History of Portsmouth F.C. - Sleeping Giant (1988 - 2002)

2002)

Alan Ball remained as Portsmouth manager until January 1989, curiously leaving the club when they were in the top six and still looking like good bets for promotion back to the First Division. Jim Gregory then appointed John Gregory (no relation) as Portsmouth's new manager, but their form in the final months of the 1988-89 season was disastrous and they slumped to 20th place in the final table. Gregory left during 1989-90 and Frank Burrows returned for a second spell. Initially he was able to stabilize the club and secure a mid-table finish, but the 1990-91 season proved to be a poor one and Burrows was sacked in March 1991 with the club in serious danger of relegation. Some good form under caretaker manager Tony Barton was enough to secure safety for another season, although he declined to take up the job on a permanent basis owing to health concerns.

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. The following season, Pompey missed out on promotion to the FA Premier League only by virtue of having scored one less goal than West Ham United.

Chairman Gregory now called in the money he had lent the club over preceding seasons, and so players were sold with little funds available to buy replacements. The team's form declined, and Smith was controversially sacked in March 1995 and replaced by Terry Fenwick. Relegation to Division Two was avoided on the last day of the 1995-96 season (on goal difference) when Pompey won away to Huddersfield Town while other results went the club's way.

In the summer of 1996 Terry Venables arrived at Pompey as a consultant, later taking over as chairman after buying the club for £1. The team enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1996-97, beating FA Premier League side Leeds United in the process, but finished seventh (just short of the qualifying places for the play-offs for promotion to the Premier League). The 1997-98 season saw Venables lose his popularity with the club's supporters, as he signed several Australian players, whose form was mostly disappointing, while his role as coach of the Australian national team meant he was frequently absent from Portsmouth; meanwhile, the team's results were poor. Two-thirds of the way through the season he and unpopular manager Fenwick left the club, Venables selling his shareholding back to Martin Gregory, son of former chairman Jim, while Alan Ball returned as manager. Relegation was again avoided on the last day of the season.

Pompey's centenary season, 1998-99, saw a serious financial crisis hit the club, and in December 1998 Portsmouth went into receivership. They avoided relegation again that season, and were then saved from closure by new chairman Milan Mandarić, who saved the club with a takeover deal in May 1999. The new chairman immediately started investing. Things did not get off to the best start under Mandarić, as Ball was sacked on 9 December 1999 with the club near the bottom of the table. 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. Veteran player Steve Claridge stepped up to the manager's seat, and some initial success saw talk of promotion to the Premier League, only for a horrific run of defeats to set in after the new year, resulting in Claridge being dismissed as manager (but retained as a player) and being replaced in March 2001 by Chelsea assistant manager Graham Rix. Rix did not prove an entirely popular appointment, as he had been jailed for a sexual offence two years previously, 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.

Over the summer, former West Ham manager Harry Redknapp was appointed Director of Football, and most observers predicted that the minute results did not swing Rix's way, he would be sacked and replaced by Redknapp. Sure enough, after an early promotion charge degenerated into mid-table mediocrity and Pompey were knocked out of the FA Cup by Third Division side Leyton Orient, Rix lost his job in early 2002, with Redknapp taking over as predicted. Former manager Jim Smith was asked to team up with Redknapp, and while he initially turned the offer down to remain as assistant at Coventry City, he soon arrived at Portsmouth after a change of manager at Coventry saw almost all of the club's coaching staff being dismissed.