Opinion: Tough ask to name Alan Ball's best Pompey XI of 90s - but I did it
Having given due consideration to the players who would or wouldn’t make Alan Ball’s Pompey team of the 80s, we move on to his second spell as PFC manager.
Nine years after Jim Gregory sacked him, Bally was back in January 1998 for a second reign, in which he led us to one of the greatest escapes imaginable.
We looked without hope after losing at Crewe in mid-February but somehow the little man fired up the squad to put together a remarkable string of results that ended in that memorable win at Bradford.
The rest of Bally’s second reign was overshadowed by the club’s financial troubles and administration, which led to Milan Mandaric's arrival. But Bally got the bullet four months into the 99-00 season.
Picking a best XI from the players he selected in this spell is much tougher than the same exercise for his 80s era, purely because there are so many to choose from. But I’ve had a go.
In goal I’m going with Aaron Flahavan over The Legend, mainly because I associate the late 90s more with the much-missed Flav than I do with Mr Knight.
My back four is, from right to left, Robbie Pethick, Darren Moore, Andy Awford and Michalis Vlachos. The Greek probably played more for us in midfield than at left-back but I don’t have room for him there.
My central midfield two are Alan McLoughlin and Sammy Igoe and Paul Hall would be wide right.
This is where it gets tricky. I am eschewing the chance to pick Fitzroy Simpson or Jeff Peron on the left to go with a ‘No10’ and two strikers – namely John Durnin, who I just couldn't leave out, John Aloisi and Steve Claridge. Attack-minded? That’s me.
Can you do better from Bally’s 90s crop? Probably. Email [email protected] or Tweet me at @stevebone1