Chapter 1: What are the latest updates from the Portsmouth news desk?
The latest Pompey news updates every day from the Pompey Sound Newsdesk. Despite the small matter of Christmas getting in the way, many minds in the Portsmouth speaking universe will today be focusing on the QPR Boxing Day game and the hugely important matter of team selection.
When the team is announced at 2 o'clock on Friday afternoon most eyes will dart to the number 11 shirt, and a sigh of relief will go up from in and around Fratton Park, if the name against that number, the left wing position, is Josh Murphy. There has been an understandable total silence about the extent of the injury which contributed to the decision to take him off against Derby.
If fit he would be expected to play, along with the other man of the moment Callum Lang, with Colby Bishop looking potent once more as the main man up front. In behind them, Conor Chaplin continues to find his feet, and will probably start.
Behind him, Andre Dizel is proving to be an absolute fixture in midfield for Pompey but comparative newcomer Mark Kosniewski put in a good shout for another starting position, with his performance against Derby. At the back, word is that Shocknessy and Knight are approaching 100% fitness, giving John Massino a pleasant headache as to which number five he plumps for.
Chapter 2: How is team selection impacted by the upcoming QPR Boxing Day game?
With Nicholas Schmidt picking himself, the biggest conundrum facing the Pompey manager will probably be the identities of the two fullbacks, bearing in mind Connor Ogilvie's ongoing unavailability. With the glut of holiday fixtures lying ahead, it seems likely that John Massino may save the energy levels of some of his squad, meaning a possible start for the ever-energetic Adrian Sigacic.
One name missing from that round-up is that of Marlon Pack. And he is the most influential Pompey footballer when he's on the pitch that we have at the moment, surely. Not as incisive in terms of scoring goals as the likes of Lang and Murphy agreed. And he doesn't make a great centre-half. But when he is on the pitch, the opposition drop back two yards. They can see the menace that he has.
I don't mean the physical menace, although that's there. I mean the menace that he has in his passing, in his tactical noose, knowing where to stand, making the right decision. Football's all about making a thousand decisions a minute about where to stand and what to do and where to go.
Chapter 3: Who are the key players expected to start against QPR?
And he gets it right and right and right and right every time, every time. And when there's a stoppage, he goes across and talks to John Massino. And the two of them talk. You can see an increasing relationship going on there, which is what leads me to suspect something that I'll mention in just a moment. It's a bit of a bombshell, a bit of a bombshell, not a huge bombshell.
You indeed may have suspected it yourself, but I will mention it in just a second. When he came on against Derby, Colby Bishop raced over to the touchline. and tore off the armband and gave it to him, knowing full well. It's a great demonstration of their recognition of who's the king on the pitch and around the pitch for Pompey.
I think events around Fratton Park indicate that there's a possibility that somebody may be soon appointed as a new assistant coach, assistant head coach, an assistant head coach player coach. Yeah? You get me? Pompey's Australian centre-half Hayden Matthews, a Ā£1.2m purchase, is attracting a great deal of attention.
His national team staff are keeping close tabs on him with the World Cup in mind. It's in the back of my mind. Obviously, I've been involved with the national team for three camps, but only played the one game. It's been good to be in and around everything. And every time I go, it's a really good experience and I learn so much. But it's all in the back of my mind at the moment.
What's in front of us is this Christmas period and a really big time for football. There's a lot of games and that's where all my focus is right now. I don't speak with him, Tony Popovich, directly, but I'm in contact with the national team every week. They're always checking in based on the result, seeing how things went and just keeping in contact.
Definitely good to be back playing and hopefully I can keep my spot. It's up to me if I don't but I've just gotta keep playing well and hopefully I can keep my spot, we've got a very competitive center half group here. Shox is coming back from injury, Regan has been out for a little bit, and Nighty isn't too far away either. Everyone wants to be playing, right?
I guess as long as I'm playing well I'm hoping to keep my spot, keep playing well and hopefully the team keeps winning. And we mustn't forget that his teammate and fellow countryman, Adrian Zegercic, is also in with a shout of being included on the plane to whichever of the three countries Australia played their first games on. If they get there, I believe, it's still to be finished, that job.
Canada, the United States or Mexico. But it will be good. It's always good to see anybody that we've cheered on in a Pompey shirt playing in a World Cup. Oxford United have parted ways with manager Gary Rowett after a dismal start to the Championship season.
The U's are stuck in the relegation zone following Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Charlton Athletic, which was already their 11th loss of the campaign. Rowett's tenure at the club ends after just 12 months, appointed on December 20, 2024, he managed to win only 14 of his 50 games in charge.
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Chapter 4: What is the significance of Marlon Pack's absence from the squad?
Things got so bad that he was often unable to fill the substitutes' bench, even after slashing the club's wage bill. At one point, for a 4-0 loss at Chertsey, the Terrors had just two subs. In another recent match they were forced to play a defender in goal for the entire game because both of their goalkeepers were unavailable.
After a grim run of just one win in their last 11 games, Weymouth announced on Monday that the 59-year-old was leaving by mutual agreement.
Chapter 5: How is Marlon Pack viewed in terms of his influence on the team?
In a statement, the club thanked Claridge for his hard work and confirmed that coach Jamie Wells has been appointed as the new first-team manager. Club legend Jason Matthews is also returning as director of football to work alongside Wells and quote ensure a smooth transition and improved results. The final straw was Saturday's 2-1 defeat at home, against relegation rivals Plymouth Parkway.
Weymouth actually took the lead, scoring their first goal in four matches, but a red card turned the game on its head before Rockneal broke their hearts with a last gasp winner. That loss leaves the team three points from safety, having played more games than the clubs around them.
The timing is critical too, with the change coming just days before a derby clash with local rivals Dorchester Town on December 27, who sit just two points above them in the table. For Pompey fans, this might bring back memories of Claridge's brief stint as player-manager at Fratton Park.
He took over from Tony Pulis in October 2000 under Milan Mandaric, but the spell lasted just four and a half months and 23 matches before Mandaric replaced him with Graham Ricks, and then controversially denied that Claridge had ever been a permanent appointment.
Since then, he's had spells managing Millwall, Salisbury and Fleetlands, but his latest return to Weymouth has come to another abrupt end. Two major sackings, both on the day before Christmas Eve. When I started out, I went to work as a journalist in Fleet Street, which was the absolute epicenter of British journalism. All the newspapers were based there.
And I learned everything I could in the pubs. We drank in the Tipperary. We shared it with the Sun newspapers. And the Sun newspaper writers used to joke, never work for a left-wing newspaper, they will fire you on Christmas Eve. Well, it begins to look as though some struggling football clubs have the same philosophy.
Steve Claridge, a really good egg of a player and a good egg of a bloke as well. His trademark, one of his several trademarks, was playing with his socks rolled down because he liked to receive the ball with an opponent at his back. And he was kind of like saying to him, go on then, I dare you. I dare you to cut my calves to ribbons. It will definitely be a free kick.
And he used to try and get the ball sent to him just inside the penalty area, just on the corner of the penalty area, inside the penalty area. So the defender, obviously, was doubly concerned about going in for the tackle and giving away a penalty. So Claridge would take the ball two feet inside the penalty area. And then by way of a turn, he would simply step over the ball and turn round.
And now he's facing the way he wants to go. He was a good little player, wasn't he? And he played for some good big clubs. Never quite made the big, big time. And never made the big, big time as a football manager either. But we wish him good luck and Merry Christmas.
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