Portsmouth: The Modern Era 1970-2005

The story of Portsmouth Football Club has never been dull. Between 1970 and 2005 Pompey had been threatened with bankruptcy three times, reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, dropped from Second to Fourth Divisions and climbed all the way back to the old First Division they left in 1959. Under Chairman Milan Mandaric, the club finally reached the promised land of the Premiership in 2003, the First Division title joining the Third Division championship won in 1983 on the honours board. Pompey also engineered a last-gasp promotion from Division Four in 1980 and were runners-up in the old Second Division in 1987. Promotions were also agonisingly missed by a hairs breadth in 1985 and 1993, while relegation battles went to the wire in 1977, 1996, 1998 and 2001. Mid-table obscurity has rarely been an option for Pompey fans in this 35-year roller-coaster ride. Great players such as Steve Foster, Mark Hateley, Neil Webb, Darren Anderton and Robert Prosinecki have pulled on the royal blue. Nearly 40,000 packed Fratton to see Pompey take double winners Arsenal all the way in 1971, while it took a late goal at Hartlepool to keep the team off the foot of the Football League in August 1978. Loyalty is an increasingly rare commodity in the modern era, but Pompey had two beacons in Jimmy Dickinson and Alan Knight, both of whom spanned this period. This is the story of why Portsmouth FC is a special club to everyone connected with it.