2005-06 Season

17th in the Premier League
League Cup: 2nd Round, Gillingham a. 2-3 aet.
FA Cup: 4th Round, Liverpool h. 1-2

Highlight:
2-1 home win over Manchester City 11/3/06

Low Spot:
0-5 defeat at Birmingham City 21/1/06

Good:
Tresor Lua-Lua
He was lively throughout, even when things were all doom and gloom at Fratton Park. Very pacy and direct he can always come up with something and seems to be adding real consistency to his game.
Matthew Taylor
Taylor is a very solid player down the left hand side for Pompey and provides quality backing up the attack as well as being a dogged defender.
Chipped in with a handful of goals and his 40 yarder at Sunderland was particularly memorable.

Bad:
Laurent Robert
Portsmouth were the latest club to find the winger not worth the hassle. Contributed nothing during his time on the south coast.
Ivica Mornar
Does he actually still play for Portsmouth? Did he ever?

In Brief:
There was a dramatic ending to what looked like being a traumatic season for Pompey.
The club was sinking fast under Alain Perrin and when Harry Redknapp's rash of January signings failed to gel relegation looked a certainty.
The spark for the revival came from Pedro Mendes and his two fine goals against Manchester City which set the club up to win 6 of their last 10 games to survive, making up an 8 point deficit in the process.
What next season has in store is anyones guess as it was impossible to work out who were actually Portsmouth players and who were just borrowed by the end of the season.

Pompey History

Portsmouth Football Club was formed in 1898 by a group of local businessmen. They were men in a hurry, developing the Fratton Park ground in time for their entry into the Southern League one year later. Money was also spent on assembling a team of professionals.

There was early adventure in the FA Cup as the club reached the quarter finals in 1902. Portsmouth defeated Grimsby Town and Reading in the competition proper and also managed an excellent draw away from home at Derby County before losing the replay in spectacular style, 6-3.

The club had to wait until 1920 and the formation of a third division before gaining entry into the Football League. Pompey's progress was rapid. They won the Division Three South championship in 1924 and were promoted to Division One in 1927, edging out Manchester City by virtue of a goal average that was a 200th part of a goal superior.

Portsmouth's early years in the first division were something of a struggle but they did make it through to the 1929 FA Cup final. They were beaten by Bolton Wanderers at Wembley, however, by two goals to nil. There was another visit to Wembley in 1934 but again Portsmouth missed out on the trophy after a 2-1 defeat against Manchester City.

These disappointments were forgotten in 1939 when they collected the trophy after a 4-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in which Cliff Parker scored twice. Pompey were to retain the trophy for seven years, but only because of the Second World War.

After the war Portsmouth enjoyed their greatest success, claiming successive league championships in 1949 and 1950. The first title was won in style by five points from Manchester United whereas in 1950 Pompey prevailed over Wolves because of a goal average superior by just 0.396.

In 1949 the club also made it through to the FA Cup semi finals but their hopes of a double ended with a 3-1 defeat to Leicester City.

Portsmouth could not maintain their place among the countries elite, however, and were relegated to Division Two in 1959. Two years later they fell into Division Three but recovered in 1962 when they won the third division title.

Pompey stayed in the second division until 1976 when the wheels really fell off. They were then relegated into Division Three and two years later dropped into the fourth division, a sad fall from grace.

In 1980 Pompey started their recovery, pipping Bradford City to the final promotion place on goal difference.

Pompey then regained second division status in 1983 after claiming the Division Three championship. In both 1985 and 1986 the club missed out on promotion back to the first division by just one place but they made sure in 1987, finishing as runners up behind Derby County.

This rapid improvement could not be sustained in the top flight, however, and they suffered an immediate relegation.

From this point Portsmouth would spend fifteen seasons in the second tier of English football, though there would be no shortage of excitement during this time as the clubs fortunes fluctuated widely.

In 1992 Pompey made it through to the FA Cup semi finals. Both Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest had been eliminated before Portsmouth were paired with Liverpool in the last four. After withstanding early pressure at Highbury Pompey took the game into extra time and then took the lead through Darren Anderton. A late Ronnie Whelan equaliser took the tie to a replay at Villa Park which ended goalless although Portsmouth were undoubtedly the better team. Their penalties were woeful, however, and Liverpool went through 3-1 in the shootout.

The following year there was perhaps greater disappointment. Portsmouth missed out on automatic promotion only on goal difference behind West Ham before losing out to Leicester City in the semi finals of the play offs on a 3-2 aggregate.

In 1996 on the other hand it was only goal difference that spared them relegation, Millwall going down instead. Then after six more seasons of struggle Portsmouth improved dramatically under new manager Harry Redknapp to romp to the Division One championship.

Despite surviving their first two seasons in the Premier League Pompey have lost the services of Redknapp and look a side susceptible to the drop.

Portsmouth have never made it beyond the 5th round of the League Cup, a stage they reached in both 1961 and 1986.

In 1961, the competitions' first year, Portsmouth knocked out Coventry City, Manchester City and Chelsea before suffering a 3-0 defeat at Rotherham United.

When Pompey managed to reach the last eight again in 1986 they were defeated 3-1 by the eventual winners of the trophy, Oxford United.

The clubs' most famous player is undoubtedly Jimmy Dickinson who made a record 764 appearances for Pompey between 1946 and 1965. Dickinson also has the most international caps won whilst with the club. The resolute wing half gained 48 England caps and represented his country in the World Cup finals of both 1950 and 1954.

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