Paul Walsh: I'd thumped Ray Clemence and had no respect for Terry Venables so left Spurs - and loved it at Portsmouth

The former England man occupies the Blues’ Hall of Fame, testament to two spells with the club which saw him become a huge crowd favourite.

In a 2017 interview for Played Up Pompey Too, however, Walsh revealed how he initially he didn’t want to move to Jim Smith’s Division Two side.

Yet the move to Fratton Park proved inspired as the talented forward revelled in life on the south coast, an area in which he still lives.

‘My time at Fratton Park began in May 1992 with my Spurs contract at an end. They didn’t want me, but offered a new two-year deal to protect their interests. By doing so, they pocketed £400,000 from my subsequent Pompey move,’ he told Played Up Pompey Too.

‘My number was up at White Hart Lane, I’d had too many fallings out with too many people, culminating in a two-week suspension for smashing reserve-team manager Ray Clemence earlier that campaign

‘Having sustained a groin injury during the 1991 pre-season, I was handed the opportunity to face Charlton Athletic in the reserves, only to be substituted with 30 minutes remaining.

‘I was a senior player requiring match minutes, so after questioning the decision with Clemence, he swore at me. Being an angry little so-and-so at times, I threw my shirt into his face.

‘When it returned in my direction to strike the back of my head, I went for him, smacking him in the face.

‘Charlton coach Keith Peacock had to intervene, jumping on my back and holding my hands to prevent any more punches being thrown. From that moment, I was living on borrowed time.

‘At least Linvoy Primus finds that incident funny to this day – he was on Charlton reserves’ bench that evening!

‘As for my manager, Terry Venables, I had no respect for him, which I suppose totally goes against the grain of how he is perceived by a lot of football fans.

‘His biggest skill was managing the press. He was mates with the Daily Mail’s Jeff Powell and other well-known Fleet Street names, who would regularly distribute favourable things about him in their respective newspapers.

‘I often visited Morton’s Club in London’s Berkeley Square and Venables would be there clutching a glass of champagne schmoozing with them.

‘For four-and-a-half years he was my Spurs boss, so I saw his training skills every day, the decisions he made, the sides he fielded. There was a massive lack of discipline at the centre of it.

‘Paul Gascoigne was running amok, Paul Stewart, Pat Van Den Hauwe and Steve Sedgley were there as well, it was bedlam everywhere, with a massive drinking culture.

‘Every day Gazza messed around, once he brought in an ostrich wearing one of his shirts and soon it was running around the training ground. Some of it was funny, don’t get me wrong, but there can be too much - and we sampled that every day.

‘I was also right in the middle of it. While it was definitely good fun, the focus was on having a laugh rather than winning games. If I was a football manager, I couldn’t let that go on, yet Venables did.

‘Look at the players he signed, nothing special. Gazza was special and without him we wouldn’t have been anywhere. As for training sessions, they were no different to anywhere else, so what makes Venables so wonderful?

‘As for people shoving Euro 96 down my throat, I say ‘Hang on’. Qualification can be a difficult process at times yet, as hosts England never had to take part in that, while in the tournament drew with Switzerland, defeated Scotland after Craig Brown’s side missed a penalty and Spain should have beaten us.

‘Holland was the memorable performance of the whole campaign, but everyone bought into this catchy ‘It’s coming home, it’s coming home’ feeling.

‘Still, I left Venables behind for a fresh start on the south coast ahead of the 1992-93 season, although, if I’m honest, I didn’t want to come.

‘Having totalled eight years at Liverpool and Tottenham, I wasn’t keen on joining Pompey, but my agent, Eric Hall, pressured me to go for talks.

‘I had to get away, my White Hart Lane days were over. I felt I was still good enough to remain in the top flight so definitely didn’t want to drop down a division, yet met Jim Gregory and Jim Smith for talks.

‘The tabled contract was better than my earnings at Spurs, while it was a four-year deal. I wouldn’t have joined otherwise - those figures certainly made it do-able.

‘The clubs tried to make out I was part of the Darren Anderton deal, but I wasn’t really. If I’d announced I wasn’t going it wouldn't have prevented Spurs signing Anderton, they made that clear - they didn’t want me holding them to ransom.

‘As it turned out, he joined them in a £1.75m transfer two days before I completed my £400,000 switch to Fratton Park.

‘However, there was another key part during successful discussions to move to Fratton Park - my house.

‘At that time the interest rate was around 16 per cent, our mortgage was astronomical and most properties were sinking into negative equity. If I was to move to the south coast, I needed to sell my Hadley Wood home.

‘It’s a beautiful area outside north London, inhabited by plenty of footballers and, even though I was living in one of the lesser roads, today my property would be worth £1.5m. Yet in 1992 the housing market had crashed and prices were going backwards.

‘I had a better contract so, from a money point of view, things were making sense, yet if I moved down here, what was I going to do about my house?

‘So I insisted that, as part of the deal, they bought my property otherwise I would not be joining.

‘Not a problem, there was a trigger in the contract that, if it wasn’t sold within six months, Pompey would buy it for £300,000. They agreed – and ended up losing money.

‘It must have been six months later when I bumped into Queens Park Rangers boss Gerry Francis, where I had spent two matches on loan from Spurs following my bust-up with Clemence.

‘He told me: “I couldn’t believe it when I saw you went to Portsmouth for £400,000. When I made an enquiry to sign you, I was quoted £800,000.”

‘Clearly a few people were determined to get me to Pompey. I was well aware Jim Gregory and Terry Venables possessed a close relationship, while the move happened extremely early in the summer, but I have no regrets, I loved it there.

‘Having put pen to paper, I holidayed in St Lucia and, despite not particularly wanting to be at Pompey, was keen for people not to get the impression I had joined for the money and couldn’t be bothered, which I had seen happen with other players.

‘So throughout the summer I trained in an effort to stay reasonably fit to ensure I got off to a good start at Fratton Park.

‘Meanwhile, we found a house in Warsash to rent for three months. I had made my decision and was now fully committed.

‘It was a weird emotion, semi-depressed but determined not to let myself down by sitting there moping, contemplating how I shouldn’t have done it.

‘As it turned out, that first Pompey season was probably one of my most enjoyable in football.

‘To be fair, when people question my favourite club I tell them I loved it at Charlton because I was 16 and trying to achieve my dream, Luton put me in the top flight and was where I made my England debut and was crowned the PFA Young Player of the Year for 1983-84.

‘At Liverpool, I played 112 times, we were European Cup winners and, while it got tougher through injuries, a change of manager and a difficult last year, I still loved it.

‘I didn’t enjoy it at Spurs. During my last year at Anfield I never got a game, so slipped into some bad habits. I drank a bit too much, went out enjoying myself, and it continued at Spurs for a while.

‘So to get away from White Hart Lane and help Pompey in a promotion chase was fantastic, I loved every minute of it. The fans took to me and accepted the manner in which I played the game – things which motivate you as a player.’

Paul Walsh made 110 Pompey appearances and scored 23 goals during two spells, from May 1992 until March 1994 and September 1995 until December 1997.

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 in September.

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