The twisted logic that has accompanied Portsmouth's progress through a campaign of endless chaos and confusion means there should be no surprise when they are relegated from the Premier League one day and reach the FA Cup Final the next.
Even triumphant manager Avram Grant admitted it would have taken "a crazy director" to conjure up the storyline of Portsmouth's season - a statement laced with unintentional irony given the antics around the revolving door into Fratton Park's boardroom.
And there may yet be another, even more unlikely, twist in this tale after Portsmouth beat all odds and overwhelming favourites Spurs 2-0 to set up a final date with Chelsea.
Common sense decrees that the fantasy will surely end when Grant faces his former employers on 15 May, but since when did common sense last apply to any events involving Portsmouth?
So perilous is Portsmouth's financial position that many of their squad will actually have to waive bonuses within their contracts if they have any desire to face Chelsea in the FA Cup final.
It is against this backdrop that the dignified and under-stated Grant has emerged as a central figure in the drama. He was labelled "The True Spirit Of Pompey" on a banner draped from a Wembley balcony on Sunday.
Avram Grant jumps for joy as Portsmouth reach FA Cup final
Portsmouth's plight has found an ideal home in the FA Cup this season. The competition welcomes underdogs, downtrodden, the troubled and unlikely heroes, giving them all a fighting chance. Pompey, judged on that criteria, are the perfect fit.
And so it proved again as Grant wrote his name indelibly into Portsmouth folklore by sending out a patched-up team to pull the rug from under Spurs, led by one of his Fratton Park predecessors Harry Redknapp.
There was almost a sense the fates were guiding Portsmouth as they survived the best Spurs could throw at them before striking the crucial blows in extra time through Frederic Piquionne and a penalty from Kevin-Prince Boateng.
Luck was also on their side when referee Alan Wiley left goalkeeper David James relieved by mystifyingly ruling he had been fouled by Niko Kranjcar before Peter Crouch bundled home what would have been an instant response to Piquionne's goal.
And on a day when Wembley's shameful surface played tricks on just about every player, it was poor Michael Dawson who suffered most as he slipped moving to clear a routine free-kick and left Piquionne with that decisive opportunity nine minutes into extra time.
Spurs, despite an average display that betrayed their aspirations to finish in the Premier League's top four, will rightly feel hard done by not to have won in normal time.
Peter Crouch can hardly miss when he plays for England at Wembley. Not so in this semi-final as all Spurs' best chances came and went at the feet and head of the giant striker.
He even smiled in resignation when a shot seconds from the end of the 90 minutes was blocked by James' leg. This was, however, no laughing matter for the Spurs fans who made a hasty dash for the exits the moment Boateng's penalty beat Heurelho Gomes.
Fortune, for once, may have smiled on Pompey - but their sheer desire and determination made them worthy winners courtesy of a performance that was a glowing testimony to the bond between Grant, his players and their magnificent supporters.
This is arguably Grant's finest hour in English football, outstripping even his feat in guiding Chelsea to the 2008 Champions League final. He was given scant credit for applying the steadying hand to Stamford Bridge after the turbulence caused by Jose Mourinho's departure.
And even if he had claimed Europe's elite trophy no doubt it would have been labelled in many quarters as a victory for a Mourinho team merely kept on auto-pilot by Grant.
Portsmouth's FA Cup success, and their creditable performances even in relegation, is all his own work and Grant was emotional in his after-match briefing. If he did not get the credit he deserved at Chelsea, he must receive it for guiding Portsmouth back to Wembley.
Wearing a Holocaust memorial armband and paying tribute to the influence of his late father Meir, who died in recent months, on his philosophy on life, he underscored the importance of the victory for so many involved with Pompey.
As all connected with Portsmouth celebrated almost with an air of disbelief, it was a football club that was about players, staff and fans again - not administrators or owners past, present and future.
There was genuine feeling as Grant said: "To see the players and fans so happy, you work for moments like this all of your life."
Grant's opposite number Harry Redknapp was gracious and dignified in defeat, especially as it came against the club he guided to FA Cup triumph two years ago, a feat almost forgotten by many Pompey fans amid the rancour of his departure and the club's subsequent financial meltdown.
Redknapp will know too many of Spurs' most influential performers failed to make any major impact on events, despite creating the majority of the presentable chances. He now faces a major task to revitalise dispirited troops to focus once more on the battle for fourth place in the Premier League when they face derby rivals Arsenal at White Hart Lane on Wednesday.
As well as Crouch's profligacy in front of goal, Jermain Defoe cut an anonymous figure and Spurs, a side that can dazzle going forward, were laboured, not helped by what is fast becoming the notorious Wembley playing surface.
Redknapp - and it should be stated that at no stage did he offer this up as an excuse - launched a savage and fully justified attack on the lamentable state of Wembley's pitch. It is a disgrace and lets down the wonderfully reconstruced old stadium.
"Disgrace...farcical...unreal...like a skating rink...impossible to play on," were some of Redknapp's criticisms. And who can take issue with him after the surface had such a detrimental effect on two showpiece FA Cup semi-finals?
If the Football Association and Wembley's authorities cannot cure this recurring problem, then the credibility of the entire stadium goes on the line. No point having a beautiful shop window if the goods in the back are second-rate and shoddy.
The unfortunate Dawson, who saw his footing fail at the game's defining moment, will not remember it with any affection.
Grant sympathised with Redknapp's assertions about Wembley - but was past caring as he prepared to "celebrate with many of my family and friends who came from all over the world - people who believed."
He has, perhaps light-heartedly, threatened to write a book about his experiences at Portsmouth this season. It will have to wait as the final chapter may yet provide a conclusion from the realms of fantasy.
You can follow me throughout this season at twitter.com/philmcnulty and join me on Facebook.

Ý kiến bạn đọc [ 0 ]
Post a Comment