Pre-season’s brought pessimism among excitement – but I think Pompey can be a top 10 hit

If you’d asked most Blues fans on the night of April 16, when promotion had just been sealed, where we’d finish in the 2024-25 Championship, there’d have been plenty of euphoric types backing them for a second straight promotion – or at least a very strong first season back in the Championship.

But on Season Opener Eve, after a long summer in which signings have generally not come easily and a few faithful servants have moved on, many sights will have been lowered. There’s little feeling about that we’ll ‘do an Ipswich’ – and there’s even some saying we’re headihg for a relegation battle because we’ve not strengthened nearly enough, though that chorus is quieter after the sensational Matt Ritchie news on Tuesday night.

Without wanting to get splinters, I feel the likely outcome is somewhere between the two. I said earlier in the summer I could see us finishing in the top 10, and I still think we might, especially if the Gosport new boy/old boy can be as influential as I think he can.

Yes, we still need more quality through the door – the friendlies, though only friendlies, basically glorified training sessions, have shown that. We may not have a bad first XI at present for these opening few games, but we have a squad that appears to have a little less quality and depth than last year’s.

We have replaced Joe Rafferty with Jordan Williams and Abu Kamara with Sammy Silvera – and brought in other new faces of varying degrees of likely influence – but we do still appear to be four or five potential starters or regular subs short of where we need to be.

But – and it’s a big but – as you read this, the transfer window has another three weeks to run – and that is a long time for Andy Cullen, Rich Hughes and John Mousinho to work a bit more of the magic they did last summer and mid-season. Their past record means they deserve our faith in that respect.

It would have been nice to have a fully-functioning squad in place for the trip to Elland Road but it’s not happened and we have to deal with it. And if you think this is anything like the weakest squad we’ve started a campaign with in recent times, you have a very short memory.

We have seven tough league games to come before the end of September and if we can gather eight points from them, I think that’ll be a platform to build from and look to get ourselves comfy in mid-table.

Amid worries over who we have and haven’t recruited, let’s allow ourselves time to enjoy the circles we’re mixing in again after a 12-year break. There are some great games against proper football teams to look forward to. Fratton will be sold out for every game and is where the majority of our points will be won, and some mouthwatering awaydays will hopefully be enjoyed rather than endured.

I’ll end with my prediction (while admitting that in this same supplement in 2005 I picked out Collins Mbesuma as one to watch – which, in a way, he was...) and it’s that Pompey will finish ninth. Many whose spectacles are not as blue-tinted would settle for 19th, so I’ll enjoy watching the boys try to prove my optimism is not unfounded.