Duncan Barkes

There are only two points off a playoff place.

But your conspiracy theorists, I think, will quickly point out that they don't want to go up.

I've been on a terrace once and heard the chant about another team from their own supporters chanting they don't want to go up.

And there can be some truth in it.

You don't want to...

be promoted to a place really where you can't afford to be in so many respects.

you know, that lot up the road got embarrassed in the Premier League last season.

And Derby don't want that to happen to them, perhaps, perhaps.

So when they say that they were happy to collect half a million pounds for one of their key players, who is now one of our key players, what they're saying is we were able to use that money by investing in players, young players, who will be assets and who will be of value to us in the future.

So they are planning for the future rather than the here and now.

And Pompey went into the January window, of course, looking to acquire with a view to the here and now.

And it looks as though, to a large extent, with what we've seen so far, they've pulled it off.

We asked Steve Bone for his predictions for the Preston game, but first we asked him for his predictions if he was prepared to venture one for Pompey's season overall.

The latest Pompey news updates every day from the Pompey Sound News Desk.

The following somewhat terse announcement was posted on the official Portsmouth FC website at approximately midday.

Pompey's scheduled championship fixture against Ipswich at Fratton Park this evening has been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

This is after persistent overnight rain, continuing into the morning and forecast to last until close to kick-off, has fallen on already saturated ground.

A new date for the fixture will be announced in due course.

Conspiracy theorists lost no time in speculating who made the decision, and whether Pompey influenced it with a view to postponing the fixture until they had a stronger squad.

Given that Pompey predicted all along that the bulk of transfer activity during the January window would take place at the death, some supporters may express surprise that they agreed to replay the postponed Ipswich fixture 24 hours after the window closed.