12 March 2008
VIDEO: The FA Roadshow Q&A at Portsmouth

See footage from Fratton Park as a four man panel face the fans in a question and answer session about all things football.


12 March 2008
VIDEO: The FA Roadshow Q&A at Portsmouth Part Two

The second part of our video special from Fratton Park.


12 March 2008
VIDEO: The FA Roadshow Skills Coaching

Stuart Pearce and Sir Trevor Brooking get involved with local youngsters at The FA Roadshow in Portsmouth.

The FA brought the key issues of the sport to the heart of the fanbase on Tuesday evening, as a special panel of experts from the game sat down at Fratton Park in Portsmouth for a question and answer session as part of the second FA ‘Roadshow’.

Following last October’s trip to the Midlands and West Bromwich Albion, over 200 local supporters were present in the Victory Lounge at Portsmouth FC to fire their questions to the panel on all different kinds of issues at the heart of the game.

After an afternoon of coaching (left) for local youngsters as part of The FA Tesco Skills Programme, the panel was made up of new Chairman Lord David Triesman, Director Of Football Development Sir Trevor Brooking, England Under-21 Head Coach Stuart Pearce and England and Portsmouth goalkeeper David James, who proved a particularly popular guest given his team’s success in reaching The FA Cup Semi-Final on Saturday.

For almost two hours, the panel gave their thoughts and often differing opinions on the queries that were put their way.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the first question that came in was regarding the potential of a ‘39th game’ for teams in the Premiership and Lord Triesman put any fans' fears immediately to rest by revealing that he believes the plan is "not sustainable".

His views were backed up by James, who admitted: “It’s difficult to form an opinion on the matter without seeing the evidence.

“We also have to think of the supporters and the whole carbon footprint issue and if fans can’t get out to a game in Sydney or wherever, then they’re losing a part of their club.”

The panel were then quizzed on how the technique and skills of English players stands in comparison to the rest of the footballing world.

Pearce admitted that he finds it hard to watch a game between top Premiership teams for his work purposes because of what it takes for young English players to break through at the top level nowadays.

“The bar has been raised at clubs and there needs to be more of the Under-21 players in those teams,” said Pearce.

“We need to address these things, but I'd also like to see England start winning things, at all levels.”

Pearce added more of his thoughts when the panel were asked on the issue of clubs allowing, or not allowing, their players to report for international duty.

“I personally believe that if a player says he wants to play for his country, his club manager will allow him to report,” he said.

“I still think the power is with the players there and I don’t things have changed much since my day.”

The appointment of Fabio Capello was also touched upon and Pearce revealed how he hopes to raise his own standards by working with the Italian over the coming years.

“If you can’t learn from someone like Fabio Capello with his CV, having won titles in Italy and Spain and being one of the top four managers in the world, then you can’t learn from anyone,” he mused.

Lord Triesman also revealed that The FA had thoughts on supporters across the nation and their inconveniences in travelling to watch their side at certain times of the week, after the gruelling away day schedule of Pompey was pointed out to the panel. With further discussions planned on this with the relevant parties, Lord Triesman admitted that there will ‘be further discussions on this.’

It was also revealed by Lord Triesman that at a recent meeting between the Associations of the four home nations and FIFA in Scotland, that the prospect of goal-line technology had been sidelined in order to respect the authority of match officials, who make the decisions without being challenged on whether they are right or wrong.

On the same topic, the panel all gave their thoughts on referees, with James and Pearce both giving backing to officials and admitting that they didn’t envy the job they have to perform at the highest level, particularly given the media coverage of the game.

Other topics to have been discussed at the event included the issue of ticket allocation for The FA Cup Semi-Final and Final, as well as the number of corporate seats in the stadium.

The pilot scheme in seven counties across the country with regards to ‘Respect’ to officials and players was also brought up, as was the responsibility of players at the top level to show the best example to supporters.

The evening ended on an amusing note too, with Pearce taking on a female supporter in an arm-wrestle in order to win a signed England shirt.

There will be full video footage of the session on TheFA.com on Wednesday, so be sure to view that and get a full feel for The FA Roadshow in Portsmouth.

Be sure to check TheFA.com for further reaction and features from The FA's Roadshow on Wednesday.

Photographs from the question and answer session will also follow shortly.