Gaffer: I was in Blackburn and calling Portsmouth's game off was right - but frustrating

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Gaffer For A Day, Ryan Lewis, aged 27 from Paulsgrove, on the Pompey game which never was at Blackburn...

So how far did you get then?

On Friday, my friend Ryan Stillwell made the decision not to travel after the weather warnings since Wednesday. He said they looked atrocious, so didn’t bother going!

Driving up the rain wasn’t that bad, but, as soon as we got off the motorway into Blackburn, it hammered it down, it was relentless. When we got out of the car to go to The Fernhurst pub by the ground, it was like an ice rink.

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We actually arrived in Blackburn around 10.30am, so, with the inspection at 11am, we sat down in the pub, had a drink and waited for the news.

Gaffer For A Day Ryan Lewis believes it was the right decision to call off Pompey's match at Blackburn. Picture: Ben Roberts Photo/Getty ImagesGaffer For A Day Ryan Lewis believes it was the right decision to call off Pompey's match at Blackburn. Picture: Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images
Gaffer For A Day Ryan Lewis believes it was the right decision to call off Pompey's match at Blackburn. Picture: Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images | Getty Images

I would have said maybe give it to 1pm, but I understand they had to make an earlier decision. The rain at the time was bad and the forecast wasn’t going to let up, so it most likely wouldn't have gone ahead anyway.

Calling it off was probably the right call.

Catch any other game instead?

I’ve always wanted to go to Villa Park, I hadn’t been there before, and there were quite a lot of tickets available on the website against Crystal Palace, so we went there. There were about six of us Pompey fans.

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It cost £45, compared to £27 at Blackburn, and was a very entertaining 2-2 draw, which was about a fair result. Mind you, we got drenched because the rain was hitting us in the face.

So what do you make of Pompey’s campaign so far?

We are slowly building into the season. We had a very difficult start, but three draws in the opening three games showed a bit of fight about the team and suggested if we played like that all year then we’d be fine, mid-table.

It hasn’t quite turned out like that. We had those matches against so-called teams we should have a better chance of getting results against, lost momentum and lost our way. The team kept changing, we struggled to find a midfield pairing that worked.

Obviously I’m concerned about relegation and we are among a cluster of teams at the bottom with a few points within each other, including QPR and Plymouth.

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Hull will probably get a new manager and be okay with the squad they have, Cardiff are likely in a false position, Preston were very poor at Fratton Park, and, while Oxford started well, they are dropping back into it.

What would you like to see happen in the January window?

We need to send Sammy Silvera back to Middlesbrough, he hasn’t done anything of note in a Pompey shirt and we can save on the wages. Get in a right winger instead.

One of Owen Moxon or Abdoulaye Kamara would benefit from a loan, and, with Conor Shaughnessy out for six weeks, we need a central defender.

John Mousinho doesn’t fancy Towler for whatever reason. He actually started the season well, but whenever the situation is vacant he puts others there, like Marlon Park. So Ryley needs to go out on loan too.

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I’d just like to say what a season Callum Lang is having, everyone I speak to has him as their favourite player at the moment. And with Colby coming back into the team, it has given me much more confidence that we’ll be able to fight and stay up.

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