Meet Kanu, Linvoy, Claridge, Bruno - and other Pompey pets

I wasn't too sure of the reaction I'd get when I asked Pompey fans if any of them had pets named after players, writes Steve Bone.

The idea came to me in a quiet moment (probably one of those I have when panicking about what to fill this corner of the paper with each week) as I recalled how my sister used to have two piranhas who were named Primus and Smerty, two of her favourite players at the time.

I half-feared no-one would reply and I’d be left looking a bit daft. But I’ve come to the conclusion you’d have more trouble finding a Pompey fan who DOESN’T have a pet named after a Pompey player.

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So many offerings have I had on this one, I could probably double the size of Marwell (the zoo, not our former happy-go-lucky Dutch centre-half Mr De Zeeuw).

So – and here’s a phrase you’ll normally only read in the angling column, and even then not very often – let’s start with fish.

Blues fans seem to have a bit of a thing with sealife if all the contributions I collected on Twitter are anything to go by.

Bruce Cameron-Stuart told me he had ‘a huge lethargic Pleco (tropical fish) called Kanu’ who was prone to ‘unexpected bursts of activity’. A fitting name, then.

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David Banks revealed he had a mate who called his two goldfish Lassana and Lomana.

On to land-based creatures, then, and Mark H told me he had two cats called Bruno and Claridge, while Wilky added one of his mum’s cats ‘is named Harry after some twitchy person’.

Strange Steve admitted: ‘My cat is called Niko, after Krancjar ... to be honest I’m not sure why!’

An ex-News colleague, Mary Williams, confused me by answering the pets question as well as one I’d asked about having your picture taken with a player. ‘Woody the Hamster,’ was one reply. ‘Kit Symons,’ was the other. I think – think – Woody the hamster (named after Paul Wood, I assume) was the one she kept as a pet.

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Heather Davy said she used to have a cat called Blakey – as did Blues fan Steve Woodhead – who, his pal Dave Bowers told me, either named it in honour of Big Noel or liked On The Buses.

Mike Kelly had a cat called Shaka while Jack Preston weighed in with news of a hamster also named after our Trinidad & Tobago shot-stopper.

Bob Beech – and he assures me this is genuine, so much so he has sent me a picture – of a snake called Balram. A classic.

Another creature called Claridge is a hamster belonging to Ben Cummings, who added: ‘My dad’s dog is called Freddy, after Piquionne – he got the dog the day after we beat Spurs in the Cup.’

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SJ Maskell’s cat is called Henry in honour of Thierry (tenuous Pompey link) while Liz Barnden said her cat was called Dillon.

Steve Holman’s bulldog was Fitzroy, then there’s Alan’s (aka todorov15042003 on Twitter) cockatiel named Linvoy.

The last word goes to Sam Abrehart, who said: ‘I called my tortoise Benjani but two weeks later Pompey sold him. I was fuming.’

I’m not surprised. I’d be fuming if Pompey sold my tortoise, too.

Do you have a Pompey-named pet? Details and / or pictures please!

@stevebone1 on Twitter

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