Coronavirus outbreak: The inside story on what’s unfolded at Portsmouth

Pompey dealing with events off the pitch having an seismic impact on it is nothing new.
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Nor is hope flashing some thigh at the Blues before disappointment comes along and smacks the club in the proverbials.

So there’s a familiarity of feeling over events of the past five days since Kenny Jackett’s men moved to the League One summit, dovetailing with the undeniable sense we’re in the same dark terrain we were nine months ago.

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It may not make for the most fulfilling of festive fare, but here is the definitive account of how Pompey’s season has come to a standstill.

What unfolded, of course, has its genesis in Jack Whatmough falling ill ahead of the top-of-the-table clash at the KCOM Stadium on Friday.

Initial reports suggested the defender, who has been extremely vigilant in taking precautions against picking up the virus, was not displaying symptoms, yet Pompey followed the protocols in place and he returned south from the team hotel and was tested.

The hope it was a safety-first scenario began to wane with the suggestion the 24-year-old had been suffering a cough. And the worst fears over Gosport lad were duly confirmed when he became the seventh player since March to test positive for Covid-19 on Saturday morning.

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With the club strictly following guidelines laid down by the EFL, they then tested the players who’d been deemed to come into close contact with Whatmough.

Room-mate Ryan Williams and Michael Jacobs, who sat next to him on the coach for the journey north fell into that category and duly took the rapid testing kits, with the former isolating.

While Whatmough was feeling the now well-established effects of the disease, by Saturday evening the outlook was looking positive for the club as the tests came back negative.

That was confirmed to The News on Sunday morning by Mark Catlin as he gave a broadly upbeat outlook on proceedings at 9.30am.

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‘At this moment we haven’t had any further positive tests,’ the Pompey CEO said before adding prophetically: ‘I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet because we’ve had a lot of false dawns already - and it now feels like it’s knocking on our door again.’

It’s at this juncture, we saw the fast-moving nature of a global pandemic and, in all probability, the impact of the new strand of Covid-19 in microcosm.

By 11.30am, Catlin had fielded a call from head physio Bobby Bacic saying two senior players were feeling unwell, with the decision made to give the players rapid testing kits.

What those results unfurled turned the narrative on its head, sending the club into a chaotic period which hurtled inevitably towards the season grinding to a halt this morning.

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The news of the senior pair testing positive was the catalyst for Catlin to give the order for every person within Pompey’s first-team environment to undergo screening, with the club’s Roko training base shut down.

The desire to see the Blues’ season continue amid impressive form had firmly been overtaken by a duty of care for the club’s staff by this stage.

The process of locating players and the amount of time it takes to analyse the EFL-approved tests meant a waiting period ensued across Monday and Tuesday, for what Pompey staff in all probability knew was coming.

What was becoming clearer at this point, however, was the proliferation of cases around the game and rate at which the new variant of Covid-19 was travelling, as Ipswich postponed their Christmas games and called for an EFL circuit-breaker suspension.

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This inevitably was to be the path Pompey took when the first batch of results returned two further positive tests on Thursday morning.

With more still to follow it looked inevitable the issue would worsen, but there was the small mercy of the final tests coming back negative.

What was now of greater concern, however, was the extent to which the first-team players in question were feeling the impact of the disease.

Catlin was loath to speculate on whether it was the new variant at the club, but the voracity of its spread in tandem with how ill the affected players were feeling pointed to one conclusion.

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Where previously players reported being asymptomatic those now affected were being hit harder.

‘To be honest it has been quite traumatic,’ the Pompey CEO said after once again steering the club through another perilous voyage with calm and diligent leadership.

‘It’s been traumatic with players ill, testing positive and to a lesser degree the deflation of having to stop our routine when we were on such a good run. Generally these last few days have been a shock to the system for everyone associated with the club.’

Those words resonate when the frustration was Pompey had lost a competitive advantage when their season was accelerating, as rivals liked Sunderland, Ipswich and Peterborough stalled. That’s of little significance with the bigger picture right now.

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Catlin’s statement should also be a warning heeded by rivals EFL clubs who currently feel they are free of the grasp of this terrible disease. The reality is you’re almost certainly not.

The next round of mandatory testing for all sides and players lies on the horizon on January 4 – it will be then a true picture of the extent of Covid’s foothold at clubs will be revealed. At present, and in line with society, they do not have to currently fully test their employees.

Those with even a passing eye on these bleak chapters for the game feel they know what lies in wait at that juncture. What isn’t so clear is what happens between now and then.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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