By Joe Wood
Well, that was good week wasn’t it? After half of the Pompey faithful had their “Chicken Little” moment, as their skies collectively started falling at the thought of 1 defeat in 28, Mousinho’s boys responded quite brilliantly, with 2-0 and 3-0 wins against Burton and Northampton respectively.
They weren’t games without concern, as Jack Sparkes was being led a merry dance by Kwadwo Baah during the Burton game, and in that same fixture, Colby Bishop was seen with the “must-have” accessory for Xmas, in the form of a giant boot on his foot.
Northampton, my main concern was actually if the game was even going to happen as temperatures dipped below freezing in many parts of the country. It was almost set up for the EFL to call it off 30 minutes before kick off and have it rescheduled for a midweek later in the year, but no, we dodged that particular bullet.
The blues players were superb against Northampton, who appeared to be affected by the cold to the point of being cryogenically frozen in defence at times. Of particular note was the play of Yengi and Saydee, who looked like they could form a nice partnership in the coming weeks, which will be needed with confirmation of Bishops absence extending “weeks” not days.
And guess what? Pompey are top again. Lovely stuff.
SPONSORS.
As I was watching the games over the last week, and it may just be because they’re both from very similar backgrounds and working class areas, it struck me the difference in sponsorship.
Not between Pompey and the opposition, but between League 1 sides and elite Premier League teams.
Look around at the sponsors that Burton had, things like pies, caravans and steel. Northampton had builders merchants, and Pompey have Covers for example. Both sides on Saturday were sponsored by their local university, which is a nice local connection.
Then you watch the premier league, and I don’t even know what a Sela (Newcastle) is, much less what it does? Add in another 8 foreign betting or crypto sponsors that by and large mean absolutely nothing to 95% of the population and you may as well just have a Pro Evolution style logo generator for the kit sponsors, because I couldn’t pick out their company logo from a line up of 1.
Without sounding all “old man yells at cloud”, all the iconic kits you remember were sponsored by stuff you could go and buy and see or at least get a service from as a normal working person.
Sharp – Manchester United, Carlsberg – Liverpool (or even further back, Crown Paints) and what about 02 with Arsenal? Or Dreamcast/SEGA? These are classic kits, can you honestly tell me that in decades time we’ll remember the Aston Villa FunBK88.io logo?
No, we won’t. Because that kit doesn’t exist. But you probably weren’t 100% on that, were you? Because these sponsors mean sod all to your average fan nowadays, and I think that’s sad and prevents you from forming attachments to kits.
We all fondly remember the TY kit. It had a massive heart in the middle of it and there was a factory in Gosport. Bosh, instant connection. South Coast Fiat? Instant classic.
Bring back better sponsor logos please. I await Pompeys next sponsor eagerly, and I hope it’s good.
FINAL THOUGHT
Massive shout out to the mad souls who braved the near Pluto-esque temperatures, and travelled to both the Burton and Northampton games this week.
Both occasions, well in excess of 1000 fans went and after some questions were raised after seeing people leave during the Blackpool game, it was a timely reminder that this club has some of the best fans in the game
