Forget Portsmouth's A team or B team, what about their V team?

James Vaughan goes straight into Pompey's V team / Picture: Joe Pepler

I started it around the time the Blues started to stutter and am worried I’ve been causing our ropey form with negative vibes.

I may return to it in the future but for now I’m turning my attention to something more pressing – the letters with which Pompey players’ surnames begin.

When we signed Lloyd Isgrove last week, some scrambled to look up his career history or see if they could find him on Twitter or Instagram. Me? I looked up how many players we’ve had whose surnames begin with the letter I. That’s the sort of exciting life I lead.

I was disappointed to find out (via the excellent pompeyrama.com site) that even with Isgrove on board, we are still short of seven players for a full Pompey XI. Sammy Igoe, Sasa Ilic and, from way back when, Robert Irvine were the only others.

Undeterred, I launched similar research when we bagged James Vaughan. To my delight, I found our new striker gave us enough V-men to field a starting XI and one sub.

The funny thing about the 11 who have played for us before now whose surnames begin with V is that all but one have played since 1980. We had one in our first 80 years and 10 in the 40 years since.

They make a decent XI.

Keith Viney has to go in goal (he did so in a game at Exeter once) while the back four comprises Anthony Vanden Borre (he of the famous red card that Chris Kamara didn't see), Gregory Vignal (French left-back), Jamie Vincent (English left-back) and Michalis Vlachos (Greek left-back). I realise that’s a surfeit of left-backs, but what can I do?

Third not absurd for Pompey

In midfield we have Zvonimir Vukic, Jhon Viafara and Paolo Vernazza and I think I’ll slot Luke Varney to play just behind the aforementioned James Vaughan and his namesake Charlie Vaughan (who scored 16 goals in 28 games for us in the 50s). Rowan Vine is on the bench.

Now I'm not one just to write a column like this and leave it at that, so I have to end by asking ... what is the best Pompey XI we can come up with using players whose surnames begin with the same letter. Rules - they must have one goalie, at least three defenders and a reasonable mixture of midfielders and strikers.

Email your efforts to [email protected] or tweet @stevebone1

Read Bone Idle Gossip in the Sports Mail every Sunday