Lay Off Milan!

Lay off Milan By Richard Turrell

So here we are, another six pointer, another dismal performance and the train ticket to Hull looks a real possibility. But there’s something more worrying happening in the minds of some of our supporters. After the Everton game last week I listened to BBC Solent’s phone in and became slightly disturbed. As far as mid season radio rants go I thought I’d heard the most clichéd, ill-informed ones but we’ve got a new contender.

So up step Tony, not the voice of the Pompey faithful but more commonly described as the jock strap of it. I accept we all like a good scapegoat but personally I try to find a bit of originality. (This week I will mostly be blaming the barmaid that knocked my pint over, what an expensive accident that was!) Tony however wasn’t in the mood for finding an interesting target so went for the chief himself, Mr Mandaric. After a few minutes of ranting he unleashed the conclusion to his Nobel Prize winning research. In essence he wanted Milan to leave as chairman and be replaced with someone like… wait for it… Alan Ball?!

With everything he’s done for the club I struggle to see how any Pompey fan would want to get rid of Milan. Especially by claiming he’s only here to make money and only understands the business side of the club. Do the names Rupert and Milan confuse anyone else or is it just Tony? And replace him with Alan Ball?! I really hope this fella doesn’t have a job where his decisions affect people’s lives.

The only conclusion I can reach is that Tony and his merry bunch of premiership followers must have forgotten, or I suppose they weren’t there, what it used to be like. 5,000 attendances, watching horrible mid week performances with the club on the brink of collapse. Despite our precarious position in the league at least we have a football club. If the worse case scenario that could happen this season is relegation for us to rebuild and return to the premiership next year, then believe me, I probably won’t be losing much sleep.

Its ludicrous and unfounded ideas like this that will be the downfall of our club. I’m not enjoying our premiership position either but at least we’ll have a side at the end of the season. And I’m not saying that everyone shouldn’t be allowed their own opinion but if Tony et al believe that their opinions will help change this club for the better they need their heads examined. The last thing we need is yet more disruption.

So I offer a plea to everyone that loves this club. If you know another fan that has similar opinions then never let them get involved in any discussion where people might hear them. Just like us, Milan really does want what’s best for our club. Get behind the team, get behind Milan and get behind Harry. It’s the only way we’ll get out of this ‘short-time’ predicament, this clubs about the future not satisfying Tony’s short term dreams. I just hope that after the Birmingham fiasco no one else joins the bandwagon.