Fratton Faithful, January 17th. Nigel Quashie has just left for Southampton and an article goes up that ends;
"Watch your back, De Zeeuw."
I have to be honest that at the time I thought he was pretty much secure in his place at Portsmouth and that there was no way that his own myth could be destroyed. When he left it would be with his head held high, a lap of honour at the end of his last game with boots thrown into the crowd and a tearful farewell. Which goes to show how much I know about football.
As those of you who recall the article will know, the crux of the matter was the hilarious way that Portsmouth captains have a fairly short shelf life; either they do something stupid themselves or are ditched readily.
Darren Moore - dropped after a shocker against Colchester, then sold
Scott Hiley - released and ended up at Exeter
Shaun Derry - gave a two finger salute to the North Stand and sold
Robert Prosinecki - left to pursue a £50,000 a week dream in Japan that turned out to be bollocks
Paul Merson - left for Walsall, claimed they were better than Pompey ever were and got relegated
Teddy Sheringham - never a fan's favourite and slagged mercilessly by some of the crowd before being released
Nigel Quashie - went to Southampton and forever soured his memory
And now De Zeeuw has gone the same way. Admittedly he hasn't done quite as badly as some on the list and will still be remembered highly for his playing ability, but the fact his days here ended by squinnying to the chairman because he didn't fancy the challenge of fighting for his place puts a slight downer on what he achieved in an otherwise successful three years at Fratton. Thanks for everything you've done and all that, a great bloke and a great player, but a shame you didn't have the bottle to fight for your place.
My worry now is that Dejan is likely to be our next captain, and there's a player I really would be loathe to see us lose!