Macca interviewed in friendly programme
Fans will not hang out the bunting when a player arrives at Pompey from Southampton.
It takes something special to be welcomed by the Fratton faithful when you have been signed from ‘the enemy’.
So it says a lot about Alan McLoughlin’s Blues contribution that he has been awarded a benefit match, with Bournemouth the visitors on Saturday.
And the former midfielder admits that he had to make a bright start to his Pompey career in order to win over supporters.
“Before my home debut against Tranmere, I had the likes of Andy Awford and Darryl Powell telling me about the stick I was going to receive,” McLoughlin recalls in the official matchday magazine. “Alan Knight also threw a little grenade in, but I just got on with it.
“I’d set up Chris Burns for the opener within six minutes and then scored a 20-yarder myself – I could feel the tide starting to turn.
“But it was the Nottingham Forest game in the FA Cup where things really turned and I actually felt fortunate to even be in the side given the lads’ heroics at Middlesbrough in the previous round.
“I just happened to be standing in the right place – or, to be more precise, where Jim Smith had told me to stand – to jab home the early goal early on.”
To read the full interview – where Macca also talks about the disappointment of missing out on promotion in 1993 – pick up a copy of the magazine from programme sellers around Fratton Park.
The man of the hour picks his Pompey dream team and there are tributes to the ex-Ireland international.
We look at the Premier League visitors and there are also exclusive columns from McLoughlin, Iain McInnes and Paul Cook.
All this and much, much more in a packed 36 pages is available for just £2.