Once again In Focus takes a look into the record books to seek out those hard to find facts, plus a few bits and pieces of interest to mull over when enjoying a morning coffee. Next up if you haven’t already guessed it are Portsmouth with the under-fire Kenny Jackett at the helm, although he has earnt himself a bit of breathing space with a win over Burton Albion on Saturday, and even that looked unlikely at one stage until Pompey took control mainly down to a Marcus Harness hattrick.
PORTSMOUTH – THE SEASON SO FAR – Pompey are currently in 11th place in the league table with a record of PLAYED 4, WON 1, DRAWN 2, LOST 1, GF 5 & GA 4 and 5 POINTS.
LEAGUE RESULTS 2020/21
Burton Albion 2 Portsmouth 4
Portsmouth 1 Wigan 2
Rochdale 0 Portsmouth 0
Portsmouth 0 Shrewsbury 0
LEAGUE FORM AT A GLANCE – DDLW
YEAR OF FORMATION – 1898
CLUB NICKNAME – Pompey
THE MANAGER – Kenneth “Kenny” Francis Jackett aged 58 and born in Watford.
A rare commodity in the modern game, and like Dean Lewington a one club man, as a defensive midfielder he played his youth games at Bushey Rangers and Watford, before signing pro-papers at Watford in 1980. His career spanned 10 years where he played for his hometown club on 428 occasions scoring 34 goals until a long-term knee injury forced his retirement at just 28.
He also represented Wales on 31 occasions.
6 years after his playing retirement he returned to his place of birth to manage Watford under the guidance of the then Director of Football, Graham Taylor.
After one season Jackett took a backward step being demoted to first team coach and Taylor taking over as a manager, but the move worked and Watford gained successive promotions to the Premiership, although they were relegated after one season. The following season he was released following the appointment of Gianluca Vialli.
He has also had spells at Swansea City (Resigned). Millwall (Resigned), Wolves (Sacked), Rotherham (Resigned after just 39 days).
He has been at the helm for Portsmouth now since June 2017 and is contracted to June 2021.
In total he has overseen 847 GAMES in his career with a record of WON 377, DRAWN 216, LOST 254, that’s just a fraction over a 44% WIN RATIO.
FORMER MANAGERS – Jackett is the 48th manager at Pompey with many famous names once being in charge, there have also been 8 caretaker managers, to name a few we have, former assistant and temporary manager at MK Richie Barker, Gary Waddock, Guy Whittingham, Steve Cotterill, Avram Grant, Paul Hart, Tony Adams, Harry Redknapp on two occasions, Joe Jordan, Graham Rix, Steve Claridge, Tony Pullis, Bob McNab, Alan Ball, Terry Fenwick, Jim Smith, John Gregory, Graham Paddon and Ian St John.
FORMER PLAYERS – Again, plenty of famous names that have once graced the turf at Fratton Park including Darren Anderton, Dave Beasant, Andy Cole, Mick Channon, Peter Crouch, Sol Campbell, Jermain Defoe, Justin Edinburgh, Gerry Francis, the famous sporting all-rounder C.B Fry who represented England at football, rugby union and cricket and jointly held the long jump world record, Glen Johnson, Chris Kamara, Paul Mariner, Paul Merson, Teddy Sheringham and Ron Saunders.
PLAYED FOR BOTH – Carl Baker, Scott Allan, Ben Chorley, Matty Kennedy, Kevin Long, Izale McLeod, Bondz N’Gala, Stuart O’Keefe, Nigel Quashie, Rowan Vine, Craig Westcarr, and former MK Boss Martin Allen also used to play for Pompey.
FAMOUS FAN – Probably the most famous Pompey fan of all time is John Portsmouth Football Club Westwood, yes that is his full legal name. He has 60 Portsmouth tattoos’, including PFC engraved on his teeth. You won’t mistake him if you see him, trust me, wearing blue and white from top to toe, a large stove pipe hat, a blue and white wig, large clown type shoes, and incessantly ringing a hand bell. He was once thrown out of arch-rivals Southampton ground for openly urinating over seats in the away end.
THE MASCOT – Nelson the dog.
SHOOTERS BOOTS – Top scorer for Pompey is Marcus Harness with 3 goals.
CURRENT MATCH ODDS – Portsmouth 7/10 Draw 3/1 MK Dons 9/2
LAST TIME ROUND – Tuesday 25th February 2020 – Portsmouth 3 MK Dons 1
Team – Nicholls, Poole, Williams, Moore-Taylor, Lewington, Houghton (Reeves), Thompson (Nombe), Gilbey, McGrandles (Gladwin), Healey, Morris.
Unused Subs – Walsh, Fisher, Brittain, Kasumu.
Goals – Cannon 4’, Gilbey 45’+2’, Marquis 49’, Harness 90’+1’
Referee – Kevin Johnson (4 Yellows & 1 Red – Carlton Morris)
Attendance – 16,577
HEAD 2 HEAD
2019/20 – Portsmouth 3 MK Dons 1 (Gilbey)
2019/20 – MK Dons 3 Portsmouth 1 (Healey, McGrandles, Gilbey)
2017/18 – MK Dons 1 Portsmouth 2 (Ugbo)
2017/18 – Portsmouth 2 MK Dons 0
2012/13 – Portsmouth 1 MK Dons 1 (Williams)
2012/13 – MK Dons 2 Portsmouth 2 (Own Goal, Potter)
