The Pompey Xmas

Chimes
Established: 1952 by Phil Patrick

Will it be a blue Christmas..?

To the faithful…
I’d love to be writing
In this edition: this column with
Pompey bathing in
mid-table mediocrity,
• A message
safe in the
from the new
Chairman (not knowledge that even
that one!) a distinctly average
second half of the
• A look back at season wouldn’t
the previous cause us to be
season. looking over our
• An article from
shoulders towards
one of our the Championship,
resident come May. Sadly,
journos. though, the threat of
relegation and a long
hard 2010, is what
occupies most
Pompey fans’ minds.

Your Committee: On the day that I

write this, the
 Chairman – Dan powers that be at
Taylor Fratton Park have
asked Paul Hart to
 Membership
leave his post as
Secretary - Tony
Manager.
Saunders
 Treasurer –
I sincerely hope that
Barry Macey Paul Hart gets to
 Website Editor – enjoy some time with
Scott McLachlan his family over Xmas
without having to
 David Macey worry about the
 Kim Manning- latest drama to
Cooper unfold behind the
scenes at Fratton.
 Gary Alton
He has deserved it
 Peter O’Keefe
after all. Whilst
 Ed Emptage Hart’s sacking
comes as no
surprise, and the
timing makes sense,
I can’t help but feel a
little bit disappointed
by the inevitability of
it all.
It is often said that a But that does not make
bad workman blames it any easier on the
his tools. I would never eye; especially when
consider Paul Hart to the club’s name is
be a “bad workman”, dragged through the
but he certainly would press for non-
have just cause to footballing reasons.
blame the tools he
was given to work I therefore think we all
with, in what can only deserve some time out
this Xmas; take the
be described as
opportunity to eat and
atrocious conditions.
drink too much. Spend
some time with those you
Had he had the don’t get to see when
financial backing you’re at the football; and
enjoyed by previous when January comes,
managers, and some take a deep breath. I
support in the form of have a feeling there are
a number two, I have going to be plenty more
ups and downs. I’m sure
no doubt we would not
we might even have
be languishing at the
something to smile about.
foot of the table.
Here’s hoping for a
The club has had to brighter 2010, Best
cut its cloth wishes to you and your
accordingly this families.
season, and rightly so. Dan
 Membership News
As you will see, we've
included membership
renewal forms in this
package...sorry it's not
very seasonal but it helps
us keep costs down on
postage. This year I've
decided not to include
membership cards - for
two reasons really... a)
they look pretty naff and
are out of date (only got
another 10,000 to use up!)
and b) it takes me about a
week to fill them all out!
Instead, could you please
make a note of your
membership number? It
will be important for you to
have when ordering match
tickets with our PFSC-L
pdf forms.
You might also find that
there could be the odd
family member name
missing - if that's the case
perhaps you could let me
know? I'll try to amend the
database. These
members will definitely be
on our records; but, for
some reason or another,
the membership renewal
data doesn't seem to want
to recognise them. As
always my contact for all
PFSC-L business is
londonpompeymembers
hip@hotmail.co.uk.
One further point with
regards to renewing; I've
sent out approx 40
renewal forms to
members who failed to
renew last year (2009).
Several of these are long
-standing members who
might have changed
address or in some cases,
sadly, passed away. For
that reason we are making
one last effort to find out
what’s happened. There
are also a few who either
rejoined or joined for the
first time around the time
of the FA Cup run and AC
Milan/European games.
We have decided that if
we don't hear back from
these members within 3
months they will be
deleted from our records.
If your membership
renewal form has a * in
the left hand corner that
means that you were one
of these. Please make
contact with me if you
have indeed paid for last
year as our records need
updating. I have liaised
with Barry Macey
(treasurer) over this and
we're both pretty sure we
know who’s paid and who
hasn’t.
If you are one of the 40
please only pay for the
Merry Christmas and a very
happy new year, from all of
us at PFSCL
year 2010 if you do decide
to renew.
Many of you will
remember that this year
marked the sad passing of
long standing PFSC-L
member, and committee
member, Pete Lawrence. I
am led to believe that in
the New Year a golf day is
to be organised in his
memory. Members from
his Club in Ealing,
Pompey Anoraks and ex-
work colleagues will be
invited to attend along
with any of our golfing
members. If you would be
interested in attending
please let me know and I'll
keep you "in the loop". I
will also endeavour to
organise another PFSC-L
event next year. The last
one proved very popular.
Sorry, as always, my
contribution to the Chimes
has been a bit business-
like - it goes with the job!!
Please let me know of any
changes to your personal
details, particularly
address and email
accounts.
I wish you all a very happy
Christmas and prosperous
New Year.
Tony Saunders
PUP