Whilst Pompey playing in Europe next year is far from certain, I do believe it's something we need to achieve come the end of May if we are going to continue growing as a club. Here are the two main reasons why I believe that Pompey need to qualify for the UEFA Cup this season.
Retaining Key Players
If we fail to qualify for Europe this season, we could end up losing some of our best players for the following campaign.
Lassana Diarra has already said he wants to play for a bigger club and following the performances we have seen from him so far I'm worried that he will be sought after in the summer. At least if we qualify for Europe there would be an added incentive for the Frenchman to stay at Fratton Park rather than be tempted by the San Siro.
Sulley Muntari is another player who is coveted by bigger clubs and his performances in the African Cup of Nations is only going to enhance his reputation. Like Diarra, Sulley has made no secret of wanting to play for a bigger club in the future but if we are competing against the likes of Espanyol, Feyenoord and err... Wisla Krakow next season then I think that would see him stay at Pompey.
Then there are the likes of Sylvain Distin and Niko Kranjcar who could be tempted elsewhere if we fail to achieve anything significant this season. Both claim to be happy at Portsmouth, so I'm less worried about these two players leaving in the summer but replacing these two will be an extremely difficult task for Harry Redknapp.
The Opposition Next Season
Despite our impressive season so far we can be thankful that a couple of the fancied sides to finish in the top six at the start of the season have stumbled, namely Tottenham and Newcastle.
I don't think that Spurs will struggle again next season and they should be able to make a challenge for the top spots next year, whilst Man City should only get stronger with the money and manager they have. West Ham and Everton have strong squads and are a good bet to challenge next year, whilst Mark Hughes should ensure that Blackburn are up there too.
That's not to say that we can't challenge next season, but we already blew our best chance of the UEFA Cup last January and this February sees us in a strong position to challenge again but should we fail, the teams who do qualify for Europe will have added resources to strengthen further and that would make a top five or six finish even more difficult to achieve next season.
Of course, this is just my theory. To put things in a positive light, Harry Redknapp is one of the best managers in persuading players to stay at Pompey as well as bringing in better players.
And who is to say that qualifying for the UEFA Cup will definitely ensure a challenge next season? There have been past cases to suggest that Europe can be a distraction from the bread and butter of the Premier League. If the other sides are distracted by their UEFA Cup campaigns next season, that will only help the teams who only have domestic issues to worry about.
I'm aware that I've contradicted myself there but there are two sides to every coin and whilst I'm certain that every Pompey will want to flip a heads, flipping a tails may not be as bad as what some people think.