Independent Leyton Orient Forum

Portsmouth fans seem to have a real sense of entitlement. I wonder where it comes from since, post-war, they've been mostly a middling Div 2/Div 3 team apart from a few years when they were financially doped up to the eyeballs and got an FA Cup and subsequent implosion out of it? Leeds fans were pretty awful at this level but you did at least understand some of that, since they're actually a big club.

If you were born in 1978 onwards, then I suppose your experience of Portsmouth is that they had a couple of good cup runs in the early 90s, then became premier league regulars, and then had that period of unsustainable spending. I guess if (as a lot of fans are) you’re the sort of fan who doesn’t think too hard about how to pay for running a club, then Portsmouth fans of 45 and under probably do think of them as a premier league club in exile

Just looked it up, and I could’ve sworn Portsmouth had been in the top flight for longer than they actually were - I would’ve bet that they’d been in the prem in the late nineties.
As it is, yeah, just seven seasons. But seven seasons in the early 2000s which i suppose will be where a lot of fans now think they belong

I did wonder that. I guess if you're in your late 20/early 30s you just assumed the likes of Kanu always played up front.

We still have fans who think our rightful place is in the 2nd tier (whatever that's called nowadays), so I guess it's sort of understandable that some Pompey fans think they're not in their rightful place.

StillSpike wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2024 12:42 pm We still have fans who think our rightful place is in the 2nd tier (whatever that's called nowadays), so I guess it's sort of understandable that some Pompey fans think they're not in their rightful place.

Although we’ve not been in the second tier for over 40 years compared to Portsmouth’s 14 years since Premier League.

In my view L1 is now like the old L2 now called championship, as the Premier League is more like an international league.

12 years in the Championship (equivalent) 70/71 - 81/2. That’s where my sense of entitlement lies.

Whenever you start following a club and their current league position is probably where you think they should be.

I started following us in the early nineties when we were a League 1 side went through a decade of thinking that's where we should be.

But obviously we're a club that floats between league 1 and Two. If someone has the time or inclination be interesting to see what our average league position would be over the course of our history, i'd reckon that it's somewhere in the lower half of league 1.

If Portsmouth can be said to have a "rightful place" then it is surely the second tier. If they weren't a big club at this level, why are so many Orient fans claiming this is our best result since [insert historic result from several years ago]?

True.

Don’t think you can go back in the past, football has and is moving on. Many clubs have moved grounds and is now money dominated. There’s plenty of so called bigger clubs playing in the NL and league 2. As there are so called smaller clubs playing in the premiership. Also the fact that tv deals have had an impact plus foreign based businessmen. Weather or not you think your club should be playing in a higher division is dependent on money.

Yes, football has moved on, but Portsmouth, nevertheless, are still a big club and not just at league one level.

According to that Vlog Portsmouth seems to be going down a familiar path. Great up until Christmas then blow up . Apparently it’s happened over the last two or three seasons

Mickey Mouse club

Do they still have that fan with the bell? I always thought of him as their OFF.

Dunners wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2024 7:13 pm Do they still have that fan with the bell? I always thought of him as their OFF.

It's a newer holder of the bell, it's been around longer than him.

I suppose they’re a big club in terms of following. Portsmouth is a large city giving them a good catchment area, and they’ve usually had a pretty decent support, but for most of their existence they’ve been fair to middling with a short spell at the top level thrown in, and that’s it.

It was deffo one of our better away results of recent years, but for me it was mostly because we absolutely bossed it and gave them some payback for the drubbing they gave us at home last August, that’s all.

Best away win since our return to the Football League - Stockport (A). Prior to that Bradford (A).

I remember beating them in the cup for a big upset, and now we're playing them in league one, so you can understand their fans expectations.

Dunners wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2024 7:13 pm Do they still have that fan with the bell? I always thought of him as their OFF.

He rocked up for that behind doors friendly due to the heat, ringing the bell from outside the ground. John Portsmouth FC Westwood or something, completely judgemental but he looks like he stinks

Best away win in years.

Stowaway wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2024 8:42 pm but for me it was mostly because we absolutely bossed it and gave them some payback for the drubbing they gave us at home last August, that’s all.

I don't understand what this means?

Adz wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2024 10:26 pm I remember beating them in the cup for a big upset, and now we're playing them in league one, so you can understand their fans expectations.

The 4-1 some 20 years ago?

They were Championship (or equivalent) at the time, weren't they? That's where I would consider their natural level.

Dunners wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2024 7:13 pm Do they still have that fan with the bell? I always thought of him as their OFF.

Yes and his full name is John Portsmouth FC Westwood . My old Pompey supporter work mate told me his wife gave him an ultimatum. " It's either me or the football " so he divorced her