Football Season Review

One could say that the writing was always on the wall for Pompey to succumb to their second successive relegation, as the south coast club spent the vast majority of the season surrounded by an air of uncertainty, as the very existence of the club was under threat until April. They didn't have a single professional footballer on their books in early August, and manager Michael Appleton started the season with a squad of players that all signed for the club less than ten days before the start of the season. With the financial situation being very difficult, Pompey were only capable of offering their players one month contracts - and despite all of this, they did reasonably well and managed to stay clear of the drop zone in the early stages of the season. However, Appleton left the club in early November in order to take charge at Blackpool, with his assistant Guy Whittingham taking over. This is the moment when it all went wrong for Pompey, as they went on a club record run of 22 league games without a victory, with Whittingham's task to turn his side's fortunes around not being helped by the fact that Pompey had to make another squad overhaul in January. The new players finally started to gel in February and results started to improve - Portsmouth ended their season with a bright run of form, but the lengthy winless run they had effectively ended their hopes of staying in the division. Despite all the problems, their season actually ended on a positive note - the liquidation fears are gone after the club was taken over by a supporters' trust, and they were given an additional boost as it was revealed that their ten point deduction for entering administration will kick in this season, meaning that they will start life in League Two next season with a clean slate. Whittingham will have the task to try and take the club back up at the first time of asking, but strong hints were made that the club will not overspend in pursuit of success and risk a repeat of the scenario that saw them being relegated three times in five years and nearly going out of business.

Player of the Season: Johannes Ertl