Steve Claridge: I discovered I was Portsmouth's caretaker boss when Milan Mandaric sacked me - but I was definitely in charge

Yet upon his February 2001 dismissal, he was shocked to hear Milan Mandaric’s claims that his role had actually been on a caretaker basis.

The Fratton favourite stepped up to manage the Blues following the October 2000 sacking of Tony Pulis.

He proceeded to oversee the team for 23 matches, a period in which he suffered a wretched injury list, before making way for Graham Rix.

In a 2017 interview for Played Up Pompey Too, Claridge reflects on a heart-breaking end to his time as Pompey manager.

And he refutes Mandaric’s declaration that he had never been appointed as permanent boss.

‘Milan rang and asked to meet for dinner at the Solent Hotel in Whiteley, where he was staying. “Steve, will you ta

ke the job?” came his question upon my arrival. My response was “What as?”’ he said in Played Up Pompey Two.

‘This was the opportunity for him to stress the role was as caretaker for two or three months before recruiting someone else. On that basis, there would have been no problem for me.

‘Instead, he replied “As manager” and then confirmed it was on a full-time basis. That is what ultimately hurt me.

‘If it had been caretaker from the start I could have taken that and gone back to playing. Instead Milan Mandaric finished my career at Pompey.

‘A caretaker boss is very different to a manager, you don’t put the distance between the lads, you don’t alienate people. As a manager, you cannot maintain that relationship so Milan’s failure to be straight with me from the beginning effectively ended my time at the football club I love.

‘I never received any inkling the sack was coming. Admittedly, Milan’s mood changed and his attitude altered, that was all. He wasn’t in England as much, he was difficult to get hold of, when I did speak to him he was quite curt, quite abrasive.

‘But I thought I’d get to the summer and probably Christmas the next year with my own team.

‘Never at any stage was it said I was caretaker. The first time he uttered “caretaker” was when he sacked me and I heard about it in the press.

‘In February 2001, me and Guy Whittingham were summoned to the club after training and that was it, out after four months and 14 days. Graham Rix had been appointed.

‘I genuinely believed I wasn’t caretaker, in everything he said he led to me to understand I was the manager.

‘Jamie Vincent was signed for the money we received from West Brom for Russell Hoult, if I was caretaker why would he let me get rid of players and sign others? It was bonkers, it just didn’t make sense.

‘Pompey’s finances meant the club were cutting costs left, right and centre, even down to scrapping buying bottles of water. I was trying to save money, attempting to firefight areas I shouldn't have been getting involved in, seeking a training facility which meant the club were back in the city, which I felt was important.

‘I was also managing the football club.

‘Following my departure, I received a lot of support from the fans and still have around 400 letters in a drawer. Mind you, everybody forgot about it when I went back with Millwall!

‘I didn’t really fall out with Milan, there was no massive argument. I was disappointed with the way I had been treated, but there was no fall out with him.

‘I was angry over what subsequently happened at Millwall with chairman Theo Paphitis following my appointment as boss, but with Pompey it was disappointment.

‘Since leaving the Blues, I have never spoken to Milan, purely because our paths have never since crossed.

I’ look back on my time as manager at Fratton Park as a fantastic learning curve, but, ultimately, the sacking was one of the toughest experiences I have ever dealt with in my life.

‘After all, unbeknown to me, I never really was the manager, was I?

‘Having said that, I got my chance to play for Pompey, my boyhood team, which is something I will forever treasure.’

Steve Claridge made 124 Pompey appearances and scored 37 goals from January 1998 until March 1998 and August 1998 until July 2001.

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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