Pompey chimes

"There are still around 2,000 tickets remaining for Pompey's Premier League clash with Aston Villa at Fratton Park on Tuesday, kick-off 8pm. The majority of the available seats are in the Apollo Stand (Milton end)," said the Portsmouth web-site on Monday afternoon.

I'm sorry, but has Villa fever not stretched down to the south coast?

Fratton Park, may I point out, can only hold 20,688 supporters.

So that means an attendance of somewhere in the region of 18,500 is expected, with Villa supplying 1,380 of them, which was their initial allocation.

The game is live on you know where, but even so...

Call yourselves a Premier League club?

Without Sacha Gaydamak's money Pompey would not be anywhere near the top flight - despite what the national press in their cosy love-in with Harry Redknapp might want you to think.

Gaydamak - so a recent national newspaper report suggested- is thought to want in the region of £40million for Portsmouth but the club is also believed to have debts and committed costs of around £50m.

Makes you realise what a good deal Randy Lerner got when he shelled out approximately £64 million to get Aston Villa- with no debt and complete with all its city centre land.

And yet Doug Ellis' critics three years ago were oh so vocal about him pricing buyers out of the market.

The Milton End, changing the subject, was formerly the only roofless stand in the Premier League and is shared between home and away supporters.

I take it that means that Portsmouth folk simply don't want to sit close to their Birmingham counterparts. They'd rather sit at the other end next to that fan with the annoying bell.