even this early juncture gave ominous signs of the struggle to come. Pompey were 4-0 down by half-time and eventually thrashed by six as Alan Ball’s men were dealt the ultimate lesson in top flight football by the team he had once played for after a record transfer fee from Everton.

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TOM WHITE’S

VIEW FROM THE

FRATTON END

} The fixtures for the 2014-15 season have been announced and Pompey fans can now start plotting their away days.

The midweek fixtures have also been kind to the Blues, with no long midweek journeys this season.

The season starts with a trip to Exeter City on Saturday, August 9, and finishes at Fratton Park against York City on Saturday, May 2.

Pompey travel to Dagenham & Redbridge, Northampton Town and Stevenage on February 10, March 3 and April 14.

Some games immediately stand out more than others, and the trips to Oxford United, Plymouth Argyle and AFC Wimbledon on August 23, November 15 and March 21 are sure to be in demand for many supporters.

The announcement of the fixtures makes the new season feel that bit closer, and the Fratton Faithful will now be counting down the days to the first game of the season.

Conversely, the matches at Hartlepool United, Tranmere Rovers and Morecambe on September 27, November 29 and April 11 look like ones for the hardy souls. The busy Christmas and New Year period has been kind to Pompey, with two home games and a relatively short away trip. Andy Awford’s side host AFC Wimbledon on Boxing Day, travel to Luton Town on December 28 and entertain Tranmere Rovers on January 3. The Easter weekend sees Pompey visit Carlisle United on April 3 and host Plymouth Argyle on April 6. If Easter Monday’s Dockyard Derby is anything like last season’s thrilling 3-3 draw, when Danny Hollands grabbed a hat-trick for Pompey, then all the fans will be in for a treat.

But while the announcement of the fixtures happens like clockwork every year, a lot of work goes in behind the scenes beforehand.

THE BUSY CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR PERIOD HAS BEEN KIND TO POMPEY, WITH TWO HOME GAMES AND A RELATIVELY SHORT AWAY TRIP

The Football League starts looking at the schedule for the following season in November. To get things started the Fixtures Working Party, which comprises of officers from the Football League, the Premier League and the Football Association, as well as club representatives, have a meeting together. Each stakeholder can review the previous season’s fixtures at the meeting, and discuss any policies that should be looked at going forward into the following campaign. After the meeting, the Football League’s fixtures officer contacts the 72 member clubs so they can let the Football League know of any dates when they would prefer to avoid playing at home.

As well as trying to accommodate all the requests when compiling the fixtures, issues such as the length of travel for midweek games also have to be given consideration. Once the fixtures are announced clubs have until the end of June to move matches, for example from Easter Saturday to Good Friday, if both teams agree. So while the 2014-15 season is in full flow, spare a thought for all the committed individuals who will be busy preparing the fixtures for the 2015-16 season.

For example, Pompey like to avoid having a home match on the weekend of the Great South Run. The fixtures team also liaise with police forces across the country to accommodate any preferences they have – which take precedence. For example, Pompey and Southampton are very rarely both at home on the same day. All the information is then given to Atos – the company that is licensed to use the software, which is owned by the league, to produce the fixtures.

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