Portsmouth sack Tony Adams

Late last night, reports emerged that Portsmouth manager Tony Adams had been sacked after only three months in the job.

This time last week, the papers were full of speculation that the Portsmouth board had ‘lost patience’ with him. On Saturday, as he watched his team’s seemingly unlikely victory disappear at the hands of Fernando Torres, he had the look of a man who’d been given one more game to save his job.

As a player for Arsenal he was an easy target for ridicule. The image of the lumbering centre half, arm raised aloft, head turned expectantly towards the linesman with the howls of ‘Ee-yore' ringing in his ears. Latterly, thanks to the arrival of Arsene Wenger at his club Arsenal and Euro 96, his image changed to a classy defender beset by his well-known addiction problems.

From a donkey to a recovering alcoholic, Adams finished his career with his demons subdued if not conquered. The Sporting Chance Clinic which he plays an active role in has helped other sportsmen who have succumbed to the siren calls of drugs booze and casinos. For those of us who mocked him on the terraces as a player, Adams had become a legend of the game and, as a consequence of his off-the-field issues, a well-rounded and sympathetic character.

Inevitably, such a man will command a measure of goodwill even among the game's cynics. When he was given the manager’s job at Portsmouth you hoped that his bad experience at Wycombe was an aberration. If not for Pompey, then for Adams himself, many people wished him well.

For me however, there was a feeling in the back if my mind though that this was the wrong gig. Post-'arry Pompey is a different club. The owner wants to sell up and Adams has seen Defoe and Lass Diarra leave the club. His press conferences seemed laboured and spattered with unconvincing anecdotes.

The appointment just seemed like the wrong fit. There is no doubt that Adams has something to offer, just not there and not then. His appointment was a cheap punt by Peter Storrie which has served to seriously hinder the prospects of a young coach and jeopardised the Premier League status of a proud football club.

No doubt Storrie will do what he should have done in the first place and recruit an experienced coach. As for Adams, perhaps he'll get another chance. In a parallel universe, he probably ended up in a ditch somewhere, a victim of Bacchus and his evil pixies. If he demonstrates the kind of resilience he’s shown in the past, he'll find himself putting his considerable experience in both life and football to good use again. So long as he doesn't go back to Match Of The Day 2.

Premier League Kit Parade (Part 3)

Yes folks, as sure as night follows day and Great Britain follows Swaziland in the Olympic medals table, it's now time for Part 3 of our look at the new shirts being worn in the Premier League this season. Before we start, a quick 'hello' to all of you joining us from Fifastadt.de who, like us, enjoy finding out about the latest garments being worn in the world of football. Nice to have you with us.

So to begin, a curiosity. This might be a unique happening for 2008/09, but Manchester United start the new campaign with only one new shirt to show off, and it's this white, red and blue away offering from Nike. In case you're wondering, their red home shirt was brought in last season on one of those old-fashioned 'two year deals', so they'll be wearing that one again this time around. How very quaint!

Anyway, this away shirt of United's looks like a decent design to us. We're not sure about the red and blue highlights as we're probably used to seeing Man U in white and black away from home, but nonetheless it seems to reek of Nike's usual high production values and should be a fan's favourite in a very short space of time. Oh, and don't be surprised if a new Man United third strip comes out during the course of the season, but for now, that’s all there is from Old Trafford.

And so to Middlesbrough who, after a one season break, have returned to one of their all-time favourite designs - a classic that should never under any circumstances be discarded: the classic red shirt with a white band across the middle. Last year's all-red affair was decidedly uninspiring, but the white stripe's back and it looks pretty good to us.

Then there's the new away shirt which also returns to former values in the form of a blue-and-black-striped creation. This looks rather nice and is a hell of a lot better than those rather iffy looking kits featuring gold and ecru that have been concocted by Errea in the past.

And that reminds us - why Errea? They've been supplying Middlesbrough's kit since 1994 and to be honest they rarely seem to come up with the goods. Isn't it time for a change now, Mr. Gibson? For the time being though, these are a couple of reasonable shirts to be going on with.

Next up it's Newcastle and like Man United, they're keeping their home shirts from last year. Instead, they've got new away and third shirts to show us and these aren't too bad either. Away from home, Newcastle have come up with yet another new colour to add to the many they've worn in the past, and it's purple. (Sorry if it doesn't show up too well in the picture.)

It's pretty standard fare from Adidas - a plain front with those three legendary stripes running down the sleeves - and it looks nice and slick… but that colour… will people want to buy and wear it in their droves? I've a feeling purple could polarise opinions amongst the fans, but for the likes of us that aren't, we don't mind it too much at all.

To continue the slightly controversial tone, Adidas have also produced a silver third strip for the Toons. (Note - that's silver, not grey.) Again, rather nice and a lot better looking than the other silver/grey shirt Adidas have produced for 2008/09 (see Part 2 - Liverpool), but dare we suggest that white band across the middle looks somewhat Middlesbrough-esque? Don't complain to us, Newcastle fans - it was just an observation…

Next up it's Portsmouth and they have a new home shirt that pares down the old design to feature just blue and gold. All the white trim has gone and what's left is a simple but effective shirt which should please more than it offends.

The away shirt, however, may divide your opinions. Some have called it a rugby shirt, others a cricket shirt, but either way it's… well… different. As you can see, the shirt is white with blue sleeves, a big chunky flyaway collar and a blue panel around the bottom.

For our money, this is exactly the sort of well-executed inventiveness we want to see more of in football shirt design, and as a result, we love it. Admittedly there's a practicality issue around that big collar flapping up in your face while you're running, but apart from that it looks modern, looks distinctive and for all that has our unequivocally wholehearted support. Top marks to Canterbury for showing the way forward.

Finally today, we turn our attention to one of the Premier League's new boys, Stoke City. Renowned for their red and white stripes, Stoke's new home shirt doesn't disappoint and this new version sees Le Coq Sportif widening the middle stripe to give us something a little bit different. It looks great with its simple but very pleasant styling and if it isn't snapped up by the truckload, we'll be very surprised.

The Potters' away shirt is yellow, a colour they haven’t used for quite some time. With blue trim around the collar and under the sleeves, it provides a strong contrast to the home kit and takes us back to a time in the mid-70's when seemingly everyone's away kit was yellow and blue (think Derby, Chelsea, Man United, Arsenal, etc…)

While not the most exciting of offerings, it certainly ticks all the important boxes so we've no real reason to grumble. A good effort on both counts from Le Coq Sportif and one that Stoke fans should be rather happy with.

That just about wraps it up for Part 3 of our new shirt perusal for the upcoming Premier League season. In the fourth and final part coming soon, we'll be finding out what the good folk at Sunderland, Tottenham, West Brom, West Ham and Wigan will be wearing, so stay with us for that…

SPAOTP's Road to Wembley: FA Cup Final

This is it, everyone - FA Cup Final Day, a day to enjoy and a day when someone will win one of the most prestigious trophies in world football.

Some people say it's lost it's value in recent years, some say it's lost it's sparkle. I disagree.

When I was a young boy, it was a day when Wembley Stadium was almost always bathed in early summer sunshine, when the football played was captivating and the fans experienced every possible emotion. Though you can never tell how good any Final will be, the occasion always has that evocative history that few others can boast, and that for me is what makes it so special.

Today, two teams have an all-too-rare chance to lift the trophy. On the one hand, there's Portsmouth, led by Harry Redknapp who brings a team to Wembley for the first time in his career, and on the other is Cardiff City. On SPAOTP's 2007/2008 Road To Wembley, we reach the Final with Cardiff as the team we'll be supporting.

It's been a long and winding road for us since we started out back in September last year in the First Qualifying Round. We began with Burnham Ramblers playing away to Chelmsford City which in turn led us to follow Hayes & Waterlooville, Maidenhead United, Horsham, Swansea City, Havant & Waterlooville, Liverpool and Barnsley before Cardiff City became the team for us in today's big finalé. You can see our Road to Wembley in graphical form by visiting our route map.

So Cardiff it is, then, and with the game not far off starting, let's check out the facts about our team so that we know who we're supporting.

Cardiff City's manager is Dave Jones, a former player with Everton, Coventry City, Preston and, strangely, Seiko - a team from Hong Kong. He arrived at Cardiff in May 2005 and maintained their new-found status as a Championship side, slowly but surely building up the quality of the squad and bringing in many well-known faces.

Among the ranks at Ninian Park now are former greats such as Robbie Fowler, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Trevor Sinclair, but that's not the be all and end all of their talents.

In goal they have Peter Enckelman on loan from Blackburn Rovers and one of his former team mates from Aston Villa, Peter Whittingham. Joe Ledley, a Welsh international midfielder, is also someone likely to catch the eye along with another member of the Wales squad, Paul Parry. Both players are joint top goalscorers for the club this season.

Cardiff have finished the 2007/08 Championship season in 12th place, just inside the top half of the table - a position they're very familiar with for most of the campaign. In the Cup, however, they've been even more efficient. Wins against Chasetown, Hereford, Wolves, Middlesbrough and Cardiff have all seen them cruise to today's big match finish which could see them win the FA Cup for the first time since 1927.

And that, really, is all you need to know about Cardiff. Anything else you can work out for yourselves by watching the match which, I've a feeling, will be a good one.

We send our best wishes to Cardiff City as we draw a close to our 2007/08 Road To Wembley. As someone once said, it's not the arriving at your destination but the journey itself that counts, and that's certainly been the case for us this season. Enjoy.

Shirts for 2007/08: Portsmouth (3rd)

So this is it, then - the final part of our look at some of the new shirts to be launched for the 2007/08 Premier League season. We've already featured one shirt for each team since we got the ball rolling with Tottenham back in May, but one team remains overlooked as we end our series and that's Portsmouth so let's look at their new 'third' shirt...



Here it is, and as you can see it's black and gold, thereby contrasting distinctly with Pompey's other blue and white kits. It's made by Canterbury, a company from New Zealand that's been making rugby kits for ages and we think they've made a fair attempt with their initial offerings for Portsmouth this year.

OK, so they may not go for the more spectacular line of styling and their shirts might not be universally liked, but as you can see from this one it's smart, subdued and inoffensive. Not only that, but it's also available, so why not head down to the Portsmouth FC online shop and buy yourself one - they're only £39.99! (No? Oh well, at least we tried...)

So do you agree with our thoughts or are we wide of the mark this time? Have you EVER agreed with any of our thoughts?! Probably not, but let's not worry about that now... We'd like you to tell us what you think of the Portsmouth 3rd shirt above, so leave us a comment, choose an option on our online vote below or do both. It's your last chance after all...

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VOTING HAS NOW CLOSED FOR THIS SHIRT
The final results were as follows:

Excellent: 20 (61%)
Good: 8 (24%)
OK: 1 (3%)
Poor: 1 (3%)
Terrible: 3 (9%)

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And that's about it. We've now featured all twenty Premier League teams, so if there's any you haven't judged for yourself, check out the 'Shirts For 2007/08' links on the right and add your votes. At the end of the year, we'll review the scores and see which shirts were the most popular and which you couldn't give a damn about.

Before we go, a quick heads-up for all you fans of football shirts and strips who might be fearing withdrawal symptoms. Fear not - we're lining up another Kit Legend vote like the England one we did back in February. All we'll say at this stage is if you're Scottish, we think you'll like what we've got to offer... :)