Football, racing and more with expert advice. Get the best football bets and prices!

This time last season, Portsmouth were looking forward to the new season with great excitement and anticipation after achieving an historic F.A. Cup final success and the future certainly did seem very bright for Portsmouth.

Fast forward a year and how different everything looks with Harry Redknapp gone and relegation only just avoided, they find themselves in debt, uncertainty over the ownership of the club, players leaving and others expected to leave.

Football fans will follow their team through anything and certainly the Portsmouth fans rank right up with any other set of fans in terms of loyalty and passion for the cause but even the most hardened and seasoned of Portsmouth fans must surely have concerns for what lies ahead this season and beyond.

On a footballing level, Portsmouth know that they have to improve on what they did last season as they cannot afford to be relegated, but to survive they must invest in strengthening the squad and adding quality in all the key areas.

Given the uncertainty at the club it is hard to envisage many new signings coming in and particularly those of a higher calibre and worse still the better players at the club will possibly be looking to leave, so retention of good players will be absolutely key to their chances.

A vital area that Portsmouth needs to look at strengthening is in the attacking areas because last season they did not carry any serious attacking threat to the opposition on a consistent enough basis and they look lightweight up front.

The sale of Peter Crouch is a massive blow and clearly the money from that deal needs to be re-invested to give Portsmouth any chance at all this season

The ownership situation should be sorted out eventually, but the longer that situation goes on, the more damaging the on Portsmouth’s chances in the Premier League this season and this could well be another very nervous campaign for Paul Hart’s team and the loyal Portsmouth following.

PREDICTED LEAGUE POSITION: 16th