Did Spurs fans hijack web vote to honour Harry?
An almighty ding-dong has broken out over fears a vote to name the Pompey Chimes was fixed.
An investigation was launched amid claims that malicious football fans might have tried to rig an online vote on the naming of the famous bells so one would be named Harry Redknapp.
The former Pompey boss, who angered some fans when he left the club to go to Spurs, was one of the winning names in a poll held to find names for four of the bells.
The poll, featured in The News, asked readers to suggest names by email, text or post – or through a vote on the city council's website.
Suspicions were raised when it became clear that the result of the internet vote was widely out of step with the other forms of the poll.
Mr Redknapp got just 21 postal and email votes compared to 229 online, which pushed him into second place overall.
The News can reveal today that three of the bells are set to be called John Pounds, Nelson and Victory as a result of the vote.
One is already called Queen Victoria – but the fate of the fifth bell still hangs in the balance.
The online voting system only allowed one vote per computer, but had no way of telling where the voter was based.
The council's communication team launched a probe into whether internet groups had been set up on fans forums or networking sites in a bid to swing the vote.
They found no evidence, but the Lib Dems have decided the decision should rest with the full council. If the council rejects Harry Redknapp as a name, it will have to decide whether to hold the whole consultation again or whether it would be acceptable to name the bell after Portsmouth-born engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who came fifth in the poll.
City council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said: 'It may well be that people in this city wanted to name a bell after Harry and that's fine by me.'
'But it could be that Tottenham fans or any other fans have voted. The concerns that have been raised to me that the vote has been hijacked could be unfounded.
'But just think we need to be a little careful. We are going to name this bell for hundreds of years so we need to give it some more consideration.'
Tory councillor Lee Mason, who put forward the original idea to name a bell Harry, said: 'This is just sour grapes on Gerald's part.'
He said younger people and football fans more likely to vote for Harry would have used the online system.
Cllr Mason added: 'The full council already decided to name a bell Harry, the people have supported it so it should just happen. The Lib Dems just don't like the fact that we came up with the idea.' Pompey fan Barry Dewing, chairman of the independent supporter's association, said: 'There is always a possibility it is rigged with online voting.
'But at the end of the day if Harry came out on top and the process was followed then that should be taken into consideration.'
>> Vote in our latest web poll.
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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