Paddy Lane in Portsmouth is a full-time crowd surfer. Photo: James Marsh/Shutterstock
UP, PUMP
Where was the liveliest place on Tuesday night? With Mbappé's boys in Barcelona? Among a stream of yellow flags in Westphalia? No, as much as we love Big Cup, the game exists outside of it. The most lavish celebrations took place on the south coast at Fratton Park, where Portsmouth, after twelve years of lower division upsets, sealed their return to the big league (Championship). Theatricality also marked the occasion. Promotion required a point; three to win League One. After 82 minutes they went to nil and trailed visitors Barnsley 2-1. A penalty from Colby Bishop and a header from Conor Shaughnessy later they were champions. Cue the final whistle, your swamp-standard pitch invasion, and a celebration like no tomorrow for a fanbase that has been put through the wringer; for a while there, tomorrow didn't seem to be on the cards.
See, the good old days for Pompey also brought the bad ones. Their FA Cup win under 'Arry Redknapp in 2008 was the highlight, and in an appearance at Big Vase later that year they took a 2-0 lead at home to Milan (Ronaldinho and Pippo Inzaghi were the late playmakers, making it 2- became 2). . But the whole thing was based on an expensive wage bill, and their 2009-2010 campaign makes the first season of Sunderland 'Til I Die look like a Richard Curtis film. There were four different owners, one of whom, Sulaiman Al-Fahim, lasted six weeks and was later sentenced to five years in prison for taking £5 million from his wife to buy the club (obviously this was all after he the Prime Minister had passed). League's 'Fit and proper person' test). The club entered administration in February, were deducted nine points and finished bottom, but somehow reached another FA Cup final before Didier Drogba said enough was enough. ShoutSport's Jamie O'Hara was their player of the season.
The existential crisis didn't end there, with another spell in administration two years later and relegation to the fourth tier in 2013. The saving grace proved to be the Pompey Supporters Trust who took over the club shortly before life in League Two began. Previously torn in a game of hot potato between suits, Portsmouth FC were finally in the safe embrace of their fans, and just over a year later were declared debt-free. In an effort to return to the top and continue the fairy tale, PST was sold in 2017 to the Tornante Group, led by former Disney chief Michael Eisner. Yeah, just a bit on the nose.
The story continues
The man leading the charge from the dugout this season is John Mousinho - yes, Pro Evolution Soccer's version of the Special One - while the captain is Marlon Pack, a local boy who rejoined the club in 2022 after had come through the youth academy and were on the bench during their dreadful final year in the Premier League. "This was exactly the reason I came back to this club: the visualization of what it would be like to stand on a stage or in an open-top bus where the fans have come out to gather and celebrate ," Pack recently told Big Website. week, looking ahead to the prospect of victory. Now he really lives by it.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Sarah Rendell at 7pm BST for WSL updates on Chelsea 3-0 Aston Villa, then Scott Murray will join us at 8pm for Big Cup coverage of Bayern Munich 3-2 Arsenal (5-4 agg.) , while Barry Glendenning will be all over Manchester City 2-2 Real Madrid (5-5 aggregate, 6-5 pens).
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"That's a shame. Us [Big Cup] is over due to an error by the referee. I just told the referee he was a disaster. It's the reality... since I got here, they were all against us. All. I mean, all of them" - Xavi takes the 4-6 win over Barcelona well for Kylian Mbappé and his PSG friends.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
The piece about the penalty discussion in yesterday's Football Daily reminded me of Steve Nicol's miss in the 1984 European Cup final. As senior team members argued about the order in which penalties would be taken (after the 1-1 draw against Roma in their own stadium), they turn around and see that Nicol, then 22 and later as a substitute, has taken control and is walking towards the penalty spot with the ball under his arm. As Nicol tells it: 'For the only time in my career I feel like I'm not in complete control. I start my run-up. Then, halfway through, I lift my head and look at where I want to put the ball. A classic mistake. The ball floats over the crossbar.' As some team members sympathized with the youngster, the ever-forgiving Mark Lawrenson stepped up and said: 'Unlucky Nico, you d1ckhead!' Fortunately, the Italians' own blunders and Bruce Grobbelaar's spaghetti legs got the boy out of trouble" - Martin McGrath.
Tony Adams revealed he was going to take the penalty that Gareth Southgate made infamous against Germany in the Euro 96 semi-final, but the current England manager resigned instead because he was confident 'he had this'. Oh Gareth!" -Alex Metcalfe.
Send letters to [email protected]. Today's winner of our prizeless letter of the day is... Martin McGrath.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Join Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning and the rest of the Football Weekly pod team as they reflect on Tuesday's fun and matches in the Big Cup.
FIELD (MILL) OF DREAMS
Mansfield Town will join Wrexham and Stockport in League One next season after a 2-1 win over Accrington Stanley lifted them above the fourth tier for the first time in more than two decades. There were full-time euphoric scenes as fans poured onto the pitch to get a pyro party going. Manager Nigel Clough was among the crowd and clearly loved it. "It's a special night and an incredible achievement for Mansfield to be back in the Premiership for the first time in 22 years," he shouted from a cloud of yellow smoke. "It took three years and a lot of pain to get to this point. No matter what happened in previous seasons, in this season we did it. This is for the thousands who were here tonight. Some people have supported the club for 50-60 years - it's for them. They have been through some bad times here in recent years, so it is wonderful that they can enjoy themselves tonight."
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
In Tuesday's other silly Big Cup match, Borussia Dortmund defeated Atlético Madrid 4-2 (5-4 agg) after building a two-goal lead, only to restore it in the final. The losing finalists from 2013 will meet the losing finalists from 2020, PSG, in the semi-finals.
As for Wednesday's action in the Grand Cup, Jude Bellingham said joining Real Madrid was a "no-brainer". "The size of the club, the future project, the opportunity to play with such great players. I just jumped in," he roared, before heading to Manchester City.
Emma Hayes has warned Chelsea fans not to take her team of serial winners for granted. As the defending WSL champions prepared for Wednesday's crucial clash with Aston Villa, the Blues manager said: "I only care about the fans and I care that they realize the level of success we have had is difficult ".
Already relegated Rotherham have ushered Leam Richardson through the door with Do One after he clearly disagreed with the manager's view that there was no one "better" than him for the job and Stevenage paid compensation to bring back Steve Evans for a second stint.
It's a quiet clash in Sunderland, with the Black Cats settling halfway down the Championship table. Anyway, the reasons why the Sunderland Echo has one of them overseeing a promotion (sort of) elsewhere. Lead the open bus parade from Mansfield to the North East now!
And Romário, actually 58, has registered as a player for America-RJ, the club from Rio de Janeiro of which he is captain. "I will not participate in the championship, but rather play a few matches for the team of my heart and realize a new dream by playing together with my son," he cheered on Instachat.
DO YOU WANT MORE?
Henry Winter was probably the closest football journalism has ever had to a celebrity (ahem - Football Daily Ed), but the game, and the way we consume it, has changed, writes Jonathan Liew.
Arsenal still have what it takes to topple Bayern, but the pressure is on and it won't be easy, writes Nick Ames. And Real Madrid will not cheat on double treble chaser Manchester City either, Jamie Jackson warns.
Dare. Ingenuity. Imagination. Cole Palmer asks Paul MacInnes to use all these words and more about the Chelsea sensation.
Simon Goodley analyzes and untangles the increasingly baffling state of Everton's finances. It's not pretty.
And which Premier League players represented countries with the lowest FIFA ranking? The Knowledge knows.
MEMORY LONG
May 1934: Here's something you don't see anymore: a footballer who runs a cafe. Former Chelsea and Scotland winger Alex Jackson poses with regulars at his Covent Garden inn. It seems he did a flourishing trade. This took several years since Jackson had played his last professional league match, but he was still active in the lower leagues. There's an interesting piece about him here.
