PAY UP POMPEY..

The gentleman featured in the photo is Mr. John Anthony Portsmouth Football Club Westwood (he changed his name by deed poll a few years ago.) He is an enigmatic character. By day, he is a mild mannered bookshop owner from Petersfield but, when Saturday comes, he morphs into this rampaging, bell ringing, fanatical camp follower, resplendant with his 60 tattoos extolling Portsmouth FC and his teeth engraved with `PFC.` He does indeed need help in all kinds of ways, for apart from the obvious, his football club are in serious straits.

I cannot begin to list all the financial and other problems that beset the club; sufficient to say that they are of such magnitude and complexity that their very future must be questionable. Now, as a diehard Southampton fan for over 60 years, I should perhaps be rejoicing in the quagmire in which Pompey are immersed, for the rivalry between the two cities and the two football clubs is as intense as any other and more so than most.

Two particular moments of unforgiveable offence caused to Saints fans by our rivals from 17 miles down the M27 live long in the memory. One was when Saints played Pompey at St. Mary`s just after the death of Ted Bates, who for over 60 years served Southampton FC as player, manager and president. During the period of silence before the game as a mark of respect, some Pompey fans shattered the silence with shouts of abuse at a particularly poignant moment. The other was when Mr. Westwood was banned from St. Mary`s for urinating on the seats in the away fans` area. Not surprising that feelings run high.

And yet, for all of that, I cannot really find it in my heart to hope that Pompey go under, for what is football without the rivalry, the passion and the bragging rights? For the past five years, the Saints have been on the slide and during that slide I doubt we had much sympathy from the majority of Pompey fans. But even they must have missed the titanic battles when the teams played each other in those extraordinary, vibrant encounters before packed houses. If we don`t have Pompey as our rivals any more, we may have to search for less deserving alternatives, although it`s hard to see any real rivalry springing up with the likes of Bournemouth, Brighton, even Aldershot - they don`t quite have the same cache.

So what do I hope for Mr. Westwood and his football club? Well, I think they should get their just desserts in the form of points deductions, relegation, sorting out the culprits, maybe even criminal proceedings and they may well have their own slough of despond to wade through before the light begins to show at the end of their self inflicted tunnel. But I hope they pull through, for as the Saints` fortunes are now on the rise I look forward to regaining those elusive bragging rights that have been denied us for too long. Besides which, what on earth is Mr. Westwood going to do with his 60 tattoos, his engraved teeth, his bell and his Saturday afternoons?