King Sid

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Portsmouth FC Guide



Club Info
Name: Portsmouth Football Club
Chairman: Balram Chainrai
League: npower Championship
Last year: 20th (Barclays Premier League)
Nicknames : Pompey
Wage Budget: £300,000 (Top-Half Finish, Promotion) , £325,000 (Title Challenge, Winner)
Transfer Budget: £0 (Top-Half Finish, Promotion, Title challenge, Winner)
[Can be increased to a maximum of £1,636,596 if selected Title Challenge or Winner and use budget adjustment]
Transfer embargo until 30th September 2010.
I would select Top-Half Finish as it reduces the pressure and with such a threadbare squad injuries can be devastating to your season.


Team Analysis

Goalkeepers
Jamie Ashdown
Darryl Flahavan
Matthew Gledhill

In Ashdown you have a decent first choice goalkeeper by Championship standards. Flahavan is a decent choice for back-up but you could really do with another goalkeeper in case either gets injured. You do have a young star in Matthew Gledhill but he is not really Championship material yet.

If you want to sign a goalkeeper straight away I would recommend Kamil Contofalsky. He is available on a free at the start of the game and has a lot of experience. He would be your number one as he is slightly better than Jamie Ashdown. At 32 he should have a good few years in him as a good Championship goalkeeper.

Personally I have been patient and managed to buy Alex Smithies in January after selling some players who is good enough to come straight in and has the potential to grow into a good Premiership player.



Recommended Transfers
In
Kamil Contofalsky – Free
Alex Smithies - £600,000-£750,000 (Huddersfield)[January]



Defenders
Hayden Mullins
Joel Ward
Ibrahima Sonko
Carl Dickinson
Aaron Mokoena
Ricardo Rocha
Herman Hreidarsson
Peter Gregory

Your main weakness in the defence is at right back. Hayden Mullins is in both the Defenders list and Midfielders list because can play in both. At the start he has to be your first choice right back and there is no adequate cover. Due to this weakness I would recommend signing two right backs so Mullins is available to play in his favoured midfield position.
The two I would recommend are Bernard Mendy and Abubakari Yakubu. They are both quite versatile, available for free and therefore good additions to a Championship squad. However they are both subject of interest from other clubs including Premier League and Championship clubs so be prepared to fight for them and offer slightly better wages. Both of these players would go straight in as first choice right back but I would play Mendy over Yakubu. At 28 they will last a few years in the Championship but a longer term replacement will need signing at some point.
You can afford to send Joel Ward and Peter Gregory out on loan but make sure you select can be recalled. If you suffer injuries during the season you might need them back at the club to back up your defence. Chris Smalling (Man Utd) should be signed on loan to provide competition and back-up for your central defenders. You should also make sure that Sam Magri from your Youth Squad gets some games as he has the potential to be a star. If you can try and tie him down to a long-term contract as well as Chelsea have come calling in my save and the board accepted the offer. Give him cup games and back-up and he will progress nicely.

Recommended Transfers
In
Bernard Mendy – Free
Chris Smalling – Loan (Can be recalled)
Abubakari Yakubu – Free

Out
Peter Gregory – Loan (Can be recalled)
Joel Ward – Loan (Can be recalled)



Midfielders
Liam Lawrence
Michael Brown
Richard Hughes
Hayden Mullins
Matt Ritchie
Aaron Mokoena
Ellis Martin
Billy Goddard

Your midfield is a fairly strong one for the Championship however you do need to look at the left midfield position. Most assistants will suggest playing Richard Hughes there but I believe Matt Ritchie is the better option. He is the best available choice for you out of the squad but you should sign someone to either back him up or so he can be back up.

I personally would suggest signing Sharbel Touma on a free as he has the quality to play with the rest of the team straight away and Matt Ritchie can be used in cup matches or as back-up for when you need to rotate. I would also recommend sending Ellis Martin and Billy Goddard out on loan but once again with the can be recalled term. Having to use them in my main team due to injuries Martin did surprisingly well and was actually playing better than Brown and Hughes.

If you want stronger back-up for your midfield I suggest waiting until the 30th September when the transfer embargo ends and signing players on loan. A couple of recommendations if still available at that time are Corry Evans (Man Utd), Gael Kakuta (Chelsea), Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (Arsenal) and Jack Colback (Sunderland).

Also Ryan Williams from your Youth Squad is capable of backing up Liam Lawrence for a few games and has great potential so make sure he gets some first team football.

Recommended Transfers
In
Sharbel Touma - Free
Corry Evans – Loan (Man Utd)
Gael Kakuta – Loan (Chelsea)
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas - Loan (Arsenal)
Jack Colback - Loan (Sunderland)

Out
Billy Goddard – Loan (Can be recalled)
Ellis Martin – Loan (Can be recalled)



Strikers
Dave Kitson
Dave Nugent
John Utaka
Nwanko Kanu
Nadir Ciftci
Danny Webber

Your strike-force is one part of the club you don’t really need to worry about. Dave Kitson, Dave Nugent and John Utaka are all good players in the Championship and should keep your team scoring. My preference is to start with Kitson and Nugent and then bring Utaka off the bench as he works best as an impact sub in my opinion. Kanu can be used in the same way as he can’t last whole games any longer.

Nadir Ciftci should be sold or loaned out in my opinion. He is useful if you get a couple of injuries but I prefer to use youngsters like Chinedu Vine or Patrick Antelmi as they can actually do a very good job.

Recommended Transfers
Out
Nadir Ciftci - Loan



Backroom Staff
Your first priority should be to sign an Assistant Manager for yourself. My favourite preference out of the ones available to you as Portsmouth is Terry McDermott from Huddersfield. He has good ratings in the necessary areas although only a 3 in Level of Discipline. Just take note that when you use him to issue opposition instructions as he tends to assign hard tackling to everyone so if this isn’t your preference then take note.



Coaches
The coaches for the team aren’t bad for the Championship and it is really up to you if you choose to bring in new ones. Personally I choose to focus on the Scouts and Physios and Assistant Manager and the team. I would wait until your promoted to hire better staff.



Physios
I would recommend getting rid of Paul New and signing Steve Whitehall. He has better attributes and with the squad Portsmouth have you need the best available Physio’s.



Scouts
There are three scouts that you should try and sign at the start of your management career. These are Glenn Cockerill, Barry Whitbread and Bobby Roberts. They might not be the best scouts in the game but for the wages that you can afford and the people that are interested they are the best you are going to get. You can always hire better staff at a later date.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What? Do you want me to edit it so it looks good for you?
 
bit untidy in the way of formatting, but otherwise, a strong guide. Be good to see what Max comes up with if he does :)
 
If you could sort the spacing out that would be great! I tried but it kept re-posting and stuff.

Thanks
 
Thanks, it looks a lot better to me. Better than I was doing, it was either miles apart or really close like you saw.

Thanks very much for sorting it, I don't know what went wrong. It all looked fine in word, copied and pasted it into here and suddenly its all mucked up!
 
Utaka was a key player for me, should be in the starting eleven. Same with Ritchie, 14 assists in my game. Perfect Left winger set to Wide Midfield, Attack.

Finished 2nd in my game.

Also, Danny Webber is decent.
 
Cool, good to here some other input. Yer to be honest I've had mixed experiences with Utaka and Ritchie.

I forgot to talk about Webber really, he is a good back-up when he's back from injury.

Maybe you should write a guide, I only finished 6th so you clearly got them playing better than me! lol.
 
Good Guide, bit untidy in terms of formatting but meh, either way its a good guide and its sure to help loads of people :)
 
Just finished a season with Pompey and came out top with 100 points exactly. Dave Kitson was my best player. Matt Ritchie played 42 games with 12 goals and 15 assists. Played him as AMC Inside forward - support

Sold Utaka to At Madrid in January due to his high wages even though he was very good.
Got some very good players that i brought in such as Abubakari Yakubu(free), DeMerit(free), Danny Wilson(loan) and Yaya Sanogo(loan).
 
Yer you did what I did with Utaka. My aim was to put a wage limit of £20,000 in place so sold everyone above that. That included Utaka, Ben-Haim when he returned from loan and Danny Webber if I recall correctly.

Funded my move for Alex Smithies.
 
I still keep Ben Haim though but i released Webber. Tried to sell Kanu but to no avail so just put him in the reserves. I make do with Ashdown for the whole season and released Flahavan in January when his contract expires. Signed a Spanish keeper on a free to backup Ashdown.

I was taken over almost at the end of the season and now the board gave me $50m to spend just to avoid relegation with $675k as wages.
 
Haven't got rid of Kanu, signed him as a scout at the end of the season. He's not great but not too bad and hopefully will improve.

Some people are so lucky. My takeover left me in pretty much the same situation as before. I think I got around £2million transfer fund and wage was around £400,000. Little bit better but wish I had yours lol.
 
I was surprised i got that much though. My mate got $20m to spend after getting promoted. I already signed a number of players and hoping to get a mid table finish in my 2nd season :)
 
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