Sulaiman Al-Fahim offered his resignation as a director of Portsmouth Football Club in a
characteristically farcical fashion. Mark Murphy takes a look at this, and wonders aloud what his
motives for such a decision could be. Suffice to say, he's not terribly impressed.
What a clown.
The problem with the media's attempted coverage of Portsmouth's saga is that the saga is little
to do with Portsmouth, or football, at all. And in newspapers carefully compartmentalised into
home, foreign, business and sports news... and celebrity shite, the off-the-field tale of
Portsmouth doesn't belong exclusively within any one compartment.
The first World Soccer issue of 2010 hit news stands, mailboxes and bookstores this week. This year
is sure to be a big one for the top soccer magazine in the world, which will have plenty of
coverage of the 2010 World Cup, African Nations Cup, UEFA Champions League, etc. Here is a preview
of what this month's issue features:
- Cover Story: 2009 Awards Special - Player of the Year, Manager of the Year, Young Player
of the Year, Team of the Year, and Player of the Decade
- World Cup Countdown: A look at the final qualifying position playoffs, team profiles for
New Zealand, Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria, Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, France, Uruguay, and in-depth
looks at Nicolas Anelka (France) and Rafik Saifi (Algeria).
If you were wondering what Portsmouth chairman Sulaiman Al-Fahim was up to during "his" club's
time of ultimate crisis, now we know. He's in Moscow, "part of an official UAE delegation promoting
the chess industry" (chess is an "industry"?). With Siberia not open for its old business, Moscow
is about as far away from Portsmouth as any fan could wish Al-Fahim to be.
It was standing room only in the social club at Gigg Lane, Bury on Saturday lunchtime for the
"Beyond The Debt" rally as a crowd of hundreds watched an impressive array of those in the know
explain that the time for debate on the ownership of football clubs is coming to an end. We seem
now to be entering a different time.
Big Story
Blogs are often criticized for riding on the back of hard working traditional print media
journalists charged with covering stories and gathering quotes first-hand. Despite the
disintegration of the traditional means of income for newspapers and magazines—exclusive
ownership of the print press, the classified ads— for now, print journos still have the money and
resources to send reporters to go out and report the news, with bloggers left to provide links and
commentary.
Things go from bad to worse for the Fratton Park outfit.
Win the Club Shirt Of Your Choice Simply by Speaking Your Mind!
Portsmouth's administrators have revealed the relegated Premier League club's debts now
stand at £135m.
In February, Pompey became the first Premier League club to enter administration with debts of
£60m-£70m.
Never has a football club's "official wine partner" seemed so important. And while you're
pondering the concept of a football club having a wine partner at all (what next, "prawn sandwich
partner"?), I shall explain. Like Wayne Rooney's Manchester United goals, before he had to score
most of them himself, articles about the latest Manchester United takeover battle are coming in
clusters.
