Today’s fanzine of the day is issue 2 of Portsmouth’s The Greatest City from February 1988 revealed only by trawling web sites for match results…Portsmouth IS the UK’s only island city and was “the world’s greatest naval port” according to some but that was in the 1850’s so I guess our heroes just loved Pompey.

The editorial is more of just a rambling round up of what has been happening to the editor so we get news of and ex player trundling round the lower tiers despite weight gain and hair loss, metal detectors and a programme mistake re kits at Stamford Bridge..Ironically Portsmouth would wear a yellow away strip just months after this question was posted, perhaps the club marketing department were shelling out 20p for a copy of the zine?

The comment about celery is a bit of a mystery, I know it became common at Gillingham and Chelsea with an obscene chant associated and that they had to ban it from Priestfield in 1996 and Stamford bridge in the mid 2000’s when fans started throwing it on the pitch but Brighton? Did the idea spread to other clubs like inflatables?

The “Legendary Pompey Stars” piece is brilliant and would become a staple in the copies of the fanzine that I have seen. I know that Aaron Ramsdale has quite a record when it comes to relegations but to be turfed out of the league itself in successive seasons is remarkable. Four goals in three games then shipped off to Scunthorpe seems harsh and all with that ‘tache as well, superb and on display well before the days of netflix and narcos.

Celery appears again in the match reports, the authors had the habit of using the player’s nicknames which is a great innovation even if it does take a bit of time to identify Mick Fillery (Celery) and Diego Dillonito (Kevin Dillon) though Mickey Quinn is easily identifiable as Carolgees if you are of a certain vintage. There is also news of an incredible Mick Hazard miss…I had it in mind that he was a bit of a failure but looking at his wiki he won the Uefa and FA Cups with Spurs and….The Full Members cup with Chelsea. However, his wiki also says that “He is related to Eden Hazard who also played for Chelsea without winning UEFA Champions League for them” hmmm

And finally there is poetry…well, sort of. This is a great little effort largely written by a small group and full of the daft, irreverent and passionate writing that fanzines needed to excel. 20p as well!!