Pay up Pompey - the first elite to fall

Well, yesterday's news came as a surprise to very little; Portsmouth FC have entered the dark world of administration. Just under 2 seasons ago, they were on their way to Wembley Way and to eventual FA Cup success.

Now, after 4 owners have taken the reigns this season, the axe hanging above the club dropped and they have become the first top-flight side to be deducted the dreaded nine points.

So what's gone wrong?

Effectively everything. The blame firstly should be placed firmly at the board, specifically Peter Storrie who somehow has been ever-present throughout the issues (akin to Risdale at Leeds in my opinion)

Four chairmen in one season is just ludicrous. It's clear that none of them were invested in the club for the long haul and wanted to make a quick profit. That shouldn't be how a club is treated, but unfortunately it's a sign of the times. On the flipside, some owners of other clubs have outstayed their welcome and have worsened the financial situation.

The blame could be directed at the Premier League for their fit and proper owner policy which previously has been called into question for not being strict enough. The best example being the Glazer takeover in 2005 on borrowed money leaving the club with reported debts of £700million today and Thaksin Sinawatra's takeover of Manchester City in 2007, who today had his assets seized by the Thai government. (Admittedly, the latter of these stories led to another takeover, which helped City in the long run)

But its clear the policy needs looking at if so many owners's dealings in the past are being brought into question. Simply, the Premier League needs to tighten the policy to avoid situations like this one.

On a personal level, I feel really bad for their fans. As soon as they were promoted to the Premier League, the fans probably felt like on Cloud Nine and they've endured hardship over the years. People like John 'Portsmouth FC' Westwood show their enduring passion for the club and created a party-like atmosphere in those first few years of Premier League. Some critics may say Mr Westwood is obsessed and out of touch with reality. Not at all the case, if you've got the passion, flaunt it.

I have a sort of affinity for Portsmouth, I took the club to the Europa League final on Football Manager (John Utaka was Europe's best player, how Pompey fans must wish this was real ) but these dreams seem so far in reality. Under Redknapp, Pompey were knocking on the door of Europe, 24 months later they are knocking on the doors of potential investors.

I really hope the club find a buyer. I don't like to see clubs going under, even Leeds who I should despise. The Leeds case is eeriely parallel to Portsmouth's and I think the club are nowhere near rock bottom yet unfortunately.

So in conclusion, the borrowing culture of the Premier League's club's needs to be stamped out before more clubs follow Pompey into the dark abyss of adminstration

Photos courtesy of Sir Pix-a-Lot and bhardinge

Harvey Birdman - Who's the man in the suit?

Just thought I'd review another recently purchased TV boxset for my minions . Rather than go for a drama, like the Wire, I plumbed for the Adult Swim animated comedy, Harvey Birdman:Attorney at Law

But wait, does the name Birdman sounds familiar? No? Well I'd never heard of him either despite being a aficionado of 70's animated cartoons. He was the lead in Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, which obviously passed me by having being made in 1967.

The hilarious premise for the show is that Harvey (voiced by Gary Cole, who's best known to me as Cotton McKnight in Dodgeball) takes various cases for other cartoon characters as part of a superhero law firm

Just to prove how genius and ludcrious this is, here are some examples of cases taken by Birdman.

• Defending Scooby Doo and Shaggy for possession.
• Defending Boo Boo from Yogi Bear, who is suspected of being an eco-terrorist.
• Defending the Jetsons, who come from the near distant 'future' of 2002, to sue Earth for global warming.

Without doubt, my favourite episode however is where Harvey helps fund Fred Flintstone's Mafia businesses, in a terrific parody of The Godfather.

The pace is so fast that you will be forgiven for missing jokes. The voice acting is solid throughout with special praise going to satirist Stephen Colbert, who plays Harvey's boss, Phil Ken Sebben, who is already in my top 5 cartoon characters of all time.

The series was cancelled in 2007, after Colbert left to commit full-time to his excellent Colbert Report, but I suggest that you check this out; there are some moments of genius littered throughout. The closest thing I can think of to compare it to is Space Ghost, another great animated show.

Here's the first episode I saw which got me hooked to this intelligent and surreal show. One of my mates described it as an acid trip. He ain't wrong.

The Wire, best show ever? 'True dat'

I'll warn you here, this blog won't do this TV show justice. Why? Well firstly, its been too long since I've blogged and second, I feel like this bite-size blog on why you should watch The Wire won't cover everything and will miss out key things. That's the problem with this show, I could talk about it all day, and have much to the annoyance of people who haven't seen it. It makes me look like an educated buffoon if you will

I bought on a recommendation of a mate. That recommendation was "It's the greatest TV series I've ever seen, it's like a novel." I was sceptical, surely it can't be that good and off the back of watching Season 1, I look very foolish.

The Wire, set in Baltimore takes a intricate look at the city's infrastructure. You get to see both sides of the law: the police and the drug dealers that plague the streets. In further seasons, the shift focuses on to other aspects of Baltimore, such as politics, media and the school system. It soon becomes clear though that this series isn't as simple as good vs evil. Each character has his or her flaws and other psychological issues to deal with. All the cast are fairly unknown which is amazing considering the level of acting on show, which shows how well people are cast.

Here's a quick look at the main characters in the show.

The main protagonist within the series is Jimmy McNulty, played by Brit Dominic West. He is quite possibly the most annoying hero I've ever had the misfortune to know. His policing method is unorthodox (and he's specifically told to be orthodox), such as using his kids to stalk drug dealers, and due to this he's hated by the majority of his fellow homicide detectives. He's also a womanising alcoholic. But you still like the guy, at times, which is credit to the writers, since he's such an arsehole.

His right-hand man is Bunk Moreland played by Wendell Pearce. He's also known for his drinking and infidelity, but at least he keeps it secret unlike McNulty. The man is probably my favourite 'good' guy in the series, purely for the lines he has and the fact he's always smoking a cigar at investigation scenes. The essence of cool.

My favourite scene of the season involves these two investigating the scene of a murder


The main player of the drug dealers is Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris) who controls the Barksdale organisation on the West Side. His second in command is Stringer Bell (another Brit, Idris Elba) and the two have built a massive empire of businesses off the back of the drug trades. They work a very complex system in the towers and in The Pit, where Avon's nephew, D'Angelo (Larry Gillard Jr) leads the rest of the foot soldiers.

There's so many other characters within the show, all of which deeply thought out. Two great characters are Omar Little (above played Michael K Williams) who is effectively a Robin Hood type of character who steals from the drug dealers and is always toting a shotgun around the streets. He's gay and is probably the only character who prefers poetry to profanity. My other favourite character is Bubbles (Andre Royo) who's a snitching drug addict, who'll find any way to get his fix.

The plot is too deep to mention in full detail, but, in Jens Lehmann terms, it is about squad of police officers try bring a case against Barksdale's drug empire but within that there are so many subplots that thinking about all of them makes my head explode. Plus I wouldn't want to ruin any of this great show for you. (Intrigue is the best thing trust me)

It doesn't hold back; it's as raw as it can possibly get. Drug taking, gangland shootings, sex scenes, none of them at all censored and in as much gory detail as possible. But that doesn't mean the script isn't rock solid and intellectual. Its one of the best thought out screen-plays of certainly this decade, possibly of the last 30 years. At times, it is so complex that I put the subtitles on (and that doesn't make me stupid, I like to hear everything just to be sure).

So in conclusion, watch The Wire for gritty drama that will keep you hooked for the best part of several weeks. Stay tuned for my series 2 review of the Wire which I will do at some point.

Pictures courtesy of Roo Reynolds on flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/rooreynolds/

and soulsick http://www.flickr.com/photos/suslik/