History of Portsmouth F.C.

Brickwood called together a group of five local enthusiasts to his solicitor's office at 12 High Street in Old Portsmouth to form a syndicate and share their resources to buy a piece of land on which to build a football ground.

Their prospectus, dated 14 May 1898, revealed that they proposed to spend £5,000 on up to five acres of agricultural land at Goldsmith Avenue near the (then) farming village of Milton to be used primarily for football and "for such outdoor games and exercises" that were approved by the directors.

It was noted that the ground was to be built within easy reach of Fratton railway station with its convenient trains and trams and that it "was intended to drain and turf the land and erect the necessary buildings" for a further £2,000, which would leave working capital of about £1,000.

The existing team at Southampton was mentioned as well as an embryonic club at Brighton and it was hoped "that a healthy rivalry would spring up that would increase the popularity and income of the company" With the successful purchase and acquisition of a plot of agricultural land off Goldsmith Avenue near the (then) small farming village of Milton, a general meeting of shareholders was then held on 2 September 1898 at the Sussex Hotel, opposite Portsmouth's Town Hall.

Four days later, on Wednesday 6 September 1899, the first ever home match at Fratton Park was played; a friendly against local town rivals Southampton, which Portsmouth won 2–0, with goals from Dan Cunliffe (formerly with Liverpool) and Harold Clarke (formerly with Everton).

[12] Portsmouth's first competitive Southern League home match followed on Saturday 9 September, a 2-0 win against Reading F.C., with goals scored by Harold Clarke and Dan Cunliffe, attended by a crowd of up to 7000 supporters.

[16] With the recruitment of Robert Brown from Sheffield Wednesday as Portsmouth's fourth manager, the team finished second place in the 1911–12 Southern Football League Division Two behind Merthyr Town and were promoted as runners-up.

During the worst of the bombing on Portsmouth, the FA Cup trophy was also taken ten miles north to the nearby Hampshire village of Lovedean, where it was kept and displayed in a quaint thatched roof country pub called The Bird in Hand.

In Pompey's 50-year "Golden Jubilee" anniversary 1948–49 season, Bob Jackson's Portsmouth side were tipped to be the first team of the 20th century to win a historic Football League and FA Cup "double".

The most notorious gang was called the 6:57 Crew, a self-proclaimed "casual firm" of football hooligans whose name came from the fact that many supporters would catch the 6:57 train from nearby Fratton railway station to London for away games.

Jim Smith's arrival as manager in the summer of 1991, combined with the emergence of some good young players, sparked a revival in the team's fortunes and that year Pompey reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, losing on penalties to eventual winners Liverpool after a replay.

Tony Pulis took over and steered the club to safety, but only lasted ten months at the helm after which he was put on gardening leave (and sacked not long afterwards) due to a poor relationship with Mandarić.

Rix did not prove an entirely popular appointment, as he had been jailed for a sexual offence two years previously,[46] and the club only survived on the last day of the season when they won their final game and Huddersfield Town lost theirs, keeping Portsmouth up at their expense.

In 2002–03, Harry Redknapp brought in a number of experienced Premier League players, such as Steve Stone, Tim Sherwood and Paul Merson, and combined them with younger, up-and-coming talents such as Gary O'Neil and Matt Taylor and Svetoslav Todorov.

During the summer, several other seasoned veterans, including Patrik Berger and Teddy Sheringham, joined the club on short-term contracts, to lead the team into their first stint in the Premier League.

On 7 April 2005, however, after a poor run of results which saw Portsmouth fall away from as high as ninth place on Boxing Day to 15th position in the table by the end of March, Alain Perrin was appointed team manager, with Zajec reverting to his director's role.

Yakubu, Pompey's main goal threat for the past two-and-a-half seasons, was sold to Middlesbrough for £7.5 million and several other players were transferred as Alain Perrin began to stamp his authority on the club.

The club's series of poor results (that set a record low number of points for a Portsmouth manager) continued into December 2005, at which time Milan Mandarić finally reached the end of his tether, sacking Perrin.

It appeared that this new cash injection, the return of Redknapp to the club and the arrival of several new players would be too little too late for Portsmouth, as at the beginning of March 2006 they were 12 points adrift from safety with ten matches left.

A 4–1 away win over on 3 November over Newcastle helped them climb to fourth, although a poor run of results around Christmas dropped them back to eight in the table by mid-January, four points adrift of a UEFA Cup slot.

A consistent run of results followed after Christmas, lifting them to sixth in the table a month from the end of the season, but Portsmouth's failure to win any of their last four league games restricted them to an eighth-place finish.

As United had made all their substitutions, with Kuszczak being one of them after starter Edwin van der Sar's injury, centre-back Rio Ferdinand stepped into goal but could not prevent Sulley Muntari from scoring the penalty.

Portsmouth began their 2008–09 season with a defeat to Manchester United in the 2008 FA Community Shield on 10 August 2008 at Wembley, losing 3–1 on penalties to the reigning Premier League champions after the match had ended 0–0.

They eventually finished in 14th place, thanks to academy director Paul Hart stepping in as caretaker boss, seven points clear of the relegated clubs, despite the disruption brought by the departure of Harry Redknapp and the subsequent sacking of his successor, former assistant manager Tony Adams.

At the start of the 2008–09 season rumours began to fly around that Portsmouth were facing crippling debts due to their recent heavy spending and owner Alexandre Gaydamak was looking to sell the club.

On 22 October, Portsmouth issued a statement saying, "It appears likely that the club will now be closed down and liquidated by the administrators,"[citation needed] but Pompey's creditor, Alexandre Gaydamak, announced the next day that he had reached an agreement that could save their future.

[68] On 25 July 2012, it was announced on Portsmouth's website that the club was likely to have no alternative but to close (possibly go defunct) on 10 August unless the remaining senior first-team players agreed to transfers or signed wage compromise deals.

[78] Andy Awford took the role of caretaker manager, earning a point against Hartlepool United in his first game, but the permanent job was given to Ritchie Barker, who took over a Portsmouth side in 17th place on 9 December.

In May the Pompey Supporters' Trust (PST) voted in favour[86] of a proposed bid by The Tornante Company, headed by former Disney chief executive Michael Eisner, to take over Portsmouth Community Football Club Limited which was completed on 3 August 2017.

Despite the promising start to the campaign, a dismal run of just one win in fourteen league games led to Portsmouth parting ways with manager Danny Cowley on 2 January 2023, with the club in 12th place.