Football

Southampton v Portsmouth: the strange story of the south coast derby


When Harry Redknapp stepped down as Portsmouth manager in November 2004, he said he needed “a break”. Portsmouth fans did not expect that break to end a fortnight later with the nightmarish scene of Redknapp hoisting a Southampton scarf above his head on the pitch at St Mary’s. Redknapp had helped to revive Portsmouth’s fortunes and now he was joining their bitter rivals. It added fuel to an already fiery derby.

Redknapp had been successful in his two and a half years at Fratton Park. When he moved downstairs from his director of football role in March 2002, Pompey were 15th in the second tier. Never one to bespangle his words, Redknapp said he would have a “right crack” at breathing new life into the club.

Alongside trusted lieutenant Jim Smith, he did just that. Powered by the goals of Bulgarian striker Svetoslav Todorov – who had played for him at West Ham – Pompey clinched the title in his first full season, earning promotion to the top flight for the first time since 1988.

“Redknapp is a paradox,” says Colin Farmery, author of Seventeen Miles from Paradise, a book on the south coast rivalry. “He was the archetypal manager for Portsmouth. He had that self-deprecating approach, but was also someone who could galvanise the siege mentality of supporters.”

Portsmouth finished a respectable 13th in their first season in the Premier League, in 2003-04, but Redknapp was gone within six months. Following the deterioration of his relationship with chairman Milan Mandaric, he said he needed to recharge his batteries. Then, in a twist worthy of Hitchcock, he rocked up at Southampton. Portsmouth were not impressed. “The highest betrayal possible,” said Pompey director Terry Brady.

Not only had Redknapp sparked fury among Pompey fans but he had also left them for a club mired in a relegation battle. The scale of the task facing Redknapp was demonstrated in his first away game as Saints boss. After a 5-1 thumping at Tottenham, he admitted he had gotten himself “into a tight one” by taking the job. He wasn’t wrong. By the time he took Southampton to Fratton Park in April 2005, they were bottom of the table, having won just three games in four months in charge.

Fans of his old club did not show any mercy. Having been greeted by banners and placards branding him “Judas”, Redknapp cut a demoralised figure as he watched Portsmouth run out 4-1 winners, with all five goals arriving in the first 27 minutes of a breathless first half. “Judas, Judas, give us a wave,” bellowed the gleeful Pompey fans.

Portsmouth fans say hello to their former manager, Harry Redknapp.



Portsmouth fans say hello to their former manager, Harry Redknapp. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

The Redknapp era is just one chapter in the story. The animosity between the clubs stretches back much further. “The rivalry predates football,” says Farmery. “Southampton was a commercial port, whereas Portsmouth was military. Southampton was more affluent so there was always a civic, economic rivalry.”

Initially founded as a church football team in 1885, Southampton found great success in the Southern League, winning it six times between 1897 and 1904. Portsmouth were founded during that period, in 1898, to meet the growing appetite for professional football in the city.

The rivalry’s earlier chapters paint a different picture to the current landscape. When Portsmouth won the FA Cup in 1939, the majority of Southampton fans were thrilled for their neighbours 17 miles down the road. Having beaten Wolves in the final at Wembley, the trophy was paraded around The Dell and displayed in Southampton Guild Hall before the following season, much to the delight of the locals.

The bitterness intensified significantly in the 1960s as the clubs began to meet each other regularly in the Second Division, a period when Saints held the upper hand. One of the most interesting aspects of the rivalry is that it has been shaped, at least in aprt, by a myth. Portsmouth fans call Southampton fans “scum” or “scummers” supposedly because the Southampton Company of Union Men crossed the picked line in the 1950s while dock workers from Portsmouth were on strike. The story is highly unlikely to be true. Farmery laughs when it is brought up. “Utter tosh,” he says.

Portsmouth fans extend the hand of friendship to their rivals.



Portsmouth fans extend the hand of friendship to their rivals. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Certain games from down the years have inflamed the rivalry. Their meeting in the second division in 1976 is a source of acute agony for Portsmouth. Mick Channon scored a last-minute goal for Southampton at Fratton Park to effectively send Portsmouth down to the third tier. Relegated, the Pompey fans had to watch on enviously as Southampton beat Manchester United in the FA Cup the following month. And to make matters worse, Southampton were promoted to the top flight two year later.

It was a difficult time for Pompey fans and they had to wait for their revenge. The next competitive derby came eight years later, when Southampton visited Fratton Park in the FA Cup in January 1984. “The first derby I went to was the ’84 game,” recalls Farmery. “Saints scored a last-minute goal and I remember thinking ‘how the hell did that happen’, but there was also some nastiness from the terraces.” Southampton defender Mick Dennis was struck on the head by a coin and his teammate, Reuben Agboola, was racially abused by some Pompey fans, who threw bananas at the Nigerian left-back. After the game, Southampton manager Lawrie McMenemy said: “We got a good result, £4.50 in small change and 2lb of bananas.”

There have been other regrettable encounters, notably the rioting after their league match in March 2004, which led to 94 arrests. “I’ve never understood that visceral side,” says Farmery. “It detracts from it. We’re talking about football matches, not life or death. You want to be passionate about your team but, when you need hundreds of coppers outside to ensure everyone can get home safely, you tend to ask the question: ‘What is the point of this really?’”

Pompey’s revenge for their defeat in 1984 arrived in their 4-1 win in “the Redknapp derby” in 2005. They thumped Southampton at St. Mary’s by the same scored in a heated FA Cup tie in February 2010.

Portsmouth fans enjoy teasing Southampton.



Portsmouth fans enjoy teasing Southampton. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Since then, they have met only three times, twice in the Championship during 2011-12 season and in the League Cup this September – when one Portsmouth fan was arrested for swinging a punch at a horse. The infrequency of their encounters has not dimmed the animosity. “One of the reasons the rivalry has that edge is because we don’t play each other very often,” explains Farmery. “There’s that festering grudge that you don’t get out of your system. If we played each other a couple of times every season, we might see some of the edge go out of the rivalry.”

Naturally, the fortunes of the two clubs have oscillated over the years. The last 15 years have been particularly eventful. While Pompey were enjoying a seven-year spell in the Premier League – which included winning the FA Cup in 2008, with Redknapp back in charge – their rivals fell down the divisions. Southampton were playing the third tier a decade ago, but back-to-back promotions took them back to the top flight.

The last decade has been difficult for Portsmouth. Five years after winning the FA Cup they were facing life in the fourth tier. “Pompey fans got complacent when we were top dogs,” said Farmery. “But when things went pear-shaped, there were grinding of gears in terms of fans expectations. When the going got tough, the fans pulled out all the stops in 2012 and 2013 when we put together a community bid to buy the club. It was a great show of solidarity. For four years, we ran it as a supporter-owned club, we kept our discipline in League Two and then got promoted. It was a phenomenal story.”

That extraordinary show of support helped steer the club through an incredibly dark chapter before new owners took over the club in 2017. Things are now looking bright. They are aiming for the League One play-offs again this season and, if they manage to climb out of the division, they could find themselves in the Championship with Southampton before too long. When the clubs do meet again, the fans will be ready and waiting for another instalment in a fascinating and fierce derby.

Derby Days South Coast. A film by
Copa90.





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