Portsmouth's FA Cup Shawshank Redemption

"Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free." Is the famous tag line to The Shawshank Redemption, one of the greatest films ever made. It also offers the greatest insight into the current perils of Portsmouth football club.

For those of you who have yet to see the film, based on the novella by Stephen King, it is a phenomenal story of friendship and above all hope.

The story begins with Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) going to prison for the murder of his wife and her lover, where he meets Red (Morgan Freeman), the prison's go to guy, he can get you whatever you need to make life easier on the inside.

Over the next 136 minutes the film explores some of the darkest aspects of the human soul all the while showing the most unbeatable of all human notions, because once you choose hope anything is possible.

This is the very predicament that Portsmouth now find themselves in. Having been run into the ground through gross mis-management at the highest level and condemned to administartion and almost certain relegation, hope is the one thing that is keeping the club and team going at the moment.

Dealing with the burden of administration and all it's implications is most difficult at the beginning, and Portsmouth's players deserve huge credit for maintaining their dignity through the ordeal.

Red's first quote from the Shawshnk sums up administration perfectly,

"The first night's the toughest, no doubt about it. They march you in naked as the day you were born, skin burning and half blind from that delousing shit they throw on you, and when they put you in that cell, when those bars slam home, that's when you know it's for real. Old life blown away in the blink of an eye. Nothing left but all the time in the world to think about it. Most new fish come close to madness the first night. Somebody always breaks down crying. Happens every time. The only question is, who's it gonna be? It's as good a thing to bet on as any, I guess. I had my money on Andy Dufresne. I remember my first night. Seems like a long time ago."

Most people who have thought that Portsmouth's players would have folded completely too, but they have dug deep into hither unknown reserves and now they find themselves on the cusp of an unlikely Cup Final.

Having beaten fellow Premiership rivals Birmingham 2-0 to progress into the semi finals of the FA Cup, their manager Avram Grant reflected "It’s more than big – more than football,"

Grant has consistently stated that his club should not be deducted points in light of their financial troubles, which take their administrators back to the High Court to face the debt allegations levelled by HM Revenue & Customs in nine days’ time, when they again confront the possibility of a winding-up order.

The Portsmouth manager maintains that the current regime had to pick up the pieces from the previous owners of the club, and that penalising them for previous sins is unfair.

Of course, as is in Shawshank, everyone serving their sentence there is innocent as well.

"I’m very proud. You can break many things but you can’t break our spirit,” he said."

He added "Some things in your life you never forget, and this is one of those moments. I always say to respect rules, but rules need to be logical."

"This club deserves more than anyone to be at Wembley because the players and fans are victims of things done by others. I will say it again and again until someone listens."

The FA Cup now represents the greatest hope in Portsmouth's horrendous season, it represents a moment when their players can remove the burden hanging over them and play with the joy and abandonment the game is meant to be played in.

During The Shawshank Redemption, there comes one of the greatest moments in movie history.

Music is played across the tannoy system, opera. It is the first piece of music that any of the inmates have heard in years, for some decades. The FA Cup is like that piece of music for Portsmouth, it offers them a respite from the daily grind, a moment when the players can feel like footballers again.

We return to Red who sums the moment up perfectly:

"I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are better left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can't be expressed in words, and it makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a grey place dares to dream. It was as if some beautiful bird had flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free."

Everyone associated with Portsmouth knows that there is a huge cloud hanging over the club. It will take a miracle for them to avoid relegation this year, and next season they will have to cut their cloth accordingly, and again will face a massive uphill battle to keep the club stable in the face of mounting debts.

For fans, of the club the only real thing that is keeping them going at the moment is hope.

Andy Dufresne said "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

With that in mind Portsmouth football club should come through it's present battle's with a few scars as reminders, for the moment fear is holding them prisoner, but hope will eventually set them free.

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The Question Nobody Asked. Is Harry Redknapp a Jinx? Every Club He Has Ever Managed Goes Into Administration

Harry Redknapp is one of the most likable managers in football, and like it or not, he is the top English manager in the game today. However, one stat links them all. At one stage or another they have all gone into administration. Bad news for Spurs?

As a manager, Redknapp is one of the few guys to have reached 1,000 games in the job. Over his vast management career, 27 years, he has managed five clubs.

Starting with Bournemouth in 1983-1992, to West Ham 1994-2001, to Portsmouth 2002-2004, before moving to arch rivals Southampton 2004-2005, and back to Pompey again 2005-2008, before finally ending up at his most profile club to date, Tottenham Hotspur 2008-present.

While his career may not be as littered with as many trophies as someone like Alex Ferguson, it does command respect as Redknapp was never in charge of a team who were realistic title contenders and had to make do with reduced budgets.

Now at Spurs, he is with a team who really do have the finances to challenge for trophies, but will 'Arry continue with his "wheeler-dealer" image? Or will he go for heavily priced players who are guaranteed to produce?

Either way, it is worth pointing out that Redknapp appears to be something of a jinx.

This won't make good reading for Spurs fans...

Bournemouth went into administration in 2008.

West Ham currently owe £100million and have asked every staff member, players included, to take a 25 percent pay cut from next season.

Portsmouth are as close to going into administration as you can get and are expected to receive their £20million relegation parachute payment early to pay off debts to the inland revenue.

And Southampton went into administration in 2009.

Of course, 'Arry was nowhere near any of these clubs when their financial bubbles burst, and he shares little blame as Chairmen spent way over their budgets, but he is the one concrete link between all the clubs.

So it begs the question...

Will Harry lead Spurs into the "Top Four", or administration...