Crouch commits/Anymore for anymore...

Crouch - I am happy here
Despite the impending sale of Lassana Diarra to Madrid, a transfer that will keep the wolves from the door and prevent the 'need' to sell anyone else - that is not to say that others wont be sold! - 'rumours' persist about others leaving...

The rumours were further fuelled by the 'apparent' outburst by a suspiciously 'bitter' Lauren yesterday - an outburst that is said to have left Pompey furious with the Cameroonian, who may as well pack up now. 'If' all that he is quoted as having said is true - not its contents exactly, but him saying it - then surely we have the right to refuse to pay him until he leaves, and could even terminate his contract?

But, better news is that Peter Crouch has insisted that he will not be going in January!

He is being 'linked' with a return to Villa but having already earlier in the week said that he wants to 'score the goals to get us back into Europe next season' he has now said that he is happy where he is, and playing week in week out is keeping him that way.

For the vast majority of players this regular football is enough, this allows them to play and allows them to showcase their talents - and this leads to international recognition, and even though we might not win anything else again in the future they are at a club that are capable of winning trophies, as we proved last season. We have as good a chance as anyone else - with a bit of luck on the day - to win any knockout tournament, only a small band will ever win the league and playing for one of these is going to see most hard pushed to play week in week out, so 'why' go elsewhere...

As said before I believe Crouch when he says what he says - playing means more to him than anything and he always gives his all, what more can we ask?

However this 'loyalty' must cut both ways, if players do want to stay we must let them - and we are in a position to now do this. All this said 'if' players do want to go, let them go. We need quality to continue to progress, but as much as I do want this most of us have been following Pompey for long enough now to remember that we do not need quality to follow this club - we also want hard grafters and committed players, if they are not committed to the cause then what use are they? Granted, most players fall into that category anyway, but again we need to show them loyalty too, that is if they want to show us it...

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Every man and his dog wants a slice of the pie...
Diarra's move to Madrid has been heralded as a 'masterstroke of business' by Pompey - and for once it does seem as though we really have excelled with the departure of a player, getting top, top money - sadly it appears that 'everyone' is after a slice!

Quite how true reports of a 25% sell-on fee Arsenal will receive are not known, it does now appear that they will get something but not a quarter of what we will... Now Le Havre, the team that he left to join Chelski, are also after a slice - all this despite the fact that he has also played for Arsenal since joining us and several years and dealings have passed since he left the French side. It appears that a 'big money transfer clause' has followed him around and they are expected to pick up around £250,000.

Even so, despite the clear loss of a world-class player that will be near impossible to replace, and the fact that others are looking to get a slice of this it is still a great deal for the club and the player...

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No role for Dennis the menace
Dennis Bergkamp ruled out a Pompey role when linked to it back along, but did not appear to rule this out in the future, this left me thinking that he would link up with us in the summer - but maybe not.

Tony Adams was spotted with the Dutchman during our reserve game this week, but the Pompey manager has insisted that this was only a coincidence and he will not be taking up the assistant managers role with Pompey in the future.

This assistant manager position is still open though and I do feel we need to fill it as Adams and co do need more help, certainly someone that can help with the media side of things as much as anything...

Thoughts on all please guys!

PLAY UP POMPEY!

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