Ready To Rook & Roll - Friday 2nd October

Yeah, very good evening, Blues fans.

Thank you so much for joining us tonight.

Well, it's been a wild week in terms of football stories with, of course, the Manchester City saga against the Premier League and the 115 charges that have been brought against them.

The Premier League, of course, found them guilty.

There's been incredible developments on that story since we last on air on Monday night.

So we're trying to highlight that.

if we can, before 7 o'clock this evening.

We'll find out what Pompey's men's international players' representatives have been up to over the course of the last few days and news of a friendly being played this weekend for John Messina's side against a Premier League outfit.

We'll talk about that later on in the programme, as well as, of course, an update on how the Three Lions have been getting on in the UEFA Nations League.

They are two games deep into this four-game international break and they've got another one coming up tomorrow night.

But first, let's take a quick look back at what's been happening on this day in the history of Portsmouth Football Club.

If we go back to Saturday, the 2nd of October, 1948, Len Phillips scored the only goal as Pompey defeated Newcastle United in front of 45,827 at Fratton Park.

It was the Magpies' first visit to PO4 in 15 years and the victory kept Pompey at the top of the first division.

Now on Tuesday the 2nd of October 1973, two goals from Owen Hand in a 2-1 win over Carlisle United gave the Blues their first home win of the season.

The new Fratton Park floodlights, which produced four times the power of the old system, were officially opened by Supporters Club chairman Bill Davis before the game.

On this day, Thursday 2nd October 1997, Terry Venables, Pompey chairman and manager of the Australian national side, was told by an anonymous caller that he would be murdered if he played Mark Verduca in Australia's friendly in Tunisia.

Verduca did play and scored, but Venables was shaken by the call and of course informed the police.

On Thursday 2nd October 2008, two extra time goals by Peter Crouch ensured Pompey won their first UEFA Cup tie.

Portuguese club Vitoria Guilherme beating 2-0 in the first leg at Fratton Park, led by the same score after 90 minutes.

But Crouch's brace saw Pompey to victory.

Now, a little bit more recent on this day, the 2nd of October 2018, Pompey were 1-0 victors over Coventry City away from home in League One on this day five years ago.

The Blues ran out 4-0 winners over Sunderland at Fratton Park.

That's October 2nd, 2021.

If you remember that one, it was absolutely soaked in PO4.

A game that probably should have been abandoned way before halftime.