Pompey Talk: Championship fixtures announced

The News, Portsmouth

Mark McMahon is joined by Neil Allen to discuss Pompey's newly-released Championship fixtures.

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Pompey Talk. My name is Mark McMahan and joining

00:05me today to discuss Pompey's new release, Championship Fixtures, is the Chief Sports

00:10Editor Neil Allen and somebody who will probably be at 95% of those games next season, barring

00:16holiday time, Neil, because of all these books.

00:20Yeah, yeah, because of school term. School term, I missed the second week, I think, of

00:26the season, so I'm there for Leeds away.

00:31Let's just go straight on, that is the opening game of the season, which you can't ask for

00:36tougher really, can you?

00:38Of all the games I've watched, because bearing in mind this season, there's no new grounds

00:42for us, Southampton aren't there, the only club I really was looking at was Leeds away

00:49and it happens to be the first week of the season. I know Pompey wanted the first game

00:54away because of work going on to the Fracking Park pitch and it's a tough first fixture,

01:02but then when you work your way down the list to September the 28th, the opening seven weeks

01:09of the season are absolutely brutal. Obviously, I've seen someone already disagreeing on social

01:16media because that's what people do, but I'm sorry, it is absolutely brutal and I know Pompey

01:24have to play every team twice, I understand that, I get that, I've watched football before,

01:28why I know, but the first seven games include Leeds, Burnley, Sheffield United, West Brom,

01:40Luton, I'm not even including Sunderland, but they're there as well. So basically you're

01:45playing the playoff finalists, playoff semi-finalists and three teams who are relegated from the

01:51Premier League.

01:52Exactly.

01:53So if you disagree all you like on Facebook, it is an absolutely brutal start to the season.

02:00So it's how it works, I'm not moaning about that or everyone's picking on Pompey and that

02:05nonsense, but it is a difficult start to the season. Fact.

02:09Yeah. What do you recommend Joe Mussolini's reaction will it be? Will it be absolute dreading

02:16it or sheer excitement that the prospect of some of these games coming up like?

02:22I think publicly it'll be, oh, it's great, we've got to test ourselves. Privately, he'll

02:27be thinking, I just wanted a nice start, at least get some points on the board, he wants

02:31some points on the board as early as possible. It's just natural and it's going to be a tough

02:39opening seven weeks.

02:40Again, just looking at it, even if you take out the Premier League teams, Leeds, like

02:46Middlesbrough, you're hearing bits and pieces that Middlesbrough are really going to be

02:50going for it next season. You've got West Brom, which we mentioned, which, yeah, we're

02:55going to be strong probably again, but Sunderland's in there as well. And you're sort of going

03:00flip and act like big, big clubs that Pompey's going to be up against. Probably want to be

03:04going toe to toe with them, but at the same time too, even those games reinforce just

03:08how strong a division this is going to be next season.

03:12It's a reminder, isn't it? It suddenly becomes very, very real. We've wanted to be here for

03:16a long time, 12 years away. I remember the opening game to the first year in league two

03:22was Atherton away as a 1230 kickoff and incredibly early start for everybody. And it was a two

03:28all draw. It seems a lifetime ago. So you want Leeds away. Those are the games you want,

03:37but then yeah. And then the reality, when you look at the pictures again, it's going

03:40to be quite difficult this year, really, isn't it? But that's what everyone wanted quite

03:44right.

03:45Yeah, yeah.

03:46They've been waiting for the championship for too, too long. So Pompey are back now

03:50and this is the level they have to sink or swim.

03:55A few other wee take-homes that I noticed. First home, midweek home game. I'm talking

04:02first midweek home game. It's not to the 27th of November. Anybody hoping for a bit of midweek

04:07action under the lights of Fratton Park in the autumn, you're going to have to wait to

04:11the deep depths of November before that. Three midweek away games, Stoke, Cardiff and Plymouth.

04:18Again, Atherton hasn't been, Pompey haven't exactly got the luck of the draw there either,

04:23have they?

04:24No, no. They've had some brutal away games in recent years. They always seem to get Burton

04:29away, don't they, midweek and things. And Morecambe away was a famous Barry Roche goal

04:36as well, midweek.

04:38There was a Plymouth away, again, Plymouth away on a Tuesday night. That's not something

04:45Pompey fans will be looking forward to, will them?

04:47Actually, we've done Plymouth away midweek before as well, haven't we? But yeah, we did

04:52a few years ago, Plymouth away, aren't we? I got a speeding ticket outside the stadium.

04:57There was a camera hidden right next to the stadium. We couldn't even get that fast because

05:01we were leaving the stadium. But yeah, so it's a funny championship because there are

05:10no major games or new grounds or big, big clubs, but it's where you want to be. And

05:17I know I've sort of said that, I'm the brutal fictionalist, and I just want to again reiterate,

05:22it's where you want to be. This is the playground now. Stand up for yourself. These are the

05:28challenges ahead. It's better to be in this division than in League 1 for an eighth season

05:33or League 2. This is where Pompey deserve to be, where they should be. So let's meet

05:40those challenges head-on and see how it goes on.

05:42Yeah. What about a wee boxing day to chip the Watford? That's not too bad, I suppose.

05:47Could have been worse. Could have been Sunderland, could have been Blackburn or something like

05:51that, Preston. But at least you're in that north London neck of the woods, aren't you?

05:56Yeah, and New Year's Day's at home to Swansea. And then the game between is Bristol away,

06:02which is not too bad either, is it?

06:04Yeah. New Year's Day, Swansea at home. Yeah, yeah.

06:08Yeah. And then last game of the season at home to Hull.

06:12Oh, yeah, yeah. No. Okay, then. Before we shoot off then, again, it's Fixtures Day,

06:18a lot of centres around it, but last night Pompey obviously made an important signing

06:22or something that we would deem to be important. Josh Murphy arriving on a free transfer from

06:28Oxford. Just generally, what's your thoughts on that there?

06:31Yeah, it's an interesting one, isn't it? Because John Massino, he played with him for

06:36six months. We were talking about it at the end of the day, actually, and he was saying

06:41that he doesn't think he's actually played a match with him, but he trained with him

06:46for six months. And he said to me, he's a championship player.

06:49Yeah.

06:50He's just a huge, huge fan of his. He spoke in the season as well about him, ahead of

06:56various Oxford games at the turn of the year, about what a great player he is. His career

07:02has been affected by injuries, up and down form. But he's flourished at Oxford. Apparently,

07:13the ability has always been there. And he finished the season very strongly. I think

07:17it was eight goals in his last 16 appearances, including two in the playoff final. And that's

07:22what he's capable of. I think what's very telling is that bearing in mind he's 29,

07:28Pompey have given it a three-year deal plus an option, which shows you how highly they

07:37regard him to give a 29-year-old that length of deal.

07:42Yeah.

07:44So clearly, I know Manny's always highly regarded players, that's the way they signed

07:49him. But to get a three-year deal at that age, plus an option, wow. So he's clearly

07:54going to be a pivotal player next year, not warming the bench.

07:58Yeah. And again, just another one, just to touch on slightly, Marlon Pax, again, the

08:03news has reported for quite a while now that their agreement is agreed, just waiting for

08:08it to officially be announced now. So nothing really new there, I suppose.

08:13Yeah. I think it's been quite established. John Massino said it last week that it's

08:18very close and he expects it to go through. So yeah, I'm not sure the reasons why it's

08:26taken so long, but this is closed season and it does drag with people on holiday. For

08:33us, you don't quite get full access to the football club either. So you can't ask for

08:38updates every press conference either. It's how it is. But yeah, it seems for a long

08:44time, it was widely anticipated he would be signing the deal. So Pompey are back tomorrow

08:50for their testing and no doubt he will be there. So it's about when the football club

08:56It was interesting because last night he signed early in the evening, Murphy, but Pompey

09:04wanted to announce it after the England game. Quite right, really. It's quite wise, isn't

09:08it really? Not during the England game. So that's why it was announced so late. So it

09:12wasn't completed late. It was just purely for PR reasons. Understandable and credit

09:18to them because it gave us a lift after that dire, dire England performance we watched

09:23last night, third in the row. So it just lifted everyone at the end of it, didn't it really?

09:29That's if they're still awake at that stage. The England game made us sound asleep.

09:34Yes, it was quite a nice lift. So yes, that's when they announced it. So yeah, hopefully

09:41they'll announce Marlon Pack very, very soon because it's a huge name, isn't it? It's

09:47another one to tick off as well, of course, because Conor Ogilvie has already signed.

09:52Definitely. OK, well Neil, thanks again for your thoughts as always. We'll be back again

09:57soon with another one of our videos. In the meantime, enjoy and have a good day. Thank

10:02you. Goodbye.

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