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| FA Cup fifth round |
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| Dates: 2-5 March Coverage: Chelsea v Liverpool live on BBC One on Tuesday, 3 March (19:45 GMT) – as well as Sheffield Wednesday v Manchester City on Wednesday, 4 March (19:45). |
“All of Disney’s sports films had the same theme – the triumph of the underdog. With Portsmouth we hope to get it right in fact, not fiction.”
Michael Eisner is not your typical League One club owner.
A leader in the American entertainment industry for four decades – including stints at the helm of Paramount Pictures and The Walt Disney Company – the high-flying American businessman’s net worth is estimated at $1bn (£760m).
Since August 2017 the 77-year-old has been in charge of Portsmouth, a club flirting with oblivion a few years ago, and pays $7 a match (£5.42) to watch Pompey on the club’s official streaming service when he is unable to fly to England from California.
On Monday, Portsmouth entertain Arsenal (19:45 GMT) in the fifth round of the FA Cup – their highest-profile opponents since Eisner’s arrival – as the club continue their revival against the unlikely backdrop of visits by A-list actors such as Will Ferrell.
They are a club that appear to be on the way back up, so will the match provide a Hollywood ending under the Fratton Park floodlights?
- BBC gives viewers FA Cup match choice
‘A hand-to-mouth existence’
Portsmouth’s fall from grace after winning the FA Cup – as well as playing AC Milan in Europe – in 2008 was nothing short of spectacular.
They went from finishing eighth in the Premier League in 2007-08 to 13th in League Two in 2013-14, as owners came and went and Pompey sank deeper into debt.
In that time they suffered two spells in administration in 2010 and 2012 – as well as two hefty points deductions – and were faced with a real threat of expulsion from the Football League if a takeover deal could not be agreed in 2013.
There was genuine fear among fans that the club – founded in 1898 – could go out of existence.
“It really was touch and go. There was a lot of anxiety we would could disappear at a moment’s notice,” recalls Simon Colebrook, chairman of the Pompey Supporters’ Trust.
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