Unprecedented toxicity and the thinking behind Kenny Jackett staying as Portsmouth manager revealed

And now after the events of recent days, the levels of toxicity have been ramped up to unprecedented levels.

It’s incredible to even consider that to be the case at a time when, thankfully for Kenny Jackett, fans aren’t present at games. But just look at what’s taking place; it’s certainly the case.

There’s those who’ve correctly pointed out social media doesn’t necessarily represent the overall Pompey supporters’ demographic, as its virtual blanket campaign to see Jackett removed as manager escalated at the weekend.

But it’s now becoming a lot harder to find backers of the man from Hertfordshire among the Blues fan base. Anywhere.

Paul Cook had the worst of it in recent memory. The poisonous reaction of a baying lynch mob against Exeter and Crewe, some literally trying to get at the Pompey boss, ugly chapters best forgotten.

There, of course, have been others. Richie Barker had a bleak four months in charge. Steve Cotterill, Tony Pulis and Terry Fenwick going back further. Don’t forget even the most successful managers like Harry Redknapp and Alan Ball had their rough periods.

There’s something different about the tone of what’s unfolding now, however. Something darker and more unpleasant.

This isn’t catcalls, jeers and an occasional banner fashioned out of a bed sheet and chucked up on the North Terrace, when the Fratton faithful have turned on a manager down the years.

Perhaps it’s indicative of the era we now live in, the proliferation of media and its different forms. Perhaps people feeling they’re not being listened to is contributing to it.

But organised protests for a manager’s removal, an amusing crowdfunding campaign deteriorating way beyond the realms of acceptability and aggressive tenor of online conversation has taken things into new territory.

This is not to question the validity of criticism of the Pompey manager and his team. Things aren’t right at present. This isn’t a new project. The issues are glaring.

And not all evaluations are unbalanced or potentially distorted by minds which have long been made up. To hear people like Guy Whittingham deliver a very balanced and considered breakdown of the Blues’ shortcomings on Saturday underlines that’s the case. The manner in which that defeat unfolded has been a tipping point for others.

However the views are conveyed, this is the only topic of conversation among supporters at present.

Which will make it galling for them know Jackett’s future isn’t a discussion which is taking place at present among the club’s decision makers.

There is no imminent board meeting which will see that sacking; no emergency gathering of the club’s key figures to decide the manager’s fate.

Their focus is on much more pressing matters: the survival of the football club in an unprecedented crisis.

And as the government’s furlough scheme comes to a close with the club hemorrhaging around £5m through the coronavirus pandemic, these aren’t distraction tactics.

There’s now a real fear Pompey may have to start making staff redundant in the very near future to combat the £700,000-a-month losses, which are currently being propped up by the owners.

In that bleak scenario, it’s clear the mooted £400,000 to pay up Jackett, the turnover of backroom and playing staff and a likely compensation fee to land a successor who will probably be employed elsewhere, doesn’t make economic sense.

Some have questioned the validity of such thinking soon after the Blues paid around £200,000 for Callum Johnson, while they are also looking for a midfielder.

Yet, it’s clear the financial outlook has changed in the space of a few weeks which has gone from clubs preparing for fans’ returns, to now to looking at being without that critical matchday income for potentially another six months.

Talk of ‘mothballing’ the season isn’t empty rhetoric. There’s a growing consensus among EFL members to do that, a process which would be enabled by players taking a percentage of their wages to go into hibernation.

Meanwhile, Pompey continue to operate under a £2.5m wage cap and manoeuvre their finances within that limit, with the likes of Reeco Hackett-Fairchild and Gareth Evans both recently departing to free up some space.

So there are clear financial implications to be considered, ones which perhaps benefit the manager – but that won’t give him a free run at the job this season.

If Pompey were to find themselves at the wrong end of the table at the end of the eight-game run in October that could alter the picture over taking action.

‘October?’ the masses say incredulously. ‘But he’s already had three year to deliver success.’

Yes, but rightly or wrongly, the decision was taken to back Jackett after last season’s play-off disappointment, and then support him in continuing to craft a squad together.

How does then pulling the trigger at this formative stage look? Knee-jerk? Panicked? Without foresight? It’s not the kind of look the Eisners want to be associated with.

So protests will be planned, anger and apathy will resonate and we fear for football’s future without change.

And that is the only certainty here; without change things are not going to get better.

Either the key players at Pompey find the character within themselves to affect a reversal of fortunes and the shortcomings currently evident, or the change fans are demanding will eventually arrive.

And unless there’s an intervention, we are not far from witnessing the kind of cataclysmic transformation to football which will make the whole frenzied argument irrelevant anyway.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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