Dave Kemp: It was a rash decision to leave Portsmouth for Carlisle - and not a good career move

And to this day the prolific striker rues the shock decision to quit Fratton Park in March 1978 for Division Three rivals Carlisle.

Kemp had 21 goals for the bottom club when he departed in a £75,000 deal, a tally which reflected his remarkable ability in front of goal.

It left Pompey followers in mourning, with his total of 38 goals in 74 appearances inevitably establishing him as a fans’ favourite.

In a 2015 interview for Played Up Pompey, Kemp explained the reason behind his departure – and lifelong regrets.

‘It wasn’t a very good idea leaving Pompey, but it is easy to live your life in hindsight,’ he told Played Up Pompey.

‘There was a lot of talk about getting some quite glamorous moves, clubs like Aston Villa, Derby County, Leicester City and QPR, but nothing ever materialised.

‘Then, on the final day of the transfer window in March 1978, I was offered the chance to go to fellow Division Three side Carlisle United in a deal worth £75,000. The agreement would also see midfielder John Lathan coming to Fratton Park, being valued at £25,000.

‘It was a last-minute thing, it wasn’t going well at Pompey, we were struggling against relegation, so I decided to leave. I shouldn’t have done.

‘The concept of freedom of contract was coming into football for the very first time that summer and my Fratton Park deal was running out.

‘I should have waited until the season’s end, then I would have been a free agent and could have had my pick of clubs, but the situation was all new to football.

‘I tried to get advice and struggled to receive any, everything was up in the air at the time. Up until the summer of 1978, if your contract ran out the club continued to hold your registration, so you had to stay with them whether you were out of contract or not.

‘Obviously nowadays when your deal runs out you can move on and join whoever you wanted within reason, yet it wasn’t the case back then.

‘Changes to the system were coming up, but I was in unfamiliar territory and made a rash decision I shouldn’t have. Like a lot of things in life, I’m very wise after the event.

‘Carlisle was not a good decision, but I enjoyed my time there. It’s not as if I didn’t do well, I scored 26 goals in 68 appearances over an 18-month period. But it wasn’t a good career move.

‘Pompey were going down under Jimmy Dickinson, despite me netting 21 times by March, and I didn’t want to play in Division Four. My contract was running out and I was thinking “I could be stuck here” and on the same money. It was a strange time.

‘Obviously I should have just waited until the end of the season instead of leaving on the last day of the window for Carlisle in the same division, especially when others were definitely interested in me.

‘A week after I signed for the Cumbrians, a Division Two manager, said to me “What are you doing, what did you go and do that for? You should have waited and then you could have signed for us”.

‘I replied: “It’s no good telling me now, why didn’t you tell me a week ago!”.

‘If I had just waited I would have been a free agent and could have signed for anybody, but I didn’t know that. In the current climate I know it is normal practice, but those days no-one knew.

‘There weren’t the agents and advisers you get now, you were a young man wanting to play football.

‘In the end I didn’t get higher than the Division Three in my career, I was stuck there, and that was my own fault when I left Pompey to go to Carlisle. I should have moved up and didn’t.

‘Whenever I played against higher level teams in the FA Cup I always scored so I don’t think it was a case of I couldn’t have done it at a higher level, I’m sure I could.’

Dave Kemp made 74 appearances and scored 38 goals from November 1976 until March 1978.

Played Up Pompey Too, released in 2017, is still available from Amazon. While Played Up Pompey Three, which contains more of your favourite Blues players, is out later this year.

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