Neville Dalton is a journalist with the BBC News website and a
Faith, hope and the Premiership
Funny thing, hope.
It's always there when you're a football fan, like on the first day of the season and when the FA Cup 3rd round comes round.
But unless you follow one of the top six, there's always Mr Sensible lurking at the back of your mind, saying: “There's nothing wrong with hope, but you know you're not going to achieve anything.”
This season has tested that hope to its limit, our performances and results fluctuating like the old Wild Mouse ride at Billy Mannings' funfair; our off-field managerial activities virtually dividing our supporters down the middle.
But even more perverse and illogical than hope is expectation. Think back to the start of the season – Alain Perrin's first “full” one (as if Pompey managers get “full” seasons!).
We didn't really know what to expect. Plenty of new names, but we didn't know much about many of them.
A couple of months on and we were already lowering our sights.
Staying in the Premiership would be enough.
Along comes Harry and that expectation rises. Even most of the anti-Redknapp brigade must have expected something would change with the mercurial one in charge.
Well, it did – it got worse!
Come the January transfer window, a fortune was invested and some exotic additions introduced.
Surely we could look forward to greater things – like stringing things out to the last round of matches at least?
Nine or ten games on and it didn't look that way. By the time we surrendered to Aston Villa, all but the most blinkered of fans were more or less resigned to our fate.
Relegation may not be so bad; we can bounce back if we can keep some of these stars, were regular themes on the Message Boards.
Certainly by the time we played
But then came Mendes Day. Hope was back, but there was still so much to do.
A couple more wins saw expectation levels soar. Suddenly, a draw after battering Europe-bound
Mr Sensible took over for the game against Arsenal, and there wouldn't have been many Pompey fans expecting three points – though plenty were, quite rightly, pointing out that we had a better chance of beating them now than probably at any previous point in our three-year Premiership existence.
But an excellent unbeaten run – even though it ground to a halt among the fatigued bodies at The Valley – has not only lifted spirits, but sent expectation to illogical levels.
Pre-Manchester City, it was felt we needed around 20 points from our final 10 games – a phenomenal ask for most teams, really, let alone one that had secured fewer than that in their previous 28.
Yet how much sicker we would feel now if we failed to stay up than if relegation had been virtually assured after the
Going down would never be easy to take. If it were to happen after everything that the team has done in the past month or so, it would feel so much more painful.
The end result would be the same, but those extra twists on that rollercoaster would put a totally different complexion on how we feel about it.
Speaking of our revival
I wrote just days before the
I don't suppose for a minute that Harry reads Portsmouth-Mad, but he did seem to have a change of heart from that day.
There was certainly a more adventurous approach to the game; there were two up front; D'Alessandro started – and so did Priske.
Obviously, the result sparked the sort of run that only confidence can bring, but what has impressed me is Redknapp's willingness to switch his approach and (it would appear) swallow his pride over certain players.
Of course, it begs the question why didn't he do so a few months earlier?
Most of all, though, we are playing top-quality, attacking, entertaining football that means we can hold our heads up in the Premiership.
On our day we're a match for anyone, and quite honestly, regardless of what happens between now and the end of the season, we can be proud that we have a team that battled to survive – but provided rich entertainment along the way.
Most hated
Interesting debate on the Message Board about the most hated sides.
I'm firmly in the anti-Sheffield United camp for all the reasons spelt out by many of the posters.
Having watched Bolton at
I've seen much dirtier sides, but if the percentages football they produced down here a couple of months ago – kicking for the corners and relying almost exclusively on dead-ball set-plays against a team so lacking in confidence at the time - really is typical of how Sam Allardyce wants his teams to play, I hope England's next manager is… anyone but him.
But I want to assure you I'm a pragmatist at heart, and there's one team scrubbed off my blacklist now.
The Blackburn Rovers of Mark Hughes' 2004/5 vintage represented so many things I dislike in football – over-physical; unattractive, and with a plethora of bad boys that we love to hate… for very good reason.
Andy Todd and Lucas Neill are bad enough, but Robbie the Whinger and Paul Dickov appear thoroughly unpleasant on the field.
And then they signed Craig Bellamy…
But having seen highlights of some of their games this season, where they played some really decent football, I had already begun to change my mind.
The clincher was their visit to
But while Savage barely impressed me, he took his hard challenges like a man for a change (while keeping his own within the laws of the game).
And Craig Bellamy was class. I've always hated his “mouth” and the way he winds up his fellow professionals (not always on opposing sides). But I've never doubted his talent.
And even if I had, I would have been won over by his exceptional goals at Fratton.
He's a class act.
There. Don't let me down now, Craig.