1 Early years    (1898 - 1911)	A change of fortunes (2006 - 2007) In January 2006, Milan Mandaric confirmed he was to sell a stake in the club to Franco-Russian businessman Alexandre Gaydamak[5], and a cash injection of a reported £15 million enabled Portsmouth to purchase Benjani Mwaruwari from AJ Auxerre for a club record £4.1 m as well as Sean Davis, Pedro Mendes and Noé Pamarot; taking Wayne Routledge, and Andrés D'Alessandro on loan. It appeared that this new cash injection, the return of Harry Redknapp to the club and the arrival of several new players would be too little too late for Portsmouth, as at the beginning of March 2006 they were twelve points adrift from safety with ten matches left. When their chief relegation rivals Birmingham City thrashed Portsmouth 5-0 - their heaviest defeat to date in the Premiership, and also their sixth consecutive match without scoring a goal - Portsmouth looked certain to be relegated and the result also seemed to have put both Birmingham and West Brom out of Pompey's reach. Despite a valiant effort, the club were unable to repeat their home success against Manchester United for a third consecutive season, and lost their clash at Fratton Park 3-1. However, a late equaliser by on-loan Azar Karadas in a 1-1 home draw against Bolton Wanderers, followed by a last minute winning goal by Pedro Mendes at home to Manchester City sparked a dramatic change in form and fortunes in March and April, which coincided with a loss of form for both Birmingham and West Brom. After gaining 17 points from 8 games, Portsmouth avoided relegation on April 29 2006 when a win in the penultimate game of the season at Wigan Athletic, combined with Birmingham City's failure to beat Newcastle United, put Portsmouth beyond the pursuit of the Premiership's bottom three sides. On 19 July, 2006, co-owner and club chairman Milan Mandaric transferred full ownership of the club over to Alexandre Gaydamak, after a 7-year tenure, that saw Portsmouth rise from the brink of liquidation into the top tier of domestic football. Mandaric remained at the club as Non-Executive Chairman until 25 September, 2006, before taking over English Championship club Leicester City. During the summer transfer window, England internationals Glen Johnson (on a one-season loan from Chelsea), David James and Sol Campbell were signed as well as former under 21 midfielder David Thompson. Thompson departed for Bolton Wanderers in February 2007, but James and Campbell have both stayed at Portsmouth since. Veteran strikers Nwankwo Kanu and Andrew Cole were brought in on short-term contracts, with midfielders Manuel Fernandes and Roudolphe Douala joining on loan. Serbian international midfielder Ognjen Koroman's loan from Terek Grozny was extended for a further season, although he left the club in January 2007. Pompey's most expensive signing of the transfer window was that of Croatia international Niko Kranjcar, who cost £3.5 million from Hajduk Split. Portsmouth made a strong start to the 2006-07 Premiership campaign without conceding any goals in their first five games and were briefly top of the Premiership. Two defeats in a row to Bolton Wanderers (1-0 at Fratton) and Tottenham Hotspur (2-1 at White Hart Lane) dented this record, but the team continued to make progress and build on their strong start so that at Christmas they still occupied fourth place (only a point behind third-placed Bolton), prompting speculation that they might emulate the achievements of former Premier League strugglers Bolton, Everton and Middlesbrough by qualifying for the UEFA Cup or even the Champions League, though Manchester United and Chelsea's excellent early-season form meant that neither Bolton and Portsmouth nor any other Premiership sides were considered serious title challengers by this stage. However, a run of poorer results after Christmas moved Portsmouth down towards mid-table, effectively ending their hopes of qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Nevertheless, Portsmouth could still take many positives from their 2006-2007 campaign, not least the fact that they had never, at any stage of the season, looked to be in danger of relegation - largely due to their massive improvement in away game form compared with their three previous Premiership outings - and also that their home form had remained consistently strong. Additionally, there were also many encouraging results for the club, including victories over Manchester United, Everton, Reading, Newcastle United and Liverpool. By the end of the season they had amassed 54 points from 38 games (their best-ever achievement in the Premiership and their most successful finish to a season in over five decades) and recovered from their mid-season slump to finish a respectable ninth in the final table - much higher than many pundits had predicted before the season started. However, Portsmouth declined to participate in the UEFA Intertoto Cup 2007, preferring to honour a commitment they had made to play in the Barclays Asia Trophy 2007 in Hong Kong with Liverpool, Fulham and South China AA between July 24 and July 27, dates which clashed with Intertoto ties. On May 21, 2007, Canterbury of New Zealand announced a deal to make the kit for Portsmouth. This was the company's first venture into football.[6]
2 Climbing up the league    (1919 - 1927)
3 Life at the top    (1927 - 1939)
4 Glory years    (1946 - 1959)
5 Life in the lower leagues    (1961 - 1976)
6 Near oblivion   (1976 - 1980)
7 Back on track   (1980 - 1988)
8 Waiting for success   (1988 - 2002)
9 The Premiership at last   (2002-2004)
10 Crisis and struggle     (2004 - 2006)
11 A change of fortunes     (2006 - 2007)
12 Qualification for Europe     FA Cup glory    (2007-present)