Where Are They Now?: Volume III

Last updated : 31 October 2006 By Jim Bonner
Note: Apologies for the late article. Fratton Faithful was down just as I went to add this one to the site!

During our tenure under Harry Redknapp for the first time in the Premiership the wheeler-dealer signed 24 different players to come and play at Fratton Park. Out of those 24, only four of them are still on the Pompey payroll (Richard Duffy; now on loan at Coventry, Lomana LuaLua, Jamie Ashdown and Stoke loanee Andy Griffin).

So what of the other 20? (If that figure is inaccurate don't hesitate to correct me, though I'm 99% sure I'm right.)

Here's the Fratton Faithful guide to the high-profile, not-so high-profile and the downright obscure names that have departed Portsmouth since we arrived in the top flight.

Harald Wapenaar


The Dutch goalkeeper didn't have the best of times at Fratton Park. He left Pompey to join Dejan's former club Vitesse Arnhem where he still is to this day.

Pavel Srnicek

A 'keeper who had an even worse time than "Harold" at Pompey. He joined West Ham on loan but failed to make an impression there and was soon shipped off to Portuguese side Beira-Mar. In a strange twist of fate this season, Newcastle signed him to aid their goalkeeping crisis so he re-joined the St James' Park outfit at the age of 38. There's a chance he could play against us on Wednesday in the Carling Cup.

Andrea Guatelli

Constantly a Pompey reserve, he went off to Oxford on loan at the tail end of last season and then got released from Pompey after Jim Smith's side were relegated. He is reportedly going to join Argentinian giants River Plate now.

Boris Zivkovic

The highly rated Croatian joined Pompey with a reputation. He left after just half a season because of his occasional lazy performances and for not getting on with the management. He went on to have a relatively successful time with VfB Stuttgart of Germany before moving on to Niko Kranjcar's ex-club Hajduk Split in the summer of this year.

Petri Pasanen

Pasanen had a good time at Pompey on loan during our debut season in the Premiership. The Finnish full back left Ajax permanently to join Werder Bremen that summer and is still there, playing Champions League football and having a successful domestic campaign as Bremen currently sit top of the Bundesliga after beating Bayern Munich 3-1 on Saturday.

Sebastien Schemmel

Schemmel was one of Harry's first signings in the Premiership and like Zivkovic, started his Pompey career well but faded and left after only one season having failed to impress at Pompey. He reportedly had a trial with French side Le Havre but is currently a free agent.

John Curtis

A true panic buy if there ever was one. Curtis came from Leicester as a squad player and soon left in the January of 2005 after a loan spell at Preston. He joined Nottingham Forest and helped them get relegated to League One. He's still at the City Ground as a regular and Forest are currently top of the league.

David Unsworth

Wasn't deemed good enough to fill the left back spot at Pompey by Alain Perrin (yet Vignal was...) so he left for Sheffield United and won promotion last season so he could well face his former employers in December. He also has a spell at Ipswich before joining the Blades.

Amdy Faye

The "New Vieira" had a great start to his Pompey career but it all went downhill once he went to join Fulham only to "change his mind" (also known as failing a medical) and his performances became sloppy and wasteful. He moved to Newcastle in January 2005 where he enhanced his reputation of being awful before Charlton signed him last summer. They currently lie bottom of the league. Co-incidence?

Patrik Berger


Joined Aston Villa during Perrin's reign in the summer of 2005. His time at Villa Park has been plagued with injuries and the Czech often finds himself in the reserves and took part in a game against Pompey reserves quite recently.

Alexey Smertin

The fondly remembered loan signing from Chelsea wanted to stay at Stamford Bridge after one season at Pompey and he played a few games for them before being loaned out again to Charlton at the start of last season. However in January his loan was cut short and his Chelsea contract was terminated meaning he could go back to Russia to sign for Dynamo Moscow where he is to this day.

Eyal Berkovic

The Israeli playmaker left Pompey for his homeland in January 2005 to play for Maccabi Tel-Aviv until the end of last season when he retired. He then got the managers job at Maccabi Netanya but didn't even get to manage them in a competitive game after falling out with the chairman (surprise surprise!)

Aliou Cisse

Cisse signed as a squad player from Birmingham and was often called upon at right back two seasons ago because of a crisis in that position. The Senegalese midfielder was released at the end of last season and is currently training with Championship leaders Cardiff City although he is still officially without a club.

Valery Mezague

Despite begging for a permanent deal at the end of the 04/05 season Alain Perrin deemed him not good enough to play for his side. How ironic it is that he now currently plays for Sochaux currently managed by; you guessed it, Alain Perrin.

Teddy Sheringham

Got a good reception in our last game against West Ham. He also scored against us for the Hammers last season in their 4-2 defeat at Upton Park. He is currently the oldest outfield player in the Premiership at 40-years-old.

Jason Roberts

Roberts was loaned in from West Brom in our debut Premiership season but failed to make the grade at Fratton Park and joined Wigan the following January where he won promotion and ended up having his most successful season ever as the Latics finished in the top half the following season with Roberts scoring against us at Fratton Park. He joined Blackburn in the summer and took part in the 3-0 thrashing of Rovers on the opening day of this season.

Ivica Mornar

Mornar scored a single goal during his Pompey career and because he is made of glass, he was released from his contract earlier on this season. He is currently without a club.

Sebastian Olszar

Remember this guy? I can't blame you if you don't considering he made one sub appearance for Pompey during his spell at Fratton Park and that was away to Liverpool. He did join Coventry on loan once but failed to make an impact there and now currently plays for Polonia Warsaw in his home nation of Poland. A truly embarassing signing from Harry!

Ricardo Fuller

Another signing that Harry would like to forget. Twice! He left Pompey for Southampton (then under Redknapp) and continued to miss sitters. When George Burley took the job Fuller began to find some form and Scummers started to warm to him. So what does Burley do? He sells him to the Pompey graveyard that is Stoke City. Fuller has scored twice for the Potters.

Diomansy Kamara


Alain Perrin didn't want to sign "Joey" permanently and so let West Brom have him instead. Kamara missed chances aplenty and as a result went down with the Baggies last season. Strangely enough though he is currently on fire having scored six goals in his last four games. Now why couldn't he be that prolific against Southampton!?

That's your lot for this article. Next time: The nightmare signings of Velimir Zajec and Alain Perrin!