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Pompey woes are nothing new - ask South Shields!
AS I sit looking at an old programme in the members' bar at South Shields Football Club's Filtrona Park ground in Simonside, it's hard to believe the Mariners once lined up against the likes of Chelsea.
On the front of the photocopy of the Londoners' official programme is the team list for a game on February 27, 1926.
At the bottom, it shows the old Football League Second Division, with South Shields occupying fifth position.
Below them sit such household names as Middlesbrough, Hull City, Nottingham Forest and, perhaps tellingly, Portsmouth.
The south coast Premier League team might be in the financial doldrums at the moment, but at least they are still one of the big boys – for now, at least.
Of the 22 teams shown in the 1926 league, only one has dropped out of the football league altogether, and that's South Shields.
To find out how that happened, you have to go back decades into the archives of the club. There you'll discover how every malaise besetting the modern game has, at one time or another, affected the Mariners.
Insolvency, falling attendances and ground relocation have, over the decades, all taken their toll on the club, now sitting in the top half of Division One of the Northern League.
With home attendances averaging about 200, you could be forgiven for thinking that here is a club fallen into a trough of despair, but you'd be wrong.
If anything, the story of the club is one of triumph over adversity.
Over the course of its 120-year history, it has been bankrupted once, twice relocated to Gateshead and moved grounds three times within South Shields.
Despite that, it's still going, unlike, for example, former Football League side Chester City, which was wound up last week for not paying its taxes and kicked out of the Blue Square Premier Division.
Though sympathetic towards the Cheshire's side's plight, Bob Wray, the owner of the aforesaid 1926 programme and guardian of much of the Mariners' memorabilia, couldn't help but feel relieved that, for once, it wasn't his team going under.
Reminiscing about the games he attended as a boy, the 71-year-old, a retired music instructor, said: "I came to watch them in 1948 at the Horsley Hill ground when they played in red and green squares. I have been passionate about them ever since."
Now a member of the supporters' association and editor of its newsletter, The Mariner's Voice, the dad of two, explained how the club's history has not been one of relentless decline since the 1920s.
"There have been ups and downs," he said. "Perhaps the high peak in recent years was from 1968 to 1974, when we were playing against the likes of Wigan Athletic in the Northern Premier League – now the Unibond League.
"It's not very pleasant to see Wigan in the Premier League and us down here, but that's football."
Supporters' association membership secretary John Prendergast sees things slightly differently.
"I'm pleased to see Wigan have success. It just goes to show that it is possible," said the 57-year-old.
Born and bred in South Shields, the removal firm boss has also supported the club since he was knee-high.
"I used to sell programmes when I was a boy at the Simonside Hall stadium, which was knocked down in the 1970s," he recalled.
"Like all the other guys, I muck in with a bit of everything, such as fundraising, promotional activities and social events."
These are all important to the club nowadays as, like many other non-league teams, it can't rely on sponsorship alone to keep it afloat.
"Cash is very important, perhaps now more then ever before, and not just for clubs like Portsmouth," said John.
"Financially the club is doing all right, but we still have to get sponsorship and raise funds. Without fundraising, we would cease to exist."
This they do with a range of year-round activities, such as table-top sales and bag-packing sessions at supermarkets.
This year, the club is also seeking to swell its coffers by doing a sponsored coast-to-coast bike ride in June.
"It would be great if people could get behind this and sponsor the lads who will be doing it," said John.
His eventual dream is to see the club in the Football League again, as that is where he thinks it belongs.
That could only happen with the support of the whole of South Tyneside, he reckons, acknowledging the obstacles in the way of that ambition.
"If we can get the potential fan base to become a reality, we have a chance of reviving the club's fortunes," he said.
"This has always been a football area, situated as it is between Newcastle and Sunderland. It's been traditional for people to support one of these and their local team.
"For example, if Newcastle were playing away, local fans would come to see South Shields instead. Sadly, this doesn't happen so much any more.
"We need people to get involved with the club again. It only costs 5 a game, and 3 for concessions.
"They can come along and then join the supporters' association, which would really help our long-term survival.
"There used to be 13,000 in the supporters' club in the 1950s."
That's a sentiment echoed by 72-year-old George Wood, a retired seaman and fellow member of the supporters' committee.
Having supported the club since the 1950s, the dad of three believes a return to the halcyon days is not beyond the realms of possibility.
"South Shields has a population of 84,000. We should be getting crowds of 500 to 1,000 at every home match," he said.
"Look at Burnley. It is in the Premier League, but it only has a population of 60,000. We have 150,000 people in South Tyneside."
Burnley might have a smaller population, but it has the sort of financial muscle the Mariners can only dream about at the moment.
All dreams start small though. "The first step for us is a return to the Unibond League," said John.
"We are one of the biggest sleeping giants in non-league football today.
"Since 1974, we have gone up four leagues. It might not seem a lot, but in football terms that's huge.
"Only five more divisions up, and we'd be in the Second Division."
To join the supporters' association or sponsor its bike ride, call John on 454 6850 on weekdays or 420 0338 at evenings or weekends.
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Weather for South Shields
Saturday 11 February 2012
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