Jack Sparkes

[andrew p long]

Jack easily has more than enough appearances for a League One Championship medal.

21 League One starts and 15 sub appearances. That's starting almost half of the games and making some contribution in more than three quarters of games.

Also in terms of starts Jack is in the top eleven Portsmouth players this season.

 

[arthur]

Jack has made some really important contributions this season, particularly early on when he had far more involvement than I think anyone anticipated he would have. He started a few games last month but has struggled a bit more for minutes since our first-choice left-back returned to full fitness; and our strengthening in other areas, and return to fitness of a few others, has led to our bench being far more attacking in recent weeks. The key to our success this season appears to have been recruiting decent footballers for the level - but, more importantly, a real no-d***heads policy with a massive focus on getting the right sort of characters in; Sparkes has stepped up as needed and seems to fit in with said policy.

It will be interesting to see what the plan is/are with him next season. He has another year with us contractually - presumbaly his wage will increase as a result of the promotion. Ogilvie (our regular starter at LB) is out of contract at the end of the season and, at this stage, no indication of whether we will extend (as with all our out of contract players).

I remember chatting to Alex Inglethorpe after a fans forum years ago when he told me he had a strict no dickheads and getting the right sort of characters in policy which is one of the main reasons the club was doing well.

That was nearly twenty years ago, and I assumed that all successful clubs had long since adopted such an approach. I'm therefore a bit surprised at you implying that Pompey have only recently come to this party

 

[sign of the chimes]

Presumably though Chimes you will have to upgrade significantly to compete in the Championship, I'd be staggered if Jack can be anything but a squad player next season.

To be fair to JS, he's been far more involved this season than I think anyone expected - and whilst he's had ups-and-downs he can be proud of his performances as part of our wider achievements; there were some crucial assists early in the season and he put in a couple of really good defensive performances shortly before Ogilvie returned to fitness.

I probably won't make too many predictions before our retained list is announced - we've not yet been in talks with any of the fourteen players who are out of contract, but there are some relatively big names on that list and think those decisions might give more insight as to the plan for Sparkes next season.

 

[Bat Fastard]

I remember chatting to Alex Inglethorpe after a fans forum years ago when he told me he had a strict no dickheads and getting the right sort of characters in policy which is one of the main reasons the club was doing well.

That was nearly twenty years ago, and I assumed that all successful clubs had long since adopted such an approach. I'm therefore a bit surprised at you implying that Pompey have only recently come to this party

inglethorpe wasn't a proper chap himself if i remember rightly!

 

[sign of the chimes]

I remember chatting to Alex Inglethorpe after a fans forum years ago when he told me he had a strict no dickheads and getting the right sort of characters in policy which is one of the main reasons the club was doing well.

That was nearly twenty years ago, and I assumed that all successful clubs had long since adopted such an approach. I'm therefore a bit surprised at you implying that Pompey have only recently come to this party

Likely one of the reasons it's taken us a few more years than many would have hoped/expected to get out of the division. We've had some really good players and some really good people in that time but my sense is that we were focused far too much on recruiting individuals than to a profile.

Our regular commentator from BBC South has published an article about the reasons for our success this season and Sparkes gets mentioned by name at the end (point 5).

Same commentator believes our playing budget to be around 5th/6th in the division - relative to other probably similar to previous seasons. We've been absolutely battered by injuries to key personnel this season so the importance of good pros, who work hard and are ready to step up as/when required can't be underplayed. When I compare the likes of Sparkes to some of his squad equivalents in recent years the difference is night and day.

 

[arthur]

Likely one of the reasons it's taken us a few more years than many would have hoped/expected to get out of the division. We've had some really good players and some really good people in that time but my sense is that we were focused far too much on recruiting individuals than to a profile.

Our regular commentator from BBC South has published an article about the reasons for our success this season and Sparkes gets mentioned by name at the end (point 5).

Same commentator believes our playing budget to be around 5th/6th in the division - relative to other probably similar to previous seasons. We've been absolutely battered by injuries to key personnel this season so the importance of good pros, who work hard and are ready to step up as/when required can't be underplayed. When I compare the likes of Sparkes to some of his squad equivalents in recent years the difference is night and day.

A well brought up young man

 

[Number13]

inglethorpe wasn't a proper chap himself if i remember rightly!

Enlighten us........

 

[Colesman Ballz]

Enlighten us........

"Not able to keep it in his pants" allegedly, how it was described to me !

 

[Spanks]

"Not able to keep it in his pants" allegedly, how it was described to me !

Then he needed a larger athletic support!

 

[STURTZ]

"Not able to keep it in his pants" allegedly, how it was described to me !

Serial shagger I heard....