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- Herausgeber: Icon Books
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
** THE FANS. THE PLAYERS. THE POMPEY FAMILY. YOU KNOW THEIR NAMES, NOW IT'S TIME FOR THEIR STORY ** At the start of the 2019-20 League One season, award-winning sports reporter Neil Allen set out to follow the fortunes of a team in the hunt for promotion. By the time it came to an end, the football almost felt like an afterthought. Covering the highs and lows of a season like no other, Allen offers an exclusive insight into a club and a fanbase that has known more hardship than most, exploring the vital role a football club plays when the football is taken away. Given unparalleled access, Allen interviews current players and club legends, the fans who saved the club in 2013 and those now tasked with ensuring its survival. The essential profile of Portsmouth Football Club, its fans and its recent history.
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iii
POMPEY
The Island City with a Football Club for a Heart
NEIL ALLEN
v
For John Jenkins and Basher Benfield. They loved Pompey and Pompey loves them.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
Ian Darke
Football commentators are supposed to be neutral, so let’s start with a confession: I’m not. Pompey are my hometown club and I have never been ashamed to admit it. Is it tricky when I have to cover my favourite club on TV? Not usually.
You have to leave your passion at the commentary box door but there was one occasion when the mask slipped. Pompey were playing Brian Clough’s talented Nottingham Forest team in an FA Cup quarter-final in March 1992. Everyone thought that Forest would be too classy for a mid-ranking second-tier team, but Alan McLoughlin grabbed a deserved winner at a packed Fratton Park. I have to admit, my voice was cracking with emotion a bit when the final whistle blew and I said: ‘Pompey roll back the years to produce one of their most famous victories against all odds.’
Of course, that was the year Pompey nearly upset Liverpool in the semi-final, only to be denied by a Ronnie Whelan equaliser three minutes from time at Highbury. An agonising penalty shoot-out defeat in the Villa Park replay left me in near despair as I walked back to my car. Those two games perfectly sum up the whole emotional roller coaster of supporting this club through thick and, it seems, mostly thin. Many a Saturday has been ruined along the way.xii
And that brings me to that certain something that makes Pompey fans special, if not unique. They are at their best in adversity, when the team needs them most. Maybe that’s because, to use Alan Ball’s famous line, ‘People went to war from this city.’ As a kid I can remember playing on the many bomb sites left by German raids, especially near the Dockyard. That has perhaps bred a city of fighters who can come through hard times to bounce back. In that regard, the football club matches the people it represents. It is England’s only island city and you don’t see too many kids wearing Manchester United or Liverpool shirts. Most are proud to be Pompey.
My dad took me to Fratton Park when I was six years old. As a schoolboy right-winger for Francis Avenue Junior School half a mile from the ground, I marvelled at the brilliance of Peter Harris, who got all five goals one late summer evening against Aston Villa. What can I tell younger fans about him? He was like an early version of Cristiano Ronaldo. Quick and deadly. Jimmy Dickinson was also in that team, all graceful elegance at wing-half with not a hair out of place. Capped 48 times by England and a survivor of the team that twice won the title for Pompey. Imagine that now. Pompey, champions of England!
Since then I have seen Pompey through eight relegations and six promotions. I worked out that I’ve watched them in all four divisions, twice over. Even though my work prevents me from seeing all the games, I buy a season ticket for the North Stand Lower every season and go every time I can. But when commentating elsewhere, I have a phone in front of me with text messages from my sons, Adam and Rob, updating me on the scores. If I suddenly sound depressed on air, you will know why.
But through the decades I have somehow always managed to be there when it mattered most. The promotion from League Two at Notts County which ended four years in the basement left me quite tearful, bearing in mind the club nearly died and was saved by its own supporters. It felt like the first step out of hell. I bought a bottle of champagne at St Pancras station on the way home and shared it with some Pompey fans on the concourse.xiii
Winning the FA Cup in 2008 was surreal. I had given up hope of ever seeing that happen. Better still though was the shock 2-0 win over Harry Redknapp’s Spurs in that Wembley semi-final two years later. A brilliant display from a doomed team. It seemed to be written in the stars that day. On the flip side, play-offs are just a sea of heartbreak for Pompey. Can anyone recall a single lucky break in any of those games? Me neither. My favourite Pompey season was the one in which Paul Merson’s creative playmaking orchestrated an unlikely promotion to the Premier League, playing some fabulous football. ‘Merse’ even got clapped off by home fans after a 5-0 win at Millwall, he was that good.
But one game sums up Pompey and their fans for me. That midweek match at home to Stockport with the team cut adrift at the bottom of the table and looking relegation certainties. That night was incredible. It is the only time I have seen a crowd win a game on its own. From start to finish, the fans produced a deafening wall of noise and you could see the Stockport players thinking ‘What the hell Is going on here? This lot are bottom and the fans are going bananas.’ Those opposition players froze and Pompey won 1-0, going on to escape relegation that year. I sat in the Fratton End just marvelling at what I was witnessing. I’ve never seen anything like it, before or since. Just as the Liverpool fans could not believe it when 13,000 of us turned up at Anfield to support a Division Three team in a midweek League Cup tie. Just as Thierry Henry was incredulous that the Fratton End were belting out songs despite Arsenal holding a 5-1 lead. Henry turned to Pompey’s Arjan De Zeeuw, laughed and said: ‘Your fans are crazy, but amazing.’ He was right.
Jobs, relationships and colleagues come and go but Pompey is a life-long love affair and sentence rolled into one. The best of times and the worst of times, as a famous son of the city, Charles Dickens, once wrote. Let’s hope one day soon we are back on the pitch celebrating another promotion. Get the ticker tape ready just in case.
August 2020
The city on an island has a football club for a heart, and as time goes on that heartbeat will sound throughout football. We may have a notoriously disreputable recent past, there is no denying that. Our future though, will be an example to the rest of football; this is what a football club really should be.
Micah Hall, November 15, 2012
1
JOHN JENKINS
10 August 2019
Queen Elizabeth II joined the chorus of approval, rising to her feet to unite in a poignant standing ovation. John Jenkins could not be certain, despite his vantage point, unable to pick out individual faces from the crowd, regal or otherwise. Thankfully the moment was snapshotted for perpetuity as the media observed the unfolding of a story which would populate global headlines.
Portsmouth’s Southsea Common had reunited 300 Operation Overlord brothers for the D-Day 75 commemorations in June 2019. Ushered from the wings to occupy centre stage was Jenkins, the self-effacing 99-year-old born in Collingwood Road, at the city’s heart. Addressing an audience whose eminent presences included the Queen, Donald Trump and then-Prime Minister Theresa May, Jenkins’ touching delivery recounted his role as a 23-year-old company sergeant major in the 1944 Normandy landings which would turn the tide in the Second World War. That evening, Jenkins was toasted in homes across the country he served so heroically, as news programmes aired their coverage.
The former trolleybus driver needs no introduction in the city of Portsmouth which has served as home to him since 1919, particularly to those of a Pompey persuasion. As the League One club’s boardroom 2ambassador, he is an instantly recognisable presence, an ageless obelisk standing on permanent Fratton Park duty. Since his footballing enlightenment at the age of eight, Jenkins has witnessed six promotions and eight relegations, along with two Division One titles, two FA Cups and a Checkatrade Trophy. Now his 91st Pompey season is under way.
‘My late wife would ask: “Why don’t you take your bed up Fratton Park?” said Jenkins. ‘My response was that it wouldn’t fit through the turnstiles!
‘I had four uncles who were Pompey fanatics, Fratton Park enthusiasts and dyed-in-the-wool supporters. From the moment they took me to watch us play against Sheffield Wednesday in October 1928, I was hooked. Dave Watson scored a hat-trick in a 3–2 win – and, as far as I was concerned, I wanted to go to Fratton Park whenever there was a game.
‘That included the reserves, with very good gates for those matches back then, around eight or nine thousand. At half-time, you would hear the bell ring in the South Stand and knew the phone message had come through revealing the first-team score, which was then put up on a scoreboard.
‘I never saw my dad because he passed away when I was a baby. I’m not even sure how he died. I think he was in the army in India and something happened out there. I can remember seeing a photograph of him dressed in khaki drill, with a big black moustache and black hair. So my mother, Lily, had to raise me and my brother George.
‘My four uncles – George, Will, Frank and Albert – were her brothers and treated me like their son. I was well looked after, particularly when it came to Pompey, and I owe them plenty of thanks for taking me there.
‘Pompey was my team, no doubt about that. I suppose I have been associated with the club ever since, one way or another.
‘I grew up watching Freddie Worrall; he was always one of my favourites. He played in the era before the Second World War and would run in from the wing and jump about ten feet to head the 3ball. Another was Jimmy Dickinson, of course, while Jack Smith was an inside-right who played for England in the early 1930s.
‘I was at Wembley to see us win the FA Cup in 1939 and then 2008, but probably the 2008 victory under Harry Redknapp hit me more as something to savour, even at my age.
‘This is a wonderful club. When you mention Pompey everyone knows who you are talking about.
‘I’m still a boardroom ambassador, and I’m lucky to have a seat in the directors’ box with my name on. There is so much about Fratton Park which is special to me.’
A weather-lashed Union flag, the remnant from celebrations marking the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, clings to the balcony outside Jenkins’ Milton flat. Within living room comforts, a photograph of the monarch, bedecked in white hat, inhabits the first shelf of a cluttered bookcase. Elsewhere, a picture of Diana, Princess of Wales, rubs shoulders with framed family photos, positioned atop a teak-chiselled nest of tables. The widower’s esteem for the Royal Family is striking, as is his pride at serving his country, including 28 years in the Territorial Army. Decorated with the MBE in recognition of services to the military, during his investiture the Queen asked whether he was still serving. She was informed that Jenkins’ retirement involved working in the Portsmouth Dockyard, probing the engine rooms of boats for traces of asbestos – the Royal Yacht Britannia among those receiving his attention. The MBE features among eight medals which regularly accompany Jenkins on public duty, others consisting of the Legion of Honour, the 1939–1945 Star, the France and Germany Star and the Imperial Service medal. Then, in the summer of 2019, he received another accolade from the Queen – applause.
‘I was fourteen when I left school and wanted to join the Navy but, because of my age, instead I signed up for Cunard and went to sea as a bellboy on an ocean liner.4
‘My first ship was the RMS Mauretania, once the world’s largest ship. She was so fast, holding the Blue Riband for twenty years in recognition of record average speed in the Atlantic Ocean.
‘At 5.30am every day someone would bang on the door to wake us up to carry out the morning scrub. You were allocated a special part of the ship, such as the stairwell, which had to be scrubbed by hand.
‘After that I would change into my black tunic, with buttons all the way down the front, and put on a peaked cap with the Cunard badge on, then stand by the saloon doors in first class, opening them for guests.
‘The funny thing was, many years later, I was on a course with the Navy and went into Bristol town centre, where we stumbled across a pub called The Mauretania – and the saloon doors I used to open were there!
‘I asked the barman if he minded me opening and closing them and, when he looked confused, had to explain my reasons. He couldn’t believe they were the same doors.
‘We would sail from Southampton to New York, reaching Pier 54, West 14th Street, and from there carried out fortnight-long cruises to the West Indies. I worked there for three to four months before the Mauretania came home to Southampton, being taken out of service in September 1934. We were the final crew.
‘The Mauretania was scrapped, but they should have preserved her. She was launched in 1906 and getting a bit old, rattling a bit. We slept down below in what was called the ‘glory hole’ and there were bumps all around the sides.
‘After that I worked on the RMS Alaunia, travelling to Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada, and New York. When the Second World War broke out, the Navy took her over and she became the HMS Alaunia, surviving the war before becoming a repair ship.
‘When I was called up to the Army, my basic training was carried out in Liverpool, then I served in Northern Ireland for two years before being dispatched for training in Scotland at one of the lochs.
‘Next we were stationed at a camp in Glyndebourne, East Sussex, which stages an opera festival every year. Then, one day, following 5a service at a lovely church with a lychgate, we were marched to Newhaven, where we caught a landing craft. That night we left for a piece of sea the Navy nicknamed Piccadilly Circus, which was a rendezvous point. From there we landed on Gold Beach in Normandy.
‘I was what they called a pioneer sergeant and my main job was ammunition, although I wouldn’t say I was an expert! You had the 25-pounder shells for the guns, the ordinary boxes of .303 rifles and the stuff for the rocket launchers, with my responsibility involving setting up the dumps of ammunition.
‘Our next objective was Bayeux, but the Germans had already gone, leaving it completely intact. Their cathedral now contains stained-glass windows in tribute to the Allies who landed in Normandy.
‘On our way to Caen, we arrived at a farmhouse with breeze-block pigsties around the back, containing no pigs because the Germans had eaten them all. It was extremely wet and heavy that day, so we crowded into these pigsties and slept there that night.
‘Then the American bombers came overhead and bombed the area to bits, leaving rubble everywhere, which made it more difficult to get through. The city of Caen was practically obliterated during the fighting.
‘One of the worst places I saw was Fallingbostel, in northern Germany. Bergen-Belsen was the big concentration camp, and then this little one at Fallingbostel was almost an overflow. The first thing I saw upon arrival were three skeletons on the ground. I was informed by a Canadian Red Cross chap that they had just died. They’d had no food and starved. That place was awful. We didn’t stop there too long.
‘My war ended on 8 May 1945. I can remember being just outside of Bremen, Germany, and a Sherman tank began firing his gun into the air, its driver shouting that it was all over. That date, 8 May – it sticks in the mind.
‘From that moment I travelled all over Germany for a good eighteen months, sent to different places, but eventually ended up in a coal mine at a village called Dorstfeld, west of Dortmund. 6I wasn’t anything to do with coal but, with the need to get everything back up and running again, coal was required for the railways, coal was required for electricity, coal was required for everything.
‘At the coal mine, the miners had a canteen to cook their food in while on duty. It was our duty to ensure they were supplied with the ingredients to make a hot meal every day.
‘On one occasion, a miner had been killed in an accident down below and my sentry approached me and said: “I don’t know what’s going on down the road, but you had better come up and have a look.”
‘So I did and there was a horse wearing black plumes pulling a carriage – it was the funeral of the miner. There were three of us, so I told them: “When it comes towards us, we will present arms as a mark of respect. The war is over.”
‘After it had passed, we went back to normal, never thinking any more about it, but the next morning my sentry said: “Sarge, you had better come down and have a look what’s outside the guardroom.” There were cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and spring onions – it was the villagers’ way of thanking us for showing respect towards the deceased miner.
‘For a long time there was a fraternisation ban, so we weren’t allowed to be friendly with the villagers. We also had a message through to say any visits from the Russians should be reported immediately.
‘When the miners finished a shift, we had to tap their billy cans to check they weren’t taking any soup home. But if you are a miner with a drop left and have kids at home, what are you supposed to do? Sometimes, I let them get away with it.’
Pompey’s 2019–20 campaign is anticipated to once again produce a challenge for a Championship return, following an eight-season absence. It kicked off inauspiciously, with Shrewsbury Town’s Ryan Giles’ stunning 30-yard left-footed strike inflicting a 1–0 away defeat 7for Kenny Jackett’s side. It represented a debut goal in the teenager’s maiden Football League appearance, on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Blues unveiled four debutants in their starting XI, of which Rangers loanee Ross McCrorie was dismissed following the second of two bookable offences, nine minutes from time. At that juncture they were already chasing a leveller at Montgomery Waters Meadow, yet ultimately were unable to capitalise on 63 per cent possession, fifteen goal attempts and ten corners. Crucially, the dogged Shrews scored with their sole effort on target.
Pompey’s response was swift, banishing Championship Birmingham City from the Carabao Cup three days later with a heartening 3–0 triumph at Fratton Park. It yielded two goals for summer signing Ellis Harrison on his full debut, a welcome return having failed to register during the pre-season friendly programme. The approaching Saturday’s visit of Tranmere Rovers signified the opening Fratton Park fixture of the League One campaign – and an opportunity for Jenkins to commence his latest season of support. Pompey’s long-serving receptionist, Debbie Knight, hand-delivered the club’s fixture list to the pensioner’s home earlier in the week, while former England, Ipswich Town and Blues striker Ray Crawford was standing by to supply transport. The encounter with newly promoted Rovers lured a crowd of 18,575, their fourth-highest Fratton Park attendance in 2019, with owner Michael Eisner among those present, along with directors from his investment group, The Tornante Company. Such was the level of demand, with a boardroom creaking at full capacity, Portsmouth chief executive Mark Catlin sacrificed his place at the pre-match hospitality in favour of seating Jenkins. The club continue to rally around their treasured employee.
Adding to the gravitas of the fixture was the curious presence of Will Ferrell in the directors’ box, Hollywood royalty regarded affectionately for a string of popular comedies, including timeless favourites Anchorman and Elf. Ferrell’s interest in football is not superficial, possessing a minority stake in Major League Soccer side Los Angeles FC, who feature Cardiff City chairman Vincent Tan among their primary owners. The actor’s south-coast presence at Fratton Park 8was secured through his friendship with Eisner’s son and Blues board member Breck, a television and film director who sat alongside Ferrell during match proceedings.
Not since George Best, the enigmatic yet brilliant Manchester United and Northern Ireland artisan, had Fratton Park attracted a figure of such significant standing to a directors’ box. Best was a close companion of former Pompey owner Milan Mandarić, having signed for his North American Soccer League franchise, San Jose Earthquakes, at the start of the 1980s. When Best sought residency at the Sporting Chance Clinic, in nearby Liphook, he became a fixture at Pompey home games. Through their frequent boardroom encounters, Jenkins would also strike up a friendship with the man who appeared 470 times for the Red Devils, to the extent Best felt compelled to present him with his autobiography Blessed one Christmas. It was inscribed ‘Best Wishes, Happy New Year, 2005, George Best’. Best passed away eleven months later, at the age of just 59. A silver-framed photograph of the pair resides on a table at the 99-year-old’s home.
‘I became Pompey’s boardroom steward many years ago; now they treat me like a friend more than a steward. They let me sit down to dinner with them as well, sometimes,’ added Jenkins.
‘George Best was one of my favourites in the boardroom. I knew him very well. I served in Northern Ireland for two years and was familiar with where he grew up in East Belfast, so I could talk to George about lots of places he knew. We became very good friends.
‘He was a great player, no doubt about that, and would come down to every home game as Milan’s guest. He used to say to me: “Are you going to put my bets on, John,” but Milan never liked him betting!
‘Then one day he came up to me and said: “I think I’ve got some money to come back, John. Will you go and collect it, please?” It was worth about £400 and he gave me £20 of his winnings. He was a lovely man, George.’
Jenkins, along with fresh directors’ box colleague Ferrell, witnessed a 2–0 victory for Pompey over Micky Mellon’s Tranmere, signifying their first 9points of the season. Ben Close, an unused substitute in the opening-day defeat at Sunderland, had netted against Birmingham on his return to the side during the week, subsequently retaining his place against Rovers. Born and raised in the city, the home-grown talent handed his club a 27th-minute lead with a magnificent strike, lashing a first-time right-footed shot into the top corner from 30 yards. Chosen as Sky Sports’ goal of the day, it represented a tenth goal in 22 matches for the 23-year-old as his blossoming progress continued until the tutelage of boss Jackett. Skipper Tom Naylor sealed the win on 75 minutes, steering the ball home from close range after Paul Downing’s header had been cleared off the line by David Perkins following a Lee Brown right-wing corner.
Brown himself was denied a place on the scoresheet two minutes from time having pounced from close range after keeper Scott Davies had failed to cling on to substitute Brett Pitman’s stinging shot. During emotional celebrations, the left-back, also marking his 29th birthday, gazed towards the heavens and dedicated his first Pompey goal in 54 appearances to his grandad, who had passed away earlier that week. The linesman’s flag cut short the touching tribute, along with the sound of Jackett screaming for him to resume defensive duties, with play having already recommenced.
The triumph was the result of fine work by the Blues, whose buoyant dressing room subsequently misplaced its voice when a beaming Ferrell entered, jokingly demanding a greater awareness of the offside rule, before willingly posing for photographs. Goalscorer Naylor, who rigidly refuses to subscribe to the chattering of social media, had been unaware of the Hollywood superstar’s Fratton Park presence until the startling moment of his post-match entrance. As for boss Jackett, usually so impressively impervious to distractions, he couldn’t resist the opportunity for a photographic keepsake with the distinguished guest. Ferrell’s Fratton Park return may be indeterminable, but Jenkins will certainly return, with a Tuesday evening encounter against Coventry City next booked in at the famous old ground.
It was four years previous when Jenkins abseiled down the Spinnaker Tower to raise money for Rowans Hospice, while, ahead 10of the 2012 London Olympics, he carried the Olympic torch around Fratton Park. These days he relies on a walking stick to aid his progress but retains his independence by remaining in the Eastern Road home once shared with his beloved Peggy, their marriage spanning 74 years before they were parted. Jenkins turns 100 in November, an occasion to invariably prompt more communication with the Queen, courtesy of the birthday card customarily sent to centurions.
‘Someone once told me, I don’t know whether it’s true, that when I spoke at the D-Day commemorations even the Queen stood up to applaud,’ he added.
‘That’s something, isn’t it.’
2
IAN CHIVERTON, ERIC COLEBORN AND JAY SADLER
18 August 2019
Geoffrey Chiverton was a modest man, unconcerned with pursuing plaudits. Work mattered, with on-call commitments to Godalming Fire Station intertwining with the day job at car body builders King & Taylor. Such was the hectic schedule, it usually deprived the family of his presence at their Christmas meal, pager notifications dragging him away at the most inopportune of moments. Yet Chiverton’s dedication to his work and the wider Godalming community did not go unnoticed, as evidenced in 1993 when Chiverton’s young family had watched on from the upper gallery at Buckingham Palace as the Queen bestowed on him the MBE, recognition for his outstanding service to the Godalming community, a proud moment which has lived on in the memory. Following his Surrey homecoming, the fire-station stalwart banished his commendation from the public eye, relegated to a living room drawer, albeit granted an annual outing to fulfil Remembrance Day parade duty. Such was the strength of Chiverton’s humility, he rebuffed the standard opportunity to embellish credit and debit cards with his newly acquired additional three letters. 12
For son Ian, the pride at his father’s lofty standing within the community which remains the family home is understandable, a high regard undiminished following the fireman’s passing with pneumonia in December 2014 at the age of 65. There remain regrets. Chiverton senior’s admirable dedication to his work meant that he spent just two and a half seasons accompanying his son as a Fratton Park season-ticket holder. These late-life moments are cherished by Ian, yet balanced by sorrow that their Pompey connection was so heartbreakingly brief.
Today, the 36-year-old is partnered by eight-year-old daughter Abby, regulars at Pompey matches spanning both the men’s and women’s games. The pair totalled 147 Blues matches during the previous two seasons – and intend on maintaining that fervent support during the campaign ahead.
‘Growing up, I never had a shared hobby with my dad – and I so wanted to. He didn’t follow football until I got him into Pompey later in his life, then he started to come to a few games,’ said Chiverton.
‘Dad was out all the time, working in his day job, yet also on call for the fire service. Sometimes I’d be walking home from school with my friends and we would see him running past, heading towards the fire station with his alarm sounding.
‘We can’t have shared more than a couple of Christmas Day dinners together during my childhood. It was a running joke in the family that the second my mum placed the meal on the table, his alerter sounded. He’d return an hour and a half later. It was a massive commitment from him towards both jobs.
‘As a consequence, I did so few things with my dad. As a kid, it was always on my mind that one day, when an adult, I would share a hobby with my child; I wanted that more than anything.
‘When I had a daughter, it occurred to me it would be a bit tricky because I didn’t know what to do with girls. It’s different now. Abby has become used to football and will sit through the men’s game as well as the women’s. It’s amazing to have that shared hobby, and for away games we can spend hours of a journey talking football. 13
‘It took me years to actually get my dad into the game; he never understood. I would say: “Dad, I want a Portsmouth shirt,” and the reply was: “What, like a T-shirt with Portsmouth written on it?” He just did not get it at all, and it took me years of pestering, hassling him. “Please, Dad, just come to a game with me.” Even my mum would get on his back to agree.
‘He was very dismissive of it, not that bothered, but when I eventually got him to attend a match after many, many years of trying, he caught the bug instantly. People do, don’t they.
‘I had a season ticket alongside a friend, Ben Hudson. Then Ben joined the police force and was instructed to work weekends, affecting his attendance, so on one occasion I finally convinced my dad to accompany me, using that ticket. Now he would never admit he was wrong, but on the way home, he turned to me and said: “I guess I could come again.”
‘Following a few visits using Ben’s seat, Dad enquired about season-ticket availability – and we ended up regularly going to Fratton Park together. Before he died, we had finally managed to share a few years of Pompey.
‘I was really adamant I wanted something to share with my children. Apart from the last few years, I didn’t have anything with my dad, so creating that joint experience was really important; that’s why I tried getting Abby into football.
‘It has worked maybe a bit more than I expected, to the point where on one occasion the men and women played on the same day, which was ridiculously annoying. I chose Oxford United away to take in Kenny Jackett’s team, leaving my wife to take Abby to the women’s game. Then she shut my son’s foot in the car door and instead had to take him to hospital. Abby was crying down the phone to me for an hour because she couldn’t go. It did occur to me: “Have I got her too much into it?” I don’t think so!
‘Now she has started playing the game herself as a defender. I would ask why she couldn’t take it up and she would respond: “Girls don’t play football, only boys.” Her grandma is a traditionalist and made her do ballet and gymnastics, but she wasn’t very good at them, and I was thinking: “I wonder if she would be good at 14football?” When she started watching the women’s game, she wanted to try it herself.
‘In each of the last two seasons, we have attended more than 70 games. Having started to support the women, we don’t want to let either side down, so have ended up doing both. It just developed into a habit.
‘When there’s a weekend with no football, we get bored and my wife quickly becomes sick of us around the house, especially on a Sunday! If we don’t have a women’s game, Abby is climbing the walls by 10am because we’re just so used to it. She is treated like a squad player; they invite her into the dressing room and she feels so accepted.
‘I took her to a few men’s games, but she was restless during the match, so bored, asking for food, calling for her iPad, it wasn’t working. Then a friend of mine, Sam Bowers, mentioned the women’s team and advised me to take that approach. It intrigued me.
‘Knowing Abby, I needed a player for her to meet or she wouldn’t have any early connection, so I found Lauren Peck on Twitter and messaged her. It was basically: “I’m bringing Abby to her first game. Would you mind just saying hello to her, please?” It was no problem.
‘When we arrived, Lauren was warming up and, upon noticing Abby, came straight across to speak to her. I saw my daughter’s face – and from that moment she fell in love with football.’
Ian and Abby’s maiden Pompey Women fixture occurred in August 2017, with Cardiff City the visitors to Havant & Waterlooville’s Westleigh Park home on the opening day of the 2017–18 campaign. The hosts ran out 4–1 winners.
In the two years that followed, the pair have been absent from just six matches in all competitions, their continued presence embraced by manager Jay Sadler and his players. They showed their appreciation at Christmas 2018, Sadler’s playing squad orchestrating a whip-round, resulting in a pair of blue Adidas boots decorated with a white stripe, wrapped up and handed over to Abby as a festive gift. Younger brother 15William wasn’t left out either, with the toddler given sweets. In Abby’s room at the family’s Godalming home hangs a framed pink away shirt autographed by the squad, a present from boss Sadler in recognition of her first season following the Blues.
Elsewhere among her burgeoning collection are Lauren Peck’s medal and shirt from the 2018 Hampshire Cup final victory over Southampton. Similarly, Gemma Hillier, the only female presence in Pompey’s Hall of Fame, alongside the likes of Paul Merson, David James and Alan Knight, posted a shirt and cup final medal following her departure from the club.
Chiverton added: ‘When someone looks after your child, you naturally form a bond with them – and the manager and players are unbelievable with Abby.
‘When we arrive at matches, I’ll set up my equipment for filming our vlogs and Abby disappears. She is either at the turnstiles selling tickets and programmes, in the changing room with the players, or warming up on the pitch alongside them. Jay lets her join in with the final drill, which is amazing. She is very, very lucky to have such access.
‘There are probably about ten of us hard-core fans who attend all Pompey Women home games, although the pair of us are the only ones present at away fixtures. I genuinely think they are grateful and they pay that back by looking after Abby on a match day, which is beyond anything we could expect.
‘In her first season of playing football, Abby was really nervous about the opening training session, so Lauren Peck, who is with Fulham now, came along to watch and lend support.
‘When my daughter made her debut for Milford Pumas Youth under-8s, Ellie Kirby, Daisy McLachlan and Carla Perkins drove over to Surrey to watch. It’s a fair trek just to see a small kid’s game. They also gave her advice beforehand.
‘When the match got under way, there was a boy having a worldie and he scored in the top corner, which really upset Abby as she had literally just gone in goal. At that point, with the game still being played, Ellie went onto the pitch to console her, putting 16her arm around the shoulders saying: “Come on Abby, you can do it.” That meant so much.
‘I suppose our approach to supporting the women’s game is a bit of a new concept for them. Of course they’ve had kids as mascots before, but with Abby it’s different; she literally hero worships these players and they are not used to that.
‘Interaction with fans is quite a new concept to the girls. Among the first thing I noticed when attending was how, when they scored, they’d just walk off, Where the men would race over to the fans, the women hug each other and walk away with the minimum of fuss. It’s not their fault as they’re used to playing in pretty much empty stadiums with the only people present being their parents.
‘Last season I had a word with the manager and some of the players about celebrating with the supporters and, when Emma-Jane May scored in the Portsmouth District Football Association Cup final win against Horndean, she ran over to us and produced a mini-crowd jump, leaping over the advertising boards into our arms. That was brilliant, and the first time I had seen that happen at this level.
‘Some of them are quite shy and we don’t want to bother them too much. They are not paid footballers and they don’t owe us anything. Initially, some were a little overwhelmed by a young girl running up to them and giving a hug – now Abby high-fives them.
‘Can you imagine a random kid grabbing a Sunday League bloke, patting his belly saying: “Have a good game today, mate.” The girls’ reaction was the same at first, yet are now used to it, and I have become friends with some of them.
‘In our first season of following them, they won the Hampshire Cup at Alton and invited Abby onto the pitch. When the trophy was presented to the skipper, Amelia Southgate, she lifted it before passing it onto the next person – Abby! None of the other players, it was straight to her.
‘Last season in the Hampshire Cup final 3–1 victory over Southampton Women FC, she was again invited onto the pitch for the presentation ceremony, only this time Katie James hauled Abby onto her shoulders and gave her the trophy. Then Jay Sadler 17came over and handed my daughter his medal in recognition of her support. That’s a lot more personal than the men’s game.’
The pair’s devotion to Pompey Women earned them a nomination for a national award. Abby’s brainchild, Pompey Women’s Vlogs, began life as a phone attached to a selfie stick, attracting 300–400 views during its infancy. Today, they position a GoPro attached to a tripod behind each goal on a match day, uninhibited by the copyright issues associated with filming the men’s game.
The coverage made the shortlist in the prestigious 2019 Football Blogging Awards, in the Best Women’s Football Content Creator category. With the awards being held at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, Ian’s mum paid for them to savour overnight attendance, while Abby was granted permission from Godalming Junior School to attend.
They were beaten by the Liverpool-centric The Redmen TV’s Women’s Football Show, a product with a mammoth 386,000 YouTube subscribers, but for Ian and Abby, the nomination felt like a prize in itself.
Chiverton said: ‘Women’s football can be quite a hard sell and, because I have got to know the Pompey players, I genuinely felt for them. They don’t get any recognition and to me that represented a massive injustice. By creating a vlog and putting it out there, maybe one or two people would watch and give games a go themselves.
‘Each vlog takes four to five hours to put together. It is a real push to complete before the next match. At the end of last season I was thinking: “I really don’t know whether I can do this any more” – then you receive a nomination for a national award! Earning such recognition for my work spurred me on – and it’s important I continue to highlight the women’s game.
‘Mind you, some people just don’t want to listen. If you are going to judge the quality of football based on what you see on Match of the Day and then watch Pompey Women in the third tier, don’t expect it to be of that standard, you’re not going to get it. If 18you just relax your attitude a little and take the game for what it is, you’ll realise it’s good to watch. I’ve encouraged people to attend at times and they’ve come up to me at the end of the match and said: “Do you know what, I was wrong; that was pretty good.”
‘Don’t compare the women’s game with the men’s. If you expect the same thing then you might as well leave because you’re not going to get it. That doesn’t make it rubbish you know, it’s just a different type of game.
‘What I’ve learnt from watching the women’s game is that it’s ridiculously competitive, especially some of the tackles which fly in. I remember our first game watching Pompey play. Three minutes in against Cardiff there was a ridiculously bad challenge inside the box and I thought: “My God, what is this?” I thought the girls would be pulling out of tackles, but no, there’s none of that. It’s really competitive.
‘It’s worse than the men. In the men’s game you receive a red card straight away, but in the women’s there’s more leniency, like Sunday League. Even if I didn’t have my daughter alongside me, I would still happily attend their games because it’s worth watching.
‘The stuff I am starting to dislike about the men’s game isn’t actually there [in the women’s game]. Money, overpaid players who don’t care about the club, no access to footballers, VAR coming in, there’s none of that.
‘The women’s game is pure football. They go out there and give their all. There are some really skilful players in our league and challenges are flying in, but no diving, you don’t get it. There’s a Chichester City Ladies player who likes to fall over a lot, but that’s the only time I have seen it – and even then it was just the once.’
The 2019–20 Pompey Women season kicked off at home to Watford, seeking to build on the previous campaign’s final position of eighth in the twelve-team FA Women’s National League South Premier Division. Greeting supporters outside the home of Baffins Milton Rovers was Blues chairman Eric Coleborn, decked in yellow high-vis jacket and 19equipped with a warm handshake and a message of thanks for each arrival’s attendance on a glorious south-coast afternoon. The ground’s sole turnstile was overseen by the ever-welcoming Sarah Ferre, a former gate woman at Fratton Park and familiar face around the men’s club since accompanying her uncle to a first game in 1979. Sarah’s mum, Janet, was positioned as sentry at the neighbouring gate, on call to aid those with bikes, the disabled and, on some occasions, supporters arriving with prams, emphasising the family-friendly environment. At the far end of the ground, the bottom gate adjacent to the Langstone Harbour football pitches was, on this day, manned by Simon Colebrook, the chairman of Pompey Supporters’ Trust. He and wife Jane had insisted on each paying the £5 fee for their own entrance, irrespective of match-day volunteer roles. Gate duty is rotated between Colebrook and Steve Hatton, the Trust’s long-standing membership secretary, who frequents matches with wife Christine.
Elsewhere, Ian Chiverton and Abby had been busy pre-match, decorating the stadium with two large Pompey banners draped over hoardings, while nine small flags, liberated in opportunist fashion by Abby from the previous day’s men’s fixture against Tranmere Rovers, also stood to attention from new vantage points.
‘I think it’s nice to invite people in. We are trying to encourage them to come to matches, that’s the bottom line,’ said Coleborn, now in his second season as chairman of Pompey Women.
‘I enjoy welcoming people and, as they leave, thanking them for coming and supporting the team. If anybody wants to give me feedback on anything we can improve on, then I am there to listen and potentially act upon their opinion. At the end of the day, we want them to return.
‘As chairman of this club, I possibly see things a little bit differently. It’s not like Fratton Park, where you have thousands of people in attendance and the vast corporate side to it. Here we are very much focused on fans coming to support the team – and it’s important they see somebody trying to work for them.
‘We are attempting to create a good experience for people at what is a lovely venue to stage football. We want those who arrive 20to have a good time, to enjoy themselves in an extremely relaxed atmosphere where you can walk around the ground, have a drink, sit down on the terracing or go into the clubhouse. This is a friendly club which plays in a family atmosphere.
‘We possess a phenomenal group of volunteers. My match-day staff do an excellent job, looking after the turnstiles, the car park, clearing the ground, and they do this for the love of the club, which is fantastic. Even I will go and retrieve the balls which fly out of the ground – we are one.
‘As a club, we are run sustainably and what earns you revenue is the support delivered by people coming to the games; that’s what I am desperately trying to make certain can happen.
‘I think we are doing the right things. It’s no good sitting on your laurels; you have to keep improving and improving and improving – and that’s what I’m trying to do, looking at what we are doing, seeing where we can raise our game.
‘We are slowly building. This is the beginning of my second season and it does take time.’
Coleborn was parachuted into his role in June 2018, following the decision to bring Pompey Women under the umbrella of the men’s club. The move was initiated to preserve the team’s survival in the face of escalating losses which had already cost previous owner Mick Williams approximately £35,000 during his three-year chairmanship. During Williams’ final season at the helm, the club were forced to take on a nomadic existence, using eight different home venues, including Havant & Waterlooville, Littlehampton, Bognor, Gosport and Petersfield. On occasions they had to secure a pitch 24 hours before a fixture. The lack of a consistent ground for Pompey Women inevitably impacted upon crowd numbers – and finances. Williams, previously an instrumental figure in the Portsmouth Supporters’ Trust capture of Pompey to prevent liquidation, was regretfully confronted with the prospect of wrapping up the women’s team in the summer of 2018. The precarious situation prompted chief executive Mark Catlin to orchestrate a union under the club banner, with Baffins Milton Rovers chairman Steve 21Cripps providing a home for the Blues, earning a place on the Pompey Women’s board in the process.
As for the role of chairman, Coleborn represented a natural fit. A highly respected Trust board member and club president, he also possesses a long-standing business presence in the city through his Glass & Mirror Centre premises in North End. It’s a responsibility the local businessman has set about with admirable ardour.
‘Pompey Women were going to fold. Mick Williams was using his own money and it was costing him a lot. This standard of football is not cheap to put on,’ he said.
‘It’s not a local league. Our fixture list contains Yeovil, Plymouth, Cardiff, Gillingham and MK Dons, involving travel all over the place, while we use two training pitches a week, which require paying for, so costs spiral to say the least. It’s an expensive game.
‘Coming under the roof of Pompey was crucial – and Michael Eisner and his board didn’t take any convincing. They immediately saw the benefits and it makes good sense all round. This is one club with two teams.
‘We run it sustainably, and what we take is what we can spend, but we’re always working on how to cut costs sensibly, while seeking methods to increase revenue, like any club does. It’s a simple business format.
‘Not only do Pompey let us use their gym facilities at Roko once a week, but they supply the kit and share the University of Portsmouth as first-team sponsors, while also organising other commercial deals for our benefit. To be honest, we wouldn’t be able to survive without such support and I thank them for that.
‘Everything is looked at and has to be costed, and it’s about being realistic. For example, our match-day programme has this season doubled in price to £2, which was necessary. The decision was made that it had to be more realistic price-wise for what we are producing; it is a good-quality programme, not just a team sheet.
‘It is an expensive game and we must ensure we are looking after the pennies. Nobody at the club is paid, not even the manager, although we do pay travelling costs. 22
‘I am a businessman with a business plan – I will make certain we don’t attract losses. To aid that we need to increase the gates, get more people along, which adds to the income. On top of that there’s programme sales and money spent inside the ground, all of which will help to build the football club moving forward.
‘We want to create the best team we possibly can to give our supporters the best experience they can possibly have. We are trying to build an infrastructure, making things better for the girls that play and improving the product on the pitch.
‘That’s my job and it is slow progress – but I believe we are getting there.’
Pompey Women endured an opening-day 2–0 defeat to the Hornets, watched by a healthy crowd of 207.
Both goals arrived in the first half courtesy of Helen Ward’s right foot. The Watford striker is Wales skipper and all-time leading scorer for her country, with 42 goals in 70 matches. Employed full-time, she combines playing duties with work in the club’s media and marketing departments, serving as the face of the self-styled ‘Golden Girls’ in the local community.
In contrast, Pompey’s nineteen squad members and eleven backroom and media staff work on a voluntary basis. In addition to matches, the players are required to train three evenings a week, including Wednesday night gym work at Pompey’s Hilsea training ground.
Travel costs for training sessions are met by the club, however, at a rate of 15p a mile, while a 30-mile radius offers recruitment boundaries focused on identifying talent from the Reading, Portsmouth, Southampton and Brighton areas.
Such are the financial discrepancies between women’s sides, Watford were chaperoned to the season opener by coach, whereas a minibus hired from Pompey in the Community transports Pompey Women to their encounters. Such is its restrictive size, it cannot accommodate backroom staff, who drive separately in a six-seater van.
Cost monitoring has been essential in preserving the existence of a club on the brink of going under before Pompey chairman Michael Eisner stepped forward, a necessity acknowledged by Sadler. 23
Arriving as assistant manager in July 2016, rapid personal progression resulted in his appointment as first-team boss merely four months later. The subsequent readjustment to a self-sustainable model has been challenging, but not without hope.
Following the dismantling of their development and youth groups after the 2018 change in ownership, Pompey in the Community now provides the grass-roots pathway into the club, an independent charitable trust affiliated to the club which oversees teams from under-10s upwards.
Opportunity also exists through the University of Portsmouth shirt sponsorship and doors have been opened for Sadler to attend the university’s September football trials to scout talent for the Pompey Women set-up.
And the 27-year-old remains encouraged by the ongoing affiliation with the main football club.
Sadler said: ‘We have recently promoted Mia Adaway into the first team, who has been at the club since she was under ten. She has been training with the seniors since the age of fourteen, but legal requirements have prevented her from representing us until reaching sixteen.
‘Losing our development group was not ideal, and it has left us with a bit of a hole, preventing us from bringing players up for training or dropping them down for match minutes, so that has been a challenge.
‘There remains an ambition to reintroduce a development team. I tried to push for its return this season, but I think we’re probably another year off, although we’re able to link up with Pompey in the Community and the University of Portsmouth.
‘This is short-term pain for long-term gain. Overall, the vision brought into the women’s club by Pompey is really exciting; it just needs a bit of time and patience – and hopefully we will see the rewards on the pitch as well as off it.
‘The key is becoming self-sustainable, to stand on our own two feet. We know where we are and we have an understanding of the resources we possess – but we must get the best out of them. As 24long as you have the basics – a training ground, training equipment and hungry players wanting to win games of football – then you are quite happy. We are lucky, we have all three.
‘In terms of bringing in players, we are looking at a smaller area and a smaller pool of players which we believe are good enough and it has truly tested our recruitment strategy, but the outcome has been phenomenal, probably my best at the club.
‘With players on a twelve-month registration, the summer usually brings a high turnover, yet this has actually been the first season in which we have been able to retain a large majority of the squad. There are thirteen players remaining from last year, with five fresh faces added and Mia brought up from the youth set-up, which is the smallest amount of newcomers we’ve had in my three years at the club.
‘Slowly, but surely, things are piecing together well in this partnership. Pompey’s media team have been unbelievable integrating with us, promoting the women’s team over their vast social media reach, and, with Eric as chairman, you can see the vision where they want to take the club.
‘Not only that, we have established a link with Kenny Jackett and his assistant Joe Gallen. Earlier this month, Joe invited me and my staff to watch the first team train, then afterwards sat around a table with their backroom people, including the head of sports science, and we were allowed to pick their brains, the session lasting about an hour. The information was excellent, something to take away and implement into our environment.
‘At the end of it, Kenny Jackett handed me his mobile number and said if ever I needed anything then to contact him, while I was welcome at any time to watch them train.
‘On the following Thursday evening, after our training, I messaged Kenny thanking him for the opportunity and wished him the best of luck against Sunderland that weekend. He replied with “No problem” – and wished us well against Watford in our opening game. Wow, I was like a child at Christmas!
‘It’s small steps, but small steps in the right direction.’
25Sadler welcomed second son, Archie, into the world in March 2019, a wonderful moment but one that stopped him from accompanying his side to Plymouth Argyle, with Pompey drawing 2–2 in his absence. As a consequence, ever-present Chiverton and his daughter totalled more Blues fixtures than the manager that season, a fact which raises a chuckle from the Pompey Women boss.
Yet Chiverton also retains devotion towards the men’s team, remaining a season-ticket holder since first settling into his Fratton End seat for a chaotic 2000–01 campaign, in which Tony Pulis, Steve Claridge and Graham Rix all served as managers. The Blues remained in Division One that season, following a 3–0 final-day win over Barnsley.
With Abby accompanying him in recent years, the pair participated in the good-natured pitch invasion at Meadow Lane to mark Pompey’s promotion to League One in April 2017. When Paul Cook’s team clinched the League Two title three games later – courtesy of a 6–1 Fratton Park mauling of Cheltenham Town – they once more descended upon the pitch.
Moments of success for the pair to cherish, although Chiverton admits his growing affection for the women’s game has impacted upon his regard for the men’s format.
He said: ‘During the last two seasons, I have attended three-quarters of the men’s away games, but it has reached the point where my son is approaching three and I can no longer disappear all day. I now have to be a bit more selective, but I guess that’s what comes of growing up.
‘I still enjoy watching the men, but following women’s football has taken the edge off it. If Pompey men lose I’m really annoyed, as we all are, but I know if the women win the following day then I will completely forget that defeat.
‘If both teams lose then you don’t want to speak to me for a few days – and my work colleagues know that! Don’t talk to me, I’m really bad. I can’t even go home and forget about it as I have four to five hours of match footage to edit for our vlogs, so have to relive it! 26
‘When Pompey reached the Checkatrade Trophy final against Sunderland in March 2019, we didn’t attend because the women were playing Loughborough on the same day.
‘It prompted a couple of not-so-nice messages from people on Twitter telling me I had made the wrong decision and would regret it – as would Abby. A lady even very kindly offered to take Abby with her daughter, but I declined. People thought I was forcing Abby, but I would have had to drag her kicking and screaming to attend Wembley that day.
‘It simply wouldn’t have sent the right message to my daughter if we had joined those 40,000 Pompey fans along Wembley Way on that afternoon. You are loyal to a women’s team which doesn’t get much attention and then, when the men have a glory day, you suddenly ditch them and instead travel to that game? That scenario didn’t sit right with me in any way, shape or form and I don’t regret our decision, not even for a second.
‘We had a big choice to make – and had to show loyalty to Pompey Women. We wanted to remind the girls that we’re always there to support them, no matter what, even if it meant missing out on a Wembley trip.
‘Mind you, at the match against Loughborough, it was like tumbleweed blowing through – there was no one there! A lot of staff who volunteer their time had gone to the final, including the stadium announcer, so we had to play the music and announce the line-up, while Abby helped sell programmes at the gate.
