Oli Hawkins: Majority of Portsmouth fans didn't like me - for some I was never good enough

Oli Hawkins has spoken of his struggle to win over the Fratton faithful.
Oli Hawkins celebrating one of his favourite goal-scoring moments for Pompey in the 2-1 victory at Peterborough in September 2018. Picture: Joe PeplerOli Hawkins celebrating one of his favourite goal-scoring moments for Pompey in the 2-1 victory at Peterborough in September 2018. Picture: Joe Pepler
Oli Hawkins celebrating one of his favourite goal-scoring moments for Pompey in the 2-1 victory at Peterborough in September 2018. Picture: Joe Pepler

However, he is convinced that ‘60 per cent’ of Blues followers never took to him.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Hawkins reveals he was stung by social media criticism during a Fratton Park stay which consisted of 96 games and 18 goals.

Although the 28-year-old refuses to let it sour his Pompey memories.

Hawkins told The News: ‘Pompey fans either liked me or hated me, but I will always look back on the positives and that Wembley moment.

‘I suppose supporters want skilful players who score bags of goals and do great celebrations.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘They don’t want a 6ft 6in striker that may miss a couple of chances and get taken off at half-time or come on for five minutes here or there.

‘Even when I did do well, it still wasn’t good enough for some people because I wasn’t scoring goals.

‘Those who may not know a lot about football will think “He hasn’t done anything”. But people who understand football realise that actually I was helping others to score.

‘I would say 40 per cent respected me and knew what I was capable of. The other 60 per cent saw me as nothing exciting or not good enough. That is what I feel.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘It’s hard to take, but people around football will know that my contribution was more than it wasn’t.

‘I can’t hear criticism when playing, but even though I got a lot of positive stuff online or when out and about, for some reason one negative replaced all the positives.

‘You see comments and it’s hard to take and not nice.

‘I wouldn't want to talk too much about social media, for me it never really bothered me. For some strange reason, though, someone would come up to me – like a friend or family member – and show me these messages.

‘Although no fan ever said anything bad to my face.

‘A lot of Pompey supporters didn’t think I was good enough and I don’t know why. Maybe it's just the way it has gone for me.’

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Hawkins believes he displayed his best Pompey form during the first half of the 2018-19 season.

It coincided with a regular starting spot and reaped a run of six goals in eight games at one stage, as Jackett’s side topped League One for three-and-a-half months.

He added: ‘It’s not all about a striker scoring 20-30 goals and if you don’t do that then it’s “You’re not good enough for my team”.

‘When you see negative comments and I’m not getting picked by the manager, sometimes it puts a downer on yourself. You think you’re not good enough.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘I have always got to remind myself that I was in a team which was at the top of the league and we were flying.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

Thank you for reading this story. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on our advertisers and thus our revenues.

The News is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news and information online.

Every subscription helps us continue providing trusted, local journalism and campaign on your behalf for our city.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.