From the Snooze (Thursday)

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Pompey are set to sign triallist keeper Phil Smith.The former Swindon man is set to arrive at the club in time to face Tranmere on Saturday.

The 32-year-old was invited to join on trial at the start of the week, after being without a club since his release from the County Ground in the summer.

Goalkeeping coach John Keeley has run the rule over Smith and the coaching staff have now decided to offer him a short-term deal.

It will be Simon Eastwood who will get the nod to start at Prenton Park this weekend, however.

Caretaker boss Guy Whittingham said: ‘We are hoping to sort something out with Phil. Hopefully he’ll be okay for Saturday.

‘We’ve got him in for his experience, but we need cover.’


FORMER Pompey owner Sacha Gaydamak has paid off £330,000 he owed a council over the club’s axed training ground.The money comes from a deal made in 2008 over Portsmouth Football Club’s plans to build a multimillion-pound training ground at Cherque Farm in Lee-on-the-Solent.

Gosport Borough Council won a legal challenge last year after the plans were abandoned and Mr Gaydamak’s firm was ordered to pay the council £330,000 within 18 months.

Now The News can reveal the final repayment was made on November 16.

Council leader Tory councillor Mark Hook, said: ‘I am very pleased the money has now been repaid.

‘Mr Gaydamak has been true to his word and I thank him for that.’

There have been calls for the money received from Mr Gaydamak to be ploughed into the Alver Valley Country Park project.

Over the last five years the council’s countryside team, along with volunteers, have installed 600m of pathway, planted 6,300 trees and put in safety fences, hedges and drainage ditches.

Cllr Hook added: ‘We continue to develop the Alver Valley Country Park and this money will be used to continue to provide facilities that can be used by the people of Gosport.’

Councillor Dennis Wright, the leader of the council’s opposing Labour group, said he was delighted the money had been paid back.

‘The last time I enquired about it, which was a couple of months ago, there was a couple of payments left,’ he said.

‘I’m pleased that he’s kept his side of the deal. We were assured all the way along that he would and obviously it’s to the benefit of the council tax payers of the borough.

‘There were some people saying, a long time ago now, that he wouldn’t pay it back and we’d never get it and all that sort of thing, but we were always assured that we would and I’m pleased that we have.

‘We’re obviously very disappointed that the sports training facility down at Lee-on-the-Solent didn’t go ahead.

‘But of course one can’t expect that in the financial position that the club are in now.

‘There are all sorts of areas where the council could spend it on, we’ve got a very large capital programme and we’ll have to look at our priorities.’

It was four years ago that Gosport’s council gave the green light for Pompey to build a new training ground at Lee-on-the-Solent.

But the deal meant the council had to pay back £330,000 to Persimmon Homes, the builders behind the Cherque Farm development.

Persimmon had given the cash as part of a legal agreement to pay for new leisure facilities in the area.

To make sure the council could recover its money if the training ground plans were abandoned, it signed an indemnity agreement with Mr Gaydamak’s firm Miland Development 2004.

And with the training ground proposals long buried, the council was forced to take legal action in July last year.

The original plans for the training ground would have seen 15 sports pitches, changing rooms, medical facilities and a gym at the site.

The plans would have also seen the community benefit, getting the use of two full-size pitches.


Guy Whittingham has applauded the Pompey impact made by Paul Benson.Now he is backing the striker to add goals to his all-round play.

The Blues’ caretaker boss brought Benson to Fratton Park last month to partner Izale McLeod.

The 33-year-old has subsequently started the past three matches, although has still to net a goal.

Against Coventry City, the Swindon loanee was asked to serve as a central striker, with McLeod on the left flank.

And when Pompey’s leading scorer swooped in stoppage-time to equalise, Benson had already been substituted 27 minutes earlier.

Yet Whittingham insists he is pleased with the contribution of the former Dagenham & Redbridge forward.

And while he admits chances have been missed, he is confident Benson will rediscover his goal touch soon.

‘I’ve been very pleased with Paul’s contribution,’ he said.

‘I think all that is missing from his game is a goal.

‘He works hard, is a good target man and wins his share of headers.

‘He has a good work ethic in the game.

‘I like his versatility as well – he can play as a lone striker or play as a two.

‘We went as a 4-3-3 in the last game against Coventry with him down the middle.

‘You have to say he has had some chances.

‘And he will be the first to admit that perhaps he should have got off the mark for us by now.

‘I know he is disappointed he has not got one at least.

‘That part of his game is just not happening for him at the moment – but it will come.

‘Paul has a good work-rate – as he has shown since he got here – and is a proven player at this level.

‘His record proves he knows how to score goals and I am sure that will happen for us.

‘Hopefully he can open his account this weekend at Tranmere.’

Birmingham’s Jake Jervis followed Benson into Fratton Park.

And his arrival has created competition for striker places, a necessity which has been missing this season.

Whittingham finally has the luxury of options in attacking positions, as was seen in that 1-1 draw at the Ricoh Arena.

Benson made way in the 63rd minute for Jervis – as the Blues searched for an equaliser.

In the end, McLeod converted Adam Webster’s pass in the most dramatic of finales.

But Whittingham has made it clear Benson was not taken off for form reasons.

‘I’ve chatted to Paul and explained I didn’t bring him off against Coventry because he was playing poorly,’ said the caretaker boss.

‘It’s just that I wanted to get Jake a run and to give us something else.

‘Having been a striker, I can appreciate you want 20 to 25 minutes to really get into the game. It was nothing against Paul.’


Andy Awford insists he can cope with juggling his two roles – for now.The Academy boss has stepped up to join Guy Whittingham in the first-team management set-up in the wake of Michael Appleton’s departure.

But he is still in the top job for developing the club’s youngsters, even though his support staff and coaches have taken on extra responsibility recently.

While the former Blues skipper is enjoying his dual role, he knows it is impossible to perform them both to the best of his ability in the long term.

Awford said: ‘I’ve enjoyed it and I’d like to think the players have enjoyed it, too.

‘But I’ve also missed some of the involvement with the Academy.

‘I’m really fortunate that I have first-class staff at the Academy behind me.

‘We’ve got things in place and a lot of good people there so it all just runs. But I still have a handle on things to make sure they happen.

‘If I stay with the first team, then we would have to address things in the long term.

‘I was at schoolboy reviews the other night at 9pm after finishing all of the first-team stuff but I don’t mind that.

‘At the moment, I am happy to juggle the two and see where it all goes.

‘We are all happy to muck in and just get on with it.’

Caretaker boss Whittingham and Awford have yet to be given any long-term assurances with the club’s ownership still yet to be settled.

Awford said: ‘I will know how long we will be doing it as soon as anyone tells me.

‘I will have that conversation when I am told they want me to do the job on a permanent basis or they tell me differently.’