Portsmouth Football Club News

Peter Storrie says a hunger to keep Pompey in the Premier League is roaring through Paul Hart’s new-look squad. Thirteen players have been signed and Pompey’s chief executive officer is convinced the Blues now have the quality to climb away from the bottom of the table. Storrie praised boss Hart for the character he has shown through a tough summer and believes Pompey supporters can play a massive part in helping turn around the club’s fortunes. He said: “The only way we can go is up at the moment – that’s quite clear. But we believe that the squad we’ve put together is strong and we’ve got people who want to have a real go. “We’ve got a couple of players for every position now – the ideal squad size. We’ve got strength and variation. They were all hungry to come and play. “People look at the side we had last year. But some of the players we had last season weren’t going to get into the team. If you look at the squad now, they’re all capable of getting into the team. That’s the difference. “The players we’ve brought in have either played in the Premier League or the top leagues in other countries. “Only Mike Williamson has no experience of top-flight football but a lot of people classify him as the best defender in the Championship. “We’ve brought in a few players on loan but they’re loans with options to buy. We knew it was going to take a while for the new ownership to come through and refinance the business. That means we can turn these loans into transfers in January. “What we have to do is give Paul Hart considerable credit because most managers would have been in the papers every day moaning about the situation or would have walked away. But he’s been so strong through it all, fully understanding the position that the club was in. “I’m pleased that we’ve managed to get in the players that he wanted. It’s now in his hands to get those players to deliver.” Storrie has been overwhelmed by messages of support from fans as the club has negotiated its way through testing times. He said: “It’s unusual because usually if everything’s going well the manager’s doing a good job and if things aren’t going well then it’s ‘get rid of the board’. Hopefully the vast majority of fans have seen how hard we’ve all worked – not just me. “We’ve all done this because of the way we feel about the club and we want to take the club forward. That’s my priority. “Hopefully with Sulaiman arriving we can invest sums into the club now and in January. We want a good run of results up until Christmas so we’re in a reasonable position and can move on to the next step. “We’ve got to be positive. I know the fans are going to get behind us. It’s up to them to say they’ve had enough of people knocking Pompey and it’s time to turn things around.”

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