Hard to not say Yakubu to be honest, grabbed him 'young' and the guy was a natural goalscorer. He was huge for us but the guy cannot be judged on one signing, he was amazing for us and he signed so many amazing players.
When Paul Merson signed for Pompey in 2002 I was very loud in my criticism with my fellow Pompey fans "he's only here for a holiday, he's only here for the pay cheque". I have never been happier to be proved an idiot! He was an inspiration that season.
I Think you was the only one who thought that, I’ve never heard anybody say that or that they thought that way, we was bloody awful year after year and as soon as harry was appointed manager and the signings started coming in I knew we was in for change and when Merse signed Everybody knew what direction we was going and I must admit that was the start of the best ride I’ve ever been on and still riding it to this day… PUP
My first live game was a 3-0 win in Pompey's promotion season from the old Division 1 with Merson. I was about 8 years old, and I still remember Merson setting up a goal with an absolute beauty of a pass. Throw in to his feet inside our half, he looked up, and put the ball on the chest of Todorov, on the corner of the Watford penalty area. Todorov had it in the net a few seconds later. That was the moment I lost the childlike adoration of Manchester United many kids had in the 90's and fell in love with Pompey.
This age group of footballers wasted their talents. Pretty pathetic, really. Most working men would give anything for a few hundred thousands of pounds a week for kicking a ball round.....
I used to work in an office. One of the workers called out sick for 4 days - said he had a high fever. The following day he was on the same plane to California as the manager of the office. The manager was not as nice as Harry.