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The criticism that had been targeted following the media blackout earlier was soon doubled when Frederick went ballistic at random attacks on Dominic Matteo – a consistent and top performing player – and another rather more personal attack on the cowardice nature of Sauzee – grounded on no evidence other than the ignorant british stereotype of the Frenchman’s attitude and Fred took it personally – calling in his father Jock to administer some vigilante justice at a certain media corporations printing house by dismantling their water and sewer pipes system. Well, perhaps not so much dismantle, but rather ‘re-organise’ – as in the pipes were re directed straight onto the ink machine.

If anything these efforts to distract the side were only acting counter productive to their arms as the team pulled out a marvelous victory over Grimsby courtesy to inform striker Steven McLean who scored his first hat-trick of his professional career in a comprehensive win from start to finish. Though it was briefly 2-1 when Roman brought hope to the Mariners, the clinical third from McLean and a glossy finish from Callum Davidson at the death continued the side’s excellent run of wins. The one down side to the match was an injury to Franck Sauzee, with a groin problem, but when taken off he received a huge cheer from the traveling army, complete with his very own tune from TCWTB.

A big plus though did arrive shortly before the midweek trip to Millwall when midfielder and striker Uliano Courville was at last passed fit following a lengthy lay off in pre-season, and he was rewarded with a start immediately to rest the mercurial McLean. A tired start from both sides saw little immediate action, before Garry Brady opened the deadlock with a beautifully worked goal culminating in a neat one two with Courville before placing the ball low beneath keeper Neil Sullivan. A timely second from Mark Burchill before half time seemed to knock the stuffing out of the hosts, allowing sub McLean, coming on for the knackered Courville, to come on and finish the job off – with his 10th goal in 13 games for Pompey.

With the club having now pushed themselves up into the play off spots, the fans barracking had subsided at last, as the fans, denying their fickleness, proclaimed the French- Scottish experiment the greatest act to befall their club. They even tried to ingratiate themselves into Fred’s good books by noting the proximity of the club to the sea and subsequent exit from that horrible, horrible England.

For Fred he just grimaced at these fickle English fans and made notes to ship in the French from just across the channel to get some proper support in. The final match of the month at home to Sheffield United helped propel the club firmly into the top 6 with another terrific win, as McLean scored twice in the first half, to set the side on their way. It got better after half time as Courville on only his second start, scored a well taken third to effectively seal it. Then, a disciplined high line, restricted United to long range efforts, and they were caught offside numerous times as they failed to break through for the most part. A consolation was scored through Terry Phelan late on, but the Portsmouth train ride was picking up steam. 6 wins on the bounce made for a perfect bounce, and local journalists were left confounded in how they could exact revenge on Frederick de Ville right now.

retired_swmchick2006

Glad I'm not the only one doing this on 01/02. Interesting start. Keep it up. :thup:

retired_embartl

cheers attjen, definitely finding it fun to play on 0102

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Match Summary

Portsmouth 3 Rotherham 0 - McLean 24, Sauzee 71, McKinlay 78

Portsmouth 2 Gillingham 0 - Brady 1, 37

Bradford City 2 Portsmouth 3 - McLean 23, 43, Bossy 51; Makel 26, Sharpe 89


Portsmouth 4 Grimsby 1 - McLean 2, 17, 78; Davidson 90; Rowan 61

Millwall 0 Portsmouth 3 - Brady 22, Burchill 42, McLean 77

Portsmouth 3 Sheffield United 1 - Mclean 13, 35, Courville 57; Phelan 68

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November

It was of no surprise to Fred when he answered his phone on the first to receive a congratulatory call from the FA, with 18 points taken out of 18 he was the outstanding candidate for manager of the month, and it became a Portsmouth double when equally unsurprisingly Steve McLean, with a terrific 9 goals in 6 matches was handed Player of the Month. What was a pleasant bonus was to hear that young Fabien Bossy had received an under 21 call for his native France, which pleased Frederick enormously. He did want as many of his side to go and proudly represent their countries at a level he had never been able to achieve himself.

Match wise, the momentum came to an end in true manager of the month curse fashion with an abrupt defeat away to Burnley . The side played ok, but didn’t carve anything special out and went down to a goal from another striker on a hot streak, Ian Moore. Perhaps complacency had set in, but either way Fred wasn’t overly pleased.

Whilst there were no new injuries, and changes were made with N’Gotty replacing Bassy in defence, and Courville moved to midfield with Donnelly returning up front, the chairman Milan Mandaric did decide to curtail funds once and for all in a bizarre demonstration of no support for Fred’s transfer policy, meaning success would be have to done the hard way.

If proof was needed of the side’s ability then returning to winning ways immediately in a fantastic 3-1 victory away to fellow top 6 side Barnsley was surely a great way of doing so. McLean was the man on fire, with an early double brace, before Simon Donnelly scored a third after the break, as the midfield and attack fired on full cylinders at Oakwell.

As a slightly quieter month fixture wise continued, allowing energy levels to be restored, Frederick de Ville turned his attention to his plans for the two heritage treasures in the harbour, two conniving boats which had caused the French so much distress in times gone by, and he planned to eradicating them once and for all, and if his callman ever got back to him about the DIY bombkit, he’d be able to put his ideas into practice. He had the method generally prepared, but just needed to carry out a couple of dummy runs. He had had his fun taking them out on scouting trips, and after a few too many cautions by the local police he’d had to use conventional means.

Another traitor, David Waterman, was soon drowned in the harbour before being sold to Arbroath as fish feed, before attention returned to the league and hosting Crystal Palace . Their visitors had certainly not made the start expected of them, and in the early stages it was easy to see why as twice their defence was cut open with two much ease as first Steven McLean continued his exploits connecting with Courville cross, and then Garry Brady set up Donnelly for another to more or less put the game beyond Palace’s reach. Even though Stuart Barlow twice reduced the lead – the second time after Mark Burchill’s second half strike, the game was never in real doubt as Portsmouth cruised to victory and TCWTB was in fine noise annoyingly.

He had to be killed. Stupid English bastard. This was now secondary chief objective before the year was out, behind establishing the Auld Alliance as an unbeatable formula in the league.

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Match Summary

Burnley 1 Portsmouth 0 - Ian Moore 37

Barnsley 1 Portsmouth 3 - McLean 7, 25, Donnelly 71

Portsmouth 3 Crystal Palace 2 - McLean 12, Donnelly 32, Burchill 76; Barlow 56, 87

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December

The final calendar month in the year began with just the one award this time around, although strangely Steve McLean had been relegated to merely Young Player of the Month, with Wolves’ Colin Cameron having stolen the main award. However, being a fellow Scot, Fred found no room for bitterness.

It was fitting then the first match of the month pitched Pompey at Molineux to face a Wolves side eager to maintain their strictly upheld mantle as underachievers of the millennium. The ‘comatose giants’ were still ok in 9th but really should have been faring better in the league by now.

With Franck Sauzee returned from injury the side looked strong in defence and again their confidence was in no doubt at all as the French Connection UK style saw Courville again produce quality service to set up McLean for another goal to his tally. With so many players hitting their stride now, their was a real feel good factor about this Portsmouth side, and with Donnelly converting Mark Burchill’s pull back before half time, another win was duly confirmed. That was, not before adding humiliation to the home fans as McLean scored his 18th - from another Courville cross and Donnelly finished another move this time from a Burchill knock down.

The combinations were working wonderfully down the flanks, and with Donnelly and Courville equally adept playing the out and out strikers role, their was quality in abundance up front, though the defence were nay so bad either, as for the first time in the season, with a fully fit defence, even Dominic Matteo had to settle for a place on the bench. Confidence was high, the fans and Mandaric was ecstatic, and Fred himself was outlandishly delighted with sticking one over to the English skeptics, opening up comms with the local press again, more or less purely to gloat.

Against Man City old Lionel Perez was given a start after waiting patiently for so long on the bench but it hardly proved a risk at all, as Fred’s well motivated troops marched on to another very impressive victory. Garry Brady settled early worries with a 5th minute strike, before another one of those timely second goals arrived before half time, from Mark Burchill. It was a policy that Fred had instilled in the team, to always try and up the tempo especially in the 5 minutes before the break, as where other sides tend to play safe until half time, they were capitalizing and rewarding for their attacking ventures. In the second half the magnificent Courville made it 3, before Burchill doubled up for number 4 and although Paulo Wanchope reduced the deficit late on, there was still time as ever for Steve McLean – nicknamed Steve McQueen to add a finishing touch to another superb team performance.

The side were now up to 3rd in the table and faced a big test in the midweek with a trip to 2nd placed Coventry City . It certainly saw the players face stiffer resistance against an on form Coventry side, and Lee Hughes 25 yard free kick was too much for Perez in goal. Maybe it was complacency, maybe just fatigue but the side didn’t recover too well after that and the equalizer through McLean on 41 minutes was rather fortuitious, coming from a swift counter attack, and as if to emphasis the luck with which that had arrived, ‘game justice’ arrived when Julian Joachim restored the lead before half time. Fred tried to lift spirits in the dressing room, but it was clear in their body language in the second half, that they had written the game off, as Lee Hughes added an unnecessary 3rd as the team gave up with a damp squib.

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Fred was furious, and paper headlines ran predictably with headlines like ‘Fred the Red!’ or appallingly ‘ Frediculous Effort!’ the next day. However, whenever the side had a bad loss before they did recover, and just a few days later they put in a much better performance against fellow play off hopefuls Preston North End . Amazingly enough Steve McQueen scored the first goal ( shock horror ) and then on loan midfielder Alex Neil made it two before half time. The match itself was enjoyably controlled from start until injury time in the second period when the hosts grabbed a pointless consolation, but the angry manager was content once more in his troops.

Over the next week, he also turned his attention towards future incomers, and particularly the bosman market, there were a few eligible bachelors so to speak, and it was imperative he added to this paper thin side. They had survived so far pretty well on his motivational ( death threats ) speeches, but would need more bodies next year regardless of their division. A match clause had been triggered by Rory Allen at Worcester which brought in some much needed cash, and Frederick duly began perusing potential targets over the coming weeks.

In between that was a nailed on home banker against 22nd place Norwich . They were doomed and gloomy, Portsmouth were sky high, the odds were clear, anything other than a home win would be a bad result. Final score – Pompey 2 Norwich 3. As it transpired the players did have a shocking game, worryingly soon after the Coventry match. From the start the visitors were far more up for it, and it was clear arrogance had set in to Fred’s absolute fury, only the English were arrogant for God’s sake! Simon Donnelly’s opening goal had given hope that the start had been just a blip but two goals from Gary Holt before half time soon saw to that. Slack marking and poor passing was letting the side down badly, and in nightmare fashion a third was scored in the second half, as the ball was given away an infuriating amount of times. McLean popped up with a consolation, but with Garry Brady’s injury at the death it was nothing but a bad game.

As the festive season approached, matters turned from bad to worse. Steve McLean, with 21 goals from 22 starts in the league, had been bid for by Arsenal – who had registered a 700 grand move. Portsmouth were broke, and Fred was disturbed. One half of him was convinced that all it would take would be a chat with the lad and he’d be rejected the Highbury overtures like a click of his fingers, but the other knew the truth. Not all the players here was passionate as he about glory in the franco scot alliance, and if Arsenal had their bid accepted, they could say goodbye to Steve at Portsmouth.

There was nothing else for it.

Fred broke into Mandaric’s office at night and faxed through a 2.5million pound offer for the striker, it was a last ditch ploy, and one he hoped would work.

The next day, he received the good news, on Christmas Eve, Arsenal’s bid had been rejected. Unsurprisingly, Portsmouths’ ‘bid’ had been accepted, and though Fred whistled innocently enough when Milan came storming into his office that afternoon, he knew the game was up and confessed.

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Match SUmmary

Wolves 0 Portsmouth 4 - McLean 24, 76, Donnelly 43, 85

Portsmouth 5 Man City 1 - Brady 5, Burchill 45, 67, Courville 53, McLean 89; Wanchope 86

Coventry 3 Portsmouth 1 - Hughes 24, 64, Joachim 44; McLean 41

Preston North End 0 Portsmouth 2 - McLean 19, Neil 39,

Portsmouth 2 Norwich 3 - Donnelly 14, McLean 90; Holt 23,45; Uwele 67

retired_embartl

Ah just realised hadn't quite finished December off - balls.

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End bit of December

Despite that incident, it still meant McLean was with the club for the fixture at Walsall , doing fantastically well this season in 6th place, well above their predicted relegation places the pundits had believed at the seasons beginning. Knocks to Harper, and the still injured Donnelly reduced the number of subs to 4. Tiredness had set in sadly for this game too and a lethargic effort saw Walsall claim a league double over Portsmouth with goals from Gary Birch and Shaun Derry. It ended the year on a low note and left Fred considering how permanent this change of form would be. All that was certain was that freshening up of either players or tactics was essential.

Back at the office, his boat trip on New Years Eve, produced good news, as luring West Ham reject Freddie Kanouté onto The Mary Rose he persuaded him to join his band of merry men in the summer, and it was masterful ploy, taking prospective signings out on a sea journey, giving them an exciting night out as well as encouraging team bonding. With existing squad members brought in as the crew to tend the mast and sails, the Mary Rose proved a popular recruiting drive and Fred for time certainly enjoyed this delicious irony, and decided to put his plans to blow the flying merde out of it to one side.

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It was a result that Fred had hoped nipped the niggling concerns and poison words in the bud as they dispatched their rivals in the league so contemptuously, and were raring to go in the next home match against Wimbledon . The confidence was sky high and the players raced out of the blocks to carry on from the euphoric victory before, but an early Neil Ardley thunderstrike soon checked that optimism. The reaction was slow, but it was there though, and once they’d ridden Wimbledon’s own efforts to double the tally, they hit back through Burchill as the young striker continued to do a fine job of substituting for McLean. His volley tied it up, and swung momentum back in Portsmouths favour. After the interval, with the side attacking continuously Kevin Harper who until this point had done little more than make up numbers, slid in his first goal of the season, and the points were safe enough, even with Simon Donnelly’s late red card for throwing a punch souring the day’s play.

Another win had kept up Pompey’s place in the play-offs, and with the side not playing in the FA Cup, they could enjoy a nice long break to rest up legs, take it easy and go sailing round the world on the HMS Victory.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * English First Division - Wednesday 30th January 2002********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2001/2 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Watford 29 11 4 0 31 14 8 3 3 27 21 64 2nd Coventry 29 11 1 3 30 14 8 3 3 23 19 61 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd Portsmouth 29 9 2 3 31 15 7 2 6 28 20 52 4th Sheff Wed 29 10 3 1 33 16 4 7 4 23 23 52 5th Man City 29 8 4 3 26 14 6 3 5 22 22 49 6th W.B.A. 29 11 1 3 33 13 3 5 6 22 29 48 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7th Walsall 29 9 3 3 30 18 4 5 5 16 18 47 8th Wolves 29 8 2 4 31 18 4 6 5 12 15 44 9th Preston 29 9 2 4 28 21 3 5 6 17 21 43 10th Barnsley 29 7 3 5 23 16 4 4 6 17 20 40 11th Nottm Forest 29 7 4 4 30 19 4 3 7 20 28 40 12th Crewe 29 8 1 6 31 27 5 0 9 15 28 40 13th Millwall 29 5 3 6 21 17 6 3 6 22 26 39 14th Birmingham 29 7 4 3 24 14 3 3 9 16 33 37 15th Sheff Utd 29 6 5 3 19 13 4 2 9 12 25 37 16th Gillingham 29 5 6 3 22 16 4 3 8 15 26 36 17th Wimbledon 29 6 3 5 18 21 4 2 9 24 35 35 18th Bradford 29 6 2 6 19 16 3 5 7 19 28 34 19th Grimsby 29 6 5 4 26 21 3 2 9 14 27 34 20th Norwich 29 5 5 5 20 19 2 2 10 15 27 28 21st Crystal Palace 29 5 4 6 23 19 1 5 8 12 23 27 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------22nd Burnley 29 4 4 6 21 24 2 4 9 17 30 26 23rd Rotherham 29 5 7 2 24 21 0 4 11 10 38 26 24th Stockport 29 3 7 4 20 24 0 4 11 12 32 20 </pre>