Portsmouth FC top of the EPL

Portsmouth are top of the Premiership after five games with 13 points. Who are these upstarts?

Portsmouth are not one of the traditionally big teams in England, yet they find themselves sitting pretty atop the Premiership after five games.

The city itself is in Hampshire on the south coast of England. And it's pretty grotty. An old-fashioned, naval town, it is rough as sausages -- just the thought of going there scares me.

Their run-down home, Fratton Park, is light years away from the shiny new megadomes that the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea strut ther stuff in -- the 20,000-capacity stadium is an old fashioned venue and one of the last true working-class arenas in the Premiership (along with West Ham's Upton Park) with vociferous support.

For some reason, when I shut my eyes and think "Fratton Park" (not often) I see rain lashing down, wind howling and an idiot in the stand, silly hat and wig on head, standing up and ringing a bell -- for 90 minutes.

That bell ringing can make watching a game at Fratton Park (even on TV) a chore. The man responsible is John "Portsmouth Football Club" Westwood. That's not a nickname, he actually changed his name to Portsmouth Football Club.

Check out this three minute RealPlayer video from the BBC's 'Video Nation' series to gain all you need to know about Mr Club -- see his hat, his wig, his countless tattoos and his sodding bell.

Give their fans their due though -- they are a very passionate bunch and you certainly don't get the genteel hush currently heard across other Premiership grounds.

Portsmouth's (the city and club) nickname is Pompey -- no one knows why, although there is a series of unlikely reasons that are wheeled out. I mean, is this a serious suggestion: Dame Agnes Weston was describing the murder of the Roman general Pompey at a lecture to a naval audience. A member of the audience exclaimed "Poor old Pompey!" and this phrase stuck. I think not.

Their big rivals are Southampton, another proud naval city just down the coast in Hampshire and the atmosphere at matches when they meet is murderous. Mercifully, the two have yo-yo'd between the two top divisions and unless they draw each other in the cups they won't meet this season at least.

Pompey's recent renaissance has come under Serbian-American computer-parts tycoon Milan Mandaric. With his ownership, the club could afford better players and better coaches and under the guidance of former West Ham manager Harry Redknapp, they won promotion to the Premiership in 2003 and have stayed there ever since.

Last year Redknapp shocked English football by quitting Pompey and after a short break, going to Southampton of all clubs. Just as shocking, Mandaric took Redknapp back last December and charged him with saving the club from relegation.

Amazingly, he did. With the help of even more money (thought to be £15m) from new backer Alexandre Gaydamak, Redknapp brought in a large number of players and on the last day of the season secured their place in the Premiership by beating Wigan.

In July, Mandaric sold out the rest of his stake to Gaydamak (although he stays on as non-executive chairman) and purchased some ageing but international-class players to fire them to the top of the table (and as yet, not conceding a goal): Sol Campbell, David James, Nwankwo Kanu and Andrew Cole, as well as young stars like Niko Kranjcar and Manuel Fernandes.

All these transfer movements have attracted some bad publicity however, as Harry Redknapp is one of the managers embroiled in the breaking bungs scandal.

With Chelsea and Manchester United only a point behind, you can't see Pompey staying there all season, but with such a great start and deep pockets in the board room for reinforcements they have a good chance to challenge for a Uefa Cup place at the very least.

Although buying your way to the title is something that is frowned upon when Chelsea do it, Portsmouth get cut a little more slack just for being outside the usual suspects.

And admittedly it is a breath of fresh air. But with the team due to move out of Fratton Park in 2007, can they keep their old-fashioned working-class image? If they can keep on challenging for trophies then the fans won't mind, but something will have been lost, especially as there are so few clubs still staying true to their roots.

We can enjoy their moment in the sun (and long may it continue) but how long they can justifiably be seen as the underdog is to be questioned.