In Their Own Words: Robert Prosinecki, Paul Merson, Hermann Hreidarsson, Darren Anderton, Ricardo Rocha & Co on why they love Portsmouth

But don’t take our word for it, let others explain just why a permanent place in their hearts belongs to the Blues…

Pompey still has a place in my heart, I had a very happy year, I was made to feel very welcome by the fans, the players and all the staff, they looked after me and I appreciated that.

Even now I look out for their results, I can promise the wonderful fans I have not forgotten about you.

(Robert Prosinecki, Played Up Pompey, 2015)

I definitely regret not playing for Pompey later in my career, although it nearly happened a couple of times.

Funnily enough, it’s also a regret I didn’t play for Southampton because that was my team as a kid – who doesn’t remember their childhood club? Pompey, though, is the bigger part of me.

My experiences there, the fans, the players, I still look back at being a member of such a talented youth side, going on to play with my mates in the first-team. It was such a special time.

(Darren Anderton, Played Up Pompey Three, 2020)

I won everything in football at Arsenal bar the Champions League. There was the FA Cup, the League Cup, the old Division One - which is really a name change from the Premier League - the Cup Winners Cup and the Community Shield.

Yet that 2002-3 season when we won the Division One title at Pompey still goes down as the biggest thing I achieved in my footballing career, without a doubt.

You have got to remember the club later won the FA Cup and played in Europe, but people still talk about that campaign, it was so special.

Winning matches, scoring goals wherever we went, packing out houses at home, it was unbelievable. I loved it.

(Paul Merson, Played Up Pompey, 2015)

I loved my time at Fratton Park, in my four-and-a-half years we had the whole roller coaster ride, near the top of the Premier League, winning the FA Cup and then dipped down with financial problems and some hard times.

It’s a time of my life where I made some absolutely great friends and met wonderful Portsmouth people, the whole experience was fantastic.

During my 20 years in football, Pompey was definitely my favourite time. It was not always clear skies with us but that first season, especially, stands out massively.

I get the impression the fans liked me. They are enthusiastic about their team and understand their football – so obviously like good footballers like me!

(Hermann Hreidarsson, Played Up Pompey, 2015)

A load of us arrived at Fratton Park in the summer of 2015 with the challenge to get Pompey out of League Two and then win promotion again. We obviously didn’t have time to achieve all of that goal, yet were successful.

That League Two title-winning year was an absolute rollercoaster and I met some great people, while the family loved the area - it felt like my club.

I was only there two years, yet it seemed like 10 years considering the affiliation I developed with the place.

Earlier in my career, I was at Swindon for a season and couldn’t tell you one person’s name, but Pompey was different and represents my favourite club of all those I’ve appeared for.

It’s emotional thinking back about my time there. I’ll obviously never return as a player, but if I had the chance to go back in any other capacity I would jump at it.

(Gary Roberts, Played Up Pompey Three, 2020)

My one year at Pompey was the basis of my whole career, it provided the foundations. Without Pompey I don’t think I would ever have achieved what I managed to do.

My time there, though, was like the blink of an eye, an incredibly fast year, arguably my best-ever in football in terms of getting from A to B.

It was ridiculously quick, like one of these Roy of the Rovers stories, and if you wrote it all down you would think it a complete flight of fantasy.

(Mark Hateley, Played Up Pompey, 2015)

That 2002-03 season was perfect and I was fortunate to be part of a team which captured the title and reached the Premier League.

My feelings at leaving Fratton Park are difficult to explain, it is better not to say that stuff, I don’t want to get upset, it happened.

Pompey had given me the best time of my playing career. Harry Redknapp brought me to my favourite club, no doubt about that.

(Svetoslav Todorov, Played Up Pompey Too, 2017)

Looking back at my career, I wish when I first came to the Premier League I had gone to a club like Pompey and not Spurs because it is like a family.

Everybody will support you as a player, everybody will be there for you and at Spurs it didn’t happen, it wasn’t like that. Pompey is a wonderful club.

(Ricardo Rocha, Played Up Pompey, 2015)

I never wanted to leave Pompey, I wanted to cement myself in folklore, to be one of the club greats.

You don’t know anything about Pompey until you drive onto that island, you haven’t got a clue. When you do, it grabs you forever.

My belief was I would have rotted under Alan Ball if I hadn’t left, but by going to Brighton it finished my career anyway because the heart had been ripped out of me.

(Alan Biley, Played Up Pompey, 2015)

I have so much to thank Pompey for over the years. Truth be told, if it hadn’t been for that magnificent club Pompey, my life wouldn’t be as fantastic as it is.

(Chris Kamara, Played Up Pompey Three, 2020)

Living in Port Solent and playing for them I became a fan, it was my team. They weren’t my employers, they were the club I supported and wanted to see do really well.

You ask anybody, all the time I was out in the city meeting people, mixing socially and taking part in a lot of charity work with Linvoy Primus. I was a fan of the city and knew how much that match meant to everybody.

I still have that Southampton match on DVD and whenever I need happy memories to cheer me up I get it out and watch it.

My kids have seen it plenty of times, that was one of my happiest times in football and I am so grateful to God for letting me be part of such a wonderful occasion.

(Lomana Lualua, Played Up Pompey, 2015)

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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