Bone Idle: Old Portsmouth footage gets in the way of my fans crusade

There I was, half minding my own business and half plotting my next move in the #LetFansIn campaign.
Alan Biley missed a penalty in the 2-0 home defeat at the hands of BournemouthAlan Biley missed a penalty in the 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Bournemouth
Alan Biley missed a penalty in the 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Bournemouth

Then I got distracted. I do get easily distracted often – and one thing that causes it in particular is when people put old Pompey footage online.

The person to blame for my latest deviation from how I should have been spending my day was Wayne Harris, who last Wednesday posted a link to a YouTube video of Pompey’s home Division Three clash with Bournemouth from October 1982.

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I remember this game well and recall it being televised for TVS’s weekend highlights programme. But it was many, many years since I’d seen the footage.

Unusually the main camera was in the North Stand – an experiment with an alternative viewing position which I don’t think was ever repeated.

The game itself was one to forget for a Pompey team who were on their way to the third division title, for it ended in a rare home defeat, the Cherries scoring twice in the second half and Pompey missing a hatful.

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Pompey had a problem with missed penalties in 82-83 and in this game Alan Biley added spectacularly to the catalogue of missed ones when he shot wide after one of the longest spot-kick run-ups ever seen in association football.

Despite the result it was fabulous to see Biley, Billy Rafferty, Neil Webb and Bobby Doyle in action again.

As with any delve into YouTube, one video led to another, so it wasn’t long before I was watching once more the bleak occasion near the end of the 84-85 season when we lost 2-1 at home to Man City before missing promotion. Then it was on to March 86 and a 3-2 win at Brighton. And so on, and so on.

None of which has done much for the #LetFansIn campaign ...sorry!

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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