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Alan Swann: I guess you had to be a Portsmouth fan


World of Sport - 20/05/08

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Published Date:
20 May 2008
WELL I guess you had to be a Portsmouth fan to get any enjoyment out of the FA Cup Final.
As I feared the Premier League's least entertaining club and a dour Championship side produced a sorry spectacle.

The sight of Pompey hanging on to a 1-0 lead throughout the second half was actually quite embarrassing, especially for those who believe the Premier League is the greatest in the world.

Did Portsmouth, and especially their hugely over-rated manager Harry Redknapp, not realise that Cardiff are actually useless? Why not play with a bit of freedom and put on a show for the millions watching around the world?

But no, that's not been Harry's way. This has been the flukiest of FA Cup wins from the third round onwards, a run that's been reliant on hopeless officiating, comedy own goals. irritating negativity and even the decisive moment at Wembley arrived courtesy of a duff goalkeeper.

Still none of that will matter to a set of fans who keep getting described as among the best in the country. Even the fact that they disgraced themselves by heckling the Welsh anthem before the game doesn't seem to have altered that opinion.




AS they watched two uninspiring sides fight out the final, I wonder what passed through the minds of managers like David Moyes of Everton and Arsene Wenger of Arsenal.

They were among those who betrayed the competition by fielding weakened sides in earlier rounds and for what? Both clubs won naff all when on the evidence of Saturday, the FA Cup was there for the taking by any side with a modicum of ability or ambition.

It will probably be the last time for decades that the final won't be tackled by the three biggest clubs in the country, but instead Everton concentrated on winning nothing except fifth place in the table and a spot in a European competition they haven't got a cat in hell's chance of winning as long as Lee Carsley remains at the heart of the midfield.

Arsenal's mindset is even more puzzling. For them it's the taking part in a pretty way that's important.




INSTEAD of rioting in Manchester city centre (causing thousands of pounds worth of improvements apparently), Rangers fans should have been grateful that that the big screen due to show the UEFA Cup Final broke down.

If there has been a worse team to reach a European final than the potential Scottish Premier League champions, it must have been before my lifetime.

Rangers have had an indecent obsession with negative football ever since the knockout stages. Watching them has been the best cure for insomnia since Sky Sports started showing live speedway meetings.




IT might have been the most generous gesture ever made by a professional footballer, but Olivier Kapo's gift of a sports car to a Birmingham City apprentice also told us something else far more worrying.

Kapo moved to Birmingham last summer, played okay for a while, but then disappeared for most of his club's ultimately unsuccessful fight against relegation from the Premier League.

And yet he stll became so rich, he is able to give a give away a £30,000 car. No further proof is required of the obscene amounts earned by journeyman players.

The full article contains 557 words and appears in Peterborough ET newspaper.
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  • Last Updated: 31 May 2008 3:50 PM
  • Source: Peterborough ET
  • Location: Peterborough
 
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1

dwayne62,

gosport 20/05/2008 16:29:32
can i have a printed copy of this article because i've run out of toilet paper and that is all this piece of journalistic tripe is fit for.
its almost as funny as your fake suntan and receding hairline.
you should also get your facts straight as a "full strength" Arsenal side got walloped 4 nil at old trafford....and yet pompey supposedly won there in the next round due to a dodgy bit of refereeing.
and as for the welsh national anthem....it shouldnt have been played in the first place , this is an english competition played in an english stadium , and God save the Queen is the British national anthem , are the welsh not part of britain anymore ?
Harry Redknapp "over rated" ? so over rated that newcastle desperately tried to get him , so over rated that he was the fans favourite for the England job.
Hanging on to the lead ? i must have blinked and missed that because i can only recall cardiff getting 1 shot on target in the entire game.
As someone who thankfully doesnt have to read your column every week thank god i can only assume you are having a break from your usual job of covering the local netball leagues because you know absolutely jack about football.
2

taz_nut,

Pompey 20/05/2008 16:35:47
I find Alan Swanns article both laughable and derogatory in many ways not only to Portsmouth but to Cardiff and Rangers.

If Peterborough had made it to the FA Cup or UEFA Cup final would he be so happy in somebody else making the same sorts of comments about your team.

Whilst everybody has their own opinion, to state we are the least attractive team in the Premiership I believe is totally wrong, how many games have you been to or watched live? Do you remember the 7-4 game against Reading the 4-1 win at Newcsatle, no you state this on one game of football.

Also to say Harry Redknapp is overrated, who has overrated him, you? We as Portsmouth fans believe he has done an unbelieveable job at our club and I am sure if he came available you would not turn him down?!

We may have had the flukiest win in all FA Cups, that maybe the case but we only conceded 1 goal in the whole cup run and beat Man U on their own patch against the odds.

To say Cardiff are useless is derogatory, they got to the FA Cup final on merit and played well in the final. They are above Peterborough in league status does that make Peterborough or anyone lower than Cardiff awful or just that they don't have the backing to push them further?

The reason the Welsh anthem was booed at the start is because it is not a England v Wales competition, it is the English FA Cup. The Welsh anthem should not have been played, it was not in disrespect to the anthem but to the powers that be that decided to bow down to some Welsh Politician. Whilst I disagree with the booing, I understand the reasons why it was done. The majority of Cardiff fans also did not want their anthem played!

I also think you should check your facts so you don't look too stupid, Lee Carsley is no longer a Everton Player he moved to Birmingham yesterday!!!!

So in conclusion, and I think I can say this from all Pompey and Cardiff fans we had a great day out and maybe we should both be given the credit we deserve rather th
3

Nadine Ferguson's Black Eye,

20/05/2008 16:48:38
World of A rse - 'I guess you have to be an admirer of ill-informed hackery to enjoy this piece of gubbins'
4

Frank Taylor,

20/05/2008 16:50:39
I'd much rather watch two underdogs have a shot at glory than Man U or Chelsea. There have been plenty of boring finals over the years, most featuring the big four. The fact that Portsmouth win wasn't pretty will take nothing away from their deserved and long awaited glory. Well done Portsmouth, you bask in that trophy as long as you can.

I do love it that people here still don't know the difference between comment and journalism and are so easily wound up by Swanny's deliberate antagonism.
Whether you agree, disagree or think he's a complete moron, at least it's not dull.
5

Sui,

Home of the FA Cup 20/05/2008 17:21:02
Congratulations swanny, not bad for what I assume is your first attempt at journalism however I wouldnt give up the day job just yet.

Something you might like to consider is a thing called research, It's a thing proper journalists do and adds credence to half baked theories aand opinions.

Us Pompey fans have a great reputation being welcomed all around the football world. We mixed with the Cardiff fans before and after the game exchanging banter and good humour. No trouble and a return of the FA cup to the fans as it should be.

We assume living in Peterboro you havnt had the pleasure or excitement of witnessing that sort of thing first hand maybe if you get lucky your local side might draw us in the cup next year. If so i sugest you attend the game, It would be an education for you.

Hey but you keep trying and maybe one day you will write something remotely thought provoking which could lead to a job on the Sunday Star or maybe at Macdonalds, I hear they have one in Daventry these days.......


6

DrLove,

Kernow 20/05/2008 17:54:30
Unfortunately Frank it is dull... as well as hackneyed and rather depressing. The depressing element arises in that local media have so little to report on that is newsworthy that the column inches are filled with sixth-form level prejudice under the guise of provactive banter. It is the original 'stick 1000 monkeys in a room with a typewriter and they'll come up with something'....here no-one even bothered to suggest a second draft. Portsmouth deservedly won the FA Cup by taking their opportunities. I'd suggest that Mr Swann takes up ranting at traffic on street corners. He'd probably find it more enriching. I guess the people of Peterborough and its environs get the media they deserve though, bless 'em.
7

Pompeyfoz,

Cardiff 20/05/2008 20:18:24
I have never read such a load of rubbish in all my life?

Lucky Pompey? The same Pompey that beat Man Utd fair and square on their own patch?

Redknapp Over-rated? So over-rated Newcastle wanted him? So over-rated many fans wanted him as England Manager? What exactly do you have to do to become ‘rated’ in your eyes? Obviously more than taking an underperforming side from 19th in the Championship to finishes of 9th and 8th in the Premiership and the FA Cup?

Pompey not entertaining? The same Pompey that scored 7 against Reading, 4 at Newcastle? The same team that boasts Krancjar, Diarra and Defoe?

Cardiff useless? The same Cardiff that knocked out a team who can spend £12million on a centre forward?

You are a 55 year old journo writing a laughable column for a back street rag. That’s useless!

You sir are a fool.
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Erasmus D,

Derby 20/05/2008 20:36:31
Harry Redknapp may be over-rated in your opinion Mr Swann but he's near the top of his trade - unlike you who, at an age approaching Harry's, has progressed as far as writing tittle tattle for, wait for it, the Peterborough Evening Telegraph.

And as for being the Premiership's least entertaining
team - how about beating Reading 7-4, or winning 4-1 at Newcastle, or 3-1 at Villa, or drawing fewer games than Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool last season.

And of course last season's cup final between Chelsea and Manchester Utd, one of whom I guess you probably support (you sound like you'd be a shallow glory hunter), was a classic wasn't it?

No wonder sales of the Beano are so high in Peterborough - it is undoubtedly a more intelligent read than some of the stuff in the local rag.
9

chrisblue,

Southsea 20/05/2008 21:23:43
You, Alan Swann are an a*se.
10

Bliss Cowes,

West Leigh Park 20/05/2008 23:00:52
You've caught a lot of live ones for a beginner Mr Swann.

Are you in the Swann army?
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