Clueless owners who care nothing for history should be dumped in a skip

HMS Warrior was once the envy of the world and the pride of the British fleet. Built between 1859 and 1860 by Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company as the response to the French ironclad La Gloire, it was the first armour-plated, iron-hulled warship ever launched and ruled the waves for the next 12 years.



The football team at Thames Ironworks grew to be West Ham United and a scale model of their most famous ship is on display in the main reception at Upton Park.



The real HMS Warrior was rarely at the sharp end of naval conflict, however. She guarded Queen Victoria at Osborne House during the time of the Fenian Rising and was mobilised during the Russo-Turkish War amid fears Constantinople was about to be attacked.



Historic: Built at a cost of £377,000 in 1860, HMS Warrior was Britain's first armour-plated, iron-hulled ship

Indeed, it is perhaps because Warrior’s existence was relatively uneventful — she became obsolete in 1871 with the arrival of the mastless and more powerful HMS Devastation — that so much of her interior survived. Portsmouth Harbour, not east London, is Warrior’s fitting and final resting place. She is now a museum ship and function venue, the last surviving member of Queen Victoria’s Black Battle Fleet.



The restoration was, at the time, the largest maritime project ever undertaken. Not everything is as it once was, though, and a five-leafed oak table and 14 chairs from the officers’ ward room have resided at Fratton Park, home of Portsmouth Football Club since before the Second World War.



They were a gift from the Royal Navy — and in 2006, were dumped unceremoniously in a skip.



Alexandre Gaydamak, the new owner, decided he wanted a more modern look for his boardroom.

He did not like the oak chairs with their ship’s wheel motif. They meant nothing to him and he didn’t care what they meant to his club, either.



History lesson: Alexandre Gaydamak, former owner of Portsmouth, opted to hurl 14 chairs and an ornate oak table into a skip

Seats of power: Winston Churchill (left) and Field Marshal Montgomery sat on the chairs as they drew up battleplans in World War II



A turn-up for the books: A builder appeared on Antiques Roadshow after finding the chairs in a skip and learnt about their wonderful past

Fortunately, someone did care. The gentleman whose company was in charge of the clearance, horrified, rescued the items from destruction and placed them in storage for the day the club regained its sanity.



The collection was featured on Antiques Roadshow and was confirmed as genuine; with Portsmouth now owned by supporters as a community trust, it is hoped they will soon be returned to their home on land.



So the tale has a happy ending, but no thanks to the transient Gaydamak, or to those who believe that buying a football club gives an owner sole control of its destiny. It is his club and he can do what he wants with it, runs the argument — and it is one that turns blue shirts red or makes jungle animals of once-proud Citys.



What did the Football League or Football Association do to preserve tradition at Cardiff City?



Nothing.



And, so far, no firm stance from the FA or Premier League on the prospect of Hull Tigers, either.

The chairs at Portsmouth? It is not as if the Premier League could order an inventory at every club, making sure each bit of old toot left lying around remains unmolested.

Yet the fact that Gaydamak had such little concern for Portsmouth’s traditions and associations, suggests that new owners should be made to carry a duty of care that goes beyond passing a fit and proper persons test.



A bond to maintain the historic values of the club should be part of any takeover — and would see off some of the more ruinous ideas that may come football’s way in the months ahead.

Ivory tower: Mike Ashley shares a moment with director of football Joe Kinnear as Newcastle lose to Hull

It is difficult to control an owner’s economic desires: if Mike Ashley did not want to bring a new player to Newcastle United for the next five years that is his business, his folly and the supporters, sadly, are stuck with the consequences. But Newcastle United play in Newcastle and wear black and white stripes: those basic details are sacred.



You can’t just blame Di Canio Clearly Sunderland had a decision to make. The question remains, though, now that Paolo Di Canio (below) has gone, what of director of football Roberto De Fanti and his chief scout Valentino Angeloni?

Surely they were all in it together this summer.

And if they were not and Di Canio alone bought the 14 new players who have helped Sunderland reach the last week in September without a Premier League win, then what is the point of the pair of them?

Portsmouth is the Navy city and therefore the Navy team. There can’t be a rule about chairs and tables but there could be a charter in which each club is given a brief profile, agreed to by the true custodians, who pay to watch every week, so that any owner knows what it is, what it represents and what fans believe is important.



A DNA map so that, in Portsmouth’s case, putting HMS Warrior’s chairs and boardroom table in a skip would be considered an act of sacrilege — or simply wouldn’t happen because the owner would be aware of the significance to the club.



Portsmouth are not entirely beholden to the military. The patriotic blue, white and red colours only came into use in 1947 and their longevity has had more to do with that switch coinciding with the most successful period in the club’s history, but associations remain.



The famous Pompey Chimes, for instance, were brought to the club by the followers of Royal Artillery who played at the nearby United Services ground. Royal Artillery were expelled from the FA Amateur Cup during the 1898-99 season for professionalism and many of their supporters transferred to Portsmouth, bringing with them the cry now known as ‘Play up, Pompey’.



Local hero and current manager Guy Whittingham is ex-Army. He scored a record 48 goals in all competitions for the club in the 1992-93 season.

Now and then: Pompey manager Guy Whittingham, and in his playing pomp in 1992

The ceremony to announce the launch of the latest strip was held on board HMS Warrior.



Yet for Portsmouth, and many lower league clubs, choppy waters lie ahead.



Gaydamak has gone but now it is the Premier League who want to dump the antiques on a tip. The discussion around the future of the national team has produced its first big idea — and, typically, it seems little more than another opportunist power grab by the very rich.



The Premier League are floating the thought of nursery clubs — and who would be getting left by the kerb in order for this to happen? The poor relations of the Football League. Maybe Brentford, maybe Accrington Stanley, perhaps Portsmouth.



This is where a charter would come in. At the heart of every football club is its independence, its right to achieve, its right to dream. Portsmouth, once in the Premier League, are now in the fourth tier, but their supporters must be allowed to imagine a better day when they will return, locally owned and sustainable. What is left for them if they become, say, Aston Villa’s feeder team?



It happens in Spain, you will hear, but to properly ape the Spanish model, big brother and baby sibling cannot compete in the same division or cup competition. So no Premier League, no domestic cups and therefore no Wembley.

Fan power: Portsmouth supporters protest about their previous owners in 2010

What meaningless manner of existence is that? Real Castilla, Real Madrid’s nursery team, have never been anything more than the reserves. They formed in 1972 when Madrid’s previous feeder, AD Plus Ultra, collapsed and have no history beyond supply. The fans are Madrid’s fans and accept that the pinnacle of achievement is the Segunda Division. They are the worst supported team in that league, too, with an average attendance last season of 2,863. It is the same in Barcelona, where Barcelona B’s lowest home crowd of last season was 977.

So to compare what is being proposed in English football to the position in Spain is false.



What the Premier League wish is for Chelsea to collect an inferior club — but one with history, traditions and dreams nevertheless — and entirely change its purpose.



Nursery clubs, created in this way, are an abomination.



Football League teams might not have the wealth and status but they have support passed from generation to generation — and ambitions no less worthy than those of the elite. To destroy that would be a scandalous abuse of a privilege gained at a fleeting moment in time.



Why should the fact that, right now, Chelsea find themselves in the ascendancy, allow that club to use, say, Bury — founded 20 years earlier — as a kindergarten?



Keeping the dream alive is the most important element of football and while Bradford City, Wigan Athletic or Swansea City can scramble their way through to Wembley or the Premier League, the rest must be left free to follow.

Cinderella stories: If feeder clubs are introduced in Britain, what hopes are there for the likes of Swansea (above) who rose from near oblivion to the top flight in a decade

Cup of joy: Wigan also rose from the lower echelons to win silverware at Wembley

Some major clubs will always have a special relationship with a lower league ally, built through business contacts or an ex-player or manager, but to formalise these arrangements, so that promotion to the top league or a cup run is no longer a goal, strikes at the soul of English football. There will be chairmen out there who will merely see an end to their financial worries, a chance to be enveloped in a soft, warm blanket of largesse and safety.



There will be chairmen who see a hundred years of history as nothing more than a load of old furniture cluttering up the place, getting in the way of their swanky new office with its hotline to the director of football at Manchester City.



And those owners need to be stopped, the way Gaydamak should have been halted in his tracks the day he ordered some subordinate to start filling a skip with Britain’s naval history.



The Premier League are very welcome to put their B teams into the lower reaches of football’s pyramid — but not by taking over traditional clubs amid specious claims of helping the national team. This is a plan that would effectively destroy the Football League’s pyramid and neuter its little remaining power. It is no way forward.



If Manchester United truly do wish for a B team to make their way through English football, allowing their academy to gorge on ever greater numbers of young talent as if that is healthy for the game, there is a correct entry point and FC United of Manchester will be happy to point them in the right direction if there is any doubt.



As for Portsmouth, as a mid-table tier four club, they currently average over 16,000 supporters per game. Who knows what might happen if by some miracle that ship turns around? They would certainly need more chairs.

AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT...

If the decision review system proved anything this summer, it is that cricket has become a game played by chancers. Batsmen would appeal against a decision because they could, in the hope of catching a break. Bowlers sometimes had a go, too. It got so bad that some seriously spoke of the use of DRS as another tactic in the captain’s battle plan, rather than a weapon against obvious injustice.



And now it is about to get worse. Given two reviews at the start of each innings, teams will now receive that number again each time there is a new ball. So a long innings could see the sides allowed 12 unsuccessful reviews, minimum, plus an infinite number of successful ones. This is ridiculous.



Controversy after controversy: Jonathan Trott looks on in disbelief as Mitchell Starc claims his wicket after a DRS review in the first Test at Trent Bridge

The alternatives were straightforward: either make cricket a game in which every call emanates from the television room, leaving the on-field umpires to count balls in the over, hold jumpers and ensure the chat between the players doesn’t get out of hand; or restrict the number of reviews to one per team per innings.



That way, a captain would have to save his challenge for glaring mistakes, and not just have a punt in the hope of getting lucky — which will happen even more now.

Michel Platini inspired this debacle. He was the bright spark who led the calls for a winter World Cup, having voted to play the tournament in Qatar in the summer, and he should therefore suffer the consequences.



The plan to switch to January and February has run into problems due to a clash with the 2022 Winter Olympics.



Les miserable: Michel Platini deserves all the criticism that comes his way for scheduling a winter World Cup

It is claimed that angering the International Olympic Committee with unhelpful scheduling could see football banished from future summer tournaments. So October and November is being proposed — to fresh horror from UEFA, who do not want their precious Champions League affected. The message to Platini is clear: you got us into this, pal, now you get us out of it.

After Romelu Lukaku scored Everton’s winner on Saturday, West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce was bemoaning the fact that he was unable to extract the player from Chelsea this summer.

‘I kept asking Jose Mourinho to let me have him, but he said “no, no, no”,’ said Allardyce.



Instead, Mourinho placed his loan strikers at the two English clubs that best value the short-passing game — Lukaku at Everton, Victor Moses at Liverpool.



Totemic: Romelu Lukaku cannot remember scoring Everton's winner at West Ham - but Sam Allardyce was thwarted in his attempts to sign the classy striker