MOORE’S MEMORIES HAD HATELEY ENDURED A TEMPORARY SPELL ELSEWHERE IN ORDER TO PROVE HIMSELF, WHO KNOWS QUITE HOW MUCH HISTORY WOULD HAVE BEEN REWRITTEN was one of the fortunate Isanctum few inside Paul Cook’s inner on the night the manager
likely, I know, seeing as he had already dropped down a division to join the Blues.
was musing over his central defensive options. Coincidentally, I had already written that first sentence before he had even been appointed the new manager of today’s opponents.
But had such a transition occurred, it is likely the striker would not have appeared on England’s radar for a trip to South America and scored a headed goal against Brazil that catapulted him to worldwide fame.
Among a host of topics discussed over post-match bottles of beer, one conversation centred on the qualities of Matt Clarke and Adam Webster, and who was the better prospect.
That came at the end of his first – and only – season at Fratton Park, earning a £1 million move to AC Milan. As well as missing out on that, he might never have experienced the joys of hitting back-to-back hat-tricks against Cambridge and Grimsby or formed a swashbuckling partnership with Alan Biley.
At the end of that campaign, the latter – still on his way to becoming a formidable player – was sold to Ipswich, while the former moved the other way on a permanent deal. Webster has since become a rock at the heart of Brighton’s defence in the Premier League, while Clarke, having signed for the same club, is out on loan at a struggling Derby side in the Championship. It is just shy of two years since Clarke moved from one part of the south coast to the other, setting up the intriguing prospect of two former Pompey men becoming defensive partners in English football’s elite division. But he has yet to make a competitive appearance for the Sussex outfit, having immediately been sent out on loan to Derby, where he has been lodging ever since. Webster, meanwhile, is established with the Seagulls and looks comfortable in his elevated surroundings. portsmouthfc.co.uk
Okay, we might not have seen the subsequent signing of Scott McGarvey either, but that is a subject for another day. The craziness of such transactions is highlighted by several possible scenarios at present. Brighton could perhaps get relegated, manager Graham Potter leaves and the incoming boss has to cut costs and preside over a cull of players. Then Clarke, who would have officially become a Premier League player in 2019 and dreamt of appearing at the highest level, never gets to do so – unless, of course, he moves elsewhere. Consider this, if you will. Mark Hateley signed for Pompey for a club record fee in the summer of 1983. Imagine if he had then been loaned out to prove himself – not 19
Had Hateley endured a temporary spell elsewhere in order to prove himself, who knows quite how much history would have been rewritten. Fortunately, such absurd rules of business had yet to be engineered and when a club bought a player, it was a proven asset, not a future possibility. In less than the time Clarke has spent as a ‘Premier League player’, Hateley became an international performer, starring for Italian giants and with a million-pound price tag on his head. Now that is certainly an interesting chat for the inner sanctum. @Pompey
