You don’t when you’ve the small matter in hand of deciding who is your favourite Pompey midfielder of all-time.
This is the latest in our series of unofficial, unscientific Pompey player polls and follows on from votes that found your favourite Blues keeper is David James and your top PFC defender Linvoy Primus.
The whole thing is decided in a series of 24-hour Twitter votes on my timeline (@stevebone1) and is, in all honesty, just a bit of fun.
The emphasis is on voting for your FAVOURITE player, not necessarily the one you think is or was the best – though for many, the two may be the same.
Later in the season we will complete our Fantasy Pompey five-a-side team with your favourite striker and your leading winger or wide midfielder.
But for now, you must turn your attentions to the midfield maestros who strutted their stuff in the middle of the park, the engine room.
When I initially asked readers who should be in the midfielders’ tournament, 60 names were put forward.
Ten fitted neatly into the category of wide midfielders so are being saved for a vote they’ll share with the wingers (though I have since been informed that one – Mick Fillery – barely left the centre-circle, when I remembered him as a left-sided playmaker).
That left 50 and, having put 14 of the most popular suggestions straight into the last 32, I have already conducted qualifying-group votes that have eliminated 18 of those.
For the record, those already out are Bill Bagley, Eyal Berkovic, Terry Brisley, Brian Bromley, Michael Brown, Chris Burns, Shaun Derry, Johnny Gordon, Micky Hazard, Bobby Kellard, Stefani Miglioranzi, Jeff Peron, Nigel Quashie, Tim Sherwood, Fitzroy Simpson, George Smith, Thomas Thogersen and Michalis Vlachos.
That leaves us with a stellar group of 32 and you can see how the draw for the first round proper has come out on these pages.
The votes for this round will begin tomorrow (Monday) and probably last for a few days. The draw for the last 16 will follow with those ties being voted on straight after Christmas.
There will be updates on my Twitter feed and that of @pompeylive – and on portsmouth.co.uk/sport so keep a lookout for how it’s panning out.
And for those of you following the fun through the Sports Mail, with no paper next week, there will be an update in the January 2 edition.
So get thinking about who you’ll vote for and join the fun. As we said at the top, who needs matches when you’ve got midfielders to think about?
