Wally meets... Alan Knight

By Mike Walters

Published 22:45 05/03/10

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Surely, amid the catalogue of Pompey crimes, it would be the greatest sporting anomaly of all.

Last year, Luton Town managed to win a trophy at Wembley and be relegated out of the Football League in the same month.

But when the music stops, and the fantasists playing pass-the-parcel with Portsmouth’s ownership have stripped the last layer of wrapping from a famous old club, they may yet pull off a stupendous double - winning the FA Cup and going out of existence in the same season.

It would be a tribute to the heroic spirit of Avram Grant’s players, and the spectacular mismanagement of a dockyard institution, if Pompey beat Birmingham in today’s lunchtime quarter-final and had to beg a High Court judge for permission to make a nostalgic trip up Wembley Way in the semis.

All together now: We’re the famous Portsmouth FC and we’re going to the Chancery, Chan-cer-ee, Chan-cer-ee.

The ludicrous state of affairs reflects dreadfully on the Premier League, where heads should roll for all the blind eyes turned while invisible tycoons and potless chancers have driven Pompey over the cliff edge.

None is more outraged by the club’s predicament than Alan Knight, the goalkeeper still known affectionately known as ’The Legend’ at Fratton Park after his one-club playing career which spawned more appearances for Portsmouth than anyone except Jimmy Dickinson.

Knight, 48, is goalkeeping coach at Aldershot these days, but he remains loyal to the Pompey cause and he has been repulsed by this season’s charades off the pitch.

“I spent 30 years at Portsmouth as a player and coach, so you can imagine how distressing it is for me to see the club in such a state,” he said, the anguish in his voice palpable.

“I didn’t make 801 appearances for Pompey in all four divisions just so parasites, driven by greed, could come along and unravel more than 100 years of history.

“What has happened to them is a disgrace. I wish I had the vocabulary to express my anger, and the supporters’ anger, in stronger terms.

“When I left Portsmouth, I thought they had climbed the mountain - established Premier League club, heading for Europe, job done - but now it seems they didn’t really climb the mountain at all. They hitched a lift up to the top.

“Greed is the only word I can find to describe where they went wrong. They raped the goose that laid the golden egg - sorry if that sounds a bit unpleasant, but that’s the way I feel.

“If the worst case scenario happens, the ones who got Portsmouth into this mess won’t hang to look their employees in the eye and say sorry. I don’t think it would even bother most of them - they have no shame, they don’t care.

“Don’t forget, I’m just an ex-player. It’s the poor old punters, the lifeblood of the club, who have been sold down the river.”

With the taxman unhappy with the terms of Portsmouth entering voluntary administration eight days ago, the future is still far from certain. They are due back in the High Court later this month, and the threat of a winding-up order remains vivid.

Knight is now at a club who went through the trauma of liquidation 18 years ago, and he said: “I’ve been to Portsmouth supporters’ trust meetings and they have already started looking into the possibility of rebuilding the club from scratch if the unthinkable happens.

“Aldershot have shown that a football club can rise from the ashes, and AFC Wimbledon are nearly back in the League as well after going back to square one.

“So if there is a silver lining to this mess, it is the knowledge that Portsmouth Football Club may be wound up but it will never die. The fans will have a club to support next season - we just don’t know yet what league they will be in.

“Off the pitch, we’re in the hands of lawyers and accountants - but on the pitch, they must have a decent chance of beating Birmingham. A return trip to Wembley is there for the taking, no question.

“And where better than Wembley for the fans who have been so badly treated this season, with all the spin and lies, to make their voices heard?

“I’ll be keeping an eye on the Pompey result before our home game against Burton - which is my own shot at redemption.

“When Kevin Dillon, my old Portsmouth team-mate, took over as Aldershot manager I bombarded him with text messages until he caved in and offered me a job as goalkeeping coach.

“We lost 6-1 up at Burton in our first game, so the new goalkeepers’ guru was not an instant success, and Dillo must have thought ’God, what have I done?’ But we’ve filtered our way up the table to the edge of the play-offs and I’m really enjoying myself.

“Aldershot is a fantastic little club who have shown what you can achieve when a place is run properly.”

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