Journey to Wembley

I had vowed to myself that I would only go to the new Wembley Stadium if Portsmouth were in the cup final, my strong feelings that millions of pounds have been wasted in the building of the complex made my resolve not to attend all the more. However what do you do when the club you first saw in 1976 on a wet Tuesday night in April get to a Wembley semi-final?
Of course, I'm going, all my principles were going out of the window and I was going to be there.

The whole city had been buzzing with excitement and it seemed everyone I knew who wanted to go had a ticket, this was going to be the trip of a lifetime. The track maintenance planned between Woking and Waterloo wasn't going to spoil it either, I got myself to the Harbour station at 05.45 to find I wasn't the only one with intentions of beating the later rush, at Horsham the train had four carriages added to the eight original ones such was the swell of people on board, getting off the train at Clapham I met my London based brother and his young son, I only hope my nephew knows how lucky he is to be seeing Pompey at Wembley at such an early stage in his Pompey fan career, I've seen plenty of ups and downs with Portsmouth, in fact more downs probably. On that wet Tuesday in 1976 when my journey began, Pompey were already relegated to the third division before they lost to Orient, so I had already made myself acquainted with a team that would regularly disappoint, following quickly was relegation the fourth division in 1978.

The journeys in those dark days were long, a trek to Rochdale in an Austin 1100 I remember only too well, around 2000 Pompey fans went to Lancashire that day and we cleaned them out of programs by 1pm. This was a typical Division four away game in those days and climbing out of the fourth division at the second attempt by the skin of their teeth was my first taste of success followed by the Division 3 Championship a couple of years later. Years of Division two football then ensued, seeing the likes of Chelsea and Newcastle come and go, Blackburn were always a big rival so too were Barnsley and Huddersfield. There was joy at Mark Hateleys two hat-tricks in a week and seeing him make his England debut as a Pompey player v USSR at Wembley. Then at the end of the 80s a brief flirtation with the top division, when the late Alan Ball guided Pompey up in 1987 only to come straight back down.

So you can see how Pompey fans have suffered over the years and surely nobody can begrudge them a bit of success in a competition so dominated by the rich four in recent times. In fact the victory at Old Trafford however lucky it may or may not have been is reason enough to suggest that Pompey can go all the way. The semi-final was not a great game but they very rarely are, so much is at stake that the professional will to win overrides any thought of showboating or individual skill. The atmosphere in the second half was incredible, deafening choruses of Play Up Pompey echoed around Wembley, I'm sure the Baggies were cheering too but we could only hear ourselves.

The New Wembley is a fantastic stadium but in the wrong place, the transport infrastructure is inadequate and there simply isn't enough access to and from it. I would have liked the semi-final to have been at a neutral ground, I believe that Wembley is part of the prize of the FA Cup but whatever, it's happened now and we all had a brilliant day out and stories to tell for generations.

At the ground I met old friends, people I hadn't seen in years and some new, a friend of a friend who is American and has become a Pompey fan after being dragged along to the quarter final at Old Trafford and one man who I have the utmost regard for. Father Pat a retired priest who was present at the 1939 cup final when of course Pompey won the cup and kept it safe throughout the war. After the game Pat was honest enough to say Portsmouth were poor and that West Brom had played a good game, he stopped and chatted to many groups of Baggies fans after the game and told them how well their team had played and that Pompey were lucky to win, I wonder how many others are still alive today that can say "I was there" in 1939?

The spirit between the two clubs support is very good natured, remember that last day of the premier league season when Southampton went down? Well West Brom played their part in full that day, so a kind of affinity exists between the two sets of fans, good luck to The Albion and I hope they get promoted.