Michael Pantling puster lettet ut etter at plassen i Championship er berget. Les hans tanker ved sesongslutt.
MENINGER: Vår medlem nummer 38, Michael Pantling, er bosatt i Danmark, men pleier å reise over til England for å se Pompey flere ganger i sesongen enn noen andre av våre medlemmer.
Han deler jevnlig sine tanker og meninger om Pompey med oss. Denne gangen ved sesongslutt 2024/25.
LES OGSÅ: Prestasjonene på hjemmebane gir meg mer tro
End of Season We Got There in The End
The start of the season was very uncomfortable to say the least, I hadn’t expected it to be an easy transition from League 1 up to the Championship but nothing like the struggles we experienced early on. I had believed that Pompey were fairly well equipped for the step up with Marlon Pack having plenty of experience at this level and Matt Richie coming in, again with lots of high level matches under his belt. I had been waiting to see how Colby Bishop would do at this level but had to wait quite a while due to his recovery from heart surgery.
When I saw Pompey at Fratton against West Brom and Sheffield United I didn’t think that the were outclassed but only missing a little finesse or togetherness. I was very much against the pre-christmas calls to replace the manager and thankfully Pompey had faith in him and that was amply rewarded by success in the end. Yes I think 16th is success for a first season back where we historically belong. These is so much more competition and money at Championship level with a significant number of clubs still collecting parachute payments from the Premiership making it even harder for clubs such as Pompey to get a firm foothold to stay in this league. Pompey now have to be wary of other clubs attempting to lure our biggest asset away and I hope links to vacancies at West Brom or Norwich are nothing more than newspaper talk.
The return to health of Colby Bishop and Matt Richies improved fitness certainly made a difference, Connor Ogilvie was reliable and steadfast as ever and the change to Nicolas Schmid paid big dividends. Other players such as Conor Shaughnessy and Callum Lang were among the many whose season suffered from injuries and were sorely missed while they were away.
Pompey were clearly comfortable at Fratton
The season was dominated by unpredictability, Pompey were clearly comfortable at Fratton and has some astonishing wins but that couldn’t really be said of the away form – there it was more a case of how badly it would go until things picked up towards the end of the season. It was great that the ever loyal away support was maintained irrespective of results and that can only help.
The important lessons from the season are that Pompey are in a position to remain at this level which what appears to be a coherent team and an extremely talented manager.
It is a pity that we couldn’t keep Atkinson as Bristol City could see his efforts for Pompey made him worth keeping. I fear that Marlon Pack and Matt Richie can only last one more season and though needs to be given to finding equally experienced players. If we are to challenge for the play offs we will need to find an other goal scorer and some mid field back up.
I expect an equally challenging season 2025-2026 with hopefully the excitement being all about Pompey heading towards the top of the table rather than being at the bottom which nobody likes.
Play up Pompey!
