THE BEAUTIFUL GAME?

It was without a hint of irony that this sign was spotted next to Portsmouth FC`s Fratton Park `stadium` over last weekend. The travails of that once respected football club seem to be piling up as each day passes. Take just the last 24 hours as an example of their current plight.

Yesterday, they went to the High Court in an attempt to rescind the winding up petition which Revenue and Customs have served on them for unpaid tax, VAT and National Insurance. The attempt failed and, unless they lodge a desperate appeal within the coming week, then the petition itself will be heard on 10 February. If a winding up Order is granted then, well it could mean that Portsmouth FC will go into liquidation. They may well be in administration before then, however. Today, one of their former players, Sol Campbell, has sued the club for £1.7million he claims to be owed for outstanding bonuses and image rights and this morning, the club`s chief executive, Peter Storrie, was in court facing charges of `cheating the public revenue.` That was just the last 24 hours.

Now, the events surrounding Portsmouth are but one of a number of examples which give the feeling that all is anything but well in the parallel universe of professional football - at least in England. Yesterday too, West Ham United, the self-proclaimed `Academy of Football,` were taken over by a couple of millionaire pornographers. Last evening, in the Manchester `derby,` United`s captain Gary Neville is alleged to have set the unfortunate example of extending an obscene gesture towards City`s Carlos Tevez. Then there are the debts. Manchester United have debts of £700million, Liverpool have their problems both on and off the field of play, Queens Park Rangers seem riven by internal politics and a managerial revolving door, oh and of course, `Arry Redknapp and his former chairman at Portsmouth, Milan Mandaric, also have cases due to be heard in the courts of the land before too long. I could go on, but you get my drift.

I`m beginning to wonder just how much longer the professional game can survive given the Bank of Toyland wages paid to even journeymen players, the doubtful pedigree of some owners and executives, the absurdities of some managers and, perhaps most telling, the seemingly over exposure of the game by the media. I haven`t looked, but I`m pretty sure that if you wanted to you could watch at least one football match on tv every day of the week - and two or three on Sundays. It`s all too much - I`ve stopped watching Match of the Day probably because I don`t care enough to watch it any more. It`s become predictable and boring in keeping with its presenter,the boy Linacre.

Apart from still following the Saints in the third tier of English football and following the fortunes of close neighbour Scott Wagstaff as he builds his career at Charlton (he scored the winner last night against Hartlepool, so we`re all dancing in the street again today,) I find little to capture my imagination in the higher echelons of the game. Au contraire, I am increasingly finding it annoying, irrelevant, offensive even, which is a real shame after spending over half a century playing, refereeing, supporting and spectating what used to be called the beautiful game.

Must go - Saints are playing MK Dons this evening in the first leg of the final of the Southern section in the Johnstones Paint Trophy. Proper, debt-free, no nonsense football. Possibly.