'Can't get my head around that' - Portsmouth minority's actions towards striker is 'bizarre'

‘I can’t get my head around that’, said The News’ Neil Allen in the latest episode of Pompey Talk as the subject of Colby Bishop appeared on the agenda.

The striker was making headlines on Saturday after Blues boss John Mousinho revealed the 29-year-old played no part in the win at Norwich after injuring himself in the pre-match warm-up.

A knee injury prevented Bishop from making his 186th appearance for the club at a time when Pompey are really struggling to get bodies on the pitch. Indeed, 10 first-teamers were already absent for the trip to Carrow Road before the former Accrington man pulled up.

Yet it wasn’t Bishop joining the Fratton Park injury list that had a mystified Allen scratching his head.

Instead, it was the boos that were heard emanating from a small section of the Fratton faithful when the centre-forward was being introduced to the action as a second-half substitute against Sheffield United three days earlier.

The News’ chief sports writer acknowledged the forward has been far from his best for Pompey for quite some time now, with Bishop netting only four goals for the Blues so far during this calendar year.

However, speaking on Pompey Talk, he said he found it ‘bizarre’ that some fans would heckle one of the club’s biggest assets over the past four years and a key player in the League One title success before he had even stepped onto the pitch.

When asked about the injury Bishop picked up in the pre-match warm-up at Norwich, Allen said: ‘Some people aren't that enamoured with Colby at the moment, but he's a big miss.

‘Marezi, who I didn't think was great other than the penalty (at Carrow Road), he needs competition, you need to bring him off at some point. And you want to put your (next best) centre-forward on, Bishop, who’s a different centre-forward to (Tyrese) Shade, and Mousinho was restricted with options.

‘But back to the point about Bishop as well, I was intrigued to hear when he was introduced on Wednesday night against Sheffield United, to the right of the press box in the South Stand, (I) probably heard a couple of people boo as Bishop was being introduced off the bench, which I just find bizarre.

‘It was only a couple of people, and I know somebody else who sits in the North Stand said the same, he heard a couple of people boo.

‘So it's a tiny, tiny minority, very small, but I just can't get my head around that.

‘Somebody like Colby Bishop, what he's done for this football club, the commitment and effort he's put in, the goals he's scored, the leading scorer in the League One-title-winning team, scored in the game which won Pompey the title and earned promotion... and there's people booing him because he's out of form, and he is out of form, he's not scoring goals, he's not playing particularly well.

‘But why are some people booing him before he can even come onto the pitch?

‘I don't get that, he's not outspoken, he handles himself professionally and in the right manner, he's never done anything untoward to my knowledge at Pompey.

‘He's not had fights at nightclubs, he's not gone around town chatting up women and got in trouble.

‘He's a model, model professional, Colby Bishop. (So) why are some people booing him before he's come onto the pitch?’

It remains unclear how long Bishop will be out for and if the striker will be available for Tuesday night’s trip to Wolves.

For your next Pompey read: £500,000 Portsmouth striker's League One struggles continue amid Blues’ attacking injury crisis